Today’s guest bloggers are Deborah Heal and Michelle Babb.
Deborah is the author of the Time and Again trilogy, Christian
fiction for teens and adults, and Michelle is the narrator for the audiobooks
of this trilogy.
I would like to thank them and welcome them to my blog and I would like to thank them also for letting me hold a giveaway as well!
Deborah: My books
are part historical fiction and part mystery with a bit of romance thrown in
for good measure. I call them history
mysteries, but with the
amount of factual southern Illinois history woven into the fiction, you might
be tempted to call them “faction
I’ve always
wanted to go back in time to see what the olden days were really like. So I
decided to let my characters get to see some of my favorite historical figures
and events. In Time and Again,
Abby and Merri get to meet Abraham Lincoln as he debates with Stephen
Douglas over the spread of slavery. And they watch brave Charlotte Miles turn
her attic into a stop on the Underground Railroad.
I’ve always
loved the adventure and heroism of Lewis and Clark, so in Unclaimed Legacy, Merri,
Abby, and her boyfriend John get to explore Camp River Dubois, the Expedition’s
point of departure near Wood River, Illinois while also solving a 150-year-old
murder mystery.
I grew up
hearing about the horrid John Crenshaw. He got rich using slave labor at his
salt mine, and his
mansion was a stop on the reverse
Underground Railroad in Equality. Naturally, his creepy
old house makes the perfect spot for Abby and her friends to
solve a History Mystery in Every Hill and Mountain.
Michelle: The historical facts in these books are
accurate and well-researched, but what I especially like is the idea of having
a personal connection to historical events. In these books, Abby and Merri feel connected to Charlotte by watching her on the computer, and this gives them
more of an appreciation for the issues of that time, including the Civil War
and the Underground Railroad.
Deborah: I was tickled pink to get the
chance to turn my trilogy into audiobooks. Michelle did an awesome job of
bringing each character to life. And, man, were there a lot of characters, each
with his or her own accent and verbal idiosyncrasies! But Michelle managed
southern Illinois slave dialects and Chicago accents and everything in between!
Michelle: For each character, I try to have in mind an
actor(or acquaintance of mine) who would “play” that character, which helps me to keep the
voices consistent. It’s fun to work
with the author on getting the voices right, making sure we’ve both got the
same sense of who these characters are and what they’re feeling. I
e-mailed MP3s to Deborah to test-drive
some of the voices.
I imagine I’m
pretty interesting to WATCH while narrating, too. Ryan’s voice(in Book 3) is just disdainful of everything, and I
can feel myself tighten up my entire face when I do his voice, like I’m looking
down my nose, or like I think the people I’m talking to smell bad or something.
And for Ned, he’s a huge guy with a huge chest and neck, and I kind of swell up
and pitch my voice way down in my chest for his lines. But I don’t think we’re
gonna be releasing the accompanying narrator-videos for these books any time
soon; that might tend to detract from the storyline!
Deborah: It would be fun to watch
Michelle in action, but she makes the characters so real you don’t have to see
her (or them) to feel you know each one, which is why it makes me really happy
to know that sight-impaired people have three more audiobooks to select for
their reading pleasure.
Michelle: And this is a neat way for busy people to enjoy more
books. Audiobooks that download to your
Smartphone, Kindle or laptop can help keep people informed and/ or entertained
while jogging, housecleaning or commuting.
Everybody’s “TBR”(to-be-read) list could be transformed into a “TBL”
list. Of course, it’s a different experience, and maybe a different audience
for print and for audiobooks.
Deborah: I can’t leave without
mentioning that my new Rewinding Time series will soon be released,
beginning with Once Again this fall. Merri from the trilogy is now an adult, a
professor of history with her own mysteries to solve. In Once Again, Merri gets to
know the Garretsons, one of the first American families to settle on the
Illinois frontier. Their descendent Brett is also a faculty member at Merri’s
college and determined to convince her to date him. She thinks that’s a
dangerous idea. You can read about the history behind Once Again and all my
books on my website www.deborahheal.com.
ABOUT DEBORAH AND MICHELLE
Deborah was
born in Eldorado, Illinois, not far from
the setting of Every Hill and Mountain, and grew up in Woodburn, Illinois,
just down the road from the settings of Time and Again and Unclaimed
Legacy. Today, she lives in Monroe County, Illinois, the setting of Once
Again. Connect with her on Amazon, Facebook,
Twitter,
and Goodreads.
Michelle is a native Midwesterner who
enjoys knitting, yoga and time-travel, and has previously narrated Saving
Gracie by Terry Lee, which is also available through Amazon/ Audible.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Sharon Page sold her first book, an erotic romance novel A GENTLEMAN SEDUCED, in 2004. Since then, she has published more than 20 novels and novellas, both traditionally through NY publishers (Kensington, Random House, Harlequin), and on her own through self-publishing.
Sharon writes:
Historical romantic women’s fiction (AN AMERICAN DUCHESS)
Erotic historical romance (SIN, DEEPLY IN YOU)
Erotic paranormal romance (BLOOD RED, BLOOD CURSE)
Sensual historical romance (THE CLUB, ENGAGED IN SIN)
New adult contemporary erotic romance (The Yardley College Chronicles series).
Sharon’s books have won many awards including two RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Awards, two National Readers’ Choice Awards, the Colorado Award of Romance, and the Golden Quill. Sharon was nominated by RT Book Reviews in 2013 for Career Achievement in Erotic Romance.
She graduated with a degree in Industrial Design (School of Engineering) and worked for years in the structural engineering field. Married, with two children, Sharon now writes almost full time.
![Time and Again: Book 1 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cifhz79UL._SL300_.jpg "Time and Again: Book 1 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]")
![Unclaimed Legacy: Book 2 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/616ibDoCBqL._SL300_.jpg "Unclaimed Legacy: Book 2 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]")
![Every Hill and Mountain: Book 3 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61-BH-ADs-L._SL300_.jpg "Every Hill and Mountain: Book 3 in the History Mystery Series | [Deborah Heal]")
