Aggie has recently purchased an old Victorian house on a hillside overlooking Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Washington; where she finds an old photograph of a Victorian era couple and a love letter written in 1885. The letter speaks of another love that can never be, that of Louise, the daughter of a wealthy English family, and her Irish lover, William. Heartbroken, Aggie soon begins to dream of the forbidden love between Louise and William, but in her dreams, William's face mirrors that of her beloved, Bill.
Bill is in love with Aggie, and he can't figure out how to get close to her. If only he hadn't entered her professional doors as a client. How is he going to fix this?
Available in print December 2007
Reviews for Love of My Heart
Four Stars "Many books I’ve read with paranormal elements are downright scary. Bess McBride has managed to create an intriguing mystery without villains, dark family secrets or tragic deaths…Love of My Heart is a wonderful, heartwarming story that had me rooting for the two couples all
the way. The story threads are tied up in a most satisfying way. I eagerly look forward to reading more of Bess McBride." ~ Ann Elizabeth Cree, Harlequin Mills and Boone author
Four Roses "I look forward to this author’s growth as a writer and will be watching for more of her books." ~ Shara at http://www.mybookcravings.com/shara_loveofmyheart.htm
"Love of My Heart is a beautiful, romantic story with a mild supernatural bent.... The best part of this story is that true love endures. The author gives the reader a HEA that ties up all the loose ends, even the supernatural. Interestingly enough, she wrote the course of Louise's and William's romance in a way that could mirror real life; decisions we make along the way affect our future in surprising ways."
"I enjoyed reading about how a man and a woman from two diverse families, influenced and manipulated by the ghosts of the past, find love in the future. Ms. McBride has an incredible turn of mind." ~ Michele at http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/paranormal
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An excerpt from Love of My Heart
About Bess McBride
Bess McBride began her first fiction writing attempt when she was 14. She shut herself up in her bedroom one summer while obsessively working on a time travel/pirate novel set in the beloved Caribbean of her youth. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to hammer it out on a manual typewriter (oh yeah, she's that old) before it was time to go back to school. The draft of that novel has long since disappeared, but the story is still simmering within her, and she will get it written one day soon.
Bess was born in Aruba to American parents and lived in Venezuela until her family returned to the United States when she was 12. She couldn't fight the global travel bug within her and joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 to "see the world." After 21 wonderful and fulfilling years traveling the world and gaining one beautiful daughter, she pursued her dream of finally getting a college education. Armed and overeducated, the gypsy in her has taken over once again, and she is now embarking on a full-time journey in a recreational vehicle as she continues to look for new adventures and place settings for her writing. The Wild Rose Press has helped her fulfill a lifelong dream of writing romances.
Coming soon
From The Wild Rose Press, "A Sigh of Love," and "Caribbean Dreams of Love."
An Interview with Bess McBride
By Holly Hewson, Marketing Director for The Romance StudioHH: Bess, welcome to The Romance Studio! Please tell us about your featured work, Love of My Heart. BM: Thanks for having me at the Romance Studio! I’m thrilled to be here!!! My current featured work, Love of My Heart, is my first published novel available in digital format at this time from The Wild Rose Press and in print on December 19, 2007. It is featured as a paranormal but was not really written as a paranormal. I started writing a contemporary with a historical twist and before I knew it, the novel had turned into a paranormal. "Love of My Heart" is the story of two sets of lovers who are forbidden by societal dictates to be together. The first couple are a modern day mental health therapist and the client she’s not supposed to fall in love with; the second star-crossed love affair, set in 1885, involves the daughter of a wealthy American-English family and an Irish journalist whom her family forbids her to see. Aggie, the therapist, who suffers from her own unrequited love, begins to dream of Victorian era Louise who loses the love of her life to bigotry and a message that never comes.
HH: A therapist, her mysterious client, and a letter documenting an impossible love over one hundred years ago. Where did you get the idea for this amazing story? BM: The story started with a Christmas ornament, one of my favorite Victorian house collectibles. I love looking through the windows of miniature Victorian homes and I wanted to set a story there. Why a mental health therapist? Because I am one, and they do say write what you know.
HH: What do you like best about your leading characters? BM: I love my two leading men, Bill and William, Bill especially. Bill is a modern day school teacher who goes to see Aggie, our mental health therapist, ostensibly for some grief counseling over the recent loss of his father. Bill is a beta male, the only kind I’ll be likely to use as a hero. He’s kind, funny, confused, in love, and an enigma to Aggie. Aggie is just a normal gal having abnormal dreams about a young girl named Louise. Aggie is smart, funny, confused and hopelessly in love with her client, Bill. I love their vulnerability, their humanness, the depth of their emotions as they struggle to come to terms with a forbidden love.
HH: Did you do any research for this tale?
BM: I did do a lot of research on the Internet to explore the late Victorian era in Tacoma, Washington. The mental health therapist aspect came either easy or hard, depending on how you look at it. I wrote the part from experience, but spent three long years in college to get the degree to work as a therapist. =)
HH: What are you working on now? BM: I have a contemporary, A Sigh of Love, set in Alaska in edits at The Wild Rose Press and another paranormal, Caribbean Dreams of Love, set on a cruise ship to the Caribbean also in edits at The Wild Rose Press. Right now, I’m working on another paranormal, my first time travel, so new I haven’t even come up with a working title. I love the concept of romances across time and think I’ll probably do a few more. "Somewhere in Time" and the novel, "A Knight in Shining Armor," are some of my personal favorites.
HH: Does your love of travel enhance your stories? BM: My love of travel not only enhances my stories, it drives them, even if it’s time traveling. I’ve traveled for most of my life ever since I was born on an island in the Caribbean and I just can’t get it out of my system. Most of my stories begin with the place (hopefully beautiful, exotic, mysterious or glamorous), then I build a love story set in the location.
HH: What can you tell us about that pirate story that summer? BM: The pirate story that I tried to write that summer hasn’t come to fruition yet. It was a time travel. The closest I have come to it is my new paranormal in edits at The Wild Rose Press, Caribbean Dreams of Love, which has a pirate, a curse, a ghost and a lonely modern day woman. The original pirate story I tried to write at age 14 was based on a set of stairs I found (or thought I personally discovered) made of sand and seashells which climbed from the beach up the side of a cliff on the coast of Venezuela where I lived from age 2 through 12. I’ve never forgotten the stairs and always wondered if pirates used them to dock their boats. It’s more likely they were used by native fisherman. =) I searched and searched for treasure in the cliffs near my childhood beach home and even buried a few small things myself, but, alas, I never discovered the lost booty of Captain So and So....
HH: What goals have you set for yourself at this point in your career? BM: I’d like to write and publish about three to four books a year. Of course, I need publishers and editors to cooperate with my schedule. I’ll have to send out a memo. =) My goal right now is to improve my storytelling skills and find an audience for my work, an audience that keeps coming back and saying, "Bess, when is your next book coming out?" Oh, and I’d like to find a publicist who works for gratitude only!
HH: What do you enjoy reading? BM: I enjoy reading mysteries and romances, especially time travels as I mentioned. My other favorite read is any how-to-book to improve my writing skills.
HH: Where can readers and fans find out more about you and your books? BM: Readers and fans can find me at my website www.bessmcbride.com or www.myspace.com/bessmcbride or http://bebo.com/BessMcBride. I’d love to hear from anyone who would like to friend me or contact me.
HH: Thank you!
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