Blogaversary Celebration Day Four: Author, Laura Frantz

I'm always on the lookout for books featuring settings that are a bit different from what I usually read. Laura Frantz's debut novel, The Frontiersman's Daughter is set on the 18th century frontier and includes Native Americans, log cabins, forts, and *sigh* waterfalls! It's a must read and I'm super excited for her next release, Courting Morrow Little, to be released this summer!

Here's Laura!

What do you think is the most important thing when writing a good historical (doing research, making it authentic, detail, etc.)?

Wonderful question, Renee! For me, I would have to say historical detail is so important. But let’s back up a bit. The setting of the novel is supreme for me – the sights, sounds, and tastes of frontier life in the 18th-century – so much so that setting almost becomes another character in the novel - very vivid and rich with a personality of its own. This requires lots of research and visiting the setting or, in my case, living there. Then you add all the little touches that make the story real and interesting to today’s readers. Instead of just writing about soap, I write about bayberry soap. Food becomes spoonbread and hominy and bear bacon. Fabric becomes stroud or embroidered silk. Medicines are Daffy’s Elixir and Ginseng and Sassafras. Details like these add depth and make for a rich reading experience. I hope you agree!

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Excerpt from Courting Morrow Little:

Morrow looked away, trying to tamp down her heartache, the intimate question on the tip of her tongue begging to be answered. “Do you have a…woman?”

For a moment she thought he might say yes, and she tensed.

“No,” he finally said.

A bittersweet relief swept through her. Here and now, in the shadowed barn, nothing seemed to matter but the two of them. Every obstacle seemed to fade away. All the barriers between them turned to ashes with that one definitive no.

He leaned back against a post while she clasped her hands together and tried to summon the will to walk away. But the ensuing silence was rife with a hundred heartfelt things, each wooing her to stay. How different this was than the first time, when he’d surprised her in the barn and she’d run away from him. Was he remembering it too?

Looking down at the hay strewn about her feet, she felt his fingers graze her cheek and brush back the wisps of hair that had come free of her pins. She nearly shivered, yet the warmth of his hand seemed to reach clear to her heart. Was the sigh she heard his – or her own?

Slowly she looked up and his hand fell away. Without thinking, she reached for him again, needing his warmth and strength, and returned his callused palm to her flushed cheek. Despite the darkness, she sensed his surprise, and it matched her own as he ever so carefully closed the distance between them.

“Morrow…”

He was so close he could lower his face into her hair and breathe in the rose scent of her if he wanted to. He’d not dishonor her, he’d once said. She didn’t rightly know what that meant, yet she almost wanted to find out. She was on dangerous ground, all her feelings tied in knots, her genteel ways fraying like silk thread. She felt the pressure of his other hand warm about her waist…his breath on her cheek…his fingers cradling her chin and drawing her in.

Oh Lord, I am lost.

Copyright 2010, Laura Frantz, (Revell) Baker Publishing Group

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About Laura:
Laura Frantz credits her grandmother as being the catalyst for her fascination with Kentucky history. Frantz’s family followed Daniel Boone into Kentucky in the latter part of the 18th-century and settled in Madison County where her family still resides. A graduate of Denison University with a degree in English, she is a member of the Kentucky Historical Society, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. Currently she lives in the misty woods of northwest Washington with her husband and two sons.

She can be reached @

http://www.laurafrantz.net/

and

http://www.laurafrantz.blogspot.com/

Pre-order Courting Morrow Little @

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Christian Book

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Oh, dear reading friends, I’m dying to introduce you to the hero in this scene! Morrow has many suitors, and I can’t wait for you to meet the man who finally wins her heart! If you’ve read my first book, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, you’ll know that Lael Click is a no-nonsense kind of heroine. Well, meet Morrow Little! It’s been said that no two heroines are alike, or heroes for that matter, and my books bear this out. In honor of Renee’s blogaversary, one winner will receive a signed copy of Courting Morrow Little upon its release in July and one winner will receive a sampler from Crabtree & Evelyn similar to the one shown here.

Thank you, Renee, for having such a heart for Christian fiction and spotlighting our books here. And bless all you readers! You are the very heartbeat of what we authors do!

~To enter to win leave a comment telling me what time period or setting for a book is your favorite!

~You MUST leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you for your mailing address if you win! (example: steelergirl83[at]gmail[dot]com )
~U.S. residents only please!
~Contest open until March 21, 2010 at 11:59PM EST.
~One winner will be chosen for the gift set and one winner for the sampler set. Their names will be posted on this blog, and they will be notified by email on March 22, 2010 and will have 48 hours to respond or different winners will be selected.

Go HERE to enter to win Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania, by Cerella D. Sechrist and a tin of Hershey Kisses.

Go HERE to enter to win Critical Care and Disaster Status by Candace Calvert

Go HERE to enter to win The Substitute Bride by Janet Dean

Go HERE to enter to win The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey and Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand