Monday, June 4, 2012

Book Review, The River Rose, and a giveaway!

Photo of The River Rose: Book 2 in the Water Wheel series
I have to tell you about this great book that I just read!  I was sent this book to review and I am so glad!  I have read a lot of Gilbert Morris's books, but The River Rose was one of the best!  It is the second book in the Water Wheel series, but it is a stand alone book.  I have not read the first book, The River Queen, yet, but I am going to remedy that quickly!
The The River Rose is about a man and woman who do not know each other, and they inherit equal shares in a paddle wheel boat.  They have to decide if they want to keep the boat and work it or sell it and split the proceeds.
Jeanne Bettencourt, a young Christian widow, has not had an easy time raising her daughter on her own.  She was raised on a steamer, so the Helena Rose is a God-send for her.
Clint Hardin, a single prizefighter/machinist, has inherited the other part of the steamer.  He does not know anything about boats but wants to run the steamer.  He is a known ladies man, and Jeanne is wary of all men.
Gilbert Morris does a great weaving these two opposite's lives together to become a successful team.  He has a surprise ending.  It is a great book so be sure to read it!

Here is a video interview with Gilbert Morris about the book:  http://youtu.be/kuNkvCqhPTM
I have a link to the first chapter of the book, so please be sure to read it for yourself!

Here are a few of his interview questions about the book:
How do you do your historical research?
I think it can be easy to do too much research, just as it can be a mistake to do too little. Some writers are so anxious the give the historical background, that they forget the story. My own problem is to do a good job with research and with the story.
How do you manage to keep your dialogue true to the time period without allowing it to sound stilted?
Reading a great deal of Dickens, for example, will carry over into the writer’s work. There is a danger that all of a writer’s characters will sound alike, which makes for bad fiction. I always try to find some characteristic that will set a character apart, perhaps bad grammar or a pronounced regional accent.

Your novels have a number of female characters with red hair and green eyes. Is that based on a real person?

Got lots of red hair in my family, so I always like redheads! No green eyes. I just get tired of trying, in a book with forty characters, to give them eyes that differ. Blue, brown, green. What other colors can eyes be?

I did say of one shady character, “He had eyes the color of spit.” Now, really, that character had to be evil!
What fascinates you most about 1850s Mississippi?
It was a dramatic time in American history. The Civil War, the rise of modern transportation, the beginning of our industrial growth.
How did you decide to set your story on a steamer?
When I was a boy, I lived for a time in Helena, Arkansas. The river then was still thick with the sternwheelers, and I would sit for hours on the bank of the river and watch them, and riding on one was a thrill.


How can readers find you on the Internet?
                My website and blog are at http://www.gilbertmorris.com
Subscribe to my blog’s feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GilbertMorris

Sign up for my e-newsletter (for subscriber-only giveaways and advance notice of my upcoming novels): http://gilbertmorris.com/news.htm
                Facebook page: facebook.com/gilbertmorrisbooks
Twitter: @gilbert_morris - https://twitter.com/#!/gilbert_morris

Now for the giveaway, would you like to win your own book?  It's easy!  Just leave me a comment letting me know what you would name a steamer if you owned one?  For a second entry, follow Gilbert Morris's blog, and let me know in a separate comment.  I will leave the giveaway open for one week, June 11 I will draw the winner!
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!
Missy
I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from B&H Publishing Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

10 comments:

  1. i love books almost as much as sewing

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  2. I have read some of Gilbert Morris, My sister in Tx introduced me couple yrs ago while I was on vacation with her, would love to win this one-sounds great. I guess to name the steamer I would choose Mareric, this is parts of middle names of my sons-Mark and Eric.
    thanks for your great review and interview.
    Paula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)

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  3. i would name the steamer Floating Home
    pat cowans

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  4. I have read several of Gilbert Morris' books. We taught at the same college for a few years. He is a great writer! If I had a steamer, I would name it Johnnie Belle.

    Rebecca Lind Blake (rjbpianogal@suddenlink.net)

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  5. The Jordan

    joycejohnson1976@yahoo.com

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  6. Love Gilbert Morris's books. It's amazing how many he's written.
    Captain's Lady
    christianfiction@rocketmail.com

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  7. I love to win.....this book sounds so awrsome.......babyruthmac16@yahoo.com

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  8. Ooh, I've read so many of his books! I absolutely loved his Winslow sagas!

    Let's see, I would name a riverboat the River Queen or the Dancing Belle.

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  9. I'm following Gilbert Morris's blog.

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  10. I would love to read this book.
    jean kinsey

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