She’s Out to Steal His Name.
Will He Steal Her Heart Instead?
Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they are no longer pickpockets—now they focus on high value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. Rosemary’s challenge of a lifetime comes when she’s assigned to determine whether a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany. How does one steal a family’s history, their very name?
As Europe moved 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 doorstop 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, though, and 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.
An excellent book that truly deserves 5 stars.
1: I've loved every Roseanna White book I've read. I love her style. I especially love her characters. They can take you from giggling over a bonked head and an embarrassing introduction to Prince Edward, to crying over Rosemary and stuff I can't say in this spoiler free review. And then giggling again over the very last chapter. I'm sure mom would have thought I'd gone off my rocker if she hadn't been asleep as I read through the night to finish it. I couldn't put it down.
2: One thing I enjoy about her books is the fact that while they aren't mysteries, there is always an underlying subplot of suspense. In this case, Mr. V, and who he is and what he wants, is the main cause of looking over your shoulder. (This is one mystery that I didn't solve until about three paragraphs before I was told.)
3: The summary on the back did not do poor Peter justice. He was much different, I think, than I was assuming. But I loved him so much. He's one of my favorite Christian fiction guys. And Rosemary was so pitiful. Not that she'd appreciate any pity. She's also a very tough cookie. But anyway. A book about books and writing about writing. This book was everything I wanted it to be!
4: I think Mrs. Teague deserves her own place in this review. She's a pretty unique character, and I'm not sure what other characters I can think of off the top of my head that are at the same time soooo right and sooooooooo wrong. And then the very end of chapter 25, which was definitely a crying chapter.
5: Yes, I am going to tell you everything wonderful about the cover. The picture (below) is pretty, but it doesn't show how pretty the real thing is. I stopped several times so I could close the book and just run my hand over the cover. It's a book with books on the cover. It's amazing.
I honestly can't wait to see other books in this series. I want to see more of Rosemary and Peter, and Rosemary's unusual but wonderful family. And of course, Gryff, Jenny, and Wyn!
I received this book through CelebrateLit!
(That was a long review.....)
Click here to purchase your copy.
About the Author
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 homeschooli
ng her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of over a dozen historical novels and novellas, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her British series. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to make their way into her novels…to offset her real life, which is blessedly boring. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.
Guest Post from Roseanna White
It’s always a challenge to make a historical setting authentic—especially when it’s set in a region you’ve only ever read about. As I was writing
A Name Unknown, I learned so much about Cornwall—all the more when I had the opportunity to visit the gorgeous Penzance region while the book was still in edits! I quickly learned that I had far too many trees in my story, and hadn’t quite captured the uniqueness of the coastal setting. I dove into rewrites with excitement and gusto, ready to make my fictional Cornwall more like the real one.
I studied the Cornish accent, Cornish foods, typical Cornish coloring in hair and eyes. I’ve now gotten rather proficient at making pasties (beef hand pies) from scratch, I’ve special-ordered ingredients to make Cornish ginger cookies called fairings, and I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to videos of people speaking in a Cornish accent.
Delving into this rich region and its history was a blast! And I’m so excited to get to share the culture of Cornwall—and a taste of their unique flavors—with you. In a special Celebrate Lit giveaway, I’ll be offering not only a signed copy of my book, but also some homemade ginger fairings! Here’s the recipe I used . . . after special ordering the Mixed Spice (reminiscent of pumpkin pie spice) and Golden Syrup (a thick syrup with a bit of a toffee flavor) from Amazon.
(I have a gram scale so did use the weight measurements rather than volume—also, English teaspoons and tablespoons are a bit bigger than American, so I heaped them, and I turned out deliciously.)
GINGER FAIRINGS RECIPE
100 grams butter, cold and diced
225 grams all-purpose flour
¼ heaping teaspoon salt
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
2 heaping teaspoons baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon ginger
2 heaping teaspoons
mixed spice
100 grams superfine (caster) sugar
4 heaping tablespoons
golden syrup
Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a stand mixer. Add the butter and beat until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in sugar.
In a small saucepan, warm the golden syrup until it’s clarified a bit; stir into the flour mixture until a dough forms. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and put on prepared baking sheets a few inches apart.
Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden. Cool a few minutes on the trays and then transfer to a cooling rack.
And now.... the giveaway. You're gonna like this one. I'm super excited!
To celebrate this tour, Roseanna is giving away a grand prize of a paperback copy of A Name Unknown & 2 dozen cookies from Roseanna!!! Click below to enter.
Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/bc0e
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