Interview: Rebecca Angus about her Debut Romance Novel

Today we have a superstar guest. My lovely literary agent who is a writer, agent, teacher AND mom! The one…the only…REBECCA ANGUS!!!
Thank you so much for joining us today on the Mathiseverywhere blog. I’m so excited that your romance novel just came out yesterday. I’ve been reading it nonstop!
Let’s dive in to who Rebecca is and what her book is about, then we’ll get the scoop and share the book details!

Who is Rebecca Angus?

Rebecca Angus is a Senior Literary Agent with Golden Wheat Literary, and romance author.
Rebecca has over five years of experience in the Publishing industry, and she’s excited to work with new authors and illustrators. She started as an editorial and submissions intern at Entangled in 2014, and from there she moved into an intern position at Golden Wheat Literary. After interning on both the publishing side, and the agent side, she set her sights on becoming a Literary Agent and found her home at Golden Wheat Literary.
When she’s away from books, she is an Army wife, science teacher, toddler chasing Mom, and equestrian. The military moves her family way too much. She lives in El Paso, Texas with her family.
Rebecca graduated from Texas A&M University with a BA in Science, and a Minor in Business. Since then, she’s earned her Master’s certificate in Children’s Literature, and her Master’s in Early Childhood Education and Literacy.
Rebecca is a supporter of diversity and inclusion in publishing, and she is a member of SCBWI NM.

What’s her book about?

Here’s the enticing description from publisherRed Adept Publishing:
When Aubrey Harrison wrecks her truck on the side of a dark Texas highway, she wakes up in the year 1836, in another woman’s life—someone who looks just like her. Struggling to understand her new reality, Aubrey connects with Tapley, a handsome cattleman with a tragic past.
As Mexican soldiers begin to fill the small settlement, Aubrey recognizes the first sign of a deadly battle yet to come. A bargain to save her new family’s cattle business leads to murder, and Aubrey is forced to take shelter within the walls of the Alamo, even though she knows that’s the worst place she could be.
The fate of Texas was sealed before the battle ever began, but with it, a new love may now be lost somewhere between the past and the present. An attempt to change fate comes with the high price of Aubrey’s future, but she’s determined to give history a fight it will never forget.
I can defintely say that there’s even more to the story than these enticing paragraphs.

What’s the scoop?

First of all, I have to get the juicy scoop, why is the author listed as Rebecca Elise? Is that your maiden name, pen name, or something else?
Great question! Outside of being a literary agent, I am a middle school science teacher. Since WHERE WE FIRST BEGAN is a bit more adult in terms of content, I didn’t want my students to connect the story to my role as a teacher. I am also working on educational curriculum publications using my legal name (Rebecca Angus), so I wanted to keep those separate from my fiction publications also.

That’s very good foresight on your part! You must have really thought about your publisher then, too. Why did you and your agent choose this publisher?
I wanted a bit more of a personal experience when it came to my debut book. My goal is a larger publisher down the road, but as I learn to navigate the publishing side from an author’s perspective I wanted to work with a smaller publisher. Red Adept has an incredible team, and they really worked hard with me to create the best book possible. My editor, Jessica, was AMAZING when it came to researching and making sure the book was historically accurate.

Teamwork does make the dreamwork! How did you come up with this exciting premise that earned you such a wonderful team?
I am a Texas native and I’m from San Antonio. There is so much about the Alamo in the heart of San Antonio, and I really wanted to pay tribute to the history there. The story itself really just took off once I decided on the historical pieces. It was a really fun project to work on!

I love that; historical fiction is one of my favorite genres! What drew you to Texas history?
I am from San Antonio so I grew up around the Alamo city. I did an incredible amount of research about the history of the Alamo, and the original settlers of San Antonio. The book is extremely accurate when it comes to historical details, events, and people. I do have to give credit to my amazing publisher and editor, Lynn and Jessica, who helped keep the story as accurate as we could possibly get it. We went through quite a long process of developmental edits making sure clothing, mannerisms, etc were realistic and accurate for the time period. That was probably the most challenging part of this story. Hopefully, readers will appreciate the research behind the story.

I definitely appreciate it as I’m reading, and that’s what I love about historical fiction. It feels like I’m learning while I’m having fun! For some more fun, let’s do some “What If’s” with your characters. If Aubrey could take Tapley back to the future with her, what would be most shocking to him? What kind of food do you think would blow his mind? Where would Aubrey take Tapley for a date?
I think the transportation aspect would be a bit of a shock. So much of Tapley’s life revolves around a working cattle ranch where horses and wagons are the only two ways to get from point A to point B. Also, Tapley never really had the chance to see Texas as a whole. It’s a huge state and he only saw a small piece of it. I think the perfect date for Aubrey and Tapley would be an epic Texas road trip where Aubrey shows everything Texas has become since 1836 and how much of an influence he made to history. Of course, they would have to visit Wataburger because that is a Texas food icon!

Wataburger?! I never been to TX, but when I do, that’s going on my list! What’s on your list for this book, i.e. what do you hope your readers get out of reading it?
This is really a story about hope even when things seem hopeless. The history of the Alamo is something most readers will be familiar with. It’s not a pretty piece of history, and many parts of it are still controversial. My hope is that this story will show a different side of history from the perspective of two people who are fighting desperately for the thing they love most.

I just got the chills. That’s beautiful, and a lovely ambition that I really hope resonates with your readers.

Numbers

To the numbers! Where is the math in your life, writing, agenting, teaching?
Numbers are everywhere. For me, I know how many hours I need to work in the day, or in the week to make everything happen. If you do the math there might be an hour or two here and there between agent work, toddler chasing, teacher duties, and spending time with my family. It all comes down to counting the extra moments to put words onto paper. I am definitely a planning type of person so I do my best to anticipate when I have a little extra time for some writing sprints.

That makes me think of one of my favorite quotes from your book (yes I have a few already)

Enduring Robert’s endless talking for four hours in a single night is on my list of terrible things never to do—right alongside long-distance running, trying to be a vegetarian, and wearing jumpers even if they’re trendy.

I am really enjoying the humor you’ve sprinkled throughout the story. Finally, if you could spend the day with your favorite author, would you rather go outside and fly a kite or sit by a fire with tea?
Well, it’s a bit hot here in El Paso to fly a kite, so I guess I would rather sit inside with tea and AC. The author I would want to have a spend-the-day with is 100% Jess Keating. She is the science author of my dreams and I would want to geek out over everything science and book related!

Omg, me too! If this ever happens, you have to invite me too! Iced tea…Rebecca Angus…AND JESS KEATING?! Sounds amazing—sign me up!

Thanks so much again for stopping by and sharing with us, Rebecca.

And Mathiseverywhere readers, look forward to a follow up interview in the future so we can see how Rebecca’s book is doing, have her provide author launching insights, and get more info on her as a writer and agent!

What are the Details?

To order Rebecca’s awesome new sweet romance novel,

From Amazon, go here. It’s only $2.99 for the ebook😁

From Barnes and Noble, go here.

From GooglePlay, go here.

From Rakuten kobo, go here.
Don’t forget to review it! Reviews are SO helpful to authors so readers know how wondeful the book is.

To find out more about Rebecca, including her upcoming books and her MSWL:https://www.rebeccaangusbooks.com/books-by-rebecca

Follow her on Twitter: @R_Elisewrites

Find her on Facebook:https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761044241&ref=content_filter