Kick back with Alyson Reuben

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Kick back with Alyson Reuben

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Today, I’m welcoming Alyson Reuben to the blog. Alyson is one of the few authors who’ve made me cry. Her debut novel A BEAUTIFUL CAGE was that compelling. How powerful is that? To bring out that much emotion in the written word.

Join us while we celebrate the release of her new book, CASTLES WE BUILD.

Alyson’s Bio:

Back in elementary and high school, Alyson was always in trouble for jotting stories in her notebooks when she should’ve been studying for math tests. Detentions and trips to the principal’s office aside, she was determined to become an author someday, no matter the price.

Fast forward a few years — okay, actually several years — she began writing historical romance and women’s fiction, leading to the debut of A BEAUTIFUL CAGE, published by the Wild Rose Press in 2011.

Now she gets in trouble for writing stories when she should be cooking dinner for her family.

I’m going to ask her a few questions, and then we’ll share the CASTLES WE BUILD book cover, a blurb and excerpt. You do NOT want to miss the excerpt.

Your stories are full of interesting history and locations. How do you research for your novels?

Thank you! The story idea for A BEAUTIFUL CAGE http://goo.gl/6x7w I sprang from my interest in WWII and Europe’s resistance movement. Its time-period was a sure thing, because of the specific dates and events. I made lots of notes, read books, searched archives and websites, and even watched documentaries. On the other hand, for CASTLES WE BUILD, I knew the central theme long before I realized it would be set in the 1920’s. As I sat down to make the notes and begin to write random scenes as they sprang to my mind, I realized that I was visualizing the characters wearing 1920’s clothes and driving luxury cars from that period. From there, I began to look up the historical details I’d need to get the story really off the ground – specific apparel (I bought a 1927 Sears Roebucks catalog for this), the exact model of cars, the language (this was especially fun because of Nan, Julia’s stepdaughter), the mannerisms, the social customs, and even the exact layout of a 1920’s yacht. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I enjoyed finding all the details. I’m a research nut!

What about you current release excites you the most?

Everything! I’m always excited (and very nervous!) when my stories go public. By sharing my stories, I’m exposing a very deep part of myself that I would never dare reveal otherwise. As for CASTLES WE BUILD, I’m excited to find out what readers think of Julia’s whirlwind life. Are they surprised by the decisions she makes? Do they agree with her? Disagree? I have every intention of luring readers into in the late 1920’s world of fun, frolic, excitement, and danger, while filling them with a medley of emotions – alarm, joy, anger, hope, and, ultimately, a sense of victory. I don’t believe an author could hope for anything more.

Out of all your novels, which hero and heroine are your favorites? Why?

Uh Oh! I honestly can’t answer this one. Like a mother with her children, I don’t play favorites. *wink* Yet, I can say, that I’m mighty proud of Julia’s ability to cope after her world is turned upside-down, Landon’s magnificent good-looks and brave heroism, and Ford’s power and strength.

What are you working on right now?

I’m in the process of revising a YA called, A FALLEN STARR, about a girl who works as a fortuneteller’s assistant in a traveling carnival, http://goo.gl/SWPn2. I’m also working on two untitled short stories for The Wild Rose Press.

Do you ever hit the wall or find you’ve written yourself into a corner? How do you turn that around?

Ha ha! Oh, definitely! In fact, I was halfway into CASTLES WE BUILD before I knew which man Julia was going to decide to spend the rest of her life with. When the reader is locked in suspense, it’s a good thing. But, believe me, when the author is in a deadlock, it’s pretty scary! I cried in frustration. I pounded my desk. I yelled at the computer screen. I honestly had no idea how in the world Julia was going to rise to the top without crushing everyone in her path. Luckily, just when I was about to step away and take a long break, the characters took over and finished the story for me. They dictated the words and I simply wrote it all down. Well, not really. That would be too easy. It was still darned hard work and required typing like a madwoman until, by nightfall, I’d crawled into bed barely breathing. But it was totally rewarding to write the final scene. So… does CASTLES WE BUILD have a completely happy finale? Are there bittersweet elements left over? Does Julia make the best choice in the end? I leave it up to readers to decide!

Okay…enough with the business stuff! How about some fun stuff! You know just between the two of us.

Favorite food?

I like it all! Seriously. I love to eat. My favorites are Mexican dishes and Greek cuisine. As for desserts… anything chocolate and served with coffee!

Cook in or eat out?

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a gourmet chef. Not even close. Just ask my family. I’ve tossed a few dishes into the yard that even the wild animals steer away from! However, being a family kind of gal, I do cook simple meals on a regular basis. But I also like to eat out at my favorite restaurants. So, I guess it’s a toss-up.

Do you have a pet? What did you name it and why?

Yes, we have Benjamin. He’s really my daughter’s tabby cat, but we’ve all grown to love him! She decided to call him “Benji” after hearing the name on the TV show “Monk”.

Beer or wine? Definitely wine!

Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us…it can be a secret…we won’t tell.

Hmm… Well, I’ve been told a few times that I sing like Dolly Pardon (and, yes, I sing all the time!), quivery vibrato and all! I’m still hoping that it’s meant as a compliment. :-)

Tell us more about CASTLES WE BUILD.

Castles We Build’s blurb:

She has a chance to relive her past. But at what cost?

When Julia married the man of her dreams, Landon Sloane, neither of them could have predicted the destructive impact of The Great War. Finding herself a widow and single mother in a period ripe with women’s suffrage and the prohibition, Julia married wealthy industrialist Ford Hampton.

