Molly Noble Bull – Character Interview – Part 2 of 3

Shannon here: Molly Noble Bull shares insight into her characters’ romance & a chance for four winners to win copies of her Gothic Historical Suspense novel, Gatehaven. Two paper copies and two e-book copies up for grabs – US residents only. Comment on any post dated March 10 -14 to enter the drawing. Deadline: March 22nd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Molly:

How Shannon Met the Earl: A Character Interview via Gatehaven by Molly Noble Bull

Before I start answering questions, I best explain myself. Mama would be upset, if I didn’t.

My name is Rachel Shannon Aimee, but I like to be called Shannon. I was born in Luss, Scotland in the year of our Lord, 1775. As I write this script with pen and ink, I am nineteen years of age. My parents left France for religious reason before my older brother, Peter, was born, and we attend the Reform church. I also have a wee baby brother named Andre and two good Scottish friends, Ian Colquhoun and his dear sister, Kate.

I love Ian as if he was my brother, and I know he favors me as well. If truth be told, I love Ian more than Peter. My brother and I have never gotten along. Mama and Papa expect me to marry Ian one day, and then all of us will travel across the ocean to the Colonies—to a place called Charlestown. But I shall never marry Ian nor cross the ocean with my family.

You see, I was offered a proposal of marriage by the Earl of Northon, and I accepted. He’s promised to take me to his home in the north of England to meet his widowed mother and grandmother. They live in a mansion called Gatehaven.

Mama and Papa don’t want me to go with only the earl’s maiden aunt as my chaperon. They do not trust the earl and neither do Peter and Ian. But I will go. My entire future is in the earl’s hands, and I shall never love another.

And now for the questions.

.   What is the number one quality you require in a mate? 

I could never have answered that question until I met Edward, the Earl of Northon.  Certainly Ian pleases my brother and my parents, and my French grandmother also delights in him. Perhaps at my tender age, I do not yet know the qualities of which you speak. Papa and Mama say that Ian is good and kind, strong and trustworthy and every bit as handsome as the earl. But only the earl makes my heart shout with joy. Why can’t they understand? 

.   What type of features are you attracted to? 

The earl is tall and handsome with hair the color of gold coins in the sunshine and eyes like the loch when the sun is fading but a little. Those are the features that attract me most clearly.

.   What is the one habit or lifestyle that would make you run the other way?

The clergy. Ian is in training to become a man of the cloth, and I would never make a pastor’s wife.

.   Where do you dream of getting married?

Within the walls of Gatehaven, of course. I have yet to see this wonderful structure with my own eyes. But I have seen it many times in my dreams. In those dreams, Mama and Papa and Peter and Andre and Ian and Kate all look on as I walk down the aisle on the arm of the earl, my beloved.

.   Where do you dream of spending your honeymoon?

Oh my, I had not thought of such a possibility. But perhaps we should travel to London. I have often wished to go there but never dreamed that I might one day have that opportunity.

.   What would be the best gift a potential mate could buy for you? 

I have given that a lot of thought, and now I can answer. Though of humble means, my French grandfather was a teacher of languages and a historian of sorts, and he taught my mother many things. In turn, Mama taught those things to Peter and to me. Yet we are still poor, and I have not a drop of royal blood in my veins.

I care not for riches, but when I marry the earl, I shall have a title and all that goes with it. I desperately want that title for the earl’s sake. Then I will be his equal, and that is a gift that only the earl can give me.

About Molly: Molly Noble Bull was born in Kingsville, Texas—home of the famous King Ranch, and her father and maternal grandfather were real Texas cowboys. So does she write westerns?

Yep.

But she also writes long historical novels like Gatehaven, her long Christian gothic. Gatehaven won the 2013 Creation House Fiction Writing Contest while still a manuscript. But Molly’ first two published novels came out from Zondervan. Her Zondervan novels were later reprinted and published as Promise Romances from Guideposts. Molly also sold novels to Steeple Hill, and Tsaba House, and Westbow Press published The Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities, a non-fiction book she wrote with four other Christian authors.

Molly owns the rights to her Zondervan romance novels now, and she will soon self publish The Rogue’s Daughter as a e-book. Rogue is a western set on a South Texas cattle ranch in 1890. 

About the book – Gatehaven: Gatehaven by Molly Noble Bull is a Christian Gothic historical novel set in a haunting mansion in the north of England where Ian Colquhoun and Shannon Aimee battle a Frenchman with dark secrets—spiritual warfare vs. the occult.  Will they learn enough about God’s words to defend themselves and others or will evil overcome them?

A romance in the tradition of old books and movies like Gaslight and Jane Eyre. The novel is available in trade paperback and as an e-book. The e-book version normally sells for $9.99, but it is on sale for only $2.99 until midnight on March 17^th.

Gatehaven’s book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRa4h167wHU&list=UUSud14a5OCxl_vBBb1IAf7Q&feature=c4-overview

Come back March 14th for part two of Molly’s character interview!