Guest Post and Giveaway: From Now On by Susan A. Royal

Description:

Griffin has traveled across centuries to reunite with the woman he loves, but he and Erin may not get their ‘happy ever after’. Not if Lady Isobeil has anything to do with it. She forces Griffin to leave Erin behind and travel to eerie Manx Island. When he goes missing, Erin and his friends set out to find him. Followed by his strong-willed sister, Kateryn, they ride to Swansea and secure passage with the notorious Captain Akin.

Erin sees firsthand how the island earned its dark reputation when she battles freakish weather, encounters a race of little people known as “Prowlies”, and experiences ghosts of the long departed. She discovers “ley lines” crossing the island’s mountain peak and making time travel possible. 

Yet these obstacles pale in comparison to the secrets Erin uncovers while determined to rescue the man she loves.

While doing research for a novel set in the Middle Ages, Erin and her employer, March, are transported to a time where chivalry and religion exist alongside brutality and superstition. Things are not quite right at the castle, and Erin and March feel sure mysterious Lady Isobeil is involved. Erin must cope with crop circles, ghosts, a kidnapping and death before the truth of her journey is revealed.

Forced to pose as March’s nephew, Erin finds employment as handsome Sir Griffin’s squire. She’s immediately attracted to him and grows to admire his courage, quiet nobility and devotion to duty. Yet, she must deny her feelings. Her world is centuries away, and she wants to go home. Despite that, Erin can’t stop thinking about her knight in shining armour.

GUEST POST

Time Travel and the Fascination of the Old Times 

The idea of being able to travel through time has always fascinated me. In a way I guess you could say I am a time traveler. Every time I read a book it transports me into another world. Some of them actually exist and some are only fantasy, but that doesn’t matter. 

When I’m immersed in a good story, it becomes as real as anything around me. I can cross the sands of ancient Egypt, attend a jousting tournament in England in the Middle Ages, take in the countryside in 17th century Scotland (get a load of those kilts!!), see what it’s like to live during World War II, live in the south during the Civil War era or ride a stagecoach in the American west. I can travel to another world entirely and see dragons, trolls, dwarves, fairies and other beasts. I can go to other dimensions where magic is real or visit alternate realities and see what my life might be like if history had been different. 

One of my favorite time travel stories of all times is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Claire Randall is a 20th century woman sent back through time to 17th century Scotland who must learn to cope in a world far different from her own. Ultimately she chooses it over her own time, because of the man she loves and cannot forget. It’s being made into series for STARZ, and I dearly love the words that flash across the screen on the trailer: What if your future…was the past. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to talk to someone like Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain in the flesh? Get up close and personal with them. Find out what they were really like. To have the chance to meet them or even listen to them speak, instead of seeing them through someone else’s eyes. Form your own opinions. 

Or what if you could go back and see your parents or grandparents when they were your age. See what they’re really like. Look at them from a totally different viewpoint. What would they be like? Would you find things in common with them? What if you had the chance to visit a younger you? A you that hasn’t made the mistakes or learned the lessons you’ve learned. Would you try to change the past? 

You have to admit the idea is intriguing. How would you cope? Could you live without electronics or indoor plumbing? What would society be like? It’s fascinating to think of what it would be like to visit. And who knows? You might decide you actually prefer it to living in the present. It’s a thought…

More about the book and EXCERPT

TOUR SCHEDULE

About the book:

Erin and Griffin’s happy reunion is short-lived when Isobeil sends him on a mission to mysterious Manx Island soon after their arrival in his world. Griffin asks for Erin’s hand in marriage and promises they’ll marry when he returns, but he doesn’t come back in the allotted time. Erin discovers Isobeil isn’t at all concerned he is missing. In fact she plans to use Griffin’s absence to send Erin back to her own time.

Erin’s old friend, Arvo, helps her sneak out of the castle. Together with his squire they travel to Griffin’s childhood home, seeking help from Griffin’s trusted friend, Sir Edevane. Erin and Griffin’s sister, Kat, share a touching moment before she is summoned by Griffin’s mother, Lady Gwyneth. After an uneasy confrontation, Gwyneth wishes Erin and Edevane Godspeed, sending them on their way. At a tavern along the way, they meet Rhylie and Sage, orphaned sisters who ask to travel with them to Swansea.

