# Sentence of Marriage: a tale of Victorian New Zealand



## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Hello everyone! I've been enjoying Kindleboards since I joined, and have just realised that I've never got around to starting a topic in the Bazaar for my books. Better late than never!



In 19th Century New Zealand, there are few choices for a farm girl like Amy. Her life seems mapped out for her by the time she is twelve. Amy dreams of an exciting life in the world beyond her narrow boundaries. But two people who come to the farm from outside the valley change her life forever, and Amy learns the high cost of making the wrong choice.

This is the first book in the three-volume series "Promises to Keep". It's available as a *free *download on Smashwords in several formats, including for Kindle.

WorkingGirl Reviews called _Sentence of Marriage_ "one of the best historical novels I've had the pleasure to read in years". See the entire review here.


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## Nancy C. Johnson Author (Apr 28, 2010)

Hi, Shayne

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying it here. Me too... 

It sounds like a great book, and I'm glad to hear that WorkingGirl gave it a wonderful review.

I'm sure many readers will be happy to download the "free" copy at Smashwords (in several formats including Kindle).

Best of luck with your historical novel, Sentence of Marriage.  

I'll tag your book... (Well, I tried to find the Kindle edition of your book on Amazon, but it didn't come up, just the paperback. Is there a reason why? So I tagged your paperback. Shayne, you are in serious need of tags! You need to visit Donna's tag thread.)

Nancy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi Shayne,

Welcome to KindleBoards and congratulations on your book!

We invite you to use your book cover as your avatar and have links to your book and website in your signature. Be sure to read the fine print below. Don't forget to bookmark this thread so you can update it. Although self-promotion is limited to the Book Bazaar, most of our authors have found the best way to promote their books is to be as active throughout KindleBoards as time allows. This is your target audience--book lovers with Kindles!

Thanks for being part of KindleBoards! Feel free to PM us if you have any questions.

Betsy & Ann
Book Bazaar Moderators

_The fine print:
Please add to your existing book thread when you have news about your book rather than start a new one, it helps the members who are trying to follow you. You may have a separate thread for each of your books. We recommend you bookmark your post so that you can find it in the future.  You may respond to all posts, but if there have been no member posts, we ask that you wait a week before "bumping" the thread by posting back-to-back posts of your own. And we ask that Amazon reviews not be repeated here as they are easy to find at your book link. Also, full reviews from other sites should not be posted here, but you may post a short blurb and a link to the full review instead. All this, and more, is included in our Forum Decorum. From time to time our site rules may change; be sure to check Forum Decorum (http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,36.0.html) for the current guidelines and rules. _


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

I went to Smashwords and downloaded your book to my Sony.  I'm excited to get more books for my Sony.  
thank you,
deb


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Nancy: thanks so much for your kind words and good wishes. I'm waiting patiently )) for Smashwords books to be available in the Kindle store - the agreement's signed, but it's taking a while. Thank you for the paperback tags!

Ann: thank you. You have a nice set of boards here, and very well moderated (I'm a moderator on a set of Tolkien-related MBs, so I do know how challenging the job can be )

Deb: thanks for the download! I do hope you enjoy it.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I had a fabulous review this week from someone who's read all four books:

http://americaneditor.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/on-books-the-promises-to-keep-quartet/


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

This week I was interviewed about self-publishing:

http://agnieszkasshoes.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-inspiration.html


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## PhillipA82 (Dec 20, 2009)

Sounds good


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

PhillipA82 said:


> Sounds good


Thanks, Phillip


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Hi Shayne,

Just popping in to say hello. 

Have you decided to wait for Smashwords to distribute to Amazon?

Bye for now...

Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Vicki, thanks for dropping in  I've decided to wait a little longer - though not indefinitely.

-------

One of my more interesting research exercises has been the quest for authentic underwear. Read about my adventures with _gasp_ *drawers* here: 
http://shayneparkinson.blogspot.com/2010/06/drawers.html


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Warning: may incite fantasies of violence towards fictional characters. Here's what one reader said:

"I admit to having cried and laughed and even having wanted to murder a character and beat another one within an inch of his life — which is simply a testament to how well written these books are."


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

It's my birthday! But hobbit-style, I'm giving gifts: until the end of the week, 50% off Books Two and Three in the _Promises to Keep_ series.

The first book in the series, _Sentence of Marriage_, is *free*.

Enter the coupon codes at Smashwords' checkout to make use of this offer.

_Mud and Gold_ coupon code: AM95Q

_Settling the Account_ coupon code: CB58Z


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

*Happy birthday, Shayne!  *

_"A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip."_ ~Author unknown


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Happy belated birthday, Shayne! I had picked up the first book awhile back, must've seen it mentioned elsewhere, then I just saw the post in kinbr's Smashword's thread about the coupons on Books 2 and 3 so got them as well as the 4th book which is still a bargain at $1.99. I look forward to reading them all very soon, I've been on a historical romance kick just lately [though mainly Regency England era] so will work them into the rotation in the near future.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Vicki: thank you! The journey's going smoothly so far 

Steph: thanks for the wishes! I think it was still my birthday in your time zone, so not belated at all  And thanks so much for trying the books!

