NBTM: Her General in Gray by Linda Nightingale

Her General in Gray

by Linda Nightingale

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GENRE: Paranormal Romance

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BLURB:

Autumn Hartley purchases Allen Hall at a steal, but the northern lass gets far more than a beautiful plantation in the South Carolina Low Country. The house comes complete with its own ghost, a handsome and charming Civil War General—for the Confederacy. The stage is set for another civil conflict.

John Sibley Allen died in battle from a wound in the back, the bullet fired by the turncoat, Beauregard Dudley. The traitor’s reincarnation is Autumn the Interloper’s first dinner guest. Sib bedevils her date and annoys her with fleeting, phantom touches, certain he can frighten her away as he did previous purchasers. As time marches on, her resident ghost becomes more appealing while her suitor, Beau, pales in comparison. Autumn finds her ability to love didn’t perish in the divorce that sent her south seeking a fresh start.

After over a century in the hereafter, Sib discovers he is falling for none other than the feisty Yankee girl, but what future could a modern woman and an old-fashioned ghost possibly hope for?

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Excerpt One:

“You are not there.” Autumn dropped her book and leapt to her feet, shaking her fist at the apparition standing beside the fireplace.

The frolicking blaze shone through the whatever-he-was lounging by the hearth, his arm stretched along the mantel.  A ceramic clock beside his hand chimed the hour—seven golden notes. Tall candles in brass candlesticks flickered in an eerie fire dance. He appeared to be a Civil War soldier of the South, his opaque uniform gray with a nasty red-stained hole near the heart.  Double rows of gold buttons decorated the coat. Three gold stars and a wreath on the collar glittered in the firelight. No blood spilled from the apparition.  Except for his wound, he looked perfectly healthy—for a dead man!  He nodded and bowed elegantly...as much so as his lost society had been, regardless of the strong backs supporting that way of life.

“Oh, but I am, Miss Hartley.”  He straightened, longish hair gently curling over his face.

A chill raced over her, but she suppressed the tremor of apprehension.  Autumn swallowed hard and adjusted her white cotton blouse.  “I don’t believe in ghosts.  You’re not welcome here. I bought this house and am struggling to pay for it.  Get your Halloween self out of my living room.”

He smiled.  “It’s not Halloween, and we share this house.  It was mine, you know, and still is.  I’m willing to share it with you—even if you are a Yankee.  After all, the conflict is over, and I’ll hold no grudge against the Northern aggressors. Even though the South will never surrender.”

“Northern aggressors?”  She inhaled sharply, the vanilla scent of the candles on the dining room table drifting into the living room.  Everything about Allen Hall was beautiful. She loved the house. But this conversation with an arrogant spirit solidified defiance.  “And, for your information, the South did surrender.”

“A point of history.” He shrugged and gave her a condescending glance. “No more.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award and the SARA Merritt.   She is the mother of two wonderful sons, a retired legal assistant, member of the Houston Miata Club, and enjoys events with that car club.  Among her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.  She loves to dress up and host formal dinner parties.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LNightingale

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LindaNightingaleAuthor

Web Site:  http://www.lindanightingale.com – Visit and look around. There’s a free continuing vampire story.

Blog:  https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/ - Lots of interesting guests & prizes

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U

Interview with Linda Nightengale

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

Each one is different.  I wrote a ghost story recently (featured in my anthology Four by Moonlight) titled Gypsy Ribbons.  The inspiration for Gypsy Ribbons is Alfred Noyes’ The Highwayman.  I adore that poem…And the highwayman comes riding, riding up to the old inn door….

The inspiration for Her General in Gray was a movie, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, but my Muse decided that instead of a New England cottage haunted by the ghost of a sea captain, my hero would be a Civil War General for the Confederacy. That gave me an immediate conflict. The heroine was from the north and had purchased his family home (which he haunts).  My Muse then set the story in the Low Country of South Carolina, one of my favorite places.

How did you do research for your book?

The internet. Ah, no longer do we have to consult a heavy tome of the encyclopedia! I looked up different aspects of the story like the battle in which Sib, the hero, died.  I knew about the setting, having been to Charleston and the surrounding area many times.  I just made up the information about heroine’s background.

Do you have another profession besides writing?

Not now.  I retired from a career as a legal assistant. Now, I write full time:  Books, stories, and I write copy for a Houston advertising agency.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

I’d like to visit the late 1800s when Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor (later Edward VIII, then the Duke of Windsor) was the heir apparent to the throne of England, was crowned, and abdicated to marry Wallace Simpson.  BUT.. I’d keep the Time Machine fueled for a jaunt to the merry court of Charles II after the Restoration. Perhaps, I could have arrived before he married Catherine of Braganza and been the Queen who produced his heir to the throne. Charles had a bevy of mistresses but never a legitimate heir.

What is your next project?

I’m in the galley phase of Gylded Wings, a dark fantasy for The Wild Rose Press.  What would happen if the most infamous angel of all were forgiven? This ‘alternate history’ is told in first person from Lucifer’s POV. It’s not satanic by any means and has very strong romantic elements.

What is your favorite part of this book and why? [This was an alternate question, but I

wanted to answer it.]

I like the beginning of the story because it sets up the humor and conflict for Her General in Gray. When Autumn sees Sib (John Sibley Allen—my real grandfather’s name) standing by the fireplace with the flames flickering through him, she covers her fear with a show of temper:

Autumn swallowed hard and adjusted her white cotton blouse.  “I don’t believe in ghosts.  You’re not welcome here. I bought this house and am struggling to pay for it.  Get your Halloween self out of my living room.”

He smiled.  “It’s not Halloween, and we share this house.  It was mine, you know, and still is.  I’m willing to share it with you—even if you are a Yankee.  After all, the conflict is over, and I’ll hold no grudge against the Northern aggressors. Even though the South will never surrender.”

Thank you for letting me guest on your blog. Autumn, Sib, and I enjoyed our stay.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Linda Nightingale will be awarding Black Diamond Earrings and an eBook of Her General in Gray (International Giveaway) to one winner via rafflecopter, and a second winner will receive a digital choice of one of the author's backlist during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway