Stories Behind the Stories

First and foremost, while my most recent book, Until She Says Yes,  is completely fictional, it is inspired by true stories.

Until She Says Yes print

You only need to read the first few pages to learn about Kingsley Goddard proposing to Consuelo Vanderbilt. While it is NOT true that Consuelo Vanderbilt ever received a marriage proposal from Kingsley Goddard, since the man is completely fictional, it is true that she received a marriage proposal that her mother, Alva Vanderbilt forced her to refuse. Alva wanted her daughter to marry an English nobleman and eventually forced Consuelo to marry the Duke of Marlborough in 1895. According to Consuelo’s memoir, The Glitter and the Gold, it was a sad failure.  Based on this factual piece of history, I created a scene for my fictional hero, Kingsley.

And although Kingsley Goddard and his family are built from my imagination, there is a story told by Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Lehr in her memoir, King Lehr and the Gilded Age, on which my book is based. Apparently, Elizabeth witnessed Edith Gould dismiss her Italian governess, Anna Maria Lucci because Mrs. Gould had learned that her son was interested in the young woman. Signorina Lucci insisted that Mr. Kingdom did in fact love her, but she was sent away.

After reading Ms. Lehr’s memoir, I was inspired to write the story behind the story to find out what might have happened to those upstairs/downstairs lovers. I hope you’re inspired to find out too.

Until She Says Yes is available at Amazon.

 

 Leave a Comment

 Posted on April 11, 2018 by

 Romance, Until She Says Yes, Writing

     , , ,

Update to Glitches Happen.

I’m happy to report it only took ten days and some helpful instructions from the good folks at Amazon to get my stellar screw-up fixed. Thank you, publishing gods!!  If you look back to my blog  post on March 20, you’ll see the original error.

Now see how it should look:

Screenshot-2018-3-30 Until She Says Yes a Jules Vanderzeit novel - Kindle edition by Tricia Linden

Much better.

Good things come to those who wait, and play nice with Amazon. If you haven’t already gotten your copy while the glitch was still in place, no problem. Click this link: Until She Says Yes to get your copy today. This is the same great book it was when it was known as the book with two names. Enjoy it now, enjoy it always.

Happy reading.

 Posted on March 29, 2018 by

 Jules Vanderzeit, Romance, Until She Says Yes, Writing

     , , ,

Climb Higher

Since retiring from international banking, I work as a part-time Tour Guide in the beautiful city of San Francisco. Sometimes my job takes me to hotels located at the top of Nob Hill. To get there, I must traverse some of the steepest streets in a city full of hills. Cable Cars and buses can take me there, but sometimes I find I need to walk to get where I’m expected to be on time.

california street

As the incline increases, the only way to make it to the top is a slow and steady pace with one foot in front of the other. One step at a time. Don’t look back, don’t look up, just keep on going. Sometimes I may need to stop to catch my breath, (I am in my 6th decade!) but to get where I want to be, I know I need to keep going.

Sometimes I feel this way about my writing. Sometimes the going gets steep, but the only way to get where I want to be is to put one foot in front of the other – – – one more day of words on the page – – – one more blog post, one more tweet, one more facebook post to let my readers know I’m here. As I make this climb, I know it’s best not to take too much time looking back. That’s not the direction I want to go. And while I may not yet be able to see the top, I know I need to keep my head down and keep on taking the next step to get me where I want to go.

Enjoy always, T

 1 Comment

 Posted on March 24, 2018 by

 Magical Musings, Romance, Writing

     , ,

Glitches Happen

What’s wrong with this picture?

Screenshot-2018-3-20 Until She Loves Me a Jules Vanderzeit novel - Kindle edition by Tricia Linden Romance Kindle eBooks Am[...]

If you noticed that the title on the book cover doesn’t match the title listed on Amazon, you’re right. Yeah you. Not me!

Maybe you’re asking, how did this happen? – – – Short answer: Because sometimes I’m a freaking idiot, and sometimes I’m not. This is one of those times when I dropped the ball. Bases loaded, strike one.

When I was entering my book to be published on Amazon, I hadn’t noticed that I had typed in the wrong title. Duh! That’s a pretty Big opps. Somehow I had combined parts of my previous book – Until You Love Me – with my current release – Until She Says Yes. I got it half right but only half right is still all wrong.

The title for this book is and always has been Until She Says Yes.

The US government has issued stamps with errors and many of those stamps have become quite valuable because of those errors. They represent a moment in history that was NOT intended. Everyone involved in the process of making those stamps intended to make a perfectly flawless final product. But somewhere along the way an error was overlooked.

I too intended to make a perfectly flawless final product, but like those well-intended stamp makers, somewhere along the way I screwed up. Something got overlooked.

When I discovered my error, my glitch, I spent days being bummed about it, certain it would take me months to recover from this screw-up.  All I could do was suck  it up and move on.  But then I started reading Tyler Perry’s book, Higher Is Waiting,  and I realized my error wasn’t so bad, certainly not life changing. I just needed a way to move past this moment in time and keep believing in myself. Believe in ME. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it, who better than ME.

My book, Until She Says Yes, is a good book. The story is still a good story. It’s entertaining and uplifting. So now that you know that I screwed up, please don’t let that stop you from buying the book, reading the book, and enjoying the story.  Maybe you can be the one to tell your friends, I bought the book with the wrong title . . . and I liked it.

Enjoy always, T

PS – I’m working with Amazon to get this fixed. I’ll keep you updated.

 2 Comments

 Posted on March 20, 2018 by

 Books and Things, Jules Vanderzeit, Magical Musings, Romance, Until She Says Yes

     , , , , ,

Stories Behind the Stories

Authors are often asked where they get the inspiration for their stories. The quick and easy answer is everywhere.

But when you dig deeper, sometime it’s interesting to reveal the
Stories Behind the Stories.

Stradivarius violin

In Until We Meet Again, the first book of my Jules Vanderzeit series, the heroine goes back in time to retrieve a Stradivarius violin that has been left and lost on a train. So where did that come from? Somewhere in my internet trolling (aka research) I came across an old news story of a Stradivarius violin that had been left on a train, believe it or not, by what could only be described as an absentminded musician. I mean, really, who would forget they were traveling with a rare and expensive Stradivarius violin? But I liked the idea of how I could use it in a story.

I was writing a story of a woman being sent back in time and the idea of her going to find the lost violin worked for me. I simply moved the incident back to 1888 and made the owner a general after reading about this on Wikipedia.

As I researched this time period, I also found info on the Great Blizzard of 1888. I used that event as the cause of death for my hero’s wife, leaving the door open for his new romance.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, please pick up a copy of my book, Until We Meet Again from one of the many online book sellers and read all about it.

– – – Until we meet again, Enjoy Always, T

 Posted on February 7, 2018 by

 Jules Vanderzeit, Romance, Until We Meet Again

     , , ,

Tricia Linden – Mystical Romance

Blog at WordPress.com.