Guest blog: Lynne Tagawa and The Root of the Matter: The American Puritans Book One Prize E-Book To Winner: Stephanie H

Good morning, readers! I hope you are doing well. I'm getting ahead on blog posts so several

introductions might be similar. We had an ice storm this week and just found out there's roof damage so that's a shocker. Hope you're all safe and sound!

Introduce yourself—name, where you’re from, and something people notice when they

meet you.

Hello! I’m Lynne Tagawa, and I’m from South Texas. One things people notice when they meet me is that I’m going gray! I’ve quit coloring my hair and joined the Silver Club. I’m a grandma, after all. I’m originally an educator—and a homeschooler after that. Often I think of my homeschool co-op students when I write my scenes. But I try hard to disguise any educational content! LOL

Tell us about your book—title and back cover blurb?

The Root of the Matter: The American Puritans Book One is the first of a time-travel series.

She’s terrified.

Time travel. The North Atlantic in winter. Which is worse?

Geneva Fielding is a researcher in the Archives of the Applied History department,

prepping time travelers for their destinations. She loves the smell of old paper and

chocolate croissants.

One day, a Traveler fails an important test and cannot go. Instead of canceling the Trip,

the dean appoints Geneva and her friend Peter Donatelli, a physicist, to take his place.

They have three days to prepare to Travel to 1630s New England.

Geneva’s always wanted to know more about John Winthrop. Maybe she can even get

a dissertation topic from the Trip. But the truth is, she’s scared stiff. No one knows her

private struggles. And she’s not about to tell.

Geneva and Peter are dumped into an early, struggling Massachusetts, the Puritan

inhabitants having escaped the persecution of the Crown only to face a howling

wilderness. Roger Williams’s arrival sends shockwaves through the frail colony.

Can the Bay Colony afford to allow a critic of the king to dwell among them?

And what will Geneva do when she discovers Peter’s secret?

3. Share an excerpt?

Gasping, I squeezed Peter’s hand. Did we lose power?

Cold brushed my cheek. It was a damp cold, not unusual for New England, but there were

no windows in the Launch Room.

Then I smelled the sea. Salty, mucky, even oily. Familiar. When the wind blew from the

east, I could smell this from my apartment window. The briny estuary odor of the Mystic River.

A strange creaking sound startled me. I couldn’t see, and I gulped for air. Peter’s warm presence slipped around me, and he laid his hands gently on my upper arms.

It was night. We’d come before dawn. That’s why I was blind.

“We’re here,” he murmured, his tone half calm, half nervous, half—excited?

My heart beat a nervous tattoo, and I took a slow, deep breath. The Bristol docks. I’d seen

the location on a map of the western part of Britain. I forced myself to focus, to think. Bristol

was a major port. Easy to get lost in the shuffle here.

But I also knew some Puritans fled more discreetly. Going to out-of-the-way docks or

beaches. Some were even disguised. Because at some point, the king’s policies had shifted. From inconsistent harassment to hauling-folks-before-the-Star-Chamber persecution.

William Laud had something to do with this, but I hadn’t studied him. My ignorance

closed in on me like the cold, damp air around me.

My eyes adjusted, and the black seemed less absolute. “Where are we—precisely?”

4. Ask the blog reader a quirky question or two?

My character Geneva loves chocolate croissants. There is no place she can buy them in 1631 New England! Share your favorite comfort food. Mine is keto (sugar-free) ice cream.

5. Share your social media and buy links!

Buy link: https://amzn.to/3KsK6uA

X: @LynneTagawa

Facebook: (Don’t know the exact link, my author page is under my name Lynne Basham

Tagawa)

Website: www.lynnetagawa.com