Wednesday, February 26, 2014

'Banished Love'






Today's post is the Virtual Book Tour for Banished Love by Ramona Flightner, an Historical Women’s Fiction with strong romantic elements available January 28, 2014 from Grizzly Damsel Publishing. Please leave your e-mail address, as the author will be awarding one randomly chosen commenter a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. I will post links to the participating blogs for more chances to win.


Ramona Flightner is a native of Missoula, Montana. After graduating from Tufts University with a B.A. in Spanish, she earned a Masters degree in Spanish Literature from the University of Montana. Her Master’s thesis, Chilean Testimonial Literature: the collective suffering of a people, highlighted her continued interest in the stories of those who were at risk of being forgotten or silenced.
           
She studied nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a Master’s in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She has worked for ten years as a family nurse practitioner providing care to the poor and under insured at two community health centers, first in Wilmington, Delaware and now in Boston, Massachusetts.
           
An avid reader, she began writing three years ago. She enjoys the demands of research and relishes the small discoveries that give historical detail to her books.
           
Ramona is an avid flyfisher and hiker who enjoys nothing better than spending a day on a remote Montana river, far from a city. She enjoys research, travel, storytelling, learning about new cultures and discovering new ways of looking at the world. Though she resides in Boston, Massachusetts, Ramona remains a Montanan at heart.
          
 Her dreams are to see the plains of East Africa, marvel at the wonder of Petra in Jordan, soak in the seas of the South Pacific, and to continue to spend as much time as possible with her family.
           
Banished Love is her first novel and is the first in the forthcoming Banished Saga.







Blurb for Banished Love

Free-Spirited…

Clarissa Sullivan dreams for more from life than sipping tepid tea in stifling parlors in Victorian Boston. She defies her family’s wishes, continuing to teach poor immigrant children in Boston’s West End, finding a much-needed purpose to her life.

Radical…

As a suffragette, Clarissa is considered a firebrand radical no man would desire. For why should women want the vote when men have sheltered women from the distasteful aspects of politics and law?

Determined…

When love blossoms between Clarissa and Gabriel McLeod, a struggling cabinetmaker, her family objects. Clarissa’s love and determination will be tested as she faces class prejudices, manipulative family members and social convention in order to live the life she desires with the man she loves.

Will she succeed? Or will she yield to expectations?

BANISHED LOVE follows Clarissa Sullivan on her journey of self-discovery as she learns what she cannot live without.


Excerpt from Banished Love


“You’ve known my beliefs for some time,” I croaked out.

“A schoolgirl’s idealism,” she snapped. “Nothing to be acted on.”

Mrs. Chickering cleared her throat, as though to remind Mrs. Smythe she remained present. “I think it takes a tremendous strength of character to have beliefs and then actually act on them,” she said with her own fervor. “I would hate for women to lock away their desires for a better world once they leave school or marry. They, as women, have lives, have hopes and dreams for the future, independent of what a man might want.”

“How dare you come into my house and tell me that what I have is not sufficient?” Mrs. Smythe gasped.

“I am saying no such thing, Mrs. Sullivan,” Mrs. Chickering replied. “I believe you need to understand that your stepdaughter has beliefs and aspirations that are different from yours.”

“Aspirations that include the vote?” Mrs. Smythe scoffed. “Men have voted in the past, they will continue to vote, and I have no desire of it. I feel as my husband does on all things to do with politics, so it would only be giving the same politician two votes rather than one. There’s no purpose to women having the vote.” Her eyes flashed, true enmity in their depths as she glared at Mrs. Chickering. “And didn’t we women of Massachusetts show you suffragettes we didn’t want the vote in’95? No one voted for women to become enfranchised then, and they won’t now.” She sighed loudly, as though trying to calm herself.

“An aspiration for independence?” Mrs. Smythe continued, unable to stop speaking. “Are you telling me that someday it should be lauded, hoped for, that young women become independent and have no need for marriage? No need for children? How could that ever be a hoped-for future? You and your group want too much for women. Women should focus on their home, on creating a moral, upstanding environment in which to raise children. She will want for nothing if she has such a home,” Mrs. Smythe argued.

“So I suppose women should remain tied to the kitchen stove with children at their ankles, and a husband who might, or might not, come home with a paycheck as their only recourse?” Mrs. Chickering countered. “Relying on the benevolence of men to write laws and enforce them without women having any involvement in the legislative process? Sitting at home knitting, hoping that men will ensure that our rights are protected? That is all you envision for women? Nothing more?”

“It has been enough for generations. I do not know why it should need to change now,” Mrs. Smythe snapped, banging down her teacup with such force I thought she might crack it.

“Was that enough for you in your first marriage, Mrs. Sullivan?” Mrs. Chickering asked, pinning her with an intense gaze.


Participating Blogs

February 3: Full Moon Dreaming
February 4: Novel Moments
February 4: Ms.Stuart Requests the Pleasure of Your Company
February 5: Book Reviews by Dee
February 6: Andi's Book Reviews
February 6: The Simple Things in Life
February 7: Bookgirl Knitting
February 7: Books on Silver Wings

February 10: Two Ends of the Pen
February 10: Room With Books
February 11: Travel the Ages
February 12: Christine Elaine Black
February 13: Aly's Miscellany
February 13: Buried Under Romance
February 14: Erzabet's Enchantments
February 14: Sexy Adventures Passionate Tales

February 17: The Most Happy Reader
February 18: Susana's Morning Room
February 18: Wickedly Wanton Tales
February 19: Gemini Girls
February 19: Francesca's Mindstream
February 20: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
February 20: Margay Leah Justice
February 21: Punya Reviews...

February 24: Rachel Brimble Romance
February 24: Christine Young author
February 25: The Snarkology
February 26: Reviews Unleashed
February 26: My Odd Little World
February 27: Ryshia Kennie
February 28: Blue Rose Romance
February 28: Nickie's Views and Interviews

March 3: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
March 4: It's Raining Books
March 5: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
March 6: Wake Up Your Wild Side
March 7: My Devotional Thoughts
March 7: Bea's Book Nook

March 10: Book Suburbia
March 10: Nana Prah
March 11: You Gotta Read Reviews
March 12: Cynthia Gail
March 12: A Writer's Life
March 13: Long and Short Reviews
March 14: Deal Sharing Aunt
March 14: Words, Words, Words

March 17: Reader Girls
March 18: Maggie Thom
March 19: The Book Review
March 20: LizaOConnor-Author
March 20: Samantha Holt
March 21: Katherine Givens

March 24: Queen of All She Reads
March 24: Beyond Romance
March 25: Linda Nightingale...Wordsmith
March 25: For the Love of Bookends
March 26: Reviews by Crystal
March 27: Rose and Beps Blog
March 27: The Crafty Cauldron
March 28: Brooke Blogs
March 28: Dawn's Reading Nook




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