A Gift For You: Escape Free Today!

Merry Christmas, and as a gift for you, Escape: Book One of the Unchained Trilogy is free today and tomorrow! Grab your copy here and enjoy the rest of your Christmas day!

Deseré Now Available!

My new novel, Deseré: A Love Story of the American South, is now available at Amazon right in time for Christmas!

Deseré, a skilled seamstress and slave, lives on a South Carolina cotton plantation. Fair-skinned and astonishingly beautiful, she is owned by a kindly master and given his permission to marry the man she loves, a carpenter enslaved on a neighboring plantation. Yet when her master dies before her wedding and his nephew inherits the plantation and its slaves, Deseré's marriage is indefinitely postponed, pending consent from her new owner.

Lawyer Anthony Sinclair arrives from Ohio on the mend from a broken heart, leaving behind a career derailed by scandal. Owning a plantation presents a vibrant opportunity. Yet torn by inklings of abolitionist beliefs, Anthony struggles with the damning prospect of owning human beings.

Upon first seeing the alluring Deseré, Anthony is immediately dazzled by her golden skin, shimmering blond hair and ocean blue eyes. Yet Deseré perceives the tall, dark-haired and handsome “Masta” Anthony as rather stupid. He knows nothing about running a plantation, nor being a planter. But as long as he allows Deseré to marry the man she loves, she will be happy.

Anthony, however, desires Deseré for himself. To what lengths will he go to win the forbidden love of a slave? Will owning Deseré be the only way Anthony can ever possess her while her heart belongs to another man?

Read a sample here, and if you'd like to buy a copy, click here. Nothing like a little shameless self-promotion!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

White Like Her

Gail's Mother

Last week my friend Lisa sent me an article from the Washington Post. Mystery writer Gail Lukasik tells the story of her mother's mixed race ancestry in White Like Her. I found the article so fascinating, I ordered the book! I love family histories, especially when a secret is involved. An excerpt of the article is below:

I’d never seen my mother so afraid.

“Promise me,” she pleaded, “you won’t tell anyone until after I die. How will I hold my head up with my friends?”

For two years, I’d waited for the right moment to confront my mother with the shocking discovery I made in 1995 while scrolling through the 1900 Louisiana census records. In the records, my mother’s father, Azemar Frederic of New Orleans, and his entire family were designated black.

The discovery had left me reeling, confused and in need of answers. My sense of white identity had been shattered.

My mother’s visit to my home in Illinois seemed like the right moment. This was not a conversation I wanted to have on the phone.

Author Gail Lukasik

But my mother’s fearful plea for secrecy only added to my confusion about my racial identity. As did her 1921 birth certificate that I obtained from the state of Louisiana, which listed her race as “col” (colored), and a 1940 Louisiana census record, which listed my mother, Alvera Frederic, as Neg/Negro, working in a tea shop in New Orleans. Four years later, she moved north and married my white father.

Reluctantly, I agreed to keep my mother’s secret. For 17 years I told no one, except my husband, my two children and two close friends that my mother was passing as white. It was the longest and most difficult secret I’d ever held.

My mother’s pale, olive skin and European features appeared to belie the government documents defining her as African American, allowing her to escape that public designation for most of her adult life.

In the silence of those 17 years, I tried to break through my mother’s wall of silence. But every time I tried, she politely but firmly changed the subject. Her refusal to talk about her mixed race only fueled my curiosity. How had she deceived my racist white father? Why was she so fearful and ashamed of her black heritage?

Using my skills as a seasoned mystery author, I started sifting through the details of her life, looking for clues that would help me understand her. But this real-life mystery only intensified as I tried to sort truth from fiction.

I am eagerly waiting for my copy of White Like Her to arrive! Any secrets in your family?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

African Chicken Treat

I'm always looking for quick, easy and delicious meals, and this one sounds like a winner from Fix It and Forget It, one of my favorite slow-cooker cookbooks. Enjoy!

African Chicken Treat

1 1/2 cups water
2 t chicken bouillon granules
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 cup red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
8 skinless chicken thighs
1/2 crunchy peanut butter
crushed chili pepper of your choice

Combine water, chicken bouillon granules, celery, onions and peppers in slow cooker. Spread peanut butter on both sides of chicken. Sprinkle with chili pepper. PLace on top of ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours.

I'd serve this with rice and a salad. I have another African chicken recipe, but this one sounds a lot easier! I love peanut butter with chicken. Do you? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!