Final tale in seafaring trilogy

Welcome back, Lisa. Please tell is more about your adventure.

Lisa Belcastro

Thanks for having me back, Jean. You’ve asked some great questions!

Can you give us some details about your upcoming release/s?

     Shenandoah Dreams is coming out in July. Dreams is the final book in my Winds of Change trilogy. I had a wonderful time getting to know Melissa and Isaiah, and revisiting with Ben and Rebecca, as well as Adam, Jonah, Eli and Elizabeth. Melissa Smith is a twenty-first century sixth-grade teacher who finds herself transported back in time to 1770. When she first “wakes up,” Melissa believes she is dreaming. She knows, as any logical person does, that time travel is impossible. Therefore, everything and everyone she sees must be part of dream. As the hours turn into days, and the days into weeks, Melissa must face the reality that her dream is not a dream. What frightens her more than the time shift, are her feelings for Captain Isaiah Reed and her body’s reaction to his touch. Never before has she felt such an intense physical and emotional reaction to a man. But he thinks she’s crazy, and their relationship is anything but smooth sailing.

Do you belong to any non-writing organizations?

      I am a member and ambassador with TEAM413. Founded by Chris Gillespie, TEAM413 is a group of athletes numbering in the thousands who compete in a sport, mostly running, and hope to represent the hands and feet of Christ while doing so. We wear “the shirt.” Over ten years ago Chris took a marker and wrote on his Disney Marathon race shirt: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So many people commented on his shirt, that Chris decided to run every race wearing Philippians 4:13. In time, people joined him and TEAM413 was born. Every weekend there is someone, usually many of us, racing and wearing a TEAM413 shirt. As I’m running, at my middle-of-the-pack pace, people will run along beside me and comment on the shirt, or chat for a few minutes, or talk for a couple of miles. The verse on the shirt is a conversation starter, whether it’s a simple, “I like your shirt” or a person needing a listening ear. My hope when I’m out there running as a member of TEAM413 is that I can be open to whatever and whomever God brings by my side.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

       I am an avid fan of Andy Andrews. I’ve read everything he’s written, and I own almost all his books. The Traveler’s Gift is my favorite of his novels. Though a fictional story, the lessons David Ponder learns as he travels through time are life lessons I want to put into practice every day. I love the idea of sitting down with King Solomon or Harry Truman or Abe Lincoln and gleaning wisdom from them.

       I love a good detective mystery. I own all the Spenser books written by the late Robert Parker. And I own all of Cynthia Riggs’ mysteries. Parker wrote incredible dialogue and great relationship scenes. Riggs’ protaganist, Victoria Trumbull, is in her nineties and full of vim and vigor. Very different characters, but each fun to read about.

       My favorite books are romances, and there are too many authors to list them all here. I can tell you I have every one of Karen Kingsbury’s books in the Baxter family series, over a dozen Denise Hunter books, Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly series, as well as Nicolas Sparks, Jane Austen and dozens more.

If you could time travel back, or forward, for one day, where would it be and why?

            This is an easy question for me. My best friend died in an accident. I would travel back to that day, to lunch time, and change everything that happened after we parted company. I don’t know if I could re-write history, or change it, but I would if I could.

Share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know.

       I don’t know whether these are fun or funny, but here goes: About twenty years ago I had an irrational fear of vampires and bats. I hated going into the barn at night to check on the horses or walking outside after dark. I’d have to talk myself into it, wave my flashlight around, and then run like crazy if a bat flew overhead. I don’t remember what cured me, but one day the fear was gone. On a more practical note: when I go to the movies, I skip dinner (or lunch) and eat popcorn as my meal. It is one of my favorite dinners! I love to color. In college, when I was stressed, I would pull out one of my coloring books and my box of crayons and color away. Still works today!

If you could have any super hero power, what would it be?

      I would love to be able to read minds. Now, before anyone thinks I want to know what everyone is thinking for personal gain or to eavesdrop on private thoughts, I would want a filter put in place. I’m not interested in private thoughts, or secret tips for stock market (though I wouldn’t turn that down if freely offered), or even what my kids are doing when I can’t see them. What I would love to know is the feelings someone can’t express or fears expressing when I’m in a difficult relational situation. When Older Daughter calls and starts babbling on and on. I know she wants to talk about something, but I have no idea what it is or how to get her to speak what is on her mind. I’d love some insight in those moments. Or when my husband is angry or hurt about something, but isn’t telling me or even showing signs yet of being hurt, but a pain is building. I’d love to be able to apologize sooner rather than later, or address the issue before it builds to something larger. Or when Younger Daughter is quiet and replies to questions with one-word answers. I’d love to be able to reach inside her teenage hurt and fear, and talk with her.

