Interview with historical romance author Holly Bush

I have a quick-hitting interview with historical romance author Holly Bush today as she tours her novel Cross the Ocean.

Holly will be giving away one $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card to a lucky commenter during the tour. To be entered to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, visit other tour stops and enter to win there, too.

Bio:

Holly Bush was born in western Pennsylvania to two avid readers. There was not a room in her home that did not hold a full bookcase. She worked in the hospitality industry, owning a restaurant for twenty years and recently worked as the sales and marketing director in the hospitality/tourism industry and is credited with building traffic to capacity for a local farm tour, bringing guests from twenty-two states, booked two years out.  Holly has been a marketing consultant to start-up businesses and has done public speaking on the subject.

Holly has been writing all of her life and is a voracious reader of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, particularly political and historical works. She has written four romance novels, all set in the U.S. West in the mid 1800’s. She frequently attends writing conferences, and has always been a member of a writer’s group.

Holly is a gardener, a news junkie, has been an active member of her local library board and loves to spend time near the ocean. She is the proud mother of two daughters and the wife of a man more than a few years her junior.

Blurb for Crossing the Ocean.

1871 . . . Worlds collide when American Suffragette, Gertrude Finch, and titled Brit Blake Sanders meet in an explosive encounter that may forever bind them together. Gertrude Finch escorts a young relative to London and encounters the stuffy Duke of Wexford at his worst. Cross the Ocean is the story of an undesired, yet undeniable attraction that takes Blake and Gertrude across an ocean and into each other’s arms.

Excerpt from Crossing the Ocean.

Blake went to the stables, had his horse saddled, and rode to Anthony’s estate. Maybe Elizabeth will ask me to stay for dinner, he thought. Then she’ll go to bed, and Anthony and I can drink a bottle of brandy and get stewed. He could stay there if he couldn’t ride home. A room was kept ready for him with a fresh change of clothes. Blake smiled and felt better than he had in days.  

As the butler escorted Blake down the hall of Anthony’s home to the drawing room, he heard a loud but feminine . . . snort and Elizabeth’s trill laughter in reply. Damn. He remembered now. A cousin of Elizabeth’s from America, sent as an escort to another cousin, was staying with them. Anthony had described and dreaded the arrival of Cousin Gertrude with horror. A spinster remotely connected to Elizabeth’s father’s side, she was big, bold and here for a month. Her arrival had curtailed Anthony’s visits.

Blake stopped and hissed at the butler. “Think I’ve changed my mind, Jenkins. I don’t want to disturb their company.”

“Quite the coward are we, Your Grace? Leave your life-long friend alone with this Amazon from America.” Jenkins stared as he spoke. “In any case they saw you ride up the drive.”

Jenkins spoke his mind to all including Anthony and Elizabeth. There’d be no expecting servile behavior for him. “I’m sure you did not miss the opportunity to point out my arrival,” Blake said.

 “Of course not, Your Grace.” The butler opened the drawing room doors with a flourish. “The Duke of Wexford.”

“Blake,” Anthony said and jumped to pump Blake’s hand. “I am so very happy you are here.”

Blake watched the woman sitting beside Elizabeth stand, and walk across the room to him. She was every inch as tall as he, and Anthony made the introductions. She held out her hand. Blake grasped it and bent to place a kiss there and was surprised when she began to shake it, hitting him squarely in the nose. Blake covered his face with his hand.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Gertrude Finch exclaimed. She threw a look at her cousin Elizabeth.

Welcome, Holly. What is the first book you remember making an indelible impression on you?

One of the first novels I read that had significant impression on me was Agnes Sligh Turnbull’s The Rolling Years. It was the first time I was lost, literally lost, in a story, and especially as it was set in the 1850s. I’d never read a historical novel before. I was mesmerized. Another one I read early that I vividly remember was Christy by Catherine Marshall about the young teacher in the Smoky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century.

If you could only eat one food the rest of your life, what would it be?

Steak. I like them all. I like t-bones and strip steaks and chopped steak. I’m a carnivore from way back.

If you were a shifter, what animal would you like to be?

I’m not sure what a shifter is, but I’m guessing it’s a person that can become an animal. So if I get to choose an animal to be it would be a cat. My cats live like queens.

Favorite season? Why?

I love fall. I don’t know whether it’s the smell of the leaves or my intense love affair with sweaters, but Iate September to mid-November is my favorite. Although, I love spring, too, when the crocus are pushing up through snow and daffodils are blooming. Hmmm. It’s a toss-up.

Best movie ever made?

Ang Lee’s 1995 depiction of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is my all-time favorite. From the music to the casting to the costumes to the script. The acting was superb as was the cinematography. Is there a more nuanced depiction of love and love’s foes, money and power, ever told? Emma Thompson’s screenplay triumphs.

What are some ways readers can connect with you or find out more about your writing?

I'm on Twitter: @hollybushbooks

My website: www.hollybushbooks.com

My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holly-Bush/247399131941435

Amazon buy page | Itunes

Thanks, Holly. Happy touring!

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