Running from a life of poverty,
16 year old Cotton Ramsey escapes the Savannah River bottomland to New York.
Twenty years later, she has changed her name and runs a large pharmaceutical
company, which belonged to the family of her late husband. When Beau Simpson,
her first love, arrives to deliver the news of her daddy’s untimely death, the
life she struggled to leave behind calls her home.
My review
A little different take on the
rags to riches story, Caine has created a fanciful tale with all the thrills of
New York glamour. The story begins with a glimpse of the home life of poor
share croppers in the rural south. Cotton is one daughter in a very large,
struggling family growing, you guessed it, cotton. By the time she steals her
opportunity to make a better life for herself, the story switches to decades
later and another glimpse of the life she has won.
Alone, widowed, and running a
company which we see very little of on her own, we learn that Cotton has cut
ties so completely with her southern family that she doesn’t know of their own
turnabout story. In fact, her beloved daddy had done well for the family after
Cotton left. When she is informed of his mysterious death by none other than a
lost love who also escaped into a glitzy world of unseemly wealth, she is ready
to return to leave cold New York for her warm southern roots, no matter how
welcome or unwelcome her long-lost siblings make her feel. But Cotton is still
so uncertain of herself that she’s willing to let a soaring leap of willful
misunderstanding drag her into despair. Along the way, Cotton learns how to
appreciate the people around her and see life with a fresh outlook.
Told through two points of view,
the reader sees both sides of the story through Cotton, and her love interest,
Beau. Readers who love Jackie Collins and other writers of rich and famous
romantic heroes and heroines will enjoy this story of learning what really
matters.
About the Author
Victoria Pitts Caine resides in
Fresno, California. Her first passion is her family, followed closely by
writing and exotic gem collecting. Victoria is also an award winning author who
has published both fiction and nonfiction articles in Seekers, Short Stuff, HI Families, The Front Porch and The Manzanita
Literary Journal. She has also received an honorable mention at the William
Saroyan Writer's Conference, special recommendation in the Writer's Journal
poetry contest and second place in the Writer's Journal 2004 romance contest.
Introducing the Exciting New Novel by Victoria Pitts-Caine!
About the Book:
Time cannot imprison love nor hold it in place. At Balmoral, a two-hundred-year-old estate in old Northampton, love calls and only the heart can answer.
When five-year-old Albert Farraday first sets foot on the grounds of Balmoral, he senses its magic. After he returns from the Korean War and is employed as the caretaker, Camille, the mysterious new wife of the owner of the estate, leads Albert to believe there is indeed a force drawing the love-worn to Balmoral.
After Camille’s widowed niece visits the mansion, then disappears, he is certain his own sister Lydia traveled to meet her love and didn’t go mad as his mother had suggested.
Over the years Balmoral welcomes brokenhearted travelers who find their way to the portal and into the arms of love, and Albert comes to the understanding he is not only the custodian of Balmoral but the keeper of its secrets.
What do you hope
readers will take away from this book?
There’s something magical when love
finds a way. The reader will discover there is hope and a little fairy-tale
enchantment when the characters, even though they are in an unusual situation,
manage to travel through time to their true loves.
Who is one of your favorite characters in
the book and why?
Camille
Windham is my favorite. She’s the first traveler and I took a little bit of my
own ancestral background to create her.
Why did you decide to
do a time travel?
I read Love of My Heart by Bess McBride and was haunted by the story and
the concept. The couple discovers they were in love before in another time. I
decided it was a genre I wanted to try. The
Time Traveler’s Wife was another favorite.
What else about your book
might grab the reader’s interest?
There are three separate but connected stories in
Not Bound By Time and there’s a little bit for everyone from Western to World
War II to protecting the Scottish regalia in the 1500’s.
About the Author:
Victoria Pitts Caine is a
native Californian. Her varied interests include genealogy and exotic gemstone
collecting both of which she’s incorporated into her novels. While her genre is
inspirational, she has branched out into other areas such as her current
release, Not Bound By Time and a YA mystery/suspense.
The author has received recognition from: Enduring
Romance Top 10 Picks for 2008, William Saroyan Writing Conference, Byline
Magazine, Writer’s Journal Magazine, HI Families Magazine and The Southern
California Genealogical Society. Her first novel, Alvarado Gold, was published
in 2007. To complete the trilogy which began with Alvarado Gold, Cairo was
published in 2013 and The Tempering Agent in 2014.
She is the mother of two daughters. Victoria and her
husband enjoy travel, church service and emergency radio communications.
The year was 1942, and Randolph Mitchell, along with
several of his fellow soldiers, marched down a road pockmarked by shelling in
London. He shuddered as a light mist fell around him. Late summer had gone.
A captain at twenty-two, Randolph’s first glimpses of war
lay around him. Bile rose in his throat at the devastation.Is this what years of military
boarding school has brought me to?He
bent to retrieve a bit of paper. Printed roses danced on the edge, and with
nowhere to discard it, he pocketed the small scrap of the life people there
once lived.
When the men arrived in town earlier, Randolph spotted the
young woman gazing into a merchant’s window. She carried herself with an air of
importance. Ribbons and lace accented her oddly-layered clothes of multicolored
fabrics. Such elaborate attire was ill-suited because people were starving and
only making do. Randolph dismissed her unusual manner of dress.Who could she be? So out of place,
yet so beautiful.
His troop moved up the street, and as he surveyed the area,
he forced himself to forget the woman, but when he approached the shop, she
turned, and their eyes met. Randolph Mitchell lost his heart in that split
second, but it would take his head a while to figure it out. His eyes pursued
her as she picked her way through the rubble of the bombed-out buildings.
“Hello,” he ventured.
As a delicate pink color rose from her neck, she turned her
eyes toward the window. Randolph sauntered to stand beside her and glanced at
their reflection. He stood a good foot taller than she.
His wrinkled uniform
caused a pang of self-consciousness, but his desire to speak to her quelled his
embarrassment. “I’m Randolph Mitchell, US Army.” He smiled, studying her
porcelain complexion and bright hazel eyes, hoping for a welcome response.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking to you,” the woman said.
“It’s safe. We’ve been sent here to protect you. Or err…
your country.” Randolph took his cap off and grinned at her. “I, ah, we might
make sure you get home. Do you live close by?”
The young woman’s face blanched as she shook her head. “I
used to live here.” She sighed. Then she backed away, turned around, and
started running.
Randolph clenched his fists. He had to find out.
“Wait! I didn’t mean any harm!” He called after her. “Your
name? At least tell me your name!”
“Camille Windham,” came from her lips, and her name planted
itself in Randolph’s heart.
She scampered down the walkway away from Randolph, leaving
only her name.
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