Discover how love changes everything in this rags-to-riches and riches-to-rags romance series.
Set against the vistas of the Golden State, the Blossom Trilogy has everything: the juxtaposition of rich and poor; the constraints and rules of a bygone age; the timeless clash of generations and traditions; the arrogance of man and the wrath of Mother Nature.
The lessons to be learned are clear. Life is uncertain. Love can be unshakable. The future is unknowable. The unthinkable is always possible.
The story brings together the variety of people who call California home. From the gold fields of Northern California to the whorehouses of San Francisco, and from the mansions of Pasadena to the new-born movie studios of Hollywood, the series embraces three vibrant generations of Americans.
With the first book, every turn of a page is a countdown to a doomsday face-off with disaster and the explosive power of blooming love. Think of the film Titanic, but on land…land that’s burning and shaking. Blossom offers a sweeping view of life at the turn of the 20th century in San Francisco and an intimate portrait of the lives of those who experienced both unimaginable endings and new beginnings.
The second and third books, plus several bridging novellas, continue the saga by capturing the highs and lows of love told through the experiences of Southern California’s hardworking folks and glittering elite.
A truly original American tale, the Blossom Trilogy takes you back to times before our time, when much was different and yet much was the same, especially what motivates people: ambition, passion and jealousy, but, most of all, love.
Press Releases
CONTACT:
Heather McLaughlin
heather@novelpublicrelations.com
At Historic Anniversary, San Francisco Earthquake Sets Scene for New Epic Romance Novel, Blossom
Christopher Lentz brings passion and historical accuracy to story of scandalous young love in the midst of California’s greatest natural disaster
Orange County, Calif., April 14, 2015: New author Christopher Lentz announced today that his self-published historical romance, Blossom , is available as an ebook from online retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Smashwords and Kobo, and in print from Amazon.
“It’s a dream come true to be sharing my new book, Blossom , leading up to the April 18, 1906, anniversary of the nightmarish San Francisco earthquake and fires, which is the backdrop of the story,” said Lentz.”The research process was a time-traveling experience that resulted in Blossom capturing the turn-of-the-century way of life for the fortunate and unfortunate. Readers now can be part of this scandalous love-triangle story that has been called ‘Titanic on land.'”
Anne Cleeland, acclaimed author of historical fiction such as Daughter of the God-King and contemporary mysteries, said,”A compelling story of the power of love in the face of an unprecedented disaster; of a man who has to choose between his duty and a love that transcends two cultures. Lentz writes an amazing story that brings the San Francisco earthquake to life—first rate!”
About Blossom
San Francisco, 1906, on the brink of one of Mother Nature’s cruelest and most destructive disasters, lovers unite as an earthquake rips the city apart. Chinatown fortune cookie maker Blossom Sun is far from having anything she wants. Atop Nob Hill, socialite Clarissa Donahue is close to having everything she ever desired—that is, until her simple request for fortune cookies triggers an unexpected chain of events.
When Clarissa’s unconventional fiancé, silver-fortune heir Brock St. Clair, catches a glimpse of Blossom his life turns upside down. Discovering how every secret has a price, Blossom faces the ultimate crossroad. No one could have predicted how an earthquake, firestorm and the desires of three strong-willed families would test the strength of Blossom , Clarissa and Brock. When everything falls apart, who’ll be together? Who’s going to see tomorrow?
With love at its epicenter, Blossom’s story happens over just five days. It’s a heart-wrenching portrait of those who experience both unimaginable endings and new beginnings. And it is sure to change what is known about longing, love and loss because in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary choices.
For more information about Blossom and to watch the official Blossom trailer visit Blossomtrilogy.com.
About Christopher Lentz
Christopher Lentz is a man who writes romances, a self-starter who self-publishes and a dreamer who thought growing old would take longer. He truly believes love changes everything. As a journalist, a corporate marketer and now a romance writer, his career has been all about storytelling. His first romance novel, Blossom , is now available and it is the first book of the Blossom Trilogy. Lentz lives in California with his wife and family. Follow him on Twitter @AuthorLentz or on Facebook at Chris Lentz. For more information, visit christopherlentz.org and Blossomtrilogy.com.
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Contact the writer:
714-796-7963
BStaggs@OCRegister.com
Former Disney character pens first novel in Victorian mansion
A Winnie the Pooh costume. A fortune cookie. A wreath made from human hair.
Each represents a new check mark on Christopher Lentz’s list of life goals.
Don’t let those smiling eyes and that peaceful presence fool you. It’s a list this North Tustin resident has been working feverishly to tackle over four decades, since he was 15.
He’s not done yet. But he trusts the same connective thread that weaves Pooh, prophetic cookies and Gothic mourning rituals together will help him check those remaining goals from his list.
“It’s love,” Lentz says. “Love changes everything.”
He knows it’s cliche. But when you see Lentz in the Victorian mansion of his dreams, with his high school sweetheart by his side and his debut novel in his hand, you begin to believe him.
DISNEY’S MAIN STREET SPARKS A PASSION
Growing up in Detroit in the 1960s, Lentz dreamed of going to Disneyland.
He spent weekends instead visiting flea markets in the Michigan countryside with his aunts and uncles, developing an appreciation for things with a past.
When he was 15, he got to do more than visit Disneyland.
His family moved to Anaheim. Lentz enrolled at Katella High, where he met the woman who would one day be his wife. And he got his first job in 1975 playing Winnie the Pooh and Tigger in the parade at the happiest place on earth.
“It’s a lot more work than people think it is to be in those costumes,” Lentz says. “It’s a great weight loss plan.”
Lentz continued working at Disneyland as he moved on to college, studying journalism at Cal State Fullerton. But he traded his Pooh costume for a striped, polyester shirt and bow tie as he stepped behind the famed counter at Candy Palace on Main Street.
He doesn’t know if it was the architecture or the fashion, the manners or some combination of it all that struck him during that impressionable time in his life. But Lentz fell in love with the Victorian culture that inspired much of Main Street’s design.
“It was like living in a time capsule,” he said. “It just felt right.”
Even as he entered corporate America, launching his career as a marketing executive, Lentz continued working at Disneyland on weekends through 1988. Splitting his time between the “real world” and “make-believe world” is how he and his wife, Cheryl, paid for their first home.
Lentz remains friends with co-workers from his Disney days. They all have annual passes to the park, raising their kids together and passing along the appreciation for diplomacy, cleanliness and optimism they picked up decades ago along Main Street.
“It will always be part of our lives,” Lentz said.
FIVE OAKS MANOR IS BORN
With an eye to all things Victorian, Lentz and his wife started collecting antiques early in their relationship.
On their first anniversary, they splurged on an antique sewing machine. That sparked an annual tradition, with an ornate light fixture for one anniversary and a collectible chair for another. Soon, Lentz confesses, they were buying items year-round.
Fortunately, Victorian homes were full homes.
“I find clutter stimulating,” he said.
The Lentzes love to frequent shops in Old Town Orange, Redlands and Temecula. One thing Lentz doesn’t do is shop online, preferring instead to touch items and hear the stories behind them.
“A lot of the things in our home have stories,” he said, pointing at a spinning wheel that belonged to his wife’s grandmother in Norway, a TV his grandparents bought in 1948 for $480 and, in keeping with a Gothic Victorian tradition, a flowered “mourning wreath” made 100 years ago from the hair of a loved one who had died.
Their home has a story of its own.
After years in modern homes in Anaheim Hills and Orange, the Lentzes debated buying an authentic Victorian and restoring it. Instead, Lentz said, “We built a brand-new home and aged it 100 years.”
On a corner lot in an unincorporated North Tustin community, with no city or homeowners association restrictions to hold them back, the Lentzes spent three years creating the 8,800-square-foot Victorian mansion of their dreams.
Visitors to Five Oaks Manor first see a red-shingle roof reminiscent of Hotel del Coronado, where Lentz and his wife spent their wedding night. They wait on a white-pillared porch before being ushered into a grand foyer. There’s a sweeping staircase to the right and a formal parlor to the left, and the sun streams through a glass conservatory straight ahead. Elaborate woodwork, lush fabrics and reproduction wallpaper are everywhere, with sprinklings of Disney memorabilia throughout the home.
Like Disneyland, some of the home is a clever illusion. The massive brass and alabaster chandelier above the entryway looks like an antique from Paris, but was in fact made for a property in Las Vegas. A flat-screen TV discreetly takes the place of a mirror above an antique cabinet, and the refrigerator has a false front so it looks like an old icebox.
Lentz enjoys sharing his home, opening it up for a feature in Victorian Homes magazine and hosting a traditional Victorian tea to raise money for Wounded Warriors. It’s the culmination of several dreams, with his passion for Victorian style, Disney and his high school sweetheart colliding at Five Oaks Manor.
But one dream still remained.
A DREAM Blossom S
Lentz has always been a writer, overseeing branding and marketing materials for the credit reporting agency Experian in Costa Mesa. As he neared 50, he decided it was time to discover if he could actually write the novel that had been writing itself in his head for a decade.
For his 40th birthday, his wife told him to pack a suitcase because she was “kidnapping” him. They ended up in San Francisco, on a walking tour of Chinatown led by a man from China.
Along the way, they got a glimpse down an alley of two women making fortune cookies by hand. The sight captivated Lentz, and a story started to take shape.
On April 18, Lentz published “Blossom.”
Set in late Victorian-era San Francisco leading up to the devastating April 18, 1906, earthquake, Lentz describes the novel as “Titanic on land.” It, too, features star-crossed lovers from different social classes, as a humble fortune-cookie maker meets the heir to a silver fortune. And it also builds suspense by letting readers know of an impending disaster the characters don’t expect.
Lentz got serious about writing the book two years ago, when he joined the Romance Writers of America. The nonprofit’s Orange County chapter meets once a month in Brea, with aspiring writers and New York Times bestselling authors gathering to celebrate victories, brainstorm ideas and offer suggestions.
“Writing can be a solo sport,” Lentz said. “It’s a fascinating journey to put yourself out there and be open for criticism.”
Lentz was soon writing everywhere, all the time. He’d write in his home office, on an antique desk flanked by Disney collectables. He’d write in the courtyard on breaks at work. And he’d write in a log cabin in Wisconsin, on trips to visit his wife’s family.
The ideas come in bursts, according to Miranda, the youngest of his three daughters. The 20-year-old can’t guess how many church attendance cards he’s used to jot down a bit of dialogue he might want to use in “Blossom” or the sequels he’s already drafting.
“It becomes who you are,” Lentz said.
The final bit of inspiration for “Blossom” came in summer 2014. His family took a trip to China, where Lentz lived out another dream as he climbed the Great Wall, saw the Terracotta Army and ate Peking duck.
At a school in Yueyang, Lentz met a girl whose name translates as Little Sunflower. She made Lentz a traditional fan, and he named his book’s main character Blossom Sun.
He couldn’t resist as she stood there, in that historic Chinese city, wearing denim overalls with Mickey Mouse on the bib.
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