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| Available on Amazon |
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Would I like a chance to visit Regency England, the time and
place where my imagination has been hanging out for the last dozen years or
more? Of course! But I have a couple of conditions.
First, I would have to insist on the Jane Austen version,
where even the bad guys have good manners and being poor means you can only
afford to keep two servants. Secondly, I must go like a tourist, with a
round-trip return ticket and a carry-on bag containing the basic necessities of
life. Only offering one-way passes? Then, no thank you. I’m much too fond of my
electric toothbrush, modern medicine, and indoor plumbing.
Hope O’Neil – perky southern co-ed, Jane Austen devotee, and
heroine of my new novel – is made of braver stuff. She’s at the Crossroads Center
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Shannon: Thank
you for speaking with me today, Miss O’Neil, and especially for selecting me to
document the incredible adventure you’re about to embark on. I can’t tell you
how thrilled I am! But that’s nothing compared to what you must be feeling. Did you ever imagine you would find yourself
in this position – soon to travel into the past?
Hope: Gosh, no! I
had no clue that anything like this was even possible, but now I’m about to
head off to 1809 to become a proper English gentleman’s daughter. Is that
awesome or what?
Hope: It does.
Crossroads is in the business of handing out second chances; they do it all the
time. I’m very lucky to have been selected, though, and everybody here has been
so nice. I think Mr. Poindexter is absolutely super. And isn’t Cora just as
cute as the knees on a honey bee? And twice as sweet.
Hope: That’s
right; it’s what I decided on – what I’ve always wanted, really. Ever since I
discovered Jane Austen, I’ve felt like I belonged in the world that she wrote
about, so this is really a dream come true for me.
Hope: It’s going to call for some adjustments, I know,
especially the no-indoor-plumbing part. But I’ve been camping before, plenty of
times. How much different could it be?
Hope: No,
nothing like that. I picked a spot as much like Elizabeth Bennet’s as I could
find. I’ll be gentry and live in a fine manor house called Laurelwood – nothing
too grand but it reminds me of Longbourn. There’s even an entail.
Hope: I sure
wouldn’t mind! But I can’t count on that. What I do know is I’ll be the second oldest, just like Lizzy, in a family
of four daughters with a mother and a father and everything. Having a big
family this time is important to me.
Hope: No,
ma’am. I was an only child. I’m not leaving anybody behind – not a boyfriend or
even a flea-bitten hound dog to miss me.
Hope: (laughing)
Right. Like Cora told me, “You can’t just show up at the dinner table one day,
out of the blue and fully grown, and expect people not to wonder where you came
from.” So the way they do it is they slip you into someone else’s spot – somebody
who just that second died – and you get to live life out in their place.
There’s a whole menu of openings to pick from. It’s practically like ordering
lunch at Denny’s! Well, anyway, this girl Kate Barrett – the one I’ve chosen –
she died in a riding accident in 1809. Now she’ll seem to survive, only it will
be me instead. Do you see?
Hope: It’s
done all the time, like I said. You might even have run into a ‘transplant’
before without knowing it – a person who surprisingly recovered from something
that should by all rights have done him in, maybe. Like I knew this gal once –
her name was Sandi Baker – and everybody said had no business surviving this
terrible kind of food poisoning she got from eating bad sushi. But then she did survive after all, and she bounced
back, right as rain. Now I wonder if she could have been somebody from
Crossroads on a second chance. But Cora wouldn’t tell me. Top secret stuff,
apparently.
Hope: It’s
mind boggling! Sometimes it actually makes my head hurt to consider… (gasping) Oh,
my goodness!
Hope: A wild
idea just popped into my head! I was just thinking that it’s possible you could be a ‘transplant’ on a second
chance!
Hope: It’s
possible – you or anyone. You see, the person eventually loses their memories
of their original life. That’s what I’ve been told. So after a while, you
wouldn’t know yourself that you had ever been anybody else. That’s why I said
it’s possible. You must admit… Uh, Ms. Winslow, are you okay?
Hope:
(nodding) Uh-huh. Like I told you; thinking too hard about time travel can do
that.
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Shannon Winslow’s Crossroads Collection is made up of two
very different books so far, stories about turning points, possibilities, and
second chances. Leap of Hope and Leap of Faith are each complete in themselves
but connected by theme and the Crossroads characters. They can be read in
either order.
Who hasn’t wondered at least once how life would have
changed by making an alternate choice at some crucial moment in the past? Where
would you be today if you’d turned right instead of left at an important
crossroads or been able to sidestep a particular misfortune? Or perhaps you’ve
daydreamed about a different life altogether, in a different place and time.
Each book in the Crossroads Collection features a new hero/heroine who’s given
the extraordinary gift of a second chance at life, the chance to answer for
themselves the intriguing question “what if?”
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| Both Available on Amazon along with other books by Shannon Winslow |
Leap of Hope: Chance at an Austen Kind
of Life
At the Crossroads
Center England …
a lot more.
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| Available on Amazon |
Leap of Faith: Second Chance at the
Dream
At the Crossroads
Center
My, I'm not so sure that I would be as brave as you, Miss O'Neil, although I have a longing for a return to England, that is almost unbearable at times. That longing calls to my heart as if I belong there so I do understand those feelings you have. I would love to 'visit' Regency times but fear I would not enjoy doing without some of my necessities of this life, like toilets and computers, for a couple. I know, they are at two ends of the spectrum of necessary, but I find I would miss both terribly. All of my misgivings aside, I must tell you, you have my deepest admiration and my best wishes for your journey. How eager I am to hear how it all turns out! I guess the only recourse is to read your story as told by Shannon Winslow and find out for myself! What do you think?
Now Dear Readers, what do you think? Would you want a one-way ticket to Regency England, or anywhere, for that matter? Tell us in your comments. Let us know where you would go if you could and if you would be willing to stay or only go if you could return. It should be fun reading your answers to that thought provoking question! Thanks to all of you for stopping by and a special 'thank you' to Shannon Winslow and Hope O'Neil. It has been wonderful having you today and I loved the interview, ladies. Hope, I think you left Ms. Winslow with a few things to ponder! Delicious, isn't it!?
There is a giveaway! Some of you will have the chance to find out about Hope's adventure and also about Ben's. Isn't that great? I'm thrilled for you. Once you do, you must write and tell me what you think. Ms. Winslow is giving away two paperbacks, one of each title, US only and two eBooks, one of each title, worldwide. That's one paperback and one eBook for Leap of Hope and one paperback and one eBook for Leap of Faith. There will be four different winners and the giveaway is international for eBooks and US only for paperbacks! Isn't that a fantastic giveaway? Thank you, Shannon Winslow. Readers, when you tell us about your thoughts on time travel, if and where, don't forget to include your contact info too. Thanks for popping in and good luck to all of you. Giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on the 3rd of April. Can you believe it is already nearly April? I can't either!
