The Heart of the Phoenix Blog Tour! (+$25 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway!)

Title: The Heart of the Phoenix

Author:  Barbara Bettis

Series:  N/A

Pages: N/A

Date Published: September 3rd, 2014

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Format: ebook

Genre:Romance

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:

Memories Lady Evelynn’s childhood hero is home—bitter, hard, tempting as sin. And haunted by secrets. A now-grown Evie offers friendship, but Sir Stephen's cruel rejection crushes her, and she resolves to forget him. Yet when an unexpected war throws them together, she finds love isn’t so easy to dismiss. If only the king hadn’t betrothed her to another.

Can be Cruel Sir Stephen lives a double life while he seeks the treacherous outlaws who murdered his friends. Driven by revenge, he thinks his heart is closed to love. His childhood shadow, Lady Evie, unexpectedly challenges that belief. He rebuffs her, but he can’t forget her, although he knows she’s to wed the king’s favorite.

And deadly When his drive for vengeance leads to Evie’s kidnapping, Stephen must choose between retribution and the love he’s denied too long. Surely King John will see reason. Convict the murderers; convince the king. Simple. Until a startling revelation threatens everything.

~Guest Post!~

Cooler weather is coming. Time to hit the stores for a new fall outfit. If we lived in a castle in Lady Evelynn’s day, 1199, we couldn’t just run down to the mall. We’d have to get the fabric and either make the garment ourselves or have the castle seamstresses sew it. We might even spin the thread out of wool from our own sheep and weave it into fine woolen fabric to use.

Patterns weren’t precut. Lady’s clothing was cut in rectangles for the body of the gown and triangles for the sleeves. A small piece of fabric called a gusset helped the sleeve fit.

We might be able to afford silk or other less common fabric (velvet didn’t come into use in England until later in the medieval period.) But unless we were going to court or to a celebration at another noble’s residence where fancy attire was called for, we’d settle for a woolen gown. Scarlet, by the way, was both a fabric and a color at that time. The fabric was very expensive and not affordable for any but the wealthy.

Our wool gown could be dyed a variety of colors, derived from various plants handy around the castle and gardens or in the nearby woods. Various shades of blue, yellow, green, brown, were among the ones that could be made rather handily from plants, roots and nuts.

Alum, imported by England from Sicily and North Africa by 1200, was usually used as a ‘mordant’ to help with colorfastness. Iron could also be used. Also essential in the dying process: ammonia. That was plentiful in all households in the form of stale urine. (Ick)

Our undergown or chemise likely would be fine, soft linen. Linen didn’t take dye very well, so most linen was plain, unbleached, thus perfect for undergarments.  For us ladies of the manor, though, it could be bleached—possibly by laying the fabric in the sun until it whitened.

We’d have our new linen chemise, or undergown, and new woolen overgown. These items of clothing were known by various names throughout the medieval era. But that’s another story. J

Once these items were completed, we could decorate them. We might use fur on the sleeves or perhaps at the neckline. For special occasions, we might add some jewels (or stones as writings of the period called them). But we could also embroider designs around the neck and sleeves.

We don’t want to forget new headcoverings. Heavier fabrics could be used for veils or wimples, but the lighter weight fabrics such as fine linen and silk were also available. They could be simple squares of fabric, or they could be complicate caps that circled the face and hid the hair, with gorgets passing under the chin. But according to Calthrop in his Enlgish Costume, during the time of Richard I, ladies usually wore the lighter squares of linen or silk. Depending upon our income, we might have fancy circlets to hold them in place.

There. Now we’re all set for the fall festivities. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to hate to get my new outfit dirty. Look at all the trouble to replace it!

When I was writing of Evie’s outfits on her journey home to England, I chose to have her wear

one of the heavier, more encompassing, headcoverings. If I were riding horseback for days in the

wind, dirt and rain, I’d want my hair covered!

~Try an Excerpt!~

Evie could tell Stephen was angry now by the way he glowered and roared in that whispery sort of way no one else could hear, but left her with no doubt of his displeasure.

“Your betrothed.” He bent and scooped her off the floor.

“What? What about him?”

“That’s the identity of the illustrious lord who’s sharing passage with us.”

“You’re drunk. And put me down. I’m perfectly capable of getting up on my own.”

“Be quiet. You have blood on your leg.”

“Of course I do. I tripped and fell trying to answer your pounding when you could easily have opened—” His words finally penetrated her throbbing head. “I’m bleeding?”

Oh, blast. The contents of her—empty—stomach churned. She attended the villagers’ hurts, bound the cuts and scrapes of servants and their children. The sight of their blood bothered her not a whit. But her own? Black spots danced at the corners of her vision, becoming larger and larger until she heard Stephen’s voice.

“Evie, Evie. What the hell?”

His voice echoed so far away. If she didn’t know better, she’d vow he sounded alarmed. Perhaps she’d close her eyes for a moment. As the ringing in her ears crescendoed, she recalled

his words. Betrothed.

Her betrothed was on board?

Dear Lord, just let me die.

~Meet Barbara!~ 

Award-winning author Barbara Bettis has always loved history and English. As a college freshman, she considered becoming an archeologist until she realized there likely would be bugs and snakes involved. And math.

A former health insurance claims adjuster, a former journalist, a former journalism teacher, Barbara Bettis plans never to be a “former” author. Currently, she supports her writing habit as an adjunct English instructor at a community college near her home in Missouri.

She now lives in Missouri, where by day she’s a mild-mannered English teacher, and by night she’s an intrepid plotter of tales featuring heroines to die for—and heroes to live for.

Barbara will be awarding a $25 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a Ecopy of The Heart of the Phoenix and a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.

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