Read a spooky excerpt, Secrets of Lakeluster House, by Diane Scott Lewis

 

To purchase this novel, click HERE

My young adult, written with my granddaughter, is on N. N. Lights Author Spotlight.

Read a spooky excerpt when three children explore a haunted house related to their past. Did their Great great grandmother really murder another servant?

Editorial Review by Renee Duke A YA novel that will definitely appeal to young teens who like scary stories, Secrets Of Lackluster House successfully conveys the insecurity and emotional turmoil of its adolescent and preteen protagonists as they find courage they didn’t know they had.

New Release | Secrets of Lakeluster House by Diane Scott Lewis with Jorja Parkinson #yalit #youngadult #teenlit #newrelease #bookboost

My young adult, Secrets of Lakeluster House, is available on Amazon, by Diane Scott Lewis.

 

I wrote this with my granddaughter; I'm so proud!

To purchase, click HERE

Published by BWL Publishing Inc.

Sage, at fourteen, grows up in turmoil in Nahant, Massachusetts. Her changing body, her parents’ rocky marriage. When her cousin Patrick visits for the summer, his parents’ divorce has given him a reckless anger. He insists they explore the creepy mansion in the woods. Nate, Sage’s younger brother, is reluctant to approach the manor where a beloved teacher was found hanged months earlier. The children’s great-great grandmother worked at Lakeluster House in a previous century and was under suspicion of shooting another servant.

Now an old lady and her butler have moved in and the kids bring a welcome cake. Invited inside, Sage encounters a strange little girl who shows her the manor’s dark secrets—sparking Sage’s curiosity. Will the butler—a man with his own mysteries—throw them out for snooping? Who is real and who is a ghost? Was her relative guilty? And what danger lingers in the attic? Sage must gather her courage, risking her life to find out.

Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.

Award winning novels set during the French Revolution, by Diane Scott Lewis

 

To purchase Escape the Revolution, click HERE

To purchase the sequel, Hostage to the Revolution, HERE

A writer goes through many drafts of their manuscript. This one I worked on the longest, being my first completed novel.

A novel that grew so big I had to cut it in half. Who knew publishers shied away from large novels, though it didn't stop Diana Gabaldon.

I even visited Cornwall and Paris, where my main character lived, struggling to solve her situation.

Settle back, and enjoy this journey through a determined young lady's experience.

The northern coast of Cornwall, England where Bettina works in a tavern

I researched the French Revolution to add flavor to the story of a young countess who is tricked by a trusted servant into fleeing to England to deliver important papers. When she arrives she discovers the paper are blank and she's left penniless and adrift. She must find a way to reconnect with her mother. And uncover the truth of her father's death. She finds herself embroiled in a murderous plot. Escape the Revolution takes place in England, where Bettina must find work to pay her way. With no real skills, she ends up in a bawdy tavern on the Cornish coast where she meets a man who is rumored to have killed his unfaithful wife. Will an attraction happen between them?

The Luxembourg Palace in Paris where Bettina must go to ask a favor of Napoleon

The second novel, Hostage to the Revolution, takes place in New Orleans and France. Bettina discovers the truth of her father's death, and kidnapped by rebels, she escapes into war-torn France to save the man she loves. Through it all, she grows in courage and shrewdness, ready to face any difficulty that comes her way. 

Read an excerpt, the first meeting of the main characters:

“Affreux!” Bettina recoiled from Stephen. “You are … a rutting pig, and have no reason to say that to me!”

He grabbed her upper arms as she tried to shove past him. His bared teeth turned him wolfish, wiping any attractiveness from his features. “A pig, am I? I’ll show you a pig, froggie!”

“Let go of me!” She struck and pushed at him with her fists. But the harder she struggled, the more he laughed. Stephen hauled her to his chest, then brushed his damp lips on her jaw when she whipped back her head. Bettina wrenched up a hand to scratch his cheek.

A horse clopped up. Someone dismounted, jerked Stephen around and punched him in the face.

The young man sprawled on the ground, kicking furiously at the dirt. “Damme! Who the hell—oh!” He staggered to his feet and sped off into the twilight, his footfalls echoing across the cottages.

Bettina froze, her hand at her throat, heaving for breath. Facing the person who came to her aid, she took in a tall figure in cape and hat silhouetted against the darkening sky.

“Are you all right, young woman?” The man spoke in a deep, resonant voice. The clean, faint scent of spice floated around him.

“Yes … merci,” she uttered through tight lips. "Who are--"

“Then if you don’t live far, you had better proceed home.”

Bettina didn't wait for more and hurried up the road. Once she reached the inn porch, she looked back to see the man mount his horse and ride away. With a ragged sigh, she brushed tears from her cheeks. She’d little doubt she just came face to face with the nefarious Everett Camborne.

The story is about coping, survival, passion and heartbreak.
Then victory under dire circumstances. A rousing adventure.

"...wonderfully researched and the reader is taken right into the drawing rooms, kitchens and taverns of the dark days of late eighteenth century England."
- Historical Novels Reviews blog

Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.

Coming in August, my young adult novel, Secrets of Lakeluster House, by Diane Scott Lewis

 I wrote this story with my granddaughter, Jorja; I'm so proud of it. Here is the blurb:

Sage, at fourteen, grows up in turmoil in Nahant, Massachusetts. Her changing body, her parents’ rocky marriage. When her cousin Patrick visits for the summer, his parents’ divorce has given him a reckless anger. He insists they explore the creepy mansion in the woods. Nate, Sage’s younger brother, is reluctant to approach the manor where a beloved teacher was found hanged months earlier. The children’s great-great grandmother worked at Lakeluster House in a previous century and was under suspicion of shooting another servant.

