Today we have visiting Love Bytes author Rebecca Cohen . She stops by on her Pride Promotions Blog tour answering some questions for us. She also offers an excerpt to her new release and there is a giveaway you can participate in

Welcome Rebecca!

Book Name: Saving Crofton Hall

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23286754-saving-crofton-hall

Author Name: Rebecca Cohen

Rebecca Cohen is a Brit abroad. Having swapped the Thames for the Rhine, she has left London behind and now lives with her husband and baby son in Basel, Switzerland. She can often be found with a pen in one hand and a cup of Darjeeling in the other.

Author Contact: https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.cohen.710, http://twitter.com/R_Cohen_writes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Blurb:

Benjamin Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, has no intention of giving up his beloved ancestral home without a fight. Faced with his mother’s gambling debts, forgery, and the possibility of foreclosure by the bank, Ben vows to make Crofton Hall pay for herself. But opening an Elizabethan manor house  to the public isn’t a one man job. With time running out, Ben needs help—and fast.

Ashley Niven has experience managing events, and he also loves history. Being in charge of opening Crofton Hall is a dream come true. As he works with Ben to prepare the house as a venue for lavish weddings and receptions, Ashley finds himself drawn not just to the charm of the house but to the dashing Earl of Crofton.  Even if Ashley can look past Ben’s playboy reputation, he fears an affair could prove too much of a distraction.

But Crofton Hall has many secrets, and something hidden for over four hundred years is about to change all their lives.

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Buy Links:

DSP ebook

DSP paperback

How long have you been writing?

I wrote while I was growing up but stopped when I went to university to study science. About ten years ago, I wasn’t enjoying my job and needed something to help save my creativity from the drudge of repetitive lab work. I had an idea for a story, which became Servitude (my first published novel), and the rest is history.

Where you a good student in school? What was your favorite subject?

I was definitely a bookworm. I knew that if I wanted to get a good job, I needed an education, and I was lucky that I was pretty smart and picked up things quickly. So, yeah, I was a geek… I pretty much liked all the subjects I studied, and still love science (especially biology and geology)and history.

 

Tell us about Saving Crofton Hall. Is it connected to your other books?

Saving Crofton Hall is the first in the Stately Passions series, which is spin off from my historical series, The Crofton Chronicles. In Saving Crofton Hall we meet Benjamin Redbourn, the 16th Earl of Crofton. Ben needs to save his ancestral home from the bank after his mother managed to run up some pretty impressive gambling debts and borrowed money behind Ben’s back. As part of this, he employs Ashley Niven to help him get Crofton Hall ready to open to the public. Crofton Hall has a lot of history, and let’s just say something from 400 years ago will become very handy today.

 

What was your inspiration for this story?

I loved Crofton Hall and the Redbourn family from The Crofton Chronicles so much that I decide to continue the family’s adventures but do so in the modern day. Many stately homes in the UK are now open to the public in a similar manner to what happens to Crofton Hall because they are so expensive to run. And a few years ago I went to a wonderful wedding in London in a beautiful Elizabethan building.

 

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

If we’re talking this planet, at this time, then the Galapagos Islands. I was a student of biology, and these islands are the basis for a lot of Charles Darwin’s work on evolution. Did I mention I was a geek?

Now if you’re talking time travel, then I’d be heading back to the court of Elizabeth I to experience the vibrant mess of political intrigue for myself.

 

What are you working on next?

I have a long list of works in progress, but what I am actively working on now is a novella series tentatively called Treading the Boards based around an amateur dramatics group in Greenwich, South East London. I’m currently about two-thirds done with the first in the series called Overly Dramatic. After that I’ll need to decide whether to write the final Reagalos novel or the next Crofton Hall novel (Stately Pasions 2 – Making History at Crofton Hall).

 

 

“How much?”

She wouldn’t meet his eye.

“Mum!”

“Just short of five million to the bank.”

Ben lost his balance and landed heavily on his arse in a nearby chair.

