Spotlight & Giveaway: Dalliances & Devotion by Felicia Grossman

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Felicia Grossman to HJ!

Hi Felicia and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Dalliances & Devotion!

 
I’m so excited to do this spotlight. Thank you all so much for having me and letting me ramble on about Dalliances & Devotion (Which came out on the 26th).
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

This is the book with all the tropes. We’re talking second chance/brother’s best friend/bodyguard/road trip/forced proximity—they’re all there. It’s the second book in the Truitt’s series and the second generation of the family.

It’s set in the summer of 1871. Amalia Truitt, who has been married—and divorced—twice, is the youngest child of Jay and Urs, my couple from Appetites & Vices. She’s on her way home to ask her parents for money to help a charity she started that she mostly funds with her salary as a beauty and fashion columnist.

However, Amalia has been receiving anonymous death threats and her family hires David Zisskind, her brothers’ best friends from the war, now a Pinkerton, to act as a bodyguard on her trip. The two had a past relationship as teenagers which ended badly, in a very dramatic, teenage way. Though they’ve both changed over the years, the spark is still there. As well as the danger from Amalia’s stalker. The couple has to get through Pennsylvania and into Delaware safely, without killing each other or breaking each other’s hearts again, which is easier said than done.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

I’ll give you one from each main character:

David:
“In other circumstances, the note of panic in Amalia’s voice at the prospect of walking would’ve been humorous—fine it was still humorous, even if a small voice in the back of his head warned him that the woman might try to make him carry her like a packhorse.”

Amalia:
“Nothing was more awkward than having tea with your ex-husband and ex…whatever David was. Especially when you wanted money from the former and for the latter to want to tear off your clothes. Not do the actual ripping—the gown was flawless—just to have the urge.”

What inspired this book?

Since this a second book in a series and a second generation, I had to ask myself what would Jay and Urs’ children be like? I knew I wanted to give Amalia a great deal of her father’s qualities, but with her mother’s chutzpah and hubris. That certainly guided the story. I also read a lot of biographies, visit a lot of museums, and use real people for inspiration, if not in character, in background and lifestyle. Writing Amalia, I thought a lot about literary critic and essayist Josephine Lazarus (she had a sister name Emma who was a poet). For David, though I gave him a tragic backstory and took him to the United States earlier, philosophically, there is a bit of real life rabbi and scholar, Solomon Schechter in him.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Amalia is so much like her father, just with different wounds and life experiences. She’s also a very active character. She is going to go after what she wants, whether it’s reasonable or not (a quality shared by a lot of my female leads have because, for better or worse, it’s one of mine). David was much harder to write because he has such strong ideals and moral core. Fighting in the war made sense, as was being a Pinkerton immediately after, but given the real historical future, especially the union-busting to come, figuring out where he would be at the end of the book and what that would mean for the plot wasn’t easy.

What was your favorite scene to write?

The bris was my favorite scene to write, 100%. I loosely based it on my son’s bris, which wasn’t a ball, per se, but was still pretty large for the end of January—during the polar vortex. There wasn’t live music, but we made sure people had a good time. I also had fun making sure I used the era and background appropriate traditions. Below is the beginning of the scene from David’s POV.

Only the Truitts would turn a bris into a ball. David eyed the musicians as they practiced in a corner of the ballroom. Amalia’s mother had already called the assembled crowd of at least one hundred and fifty to one side. A lot of people with a lot of access to the house. Not ideal for Amalia’s safety, even if she was with family and friends. He’d need to be on his toes the entire evening. He craned his neck.
Mrs. Truitt stood next to her husband, son, and daughter-in-law. The newest Truitt fussed near his mother’s breast. Thad’s wife hushed him, while keeping her lips in a tight smile, her eyes ringed and her dark hair a little mussed. Thad’s eyes were equally circled and he yawned as he lifted his toddler daughter into his arms.
“I want to thank you all for coming,” Mrs. Truitt started. “I know some of you have seen this done twice—for this little one’s older cousins, but for those of you who haven’t, a bris is an important Jewish tradition. It’s done eight days after the birth of a male and seals the covenant with god.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

I was nervous to write American history that touched on the Civil War. Period. It meant I would have to either gloss over American racism or acknowledge it and reconcile the fact that in many ways, even though antisemitism still exists, American Jews have enjoyed better lives and more freedom than in almost any place in time and history, that while America is a near miracle for us, it is, at times a nightmare for others. And that even American Jews with the best intentions failed more often than not in recognizing the problems and taking responsibility to fix them. I tried to address our part of the story as accurately as possible during a few scenes, none of which were easy. Below is part of a conversation David and Amalia have over dinner at Bedford Springs.

