“10 Random Things” & Giveaway | Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin
Hello MGW family and welcome to another exciting blog tour. Please welcome today’s featured author Kathleen Baldwin who writes the amazing Stranje House series! For today’s tour stop, please enjoy a guest post on ‘10 Random Facts About Kathleen’s Writing’ and enter for your chance to win a signed copy of the Stranje House series!
Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin
Series: Stranje House #3
Published by: Tor Teen on May 23rd 2017
Genres: Historical, Fantasy, YA, Romance, Historical Fantasy
Pages: 352
View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon
About the Book:Lady Jane Moore has a secret. A secret that must be kept buried. For if anyone discovered the truth, her life at Stranje House would crumble. And with Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of England underway, everyone at Stranje House is already in danger. Mortal danger.
Jane knows it. She may not be like Tess, who has the advantage of prophetic dreams. Nor is she like Sera, who notices every detail no matter how miniscule and draws conclusions based on the smallest thread of evidence. She doesn’t possess Maya’s ability to soothe the tempers around her with a few well-spoken words. Neither is she a brilliant scientist like Georgie. According to Miss Stranje, Lady Jane Moore is a mastermind.
Nonsense!
Jane doesn’t consider herself a mastermind. Quite the contrary, she believes herself to be an ordinary young lady. It’s just that she has a rather excessive bent toward the practical. She tends to grasp the facts of a situation quickly, and by so doing, she’s able to devise and implement a sensible course of action. But that’s all there is to it. Well, there is the fact that she also organizes the players in her plans with quiet efficiency. So much so, that occasionally Lady Jane’s friends tease her for being a bit managing.
Do they expect her to sit back and do nothing when trouble is brewing? Not likely. Not when the people she cares about are at risk. Call it being a mastermind if you must, it is a trait that comes in rather handy in a world full of spies, sabotage, and double-dealing. Especially now that Lady Jane and Sera have rooted out the truth: There is a traitor at Stranje House.
Someone is sneaking information to Lady Daneska and Ghost, Napoleon’s spies. Jane is determined to find out who it is before the bonds of friendship at Stranje House are ripped apart by suspicions. Her desperate hunt for the traitor ensnares Robert Fulton’s nephew, Alexander Sinclair, a brash American inventor, in an ambush that puts his life in danger. Sinclair may well be the most maddening man in all of Christendom, a wicked-tongued rascal with boorish manners, but for some reason, Lady Jane cannot bear the thought of the golden-haired genius being harmed.
Is Jane enough of a mastermind to save Alexander, her friends at Stranje House, and possibly England itself?
10 Random Facts About My Writing
- There’s a movie in my head – I do my best to get it on the page.
- Most of my ideas come from dreams, vivid Technicolor dreams that won’t let go.
- Characters in my stories feel like real people to me. When I’m old and have dementia, I’ll probably talk about them as if they lived in our house.
- I’m a binge writer—terrible bad habit. Sometimes I write all through the night. Not good for one’s health.
- Cannot pre-plot. Nope, I tried. Studied plotting; read dozens of books on it, took every plotting workshop or class known to man. Can’t do it. Nope. If I plot, the story comes out tasting like canned asparagus to me. Ugh. And what’s worse… I lose interest in a story if I know the plot.
As a result of my battles with plotting, I teach a workshop called, The Secret Life of Pantsers (a how to and why for pantsers = writers who plot on the fly) - I get a euphoric blast when the story surprises me.
- Creativity is, for me, a divine act.
- Voice is critical—my voice as the storyteller, as well as the character’s.
- It takes me several months of experimentation, interviews, and swimming deep to find a character’s true voice.
- Having been a short story writer, I tend to screech to a stop and end my novels the moment the conflict is resolved. The story is over, right?
Apparently not.
My editor at Tor makes me go back in and add a wrap-up chapter – every time. Now, I bow to her will, because the woman is a genius, and more importantly, she’s right.
3 Winners will receive a Signed Set Copy of Stranje House Series by Kathleen Baldwin
Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter