Today, I’m very excited because I am going to be facing off with LAURA FRANTZ! WHA WHA????
I love her because she is such an amazing, Godly woman! I love her books because she has such an impressive knowledge of American history (and can write like nobody’s biz!!). There is, in fact, one of her books that is free RIGHT NOW!!! Love’s Reckoning (The Ballantyne Legacy Book #1)
The rules are simple. I ask Laura a question and she responds. I then give my answer and we see whose answer is better. Best answer wins a point. I get to pick who has the better answer.
It’s my blog.
Here we go!!
1. How many historical sites have you been to?
Laura – Too many to count. My first memory is going to Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts which is a living history village filled with reenactors. Amazing place! I was about 12 and then came home and wrote a novella about a girl who ice-skated her way through that village in my story. Since I grew up near Daniel Boone’s fort in Kentucky, my love of history goes deep. My most recent historical trip was to Cumberland Gap at the juncture of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky which figures largely in my next frontier novel.
Charity – Kentucky is my absolute favorite state. It is just so beautiful!! My goodness.
Ok, let’s see. I live in the Historical Triangle (Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown), so those are obvious places that I have been to many times (Which is awesome because I homeschool my boys). I’ve been to Monticello, Valley Forge, Mount Vernon, Gettysburg…many on the east coast. But not up near Massachusetts. I would love to go up there to see the Boston history. I’ve also been to Israel (But, that’s not American History…)
— I’ve gotta say…I think I might have that point…Even if I don’t have the knowledge!
Charity 1 / Laura 0
2. What country would you most like to visit?
Laura – Crazy as it sounds I’d love to visit India and visit Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity and wear a sari. They’re so beautiful, airy, and feminine! I’ve heard going to India is life changing, a real wake-up call for us soft Americans.
Charity – Oh my goodness. That would be life changing, I’m sure! I would really love to see England. I love English history so much. All the history of the royal families through the centuries.
— Mother Theresa? ok, There’s no way I am getting that one!
Charity 1 / Laura 1
3. Do you juice?
Laura – I should juice! Actually, the only juicing I do is with my granny’s old metal juicer that hangs over the edge of a cup. Orange juice.
Charity – ha! Nice. I love to juice green drinks. Usually cabbage, celery, green apples, spinach and cucumber. YUM. Nothing else.
— I get a point!! woo hoo!!
Charity 2 / Laura 1
4. What is your favorite store/shop?
Laura – Barnes&Noble with a Starbucks attached! The smell of books and coffee is addictive!
Charity – I think I am with you on that one…but I think Amazon might top it!! Sitting on the couch, with my keurig nearby (; That’s the life. Reading, shopping and drinking coffee at home, on my couch, in my yoga pants!
— Ok, laziness never wins anything
Charity 2 / Laura 2
5. Would you prefer to work with babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, or adults?
Laura – I love any age but give me babies, please. I miss babies – the smell and feel of them, their near, sheer perfection. Since they’re straight from heaven they seem to have a quality about them that is irresistible.
I try to sneak babies in my books whenever I can, starting with Courting Morrow Little.
Charity – OMGosh. Ok, you just mentioned the name of … probably my all time favorite book!!! Not only is the cover SO BEAUTIFUL, but the story is too. This book is what got me into reading. I NEVER was a reader until I read this book. Growing up, off and on, I would read for school and such, but as an adult, it was magazines, period. Until this book.
Ok, that was off subject. ANYWAY, I absolutely love working with teenagers. The more rebellious, the better. I get them. I love them. They know both. We get on quite well. Ask me to sign up for nursery or help with the little kids at church, I will run away crying.
— Courting Morrow Little. She wins.
Charity 2 / Laura 3
6. Are you crafty? Sew, crochet, knit, etc…
Laura – I like to say Roxanna Rowan taught me how to knit. When I was writing The Colonel’s Lady I took a knitting class and learned the basic stitches. I’m in awe of anyone who can make anything that way. I LOVE to cross-stitch but don’t have the time anymore…
Charity – Believe me. I am very glad you don’t have the time to craft. I would like to see more books!!!! (: I never knew I was a crafter until I broke my toe (completely through…like, hanging off the side of my foot) this year. ugh. Now I love to sew, crochet, you name it. (NOT SCRAPBOOK THOUGH!!!)
— I think I got that one!
Charity 3 / Laura 3
7. What is your favorite color?
Laura – PINK. Think cotton candy and girly things. I could live in pink and nothing else!
Charity – Oh wow! I like pink too, but I like…almost every color and could not pick one! My head may explode. I love colors….