Now, ten years later, with a son attending an academy for the gifted, a daughter with special needs, and a flapper stepdaughter who tests her daily, Julia is hardly prepared for Landon’s return from his long foreign captivity to announce he has never stopped loving her.

Faced with unrequited love for Landon, her life truly begins to unravel with the intrusion of her mother, who abandoned her as a child, a devastating factory fire, and an alarming encounter with a tawdry bootlegger. Finally, when her son is kidnapped in a diabolical scheme of revenge, Julia knows she has to make a final decision that will forever change everyone and everything in her life.

Except:

There he is. A man whose memory I desperately tried to lay to rest at his memorial site in Westbrook Cemetery.

Landon Sloane.

For a few seconds, I wobble, my peripheral vision closing in. I’m about to pass out….

Suddenly, he grins. And the grin does the same thing to me now that it did nine years ago, saving me from losing consciousness. Saving me, period.

He holds out his arms, and I rush into them, moaning as his mouth claims mine in a kiss that’s like a drowning man clutching a lifesaver. Pulling me inside and reaching behind me to slam the door shut, his hands grip at my clothes and my hair, tangling in them as if hoping to extract the essence of everything I am.

Now he’s kissing my cheeks. My forehead. My chin. The places behind my ears. The hollow of my neck. The skin above my lace collar. My breasts through the voile fabric. My legs as he pushes up the hem of my frock.

And I’m falling backward on a bed that seems to have appeared like magic. Calling his name. Over and over. He answers me with a voice tinted by a slight brogue, as familiar as the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. Yes. Yes, he’s really Landon Sloane. Alive. Very alive. And my name is also on his lips, coming out in hoarse whispers, pressed against my skin, branding me with what’s always been there, never disappearing completely, but only lying dormant — my love for him.

Rising above me, his body comes down over mine in the ancient way that has coupled countless lovers. In the same way that summoned us in the past with pleasure and intoxication. I grip him, pulling him closer, needing him to complete what’s lacking. To satiate me with his heat and energy….

A little girl’s cry floats through the room.

Gracie! Just that suddenly, I push Landon back, forcing his flushed face away from mine. No, I’m not thinking clearly. That wasn’t a girl’s voice. Just a bird outside the open window. One that has a trill similar to a child’s outburst.

For several seconds Landon and I stare at each other, saying nothing. He looks the same. Yet, different in several ways. Slimmer…a little too slim. A leathery tan that makes his eyes brighter, as potent as midnight’s navy sky in a flash of lightning.

I’m lying here half naked. With a husband I thought would never return from the war he left to fight nine years ago. And the question hits me like a rock to the stomach. “Why, Landon? Why didn’t you come home? Where have you been?”

He visibly swallows, his face glistening with perspiration and what might very well be tears. “My ship sank off the coast of South Africa. Most of the men didn’t…. Anyway, me and my lieutenant were rescued by natives. They had bartering friends who traded with them. Local radicals who supported the enemy forces. I think a few of them even had direct ties with Germany.”

His voice has deepened, grown huskier with age. I try to concentrate on his words, needing desperately to understand. To make sense of this unexpected phenomenon: the miracle of his rise from the dead.

“So me and the lieutenant were arrested and held in an encampment. Seventeen straw huts surrounded by a high fence. Guards with guns and long pikes. Shared it with criminals and other detainees. We didn’t even know when the war was over. Guess they liked having free laborers too much to set us free. Or maybe they just liked trapping us like mice in a maze.” His voice is hard now. Gritty. Full of hatred and anger. In a tone I don’t recognize.

“They finally released us last month. Because of some new political uprising, I think. I don’t know exactly who or what…. I only care that I’m free. Back where I can see you. Hold you. And…oh, God, if I can just get all this filth out of my head.” He sits up beside me, gripping the sides of his head.

The hair at his temples is peppered with silver.

It used to be completely dark, the color of coffee with no creamer.

Like Brent’s.

I reach for him, pulling him to me. Prison. For almost a decade. What a nightmare that must’ve been. The hurt is palpable, transferring between us. “It’s over, darling,” I whisper near his ear. “And I’m so glad you’re back, safe and sound. Alive.”

He folds his arms around me so that we’re huddled in a ball. And we stay that way. Unmoving. Quiet. For a very long time.

His heavy breathing steadies to a hoarse snore; the sound of a man who hasn’t had good, clean rest for a long time. He shifts, spreading out his arms in unconscious freedom. And I release him, sitting up gently in order not to wake him.

The bedroom is mostly bare. A utilitarian iron bed. A dresser. A shabby club chair. But nothing else. I stare at the open window where the cage hangs, dangling slightly in the breeze. There are no finches in it. Or any other birds. The door is hanging open, facing the outside.

He won’t cage anything again.

I push my tousled hair from my face, combing both hands through the chin-length strands.

None of this is the way it should be.

It’s all messed up somehow.

Ford’s face enters my mind. Just the way he looked last night, smiling at me from the dinner table.

Oh, God.

I’m married to someone else.

And I have a family.

Two men.

Two husbands.

[image error]Castles We Build can be found at Amazon (ebook Kindle version will be available later this week): http://www.amazon.com/Castles-We-Build-Alyson-Reuben/dp/1479296104/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348024240&sr=8-1&keywords=castles+we+build

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Alyson-Reuben/e/B008MOD09E