   If reading minds wasn’t an option, I’d love to be able to fly. I’d travel the world.

Shenandoah Dreams

BLURB: 

SHENANDOAH DREAMS :

     “It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream,” Melissa Smith whispers as her eyes focus on the two men standing before her. She lives in the twenty-first century. She is chaperoning her sixth-grade students on an educational sailing trip. They are not visiting Plimoth Plantation, or the Boston Tea Party Museum, or the Concord Bridge reenactment. They are sailing over the waters of the Vineyard Sound around the island of Martha’s Vineyard. So the men before her, dressed as though they’ve stepped off the set of a movie on the American Revolutionary War, cannot possibly be real. She’s dreaming. She will wake up.

But can a dream man touch her and send bolts of electricity through her veins and ignite a fire in her heart the likes of which she’s never felt before? Can a dream man serve her food that tastes divine? Can a dream lasts for weeks on end?

And if she’s not dreaming, then she’s traveled back in time, which is impossible. But here she is, in 1770, uncertain how she arrived, how she’ll get home, and if her heart could bare to be parted from Captain Isaiah Reed. Only time will tell if Melissa is given a chance at love with Isaiah or swept forward once again to her previous life.

EXCERPT:

“Ye must be relieved the Townshend Act has been repealed.”

“Ay, Adam, we must all be grateful, though the cost was dear. Five men, five families. I fear the violence has only yet begun.”

In her sleep, Melissa tossed and turned. The bed had become increasingly uncomfortable throughout the night, and her dream was too vivid, the men too loud, and the tension too real. She refused to open her eyes. She would will herself back to sleep, think of something positive, and focus until her mind settled. She’d somehow gotten her back up against the wall, and the hard wood was not helping her relax.

Without peeking, she fanned the fingers of her left hand against the wall to help initiate the slide to the middle. The wood was rough. She gave a gentle shove to shift her weight to the center of the bunk. As she slid her hand along the board, a splinter pierced her skin. “Ouch!”

She snatched her hand away from the wall and shifted her weight, tucking her injured finger under her pillow. Now I discover the eighteenth-century connection! I’ll never get back to sleep.

“Did ye hear that? Something within moved about the cabin.”

Melissa froze. The voice sounded as though it was in her cabin. She waited; eyes squeezed shut. If some of the students were playing a prank, she would not give in so easily.

“There had best not be rats aboard.”

Rats? That did it. She opened her eyes, blinked a few times to adjust to the dim pre-dawn light, and found herself staring at a wall of wood. She glanced over her shoulder. More wood. What is going on?

The door latch clicked and the hinge squeaked as someone entered her cabin. “I shall see to it, Captain.”

Her sense of fun and games was over. This was not a good way to begin Monday. Whoever the two boys were, they were about to get into trouble. Big trouble. Melissa pushed hard on the board in front of her, and the wall gave way. Before she could stand or scream, she fell into a black hole.

ABOUT LISA

Lisa Belcastro lives with her family on Martha’s Vineyard. She writes inspirational romances set on the Island and the surrounding waters.  She loves chocolate, reading, writing, running, working in her gardens, including weeding, and almost all outdoor activities -- as long as the temperature is above sixty degrees! Being on or near the water is pure joy for her, and she can’t wait for the warmer weather to arrive.

When she’s not at her desk working on her next novel or writing the cuisine column for Vineyard Style Magazine, Lisa is volunteering at her daughter’s school, serving in her church community, gardening, training for her first 50-mile road race, or walking the beach looking for sea glass.

Thanks for having me back again Jean. I’d love to hear from your readers what super power they would choose and why.

SHENANDOAH DREAMS comes out in July but the buy links for the first two books are:

 http://www.amazon.com/Shenandoah-Nights-Winds-Change-Belcastro-ebook/dp/B00IPU3PA4
http://www.amazon.com/Shenandoah-Crossings-Winds-Change-Belcastro-ebook/dp/B00IVXR088