— Obviously…
Charity 3 / Laura 4
8. Funniest memory from childhood?
Laura – Climbing trees in my mom’s wedding dress! She gave me her lovely gown, veil, and gloves when I was about five years old. Of course it was way too long but somehow I managed to tear around the Kentucky woods/outdoors in that very lacy dress! I wore it out. I can still remember the ‘old’ smell of it and all that scratchy lace!
Charity – Oh my word! What in the world??!! I can’t believe she gave you her wedding dress to play in. That is awesome!! But now, you have reminded me of my wedding dress fiasco… Oh dear. We couldn’t afford a very expensive wedding and there was a girl at our church that was a clothes designer, apparently..? She had a portfolio and wanted to make it for us for free (except the cost of materials). I was so excited! I was going to get the dress of my dreams. Well, she kept taking longer and longer to make it, I didn’t even get a chance to try it on until the day BEFORE MY WEDDING!!! When I did, boy was it HORRIBLE. It was the most awful dress EVER!! And, she told me she had tried it on for her husband and he “really, really liked it”….???!!!!! ugh. So, I was in a total panic. It was the day before my wedding and the ONLY place I could find a white dress in time was at a PROM DRESS SHOP!!!! OMGosh. So ugly. I was crying because I was wearing a prom dress. ha ha ha ha. And it was really ugly. Just a little less ugly than the one that she made me. ugh.
But, that wasn’t my childhood. When I was growing up, we had a houseful. My parents were extremely hospitable and would help everyone that needed it. So, we had MANY people living in our house. My Grandma and Aunt moved in. Then my Uncle (her brother). Then, he had a friend at work that was homeless, so he moved in. Then, the homeless guy’s sister, that lived in Michigan found out he had a home, so she and her two guy friends drove to our house and she moved in. We had a neighbor down the street that lived with us a lot of the time, etc…. (One time they went on a date and came back with a homeless family!!!!). So, all that to say, our house was a zoo. Not just with people. Everyone had pets…of all sorts. Well, my little brother had a fish that he was particularly fond of named Orange Jerry. Orange Jerry kept dying, but because he was a goldfish, he was easily replaceable and my sweet little brother didn’t know. Unfortunately, he found poor Orange Jerry dead once, so we had a funeral for him. My aunt stood behind the shower curtain and played her trumpet (the funeral march), while my sister oversaw the ceremony. We had a eulogy and then flushed him away down the toilet.
There you have it.
Charity 4 / Laura 4
9. Worst movie of all time (as in, just terribly made!!)
Laura – That terrible Hollywood drama called North&South about the Civil War starring Patrick Swayze, etc. People sometimes confuse it with my favorite movie ever, the BBC’s North&South by Elizabeth Gaskell starring Richard Armitage. No comparison whatsoever!
Charity – Right!! ha ha ha! Ok, at least you didn’t say Sharknado! I’m not really sure. Nothing comes to mind as…OH, WAIT! I think that AI was the worst movie of all time ever made.
— Nothing is worse than having a horrible movie with the same name as a wonderful and classic movie!!
Charity 4 / Laura 5
10. How do you believe you are bringing God the most glory in your life?
Laura – Wonderful question. I hope I am bringing Him glory through the gift of words. My writing was something I wanted to keep hidden and did for years. Then he opened the way to publication, a door I walked through almost unwillingly. Now, to use the gift He gave me, in even a small way, is something I hope brings Him glory.
Charity – And you do. I love how diverse of a God we have. Everyone has their own way to point towards Him. My goal is to show my kids that every opportunity is to bring Him glory. If I get cancer, how does that point to God and give Him glory? If our car breaks down, what am I supposed to be doing to show Him? If I get upset, I can’t bring Him glory. Puts the pressure on!!!!!
— God wins!
11. Go to outfit?
Laura – Black yoga pants – and I don’t do yoga! They work with so many different tops and shoes and they’re so comfy and slimming. But I DO wish we could dress like yesteryear in those lovely dresses and hats and gloves!
Charity – I couldn’t have said it better! Yoga pants with the dreams that we could have worn the beautiful and very comfortable clothes of yesteryear!
–tie!
Final:
Charity 4 / Laura 5 
I have done MANY of these and have only won ONE GAME!!
Thank you, SO MUCH, Laura! I really do appreciate you taking the time to face-off with me. Pepper Basham is going to be very jealous!!! (; 
<—–See.
Now for the GOOD NEWS!!
Laura has agreed to sign and give away ANY BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE that she has written!! Shall I repeat that? ANY BOOK YOU CHOOSE!!!!!!!!! (to a US resident). Why don’t you take a minute to go and check out her books either HERE or on Amazon so you can know which one you’ll want to pick when you WIN!!!
So, click on this rafflecopter link and you can try to win with MULTIPLE ENTRIES!!
Didn’t I tell you she was great?!
Some of these books are free or on sale!!! Links are in the pics.
Charity Andrews 