_Drum roll_ I'm featured in the Indie Spotlight today. What a nice birthday present!


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> _Drum roll_ I'm featured in the Indie Spotlight today. What a nice birthday present!


Great interview, Shayne. I had to smile when you said you married the farmer's son. Wonderful.

Your active research sounds like fun. I've milked cows and churned butter (must be a Kiwi thing) but have never handsewn underwear. I think I'll leave that back in the 1880s.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> Great interview, Shayne. I had to smile when you said you married the farmer's son. Wonderful.
> 
> Your active research sounds like fun. I've milked cows and churned butter (must be a Kiwi thing) but have never handsewn underwear. I think I'll leave that back in the 1880s.


Thanks, Vicki! They ask good questions. And yes, the farmer's son's a keeper  He's my most enthusiastic supporter.

The research is huge fun, even at its dustiest. It makes a difference to know how things look and feel and (sometimes most importantly!) _smelt_.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I was delighted with a recent review on Barnes and Noble. Excerpts:

"I have had the pleasure of reading all four books in this series. I can only say that it was an amazing experience! The characters are so rich and vivid, I found myself thinking about them when I was at work or at the gym - this is a first for me..."


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Warning: reading this book may interfere with your sleep patterns. From a review this week on Barnes & Noble: "I couldn't put this down. I read till three in the morning when I first started it. I just purchased the next three and can't wait to start them."


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> Warning: reading this book may interfere with your sleep patterns. From a review this week on Barnes & Noble: "I couldn't put this down. I read till three in the morning when I first started it. I just purchased the next three and can't wait to start them."


If you're depriving your readers of sleep, you've done your job well. Very well. 

Congrats, Shayne.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> If you're depriving your readers of sleep, you've done your job well. Very well.
> 
> Congrats, Shayne.


Thanks, Vicki. It's certainly better than being told you're helping readers get to sleep


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Reading my books can be part of a weight-loss plan! From a review this week:

_I loved these characters; good...bad and ugly. I cried my eyes out and *laughed my butt off*_.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Take a trip in a time machine, and visit New Zealand as it was in the 1880s. Sentence of Marriage.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

"Life was so much simpler back then."

That's a sentiment I often hear expressed about "the olden days".

It's 1881 in a New Zealand farming valley. Amy is not quite thirteen. Her mother died when she was three, and she's recently nursed her dying grandmother. She keeps house for her father and brothers; she turns the milk from their cows into butter and milk to trade at the general store.

During her "spare time" she's doing her best to train as a schoolteacher. That's when she's not being dragged along as an amused and bemused ally in her cousin Lizzie's efforts (putting her best apple pies forward) to nab a husband.

As if that's not enough: just wait till she sees what Papa's bringing home from the city&#8230;

A simple life? Maybe not. See what you think: Sentence of Marriage.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I'd love to introduce you to Amy, and her not-so-simple life.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

While Book Five is coming along nicely, I do have a soft spot for my earlier books. And the first one's free!

_Sentence of Marriage_.


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> While Book Five is coming along nicely, I do have a soft spot for my earlier books. And the first one's free!
> 
> _Sentence of Marriage_.


How many words is that now, Shayne. Your novels aren't exactly short. 

Cheers
Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> How many words is that now, Shayne. Your novels aren't exactly short.
> 
> Cheers
> Vicki


I haven't made it to a million words yet, but I'm getting there 

Books 1-4 total almost 750,000 words - which is why I'm amazed and awed by the readers who say they got to the end and promptly re-read all four! I guesstimate the WIP will be around 150,000 when finished, but with a large plus-or-minus attached to that.


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

That's a LOT of words! You must like writing.  

Cheers
Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I write long books, and I'm a slow writer. Bad combination. 

It didn't matter during all those years when I was mainly writing to please myself, but these day I get fan mail asking when the next book is coming out.   Lovely to receive, but it does make me feel guilty when I have to admit it's months away yet - and that's only the first draft.

I'd better get on with it now


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## Gordon Ryan (Aug 20, 2010)

Shayne, it seems incongruous that we keep meeting either at Smashwords or on the Kindle boards when we only live a few hundred miles apart in New Zealand.  

I have had a Kindle for about four months now, having bought the first one (then one for my wife) before Amazon and New Zealand had a Whispernet agreement.  In case you were unaware, Amazon has now signed an agreement with Vodaphone, so my Kindle can access the internet and download books easily, or even receive email, since I can access my internet account.  Of course I still use my PC and order directly from Amazon, thereby avoiding the extra $2.00 (US) charge for international delivery.

Got Sentence of Marriage in my Kindle too, Shayne.  One day, after the TBR list thins out.

Nice to see you on KB.

Cheers,


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Very nice to see you again, Gordon!

Thanks for the Kindle info. I must say that the new WiFi-only Kindle is looking very interesting.

Good luck with Mount TBR


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I really enjoyed _Sentence of Marriage _ and have been drawn totally into Amy's world! We've purchased the rest of the series and I have begun to read _Mud and Gold_.
As a child, I grew up fantasizing about living in 1870's Kansas, having spent some time on my greatgrandparents farm with no electricity or running water and with an outhouse. I always thought it seemed cozy and romantic. Amy's life is more likely what it was really like.

