As a LONG time fan of Beth White’s stories, I’m delighted she is back with a new series in post Civil War America. The Daughtry House series begins with A Rebel Heart and I love Beth’s introduction to her characters, Selah and Levi, below. The inspiration behind Levi doesn’t hurt either 😉 Enjoy getting to know these two and be sure to add A Rebel Heart to your shelves. One of you will receive a free copy if you enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter form.
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SELAH DAUGHTRY
Physical Stats
Height: 5’7”
Hair colour & style: Mahogany (dark brown with red undertone), usually braided in a coronet.
Eye colour: Dark cinnamon brown
Dress sense: Prefers simple utilitarian clothing like dark skirt with simple blouse. But there’s this yellow ball dress that belonged to her mother….
Resembles…
Emma Watson
Can’t live without…
Something to keep her busy.
Strengths
Personal responsibility and sense of justice, protectiveness toward her younger sisters and older cousin. Orderliness.
Vulnerabilities
Perfectionist streak that leads to assumed guilt.
Passions
Independence. Keeping records, neatness and orderliness, family unity.
What book or movie would they recommend?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Your inspiration for the character
Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice
LEVI RIGGINS
Physical Stats
Height: 6’1”
Hair colour & style: Dark brown and longish
Eye colour: Hazel
Dress sense: Dark blue suit with severe military cut, shallow-crowned military style hat
Resembles…
Taylor Kitsch
Can’t live without…
Music
Strengths
Protectiveness, creative way of thinking, sense of humor
Vulnerabilities
Slight stammer, personal humility that leads him to underestimate himself
Passions
Selah Daughtry, playing the piano, keeping a journal
What book or movie would they recommend?
The Terminator (if he’d lived in the 2oth Century)
Your inspiration for the character
1) Binge-watching Friday Night Lights
2) Civil War Commander, Brigadier General Ben Grierson
Background to the story
My editor suggested a series set during the Reconstruction Era, and I wanted to write a story set in my native stage of Mississippi. I researched Mississippi history from that period and discovered, not surprisingly, that racial politics figured pretty much front and center. This let to some alternately head-scratching, frustrating, depressing, and inspirational thematic material. I also knew that the Pinkerton Detective agency was in the news and the romantic imagination of the public, so I thought it would be fun to make my hero a retired Union officer (for maximum romantic conflict with my Southern heroine) and a skilled detective (for an engaging exterior plot). I settled on Tupelo as the location for my plantation manor house because who hasn’t heard of Elvis Presley’s birthplace?
Thanks Beth!
Five years after the final shot was fired in the War Between the States, Selah Daughtry can barely manage to keep herself, her two younger sisters, and their spinster cousin fed and clothed. With their family’s Mississippi plantation swamped by debt and the Big House falling down around them, the only option seems to be giving up their ancestral land.
Pinkerton agent and former Union cavalryman Levi Riggins is investigating a series of robberies and sabotage linked to the impoverished Daughtry plantation. Posing as a hotel management agent for the railroad, he tells Selah he’ll help her save her home, but only if it is converted into a hotel. With Selah otherwise engaged with renovations, Levi moves onto the property to “supervise” while he actually attends to his real assignment right under her nose.
Selah isn’t sure she entirely trusts the handsome Yankee, but she’d do almost anything to save her home. What she never expected to encounter was his assault on her heart.
Beth White‘s day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she writes historical romance with a Southern drawl and is the author of The Pelican Bride, The Creole Princess, and The Magnolia Duchess. Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers’ Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. Learn more at www.bethwhite.net.
Relz Reviewz Extras
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Visit Beth’s website
Buy at Amazon: A Rebel Heart or Koorong
June 13, 2018 at 11:07 pm
Yes! Once I hear the description of the characters, I have what I think they look like in my mind. If the cover model is spot on to the description, that is then who I picture for the main character.
June 14, 2018 at 7:58 am
Thanks for stopping by, Katie! Funny, the cover model for A Rebel Heart looks a lot more like Gillian Anderson to me, than Emma Watson. But she has grown on me! Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 12:23 am
I only have vague ideas, not specifics of characters as I read. This sounds like a good read; thanks for the introduction.