“You make it easy to be liked, or at least accepted. Don’t cause too much trouble?” He pulled out one of his tzitzis and fingered it. “Make them comfortable with us by emphasizing the parts that are like them.”
And there was no good response to that. Because there was truth there. Even if she didn’t divide things neatly in her head with regards to “us” and “them,” the way her great-uncle and grandfather had.
Her family, and many others, behaved in just that way for years. And thrived because of it. It assured their survival and the survival of Judaism while allowing them to rise, to gain rights, but when David put it that way… She tugged at her fingers.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

This book is very much my style. I write in super deep third POV with a lot humor balancing out some darker parts. The language, though not anachronistic, still has a bit of contemporary flare. In my head, I always picture my books having the same energy as Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette biopic.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

That you don’t need to be perfect to be worthy of an HEA. Both my protagonists are flawed in various ways, still fundamentally good, but imperfect. They each make a lot of mistakes before and during the book, but are able to keep growing and changing and learning. Most people aren’t Cinderella but that doesn’t mean that they can’t deserve an HEA.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I don’t have any upcoming releases scheduled, but I can tell you that I am writing and it is set in Gilded Era America. In the mid-Atlantic. With some good food and maybe even a masked ball.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 eBook copy of DALLIANCES & DEVOTION by Felicia Grossman (open internationally – winner will get to choose eBook format)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Since, at its core, Dalliances & Devotion is a story about getting to try again, what is your favorite second-chance romance?

 
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Excerpt from Dalliances & Devotion:

The sun peeked through the crevices in between the branches and leaves of their makeshift door. David nudged Amalia, stroking the smooth skin on her back. She rolled towards him and stretched her arms over her head.
Lord, those marble statutes on buildings paled in comparison to her. She placed her hands behind her head like a pillow and blinked sleepy eyes in his direction.
“Good morning.” A foolish thing to say, but what else was there?
“What time is it?” She yawned, before running a hand down her bare chest, his jacket slipping lower and lower. He was awake now. Every part of him.
David glanced at his pocket watch and sighed. “Time for us to get moving.”
“Ugh.” Amalia covered her eyes. “Does it sound terribly wicked and improper if I say that I really don’t want to put back on my gown? Or more, any of my undergarments?”
His mind froze. Images of her tramping through the woods. Nude. Like Eve in the garden.
If only.
Modernity certainly had its drawbacks.
“Your father and brother would drive a railway spike through my head,” he managed to say.
“They take the amusement out of everything.” She rose and slipped on the jacket like a robe before plucking her own garments from the floor. “And Thad most certainly would find a more creative way to do it.”
“More creative?” His mind went blank for a full minute as the tail of his discarded coat rose up her backside. The bustle had nothing on reality.
“Like slitting your throat and hanging you upside down while you bleed to death.” She pulled her hair to the side and backed towards him before sliding the garments down her back. “Like a cow.” She held her corset against her body. “Lace me.”
Oy, she was going to be the death of him. He’d have to bend at such an awkward angle so not to brush against her because they needed to leave before they both died of heatstroke, not do everything his body craved. Several ways.
As carefully as he could, he threaded and tugged, without breathing.
“You’re getting good at this.” Amalia bent forward again. Oh, what he wouldn’t give for a camera, even if it’d take forever and there was no light.
She handed him her dress and too soon, almost all her flesh was covered.
“Same one as yesterday?” He raised a brow.
“Don’t tell anyone.” She dropped her voice. “I’ll never live it down.”
A warmth tickled his belly. Once she was saved and he was promoted, he’d do everything in his power to convince her a repeat performance was the best course of action. Every day.
For as long as she’d have him.
“Don’t you have another inside your magic bag of tricks?” He turned away, hiding his face and every emotion that was surely written there.
Amalia laughed. “Of course I do, but I have high hopes that we catch a train today. I’ll change then.”
“From your lips to god’s ears.” He scanned the horizon to calculate east. At least it was clear.
“What?” She moved next to him, her skirts brushing his leg. Tingles again.
“Nothing.” He sighed. “Let’s get moving.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A change in course can be refreshing…when it’s done together.

1871

After two disastrous marriages, beauty columnist Amalia Truitt’s life is finally her own—well, it will be if she can get herself back to Delaware and demand access to her share of the Truitt family fortune. After all, the charity she’s organized for women who can’t afford their own divorces won’t fund itself.

However, not everyone wants her to reach her destination. When her family learns she’s been receiving anonymous death threats, a solo journey is out of the question.

Enter David Zisskind, the ragtag-peddler-turned-soldier whose heart Amalia broke years ago. He’s a Pinkerton now, and the promotion he craves depends on protecting his long-lost love on the unexpectedly treacherous journey across Pennsylvania.

That their physical connection has endured the test of time (and then some) is problematic, to say the least.

In very close quarters, with danger lurking around every curve, with each kiss and illicit touch, the wrongs of the past are righted. But David can’t weather another rejection, especially with his career in jeopardy. And Amalia can’t possibly take a lover, never mind another husband…not with so much depending on her repaired reputation. Not when she’s hurt David—her David—so badly before.

Publisher’s Note: Dalliances & Devotion contains content that some readers may find challenging, including PTSD, depression, war, sibling death and antisemitism.

And don’t miss the first book in Felicia Grossman’s The Truitts series, Appetites & Vices, available now!

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

This book is approximately 85,000 words

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Meet the Author:

Felicia Grossman wanted to write stories ever since her father read her Treasure Island when she was four-years-old. The Delaware native never lost her love of words, earning both an English degree and a law degree. Felicia now lives in the northern part of the country with her spouse, children, and dogs. When not writing, she can be found eating pastries or belting showtunes in her living room.
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