“How the hell did you manage that? I only agreed to borrow five hundred

thousand, and that was for essential repairs, and the estate could easily

repay the loan in ten years.”

“I approached the bank with a business case for a visitor attraction.

They were very enthusiastic.”

“What gave you the right?”

“Your father left us both in charge of Crofton Hall, Benjamin,” she

said sharply.

He glowered at her and she deflated.

“I needed the money, and the only way I could get it was to tell the

bank I wanted to open Crofton Hall to the public.”

“And they agreed to lend the money without my permission?” he

asked carefully, hardly believing his mother’s audacity, but getting the

feeling he knew what she was going to say next.

“They might have been under the impression that you’d agreed to it,

and I was acting on both our behalves.”

“Really. And how would they have thought that?”

“Your signature isn’t exactly hard to copy.”

Ben covered his face with his hands, understanding what his mother

had done.

“I know I shouldn’t have, not without your permission, but I was

desperate. And the bank thought our business plan was excellent.”

He looked up at her. Elena’s eyes were red from crying, but there

was still an edge of defiance in her face. “How much is left?”

She shrugged. “A few thousand, maybe.”

“And you used Crofton Hall as security?”

“Yes.”

The anger flashed through him, burning through his usual amicable

nature. “How could you have been so stupid? Were you even thinking past

your own selfishness?”

Elena cowered in her seat.

“You’ve ruined us, destroyed this family!”

“I didn’t mean—”

Ben didn’t want to hear her feeble excuses. “Oh, that’s all right, then.

We’ll tell the bank, you didn’t mean it, and they’ll forget all about it.”

Ben reined in his anger. Taking deep, slow breaths, he clenched and

unclenched his fists as he regained his calm. He watched Catlin pace up

and down. Harry stood slumped against the fireplace, shell-shocked. Now

was not the time to panic. He needed to know exactly how much trouble

they were in and deal with it. “Get me the paperwork.”

Without argument, Elena jumped to her feet and scurried over to the

writing bureau in the corner. From the folds of frills and ruffles of her

blouse, she fished out a key on a chain and unlocked the bureau. She drew

out a sheaf of paper. “It’s all here.”

“Right, let’s hope my economics degree wasn’t for nothing.” Ben

snatched the papers. “I suggest you all keep your distance until I’ve

finished reading.”

He sank into a chair by the unlit fireplace, blocking out the angry

thoughts as he scanned sheet after sheet. The figures danced before his

eyes, and he saw the terms and conditions his mother had agreed to. The

interest, compound interest, and payback terms were listed and

categorized in black and white with no way of denying the facts. They

were in deep shit, the bank would be at the door within weeks, and Ben

seethed internally at his mother’s gall.

The effort she’d put into defrauding the bank was amazing, the

business case had been full of fine details and promised an excellent

return, but little help would that do them now.

Unless….

Ben stared around the sitting room; generations of Redbourns had sat

in here. Men who’d fought at Blenheim, Waterloo, and El Alamein —they

would never have given in and surrendered Crofton Hall in the face of

adversity. And it wasn’t about to happen while Ben was Earl of Crofton

either. As much as he wanted to rail against it, their only hope was to

convince the bank they were following through with the idea of opening

the house to the public.

“We can probably sell the London apartment. That’ll raise around

two million. Our trust funds are protected, so we can’t release the equity

from those. If we’ve any hope of holding on to her, Crofton Hall is going

have to earn her keep.”

 

 

Tour Date/Stops:

November 17: Amanda C. Stone, Hearts on Fire

November 18: My Fiction Nook, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Multitasking Mommas

November 19: Inked Rainbow Reads, Velvet Panic, Fallen Angel Reviews

November 20: 3 Chicks After Dark, Cathy Brockman Romances

November 21: Prism Book Alliance, Love Bytes

November 24: MM Good Book Reviews, Cate Ashwood

November 25: Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Michael Mandrake

November 26: Nephylim, BFD Book Blog

November 27: The Novel Approach, Queer Town Abbey

November 28: Parker Williams, Full Moon Dreaming, Crystal’s Many Reviewers

 

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