June 14, 2018 at 7:59 am
Hi, Jennifer! Nice to meet you. Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 2:19 am
I do visualize characters in my head, because they aren’t characters, they are real people! I love it when the author provides a visual representation for my convenience.
June 14, 2018 at 8:00 am
Hi, Brittany! Thanks for stopping in to say hello. I’m glad to hear characters are people—they are definitely real to me as well (especially after I spend nearly two years getting to know then intimately)!
Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 2:20 am
I love visualizing the characters as I read. It makes the story more real to me.
June 14, 2018 at 8:01 am
Thanks for stopping by, Kailey! What a cool name you have! Very nice to meet you!
Regards,
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 8:03 am
Thank you! It’s nice to meet you too!
June 14, 2018 at 11:53 am
I definitely visualize characters in my head when I read. I hear their voices, too!
June 19, 2018 at 7:04 am
Hi, Dianna! Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 9:12 pm
I do! Sometimes the visual in my head doesn’t align with the author’s vision. It’s fun to see photos that authors select for characters and find out it their vision and mine are on the same page.
I haven’t yet read any of Beth White’s novels. I look forward to reading one soon.
June 19, 2018 at 7:05 am
Hi, Staci! I hope I’ll convert you to a regular reader! haha! Good luck!
Beth
June 14, 2018 at 10:48 pm
I’m looking forward to to reading this book!! I enjoyed reading the interview and learning about the characters!
June 19, 2018 at 7:06 am
Hey, Trisha,
Best of luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 15, 2018 at 1:01 am
Yes I do. I also don’t like when the cover does not match the character in the book.
June 19, 2018 at 7:07 am
Hi, Merry! You’ll have to let me know what you think about the cover model matching the “real” Selah!
Good luck,
Beth
June 15, 2018 at 5:19 am
I do, especially if it’s a really good book!
June 15, 2018 at 6:29 am
Yes, I have a movie playing in my head as I read. So like others, when the cover shows characters that don’t match the author’s description, it bugs me. Once I even put a book cover over my book because it bugged me that much.
June 19, 2018 at 7:08 am
Hi, Danielle! Now that is a funny idea—covering the book! I love it!
Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 16, 2018 at 2:59 am
I think that a good author can always make you visualize the story in your head. I always enjoy good descritions that don’t go overboard.
June 19, 2018 at 7:09 am
Hi, Perrianne,
I adore your name—it has a Southern feel to it! Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 16, 2018 at 10:19 am
Yes, I do. I like when an author writes a good description of the characters so I can form a picture in my mind.
June 19, 2018 at 7:09 am
Hi, Dianne! You’ll have to let me know what you think about the descriptions of Selah….
Blessings,
Beth
June 17, 2018 at 4:52 am
I so enjoyed the back-story to this book and interview. I had family in MS during that time period. I probably connect more with the characters’ emotions/actions as opposed to visualizing how they would appear/look in person.
June 19, 2018 at 7:11 am
Hi, Cathy, I hope you’ll get a chance to read Rebel Heart and see if what you know about Mississippi history matches up with my story! Good luck in the drawing,
Beth
June 17, 2018 at 10:45 am
I definitely visualize characters in my head. Unfortunately, this becomes a problem when I visualize the character(s) differently than how the author describes them.
June 19, 2018 at 7:12 am
Hi, Mallori,
Book covers are tricky, huh? I hope this one with match up with what you visualize as you read Rebel Heart!
Blessings,
Beth
June 18, 2018 at 9:46 am
Yes, I do visualize the characters. I’m so excited to read Beth’s newest release!
Thank you for the wonderful interview!
June 19, 2018 at 7:12 am
Hi there, Caryl,
Thanks for stopping in to say hello. Good luck in the drawing!
Beth
June 19, 2018 at 7:38 am
Hey!!
Yes ma’am! I do picture my characters in my head and I love to see if what I’m picturing is the same as the author. Boy!! That Levi is HOT!! HOTTER than this Memphis weather we are having. And that my friend is HOT! Now I’m really going to enjoy this book.
June 21, 2018 at 6:02 am
Every time I start reading I always visualize what the characters look like. I even sometimes imagine what they sound like too.