After they arrive in the port city, they make arrangements with Captain Akin for passage to Manx Island. Once they set sail, Erin discovers unexpected passengers. Against her mother’s wishes, Kat has followed them. Also aboard are Rhylie and Sage, on their way home to Manx Island.

They find Griffin’s horse, Bayard, running loose on the beach. Captain Akin tells them the vines tangled in his bridle grow only in Ballaugh Curragh, which is on the other side of the island, so they head in that direction.

When Erin and Bayard get lost in a strange mist, she stumbles upon a herd of pigs, led by a little man called Figg. He takes Erin back to camp. On the way, he admits he’s recently seen Griffin and Bayard in the company of strangers. And Griffin was being held against his will. Figg offers Erin his help.

At a small village on their way, they discover the strangers passed through days before. They are caught in a freak snowstorm and take shelter for the night in the ruins of an old church, where Erin glimpses a ghost keeping watch at a grave. That night she dreams of the woman and learns why she haunts the graveyard.

Armed mercenaries capture Erin and the others and take them to a hidden camp where Erin is shocked to discover her brother Aidan is the man in charge. He is under orders to level Ballaugh Curragh if necessary to keep H.G. Hammond, a power hungry murderer, from activating a device to set up his own empire in this time. She is even more determined to find Griffin while there’s still time. Rhylie and Sage help them escape and lead them to their childhood home outside Kirk Michael, where Rhylie tells the story of their father and mother and how they met.

Aidan catches up with them, and when his men disobey his orders, Aidan sends them back to their own time. Erin talks her brother into joining them. He shocked to discover Rhylie and Sage are his daughters. He realizes he’s got to find some other way to deal with Hammond. It’s one thing to sacrifice his life, but another thing altogether when it involves his family.

Iain is killed when a small group goes to scout out Hammond’s camp. They decide to strike immediately or lose the advantage of surprise. Once they arrive, Aidan sets off an explosion to confuse Hammond’s men and goes in to disarm the device. While he’s doing that, Erin finds Griffin alive, but trapped in the cellar of a building. She manages to save him before it caves in completely. Aidan is able to disable the device and fails to catch Hammond who escapes, but not before Akin can follow him to whatever world he is going.

Everyone returns to Lady Gwyneth’s manor. Erin and Griffin are reunited at last and their marriage takes place. Aidan manages to arrive in time to walk his sister down the aisle. After the ceremony Erin is stunned when Aidan approaches with two of the guests and asks Erin if she recognizes Dad and Mom.

EXCERPT

I am a stranger in this world, even though I’ve traveled this way before.

Fate and not design brought me the first time. It hurled me into a distant future, with no idea how or why, taking me from an existence dependent upon modern technology to a place where people fear such things and those who use them. While searching for my way home from this harsh and sometimes violent world, my admiration for its inhabitants who valued honor and duty above all else grew into admiration and respect. I found myself drawn to one in particular, a man who saved me more than once. Only I never expected to fall in love with him.

Torn between my feelings and a longing for home, I returned to my time with only vague memories of my experience. My life went back to normal, but part of me sensed the loss of something more precious than anything I’d regained. Until one day, I saw him again.

This time I’ve come by choice, and it is where I’m going to stay.

Fate willing.

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About the author:

Born in west Texas and raised in south Texas, Susan makes her home in a 100-year-old farmhouse in a small east Texas town that comes complete with a female ghost who has been known to harmonize with her son when he plays guitar.

Susan is married and the mother of six (she counts her children’s spouses as her own) and five grandchildren who are all unique and very special. Her family is rich with characters, both past and present. Her grandmother shared stories of living on a farm in Oklahoma Territory with three sisters and three brothers and working as a telephone operator in the early 20th century. Her father told her about growing up in San Antonio in the depression, and she experienced being a teenager during WWII through her mother’s eyes.

Susan loves to take her readers through all kinds of adventures with liberal doses of romance. Her latest book is From Now On, a time travel adventure/romance. It’s the stand-alone sequel to Not Long Ago in her It’s About Time series. In My Own Shadow is a Fantasy adventure/romance. Look for her books at MuseItUp/Amazon/B&N. Odin’s Spear, one of her short stories is featured in a Quests, Curses, and Vengeance anthology, Martinus Publishing, available on Amazon.

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