Author Interview (and a Giveaway!): Roseanna M. White & A Name Unknown

As part of the Litfuse Blog Tour for A Name Unknown (one of my favorite reads of 2017), I am delighted to welcome Roseanna White to the blog today!

Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of nine novels, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her new British series. Roseanna lives with her family in West Virginia.

You can connect with Roseanna on her website, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

Her new book, A Name Unknown, released July 4, 2017 from Bethany House Publishers.

Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins who helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they are no longer pickpockets—instead they focus on high value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. Rosemary is beginning to question whether she can continue in this life when she’s offered the challenge of alifetime—determine whether a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany. After all how does one steal afamily’s history, their very name?

As Europe moves ever closer to World War I, rumors swirl around Peter Holstein. Awkward and solitary, but with access to the king, many fear his influence. But Peter can’t help his German last name and wants to prove his loyalty to the Crown–so he can go back to anonymously writing a series of popular adventure novels. When Rosemary arrives on his doorstep pretending to be a well-credentialed historian, Peter believes she’s the right person to help him dig through his family’s past.

When danger and suspicion continue to mount, both realize they’re in a race against time to discover the truth—about Peter’s past and about the undeniable attraction kindling between them.

Hi! Welcome to the blog! I start all of my guests out with a fast four:

Roseanna: Apples. Because I can dip them in peanut butter or eat them on the go. (Though I do love oranges too, don’t get me wrong!)

Carrie: Apple and pb are my fave!

Roseanna: Summer! Because our homeschool year is done and I have more writing time. Ahhhh….

Carrie: I can see why that would be a definite advantage

Roseanna: Cats. I always thought myself a dog person, but have 2 cats now, and I love them. They’re independent but cuddly, and I don’t have to take them out every few hours, LOL.

Carrie: But … but … look at this face:

Roseanna: Two words: COF. FEE. I drink tea too. But it’s coffee. It’s coffee all the way.

Carrie: haha!

Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?

Roseanna: I think I would simply be Book Girl—I can write them, design their covers, lay them out for print, and cram an amazing number of them on a single shelf (it’s a gift, what can I say…LOL).

Carrie: Oh I love that!! That needs to be on a t-shirt 🙂

When you walk into a bookstore, where do you head first?

Roseanna: The Christian Fiction section, to see if my books and my friends’ books are there! Then usually the middle grade section, for my daughter. Followed by YA, because I have a weakness for those. And then classics, because I can always justify spending money on those!

Carrie: That sounds like my bookstore trips, except instead of the middle grade section I hang out in the kiddy lit section. #former3rdgradeteacher

If I sneaked a peek in your purse right now (which I would never do, I promise!), what would it tell me about you?

Roseanna: Oh dear. It would tell you that I have a son—proven by the Hot Wheels car that always seems to find its way in there. That I love purple—purple pen always on hand for signing books! That I’m prone to headaches—don’t go anywhere without my ibuprofen. That I have frequently chapped lips, evidenced by the gazillion tubes of balm in every scent, color, flavor, and variety. And that my children think my purse is a trash can—hello, gum wrappers!

Carrie: haha!! yay for purple!!

Describe your main characters in one sentence each, and tell me who you would cast in their roles if Hollywood wanted to produce A Name Unknown as a movie!

Roseanna: Rosemary is a street-bred thief who will do anything for her boisterous, patchwork family. Peter Holstein is a faith-filled gentleman of German descent who just wants to be left alone to write his adventure novels.

When searching for images to represent them, I landed on Rebecca Hall for Rosemary and Josh Pence for Peter. (You can see them on my Pinterest board for the book: here)

Carrie: I loved both of these characters so much – and the secondary/supporting characters too!

What surprised you about Peter and Rosemary as you wrote their story?

Roseanna: Well, I’m a huge romance lover. If I can introduce that aspect of a story early on, I will—joyfully. But this one…it demanded a slower love story. Neither of my characters would consent to less. I told my critique partner/best friend as I was wrestling them toward a relationship, “See, first Peter has to tolerate her presence. Then he has to like her. Then he has to trust her. Then he has to realize he can’t imagine life without her.” For a recluse who hates people barging into his life—and a girl with a bone to pick with anyone with money—these two aren’t your typical couple. But I absolutely love how their relationship developed. =)

Carrie: I love the relationship development here too. Sometimes those ‘slow burn’ romances are the most satisfying as a reader.

What do you most want readers to take away from A Name Unknown?

Roseanna: That we cannot always control who we are in the eyes of society—even in the eyes of our friends. But it’s who we are in the eyes of God that matters, and as long as we’re living for Him, then we can rest in the knowledge that we’re exactly who and what we need to be.

Carrie: Yes. So true.

Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me, Roseanna 🙂 Before we say goodbye for today, tell us what‘s coming up next for you.

Roseanna: Next up is book 2 in the Shadows Over England series, A Song Unheard (January 2018). In this first book you’ll meet Rosemary’s closest friend and “sister,” Willa, who’s a violin prodigy in addition to being a thief like Rosemary. A Song Unheard follows her on an assignment to Wales, where she’s to steal a cypher key from another musician…who she’s been idolizing for years. Lukas De Wilde, however, is everything she doesn’t trust in a man—and far safer as a poster on her wall than in flesh and blood.

Enter to win a copy of A Name Unknown. Five winners will be chosen! Click the image below to enter to win. The winners will be announced August 21st on the Litfuse blog!

What about you? What would be a good tagline for Roseanna’s superpower alter ego “Book Girl”?