The Ruby Brooch and Kathrine Lowry Logan
KATHERINE LOWRY LOGAN just released her first book a couple of months ago. And I've wanted to have her visit my blog ever since. I love time travels. I love anything Celtic, too. And the RUBY BROOCH has the special magic of a Celtic Brooch and it drew me right in. I'd love to have one just like it.
Question: Describe your hero and
tell us a little about him.
Answer: Cullen Montgomery is
more of a Renaissance Man than a typical alpha male. He’s a lawyer, quotes
Shakespeare and hums Bach. He is caring, loving, and worries about others. He
is intolerant of liars, and unfortunately the heroine is tied up in a bundle of
them. This causes a great deal of conflict for him because he wants to take
care of her but knows she is lying to him.
Here’s a physical description as seen from the
heroine’s POV:
The chair dropped to the heart-of-pine floor
with a heavy thud. The man unfolded his long, lean body and stood. She guessed
him to be about six-one, one eighty. She was good at sizing up people whether
they were standing or lying on a gurney. Ropey veins in his forearms pulsed
beneath red-flannel shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows. The loose shirt did
little to disguise the broad expanse of his chest. He tossed the newspaper to
the pedestal desk and turned toward her, glaring with vibrant blue eyes
curtained by thick lashes. A rough layer of dark morning whiskers covered his
square-jawed face.
Question: Describe your heroine
and tell us a little about her.
Answer:
Kit MacKlenna is a paramedic and expert equestrian. When the reader meets
her, she is the lone survivor of a crash that killed her parents and a good
friend. She is the sole heir of
multi-million dollar, world renowned Thoroughbred breeding operation in
Lexington, KY. She is a risk-taker, more comfortable with her shirttail hanging
out and muddy boots than in dress up clothes and strappy heels. To Kit, family
and belonging are the most important things in the world. She grew up on a farm
that had been in the MacKlenna family for over two hundred years. Her world
further collapses when she discovers she’s not who she thought she was. To
regain her equilibrium, she risks more than she can afford to lose.
Question: How did you come up with
the title?
Answer: I
was looking for something unique and portable that could be used as a method of
time travel. I have a ruby bracelet that was the inspiration for the brooch.
Once I decided to use the brooch idea, the title was born.
Question: If you’re writing a
series, have you kept the same characters throughout? And what through line or
theme have you used to tie it together?
Answer:
The next two books in the
trilogy are THE EMERALD BROOCH and THE SAPPHIRE BROOCH. The heroes in both of
these stories play a major role in THE RUBY BROOCH.
The gems in the brooches are inscribed in
Gaelic: Chan ann le tìm no à ite a bhios
sinn a' tomhais an gaol ach 's ann le neart anama.” The translation is: “Love is not measured by time or space.
Love is measured by the power of the soul.” Once the soul is empowered through
a very difficult journey, there is no limit to the capacity of the
hero/heroines’ ability to love.
THE RUBY BROOCH BLURB
And the day came when
the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than
the risk it took to blossom.
~Anaïs Nin
Can a 21st century paramedic find her heart's desire on the
other side of time?
From the white-plank fenced pastures of
Lexington, Kentucky, to the beautiful Bay of San Francisco, The Ruby Brooch, a
saga steeped in family tradition and mystery, follows a young woman's journey
as she searches for the truth on the other side of the heather-scented mist.
As
the lone survivor of a car crash that killed her parents, paramedic Kit
MacKlenna makes a startling discovery that further alters her life. A faded
letter and a well-worn journal reveal that she was abandoned as a baby and the
only clues to her identity are a blood-splattered shawl, a locket that bears a
portrait of a nineteenth-century man, and a Celtic brooch with mystical powers.
After
studying the journal, she decides to continue her father's twenty-year search
for her identity and solve her birth parents' murders. For safety reasons, she
adopts the persona of the Widow MacKlenna. Although a perfect cover for her
eccentric behavior, she will be forced to lie and MacKlennas don't lie, or so
she thought. Finally, dressed and packed, she utters the incantation inscribed
on the ancient stone and is swept back to Independence, Missouri, in the year
1852.
Upon
arriving in the past, she meets Cullen Montgomery, an egotistical Scotsman with
a penchant for seducing widows. The San Francisco-bound lawyer happens to
resemble the ghost who has haunted Kit since childhood. She quickly finds the
Bach-humming, Shakespeare-quoting man to be over-bearing and his intolerance
for liars threatens her quest.
If
she can survive his accusations and resist his tempting embrace for
seventy-three days, she might be able to find the answers she seeks, and return
home to a new life without changing history or leaving her heart on the other
side of time.