Now an old lady and her butler have moved in and the kids bring a welcome cake. Invited inside, Sage encounters a strange little girl who shows her the manor’s dark secrets—sparking Sage’s curiosity. Will the butler—a man with his own mysteries—throw them out for snooping? Who is real and who is a ghost? Was her relative guilty? And what danger lingers in the attic? Sage must gather her courage, risking her life to find out.

My late husband chose the setting for the story: Nahant, Massachusetts.

The gazebo mentioned in the novel

Writing from a younger POV gave me new insights. I'd use words my granddaughter would puzzle over, so I had to change them. Or she'd say "I'd never say that!" I also had to figure out the current teenage slang. Like bougie for fancy. My critique partners said it was their new favorite word.

To purchase my books, visit my publisher's author page:

https://bwlpublishing.ca/lewis-diane-scott/

 

Huge ebook sale!

 

Visit my page on Smashwords. All my ebooks are only $1.49.

If you haven't used this site, it's easy to log in. I have mystery, adventure and romance.
Huge savings on my ebooks on Smashwords. Only $1.49
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/dianescottlewis

Further Adventures in New Brunswick Canada, by Diane Scott Lewis

 

After a long hiatus due to personal and health problems, I am excited by the new Canadian Historical Mystery series. I 'm posting a post about my Canadian historical On a Stormy Primeval Shore, the establishment of New Brunswick, mixed with danger and romance. Part of the Canadian Historical Brides series.

I hope you enjoy this foray into the eighteenth century right after America's revolution chased the loyalists to Canada.

To purchase this novel, click HERE

Amelia: an 18th century Englishwoman in the wilderness of New Brunswick.

In writing my Canadian-based novel, On a Stormy Primeval Shore, I wanted not only a strong heroine, but not the usual ‘beautiful’ woman who strikes every man to his core with her ravishing looks. I wanted a woman not considered beautiful by traditional standards, but one who must struggle and fight her way to be taken seriously, and forge her own happiness.

Amelia Latimer arrives in New Brunswick in 1784, just as this western portion of the colony is breaking away from Nova Scotia. Her father is a captain in the British army stationed at Fort Howe. He’s requested her long journey from Plymouth, England, to betroth her to one of his officers, Lt. Harris.

Fort Howe

Amelia, because she isn’t beautiful, at four and twenty years had few marriage prospects in England; but she still hated to leave her mother who is ill with consumption. She also intelligent, spirited, and determined to find happiness and a purpose. Her first meeting with Harris doesn’t go well and deeply insulted, she plans to return to England.

But soon New Brunswick, with its startling beauty, rugged shoreline and pastoral interior, charms her.




Captain Latimer wants her to return home on the next ship since she’s refused his choice of a husband, but after hearing of her mother’s death, Amelia has ideas of her own.


The remote colony is a mixture of many cultures. The aboriginals, mainly the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes, who settled the land first. The French Acadians, in what was once New France, who were expelled—even slaughtered—when the English took over, then slowly allowed to return. And the Loyalists who fled north after the American Revolution, and now flood the country in need of land, food and occupation.

Amelia wants to cultivate herbs for medicinal purposes, but can she survive the harsh Canadian winter, and will a most unsuitable man steal her heart?

Gilbert is an Acadian trader, one of the original French settlers. He is fighting to keep his and his mother's land. Land the incoming Loyalists want to appropriate. Then he saves a young woman from a marauding bear. Her bold spirit sparks his interest, but she is off-limits being the daughter of an English soldier. Does he dare meet her in private as his feelings grow?

Diane lives in western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.

Can their love overcome dangerous obstacles? by Diane Scott Lewis

 

To purchase, please click HERE


Formally "Outcast Artist in Bretagne," my WWII novel is now "Bretagne: a forbidden affair."

August is the German commandant of southern Brittany. Norah is an Englishwoman trapped in France after the German invasion. The two fall in love after she draws his portrait, desperate for money. August loathes Hitler and has plans to take Norah to Switzerland. Every moment is rife with danger.

Norah has been caught forging; can their romance continue?


Read an excerpt:


“I understand. It’s so awful.” Norah drank from her cup, her gaze searching. “I just want us out of this war, some place safe for you and me. A cottage on Lake Lucerne?”

“I’m working on that. As soon as my son graduates next autumn, I can put in my papers, then take him out of Germany.” August drank half his cup, stood, fetched his tunic, and put it on. “I have to leave now to inspect the airfield at the tip of this peninsula. I’ll return tomorrow. Why don’t I bring over my horse, and you have your cousin Jean spend the night here? He can ride Maler, and I’ll rest easier knowing you aren’t alone.”

She rose and stepped up to him, her smile tempting, her eyes moist. “That’s a perfect idea, thank you.”

He bent, longing to wipe away any hesitation, any lasting doubts, and kissed her, hard, his hands in her hair. Tasting the sweetness of her lips, he pressed her close. She wrapped her arms around him. He pulled back, stabilizing himself before his resolve melted. “I wish I could stay, but we slept late, and I must bring Maler.” He turned from her flushed face, put on his hat, and left the cottage. August’s body thrummed like a tuning fork. He yearned to indulge in their passion, but needed to stand aloof, the man in charge, for just a little longer.


Diane lives is Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty dachshund.