RECLAIMING THE SPY - Lorri Dudley - One Free Books
Welcome back to my blog, Lorri. As an author, I know ittakes a lot of people to birth each book. Who were the people involved in thebirthing of this book, and what were their contributions? It takes an army,and I couldn’t do it without such great people as the Wild Heart Books staff,my beta readers, and my launch team. It all starts with the Robins—my friend RobynHook does freelance editing and tells me if I’m on the right track and if mycharacters are likable. Then, my manuscript goes to Robin Patchen through WildHeart Books, who deep dives into line edits, more feedback on the characters,and other tweaks. Meanwhile, Sarah Erredge is honing my back cover copy, coordinatingwith the amazing designer for the cover, and issuing galley copies. Sherri Johnsonis setting up promotions, marketing, and blog tours. My beta readers andcritique partners refine my writing further (big shout out to Lori, Megan,Barbara, and Tammy), and my incredible launch team spreads the word, postsreviews, and hypes the book on social media. I’m blessed to have all these peoplein my life. They’ve become my book family.If you teach or speak, what’s coming up on your calendar?On November 17th, I will be at the Just Read Rendezvous in St. Louis, Missouri.It’s an excellent opportunity for readers and authors to meet and talk aboutour favorite subject—books! Details can be found here: https://rendezvous.justreadtours.com/2023-event/.I’d love to see you there.
If you had to completely start over in another place,where would you move, and why? I’d move to the outer banks of NorthCarolina. New England is beautiful and full of history, but the winters are longand brutal. Since I was five, until there were too many great-grandchildren to accommodate,my grandparents and relatives on my dad’s side rented a beach house in WrightsvilleBeach, North Carolina. We’d stay for a week, where all the cousins would sleep ina big bunk room, and the adults would alternate making dinners. Vacationingtogether kept us tight as a family, and I have some of my best memories fromthat area—walking on the beach, jumping waves, swimming in the ocean until myskin shriveled, catching sand fiddlers, and eating lunch at the Dockside.
If you could only tell aspiring novelists one thing, whatwould it be? Always be learning. There is so much to the craft of writingand so many great resources out there. I have bookshelves full of craft books fromplotting to editing and everything in between. Some of my favorites are Writingwith Emotion, Tension, and Conflict by Cheryl St. John, Rivet YourReaders with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson, The StoryEquation by Susan May Warren, The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt, and SuperStructure by James Scott Bell. I also listen to podcasts on the rides topick up my kids: Your Best Writing Life by Linda Goldfarb, NovelMarketing by Thomas Umstattd Jr., Helping Writers Become Authors byK.M. Weiland, and Fiction Writing Made Easy by Savannah Gilbo. And I’malways looking for more.
You’ve been asked to be in charge of a celebrity cruise.Who would you ask to take part, and why? (AS in what program, singers, etc. [itdoesn’t have to be writing related]) I don’t think I have the patience for Hollywoodcelebrities. (God is still working on me in that area.) I’d love to run acruise with inspirational women of God like Christine Caine, Lisa Bevere, JoyceMeyers, and Charlotte Gambill. Can you imagine what amazing conversations you’dhave sunning on the top deck in beach chairs with those ladies or dining forfull sit-down dinners? For entertainment, I’d have Kari Jobe, Rebecca St.James, Mandisa, Lauren Daigle, and Taya Smith bring the house down with some incredibleworship.
I would be first in line to sign up for that cruise.Please tell us about the featured book. Reclaiming the Spy is atwist on the childhood sweetheart and Beauty and the Beast tropes. Thebook opens with Nicholas and Abby just married and madly in love, but Nick is pulledinto the Napoleonic Wars and disappears for ten years. But Abby never gives uphope. She prays for her husband, even though he’s presumed dead. His returnshould be the happily ever after of fairy tales, but it becomes a nightmarewhen he coldly instructs her to forget she’d ever seen him. Abby refuses to lether beloved slip through her fingers again, and she’s willing to battle for hislove, despite the walls he’s created to barricade his heart.Nicholas Emerson’s time as a spy for the War Office has leftphysical and mental battle wounds. He can never be the charming, carefree manhe once was—the man his wife deserves—but when a threat to Abby’s life returnshim to their small Midland village, keeping her safe proves challenging. Ifonly Abby would forget him and remarry, then he wouldn’t have to face thetorment of all the tender, buried feelings she evokes. The consequence of hislife as a spy mean he can never have her again…
Please give us the first page of the book.
Laurel House, Worcestershire, England 1807
Abigail Hartington Emerson’s new husband scooped her intohis strong arms. Her petticoats flounced and her feet dangled in the air. Nicholasfaltered a step and she shrieked, digging her nails into the thick wool of hisovercoat. “I love you, Nicholas Emerson, but it’s bad portent to drop your newwife, especially before you cross the threshold.”
The glint in those mischievous hazel eyes revealed he wasteasing her by pretending to trip. “I’m not going to let you fall. In fact, nowthat I’ve made you mine, my plan is to never let you out of my arms.”
She clung to his shoulders, buried her face in his neck, andbreathed in his woodsy scent of newly cut cedar. The vibrations of Nick’s huskylaughter tickled her nose. She lifted her head but didn’t relax her grip.
“Welcome to Laurel House, Mrs. Abigail Emerson.” Nicholas raisedhis gaze to the rustic two-story stone home that stretched along the bulrushes.Ivy climbed the exterior as if wrapping the house in a leafy embrace, and the primrosein full bloom burst with cheery color from each window box.
“Do you hear that?” He tilted his ear up.
Abby stilled but only heard a distant woodlark song.
“It’s the sound of our future children playing.”
“Truly?”
“I hear them as clearly as the clock tower.”
“I do hope you’re being prophetic and that I didn’t marry aman who’s as mad as a hatter.”
A crooked smile graced his lips.
His breath mingled with hers, tickling her mouth and cheeks.
“Either way, I don’t care. As long as you’re mine.” Publicaffection was considered improper, but on impulse she pressed her lips to his,savoring their velvety feel and his strong arms.
His mouth moved on hers with a slow, tantalizing kiss —justa taste of what the next forty or more years would hold.
The front door swung open.
Abby tore away with a gasp.
Mrs. Smith, the housekeeper, stepped aside and held the doorto allow the newlyweds passage.
Heat spread through Abby’s cheeks quicker than a house fire.When was she going to learn to control her whims? She avoided the woman’s gazeas Nicholas swept her across the entranceway into the open foyer.
The setting sun spilled its golden rays through themullioned window, illuminating the large bouquet of red roses, most likelyfreshly cut from his mother’s rose garden, that graced the pedestal table.
Her new home. Her grip on the lapel of his coat tightened.The reality of this momentous day sank in. She was Laurel Manor’s new mistress.
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