Blog Tour: THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DAUGHTER by Naomi Laeuchli

 

THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DAUGHTER

Naomi Laeuchli

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GENRE:  Regency Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

Deep in debt and desperate for a solution, Julius Claydon knows that marrying a wealthy woman is his only hope. When he meets the beautiful and rich Clara Haughton in Bath, he believes she could be his salvation, but there's one obstacle in his path: Lydia Cray, Clara's sharp-witted and penniless companion.

 

When Lydia quickly sees through his fortune-hunting motives, Julius proposes an alliance. He will help secure her future if she helps him secure Clara's heart.

 

But Lydia is not all she appears to be, and she has a plan of her own: to teach him a lesson he won't soon forget. But her scheming soon leads to unforeseen consequences for them both.

 

Can love spring from deception?

 

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Excerpt Three:

 

He had reached them now and was smiling down at her. “Miss Cray. You look lovely tonight.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

She was dimly aware that he was bowing to Clara and greeting her as well. But while he must, in the interests of politeness, have looked away from herself at some point, it didn’t feel like it. It felt as if his eyes never truly left hers. Which made it unmistakable who he was addressing when he asked, “Might I have the pleasure of this dance?”

 

Later that night she would look back and think it strange that he had asked her to dance before Clara, that he had barely paid Clara more attention than what was demanded by common civility. But now she simply held out her hand to him, beaming at him and nodded, finding words curiously difficult to form.

 

The music had changed to a waltz as he led her out onto the dance floor. She felt a curious sensation somewhere north of her stomach as his arm wrapped around her waist and he began to lead her.

 

He truly was graceful, as he smiled down at her and the pair twirled through the steps and the music.

 

This close, she could see the individual flecks of grey hairs in amongst the dark, which she found strangely endearing. The lines on his face seemed a little deeper under the candlelight and she felt a strange impulse to reach up and run her fingers across them.

 

His eyes, though, were a clear deep blue, and she suspected they held the exact same youthfulness and brightness that they had had on the day he was born. In some mysterious way, her instincts told her they always would. Those same eyes were smiling down warmly into her own, and she blushed a little but held the gaze steady.

 

 

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 How Do Your Characters Evolve in Your Story?

 

I’ve always loved moments in books where the reader can tell a character is changing or evolving, based on the emotions that character is experiencing, and before the character recognizes it or can really put a definite name on those emotions themselves. I think in real life, we often lead with our emotions first, and then later we sort through them and see how far we’ve come.

With The Schoolmaster’s Daughter, I tried to lean into that and take advantage of the fact that the story is told from the point of view of both characters. Both Lydia and Julius have a lot to learn about each other but also about themselves.

Lydia starts out having some preconceived notions about who Julius is as a person and quickly makes judgements about him and his flaws. It’s through learning how he reached this point in his life, and seeing him in different situations, that she’s able to see new layers to who he really is and why he has made the mistakes that he has. We’re very quick to shut down once we’ve seen the worst parts of people, but the more you see someone’s vulnerabilities, the more we let go of our judgements. No one is just their bad qualities. Through understanding Julius, she in turn learns about herself and some of her own flaws.

Julius meanwhile is the opposite. He needs to learn about himself, and who he is before he can really understand and appreciate Lydia. It’s possible to be so harsh on yourself, you leave no room to really see others or let them into your life.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Naomi Laeuchli has lived overseas in nine different countries on three different continents where her family was posted with the American Foreign Service. In November 2012 she moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo back to the states and currently lives in Arizona with five horses. She works as a freelance writer and part time at the local library. She has written several interactive stories for Choice of Games, Tales, and Dorian.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Schoolmasters-Daughter-Naomi-Laeuchli/dp/B0D9SKC3D7 FREE TO LIVE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

https://nplwrites.wordpress.com/

 

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GIVEAWAY 

The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.