Giveaway & A Glimpse into the Life of Historical Romance Author Louise Gouge

Please join me in welcoming Louise Gouge to our blog. Louise's new release A Suitable Wife is the second book in her Ladies in Waiting series, with Love Inspired Historicals.

The series tells the stories of three young ladies who work as companions for wealthy women in Regency England (the era of Jane Austen’s novels). In real life, such companions were impoverished ladies from aristocratic families who were forced to work for their living, a shame for any aristocrat in those days.

Although Louise believes in hard work and works hard herself, she sympathizes with these women who were so limited in what they could do in order to survive. In those days, ladies simply did not work! Makes her glad to live in this day and age!

Here's the back cover blurb:

It’s an impossible attraction. Lady Beatrice Gregory has beauty, brains—and a wastrel brother. With her family fortune squandered, her only chance of a Season is as a lowly companion. London’s glittering balls and parties are bittersweet when Beatrice has no hope of a match. Still, helping Lord Greystone with his charitable work brings her genuine pleasure…perhaps more that she dares to admit. Even when every marriageable miss in London is paraded before him, the only woman to capture Lord Greystone’s attention is the one he shouldn’t pursue. Attaching himself to a ruined family would jeopardize his ambitions. Yet Lady Beatrice may be the only wife to suit his lord’s heart.

I've asked Louise to share a little bit about her life and writing. Take it away Louise...

Thank you so much for inviting me to appear on your blog. I love to connect with readers and let them know that we writers are just ordinary people. In my case, I was the youngest of four children, and because our father was in the newspaper business, we moved quite a bit. That gave me many places to call “home.”

Whenever we moved, the first thing I wanted to do was find the nearest church of my family’s denomination. I can’t really give you the date of my salvation because I always believed that Jesus Christ is my Savior. That doesn’t mean that I walked close to Him all the time, but I did know that in spite of my sin and weakness, God loved me and had a plan for my life

Part of that plan was for me to marry a wonderful man and for us to have four children, just like my parents. I consider the years we spent rearing those children to be the greatest time of my life, not to mention the greatest work of my life.

But when our nest became empty, God wasn’t finished with me. He opened up two new careers for me: teaching English and humanities at a local college and writing Christian novels. When I was growing up, I loved two kinds of stories: horse stories and biblical fiction. When I began my own writing career, I decided that romance was my favorite genre not only to write, but to read. I have three favorite authors: Laurie Alice Eakes, MaryLu Tyndall, and Ramona Cecil. If you have a chance to read anything by these authors, grab it!

So why do I write? What makes me think I can put together a story that will interest people? Well, I’ve always had an active imagination, so I just started writing down the stories that came to mind. After returning to college to hone my writing skills, I submitted my work to an editor and to my delight, she bought it. Since that time, the Lord has blessed me with more contracts.

In my books, I always strive to show how God works in the lives of ordinary people, but I try not to do it in a preachy way. That turns me off, so I don’t want to inflict it upon someone who’s bought my book. On the other hand, I doubt I could write a plausible story that did NOT include my faith in Jesus Christ because He is the most important thing in my life. I am so grateful to Him for my writing career. I have felt His hand in each of the thirteen books I have in print.

I recently finished the third book in this series. It will be released in July. I wish I could give you a sneak peek, but I’d better not. Let’s just say my hero and heroine in Book Three are minor characters in Book Two, and they are a very unlikely pair.

I would love for readers to visit me at my Web site, http://blog.Louisemgouge.com. Right now I am offering another chance to win a copy of A Suitable Wife to those who leave a comment. And for those who want the book right away, it’s available in both print and for Kindle at amazon.com.

Sandra again: Thanks so much for joining us, Louise. Does anyone have any questions for Louise? Louise is giving away a copy of her newest book to one randomly chosen commenter (US or Canada only, with apologies to our international readers)

Sandra Orchard is an award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She writes for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line, and debuts with Revell Publishing in June with the release of the mystery/suspense Deadly Devotion. She lives in Niagara, Canada with her real-life-hero husband of more than twenty-five years, and now writes full time…when not doting on their first grandchild.  You can learn more about Sandra’s books and bonus features at www.SandraOrchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

And for fun, stop by Sandra's newly redesigned website and try getting lost.