Prologue
Independence, Missouri,
April 4, 1852
IN A SUNLIT corner of the cluttered Waldo, Hall & Company
freight office, Cullen Montgomery sat tipped back on a chair’s spindly rear
legs reading the newspaper and scratching a rough layer of morning whiskers.
Henry Peters slumped in a leather-reading chair
and propped his legs, covered in faded cavalry pants, on a crate marked
textiles and bound for Santa Fe. “What you learning ‘bout in that gazette?”
Cullen chuckled at what little
real news the paper printed. Since he no longer lived in Edinburgh or
Cambridge, he needed to lower his expectations when it came to the local press.
Every word of the Independence Reporter
had been read and reread, and although he couldn’t find mention of a scientific
discovery or notice of a public discussion with a famous poet, he knew Grace
McCoy had gotten hitched last Saturday. Reading the paper’s recitation was unnecessary. He’d escorted the
bride’s widowed aunt to the nuptials and knew firsthand that the bride had
swooned walking down the aisle. Virgin
brides and widows. The former didn’t interest him, the latter lavishly
entertained him.
He gave the last page a final perusal. “There's no mention
of our wagon train pulling out in the morning.”
The old soldier took a pinch of tobacco between
his thumb and forefinger and loaded the bowl of his presidential-face pipe. “We
ain’t got no more room anyways. No sense advertising.”
The day had turned unusually warm, and Cullen
had dressed for cooler weather. Sweat trickled down his back, prompting him to
roll his red-flannel shirtsleeves to his elbows. “Mary Spencer’s not going now.
We can take on one more family.”
Henry dropped his feet, and his boot heels
scraped the heart-of-pine floor. “Dang. Why’d you bring up that gal’s name?”
“It’s not your fault she disappeared.” Although
Cullen hadn’t said anything to his friend, he believed the portrait artist he’d
seen making a nuisance of himself at the dress shop had sweet-talked the
porcelain-skinned, green-eyed woman into eloping.
“Maybe, maybe not.” The joints in Henry’s bowed
legs popped and cracked as he stood and stepped to the window.
Cullen pulled out his watch to check the time.
Before slipping the timepiece back into his vest pocket, out of habit he rubbed
his thumb across the Celtic knot on the front of the case. The gesture always
evoked memories of his grandfather, an old Scot with a gentle side that
countered his temper. Folks said Cullen walked in his grandsire’s shoes. He
discounted the notion he could be hotheaded, with one exception. He had no
tolerance for liars. When he unveiled a lie, he unleashed the full measure of
his displeasure. “We can’t worry about yesterday, and today’s got enough
trouble of its own.”
“Rumor has it John Barrett needs money. Heard
you offered him a loan.” Henry wagged his pipe-holding hand. “Also heard he got
his bristles up, saying he wouldn’t be beholdin’ to nobody. Got too much pride
if’n you ask me. You get down to cases with that boy and straighten his
thinking out.”
God knew Cullen had tried. “If I can’t find a
compromise, our wagon train could fall apart before we get out of town.”
“You’re as wise as a tree full of owls, son.
You’ll figure it out.”
The newspaper had served its purpose so he
tossed the gossip sheet into the trash. Then he stood and stretched his legs
before starting for the door.
Henry rapped his knuckles on the windowsill.
“Where’re you goin’?”
A queue tied with a thong at Cullen’s nape
reminded him that his shaggy hair hadn’t seen even the blunt end of a pair of
shears in months. “To the barber. Afterwards, I’ll figure out how to get your
wagon train to Oregon. There’s a law office with my name on the door waiting at
the end of the trail. I don’t have time for more delays.”
Henry’s bushy brows merged above his nose. “There’s
more than work awaitin’ you.”
“To quote an old soldier: Maybe. Maybe not.”
With the picture of a San Francisco, dark-haired lass tucked into his pocket
alongside his watch, and the keening sound of his favorite bagpipe tune playing
in his mind, Cullen left the office to solve today’s problem before it became
tomorrow’s trouble.
WHERE TO FIND KATHERINE
ON THE WEB:
Website:
http://www.katherinellogan.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/KathyLLogan
WHERE TO BUY THE RUBY
BROOCH:
Thank you so much for having me today, Teresa.
It’s been a pleasure visiting with you and your readers.
Comments
Hallee
Teresa R.
So proud of you! The Ruby Brooch is nestled in my Kindle waiting for a stretch of time this weekend to savor it.
Well done!
Belle (Lana Douglas)
Like Teresa, I have a special place in my heart for time travels- I was a die-hard fan of Quantum Leap.
I do believe love defies the boundaries of time. A truly wonderful story.