The series truly makes me appreciate my adoring husband! (He made me say that or else he'd give me a hiding).

Julie Strnad


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Julie, thank you so much! Your words are music to my ears.  

The farming valley is based on the one where my husband grew up - as did his father, and his father's father. I spent a lot of time there in my teens, and it's very real in my imagination.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Visit Victorian New Zealand from the comfort of your couch. _Sentence of Marriage_.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

It truly was a dark and stormy night! A storm the size of Australia has engulfed New Zealand. Last night the electricity went off. We sat in the parlour by candlelight, warmed by the wood fire, and went to bed at 9:30 - rather earlier than usual.

That was a tiny brush with Victorian living. To immerse yourself in the experience, perhaps you could try _Sentence of Marriage_.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Hi Shayne
My mother (who has just started reading again with the large font size on the kindle) has just finished "Sentence of a Marriage" and loved it!

Previously she could only read those books that were extra large font, and which weighed a ton, or those converted to audio.  These books were mainly the 'well known' authors. Once she got her kindle, she said she now planned to read books from a wide variety of authors because she was sick of the same kind of themes/writing styles.

Nice work!


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Pushka said:


> Hi Shayne
> My mother (who has just started reading again with the large font size on the kindle) has just finished "Sentence of a Marriage" and loved it!
> 
> Previously she could only read those books that were extra large font, and which weighed a ton, or those converted to audio. These books were mainly the 'well known' authors. Once she got her kindle, she said she now planned to read books from a wide variety of authors because she was sick of the same kind of themes/writing styles.
> ...


Thanks so much, Pushka! And your mother, too.  That's lovely to hear.

It's one of the wonderful side-effects of e-readers that suddenly every book is potentially a large-print edition.


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Hi Shayne,

Has the earth stopped moving? 

Happy Sunday!

Cheers,
Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Hi Vicki!

Actually it hasn't! Those poor people in Christchurch have had nearly 2,000 aftershocks, some of them quite powerful quakes in their own right. I'm very lucky to be too far away to be affected.

I do, however, have a volcanic eruption in the book that comes after _Sentence of Marriage_.


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

In many respects a volcanic eruption is worse than an earthquake. We were in Taumarunui in 1995 when Mt Ruapehu erupted. Scary. The long white cloud was anything but white!  

Cheers
Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> In many respects a volcanic eruption is worse than an earthquake. We were in Taumarunui in 1995 when Mt Ruapehu erupted. Scary. The long white cloud was anything but white!
> 
> Cheers
> Vicki


It was still erupting in 1996, when we were commuting between Auckland and Sydney (yes, that _is_ one heck of a commute ). We had more than one flight cancelled because of volcanic ash.

The volcanic eruption I use is the vastly more destructive Tarawera eruption of 1886. The coastal Bay of Plenty, where _Mud and Gold_ is set, didn't suffer the death and destruction inflicted on those living closer to Tarawera, but it must have been terrifying in those days before rapid communication. Especially if a woman happened to be in labour, and cut off from her neighbours!


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> ...but it must have been terrifying in those days before rapid communication. Especially if a woman happened to be in labour, and cut off from her neighbours!


Hell, yes! 

Plenty of conflict in your books, then.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

The trailer for _Sentence of Marriage_ is in the New Covey Trailer Awards this month. If you like it, please consider voting for it!

Entry #10 here: http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> The trailer for _Sentence of Marriage_ is in the New Cover Trailer Awards this month. If you like it, please consider voting for it!
> 
> Entry #10 here: http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/


Done!


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> Done!


Thanks, Vicki!


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm interviewed on a site for readers of web fiction, Ergofiction: http://www.ergofiction.com/2010/12/cafe-monday-shayne-parkinson/


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## VickiT (May 12, 2010)

Great interview, Shayne.

_"I recently got a lovely letter from a group of co-workers who've read my books. They attached a photograph showing them all in their office, holding up a mix of paperback versions and e-reader displays of the books' covers. That had me smiling for days."_

How cool is that? I'm not surprised you were smiling for days. 

Cheers
Vicki


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

VickiT said:


> Great interview, Shayne.


Thanks! The interviewer put together a set of questions that really made me think.



> _"I recently got a lovely letter from a group of co-workers who've read my books. They attached a photograph showing them all in their office, holding up a mix of paperback versions and e-reader displays of the books' covers. That had me smiling for days."_
> 
> How cool is that? I'm not surprised you were smiling for days.
> 
> ...


Yes! I could hardly believe it when I opened my mail and saw the picture: http://shayneparkinson.blogspot.com/2010/11/readers-are-such-wonderful-motivation.html.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Dusting off this old thread to say that I'm donating this week's Smashwords royalties (on the pay-for books; free is still free) to Christchurch Earthquake Relief.


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## Dan Holloway (Dec 18, 2010)

Shayne, how lovely to see you here. 
I would highly recommend Sentence of Marriage to anyone who loves a beautifully told story


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks, Dan. Lovely to see you, too.


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