Tressa (Cerny)

Tressa 
Barbara T. Cerny, 2011
Strategic Book Publishing
294 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781631353406


Summary
Driven from her Irish home to the shores of New York, Tressa must face not only the demons of her past but somehow follow her dreams.
 
Escaping an abusive husband and the tragic loss of her newborn child, Tressa O'Daire leaves her home of Dublin, Ireland, for the unknown shores of New York City. There, she finds work in the powerful Langley family as a nurse-maid to a baby girl. The Langleys allow Tressa, a master baker by trade, to use their baking oven and she starts a business and a new life.

Ethan Langley, crippled in a riding accident that left him bound to a wheel chair, has spent the last eight years in his room escaping the embarrassment to his family and the hatred of his brother, Heaton. The only bright spot in his life is his sister, Sarah; until a certain Irish baker arrives and turns his life upside down.

Their very lives are threatened when the head of the Langley household dies unexpectedly leaving the business and family fortune to Heaton. As Heaton and his wife, Victoria, bring the family to the brink of ruination, Tressa and Ethan must save whatever they can, including the budding love between them.

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Denver, Colorado, USA
• Education—A.S., Mesa State College; B.S., Arizona State University; M.S., Lehigh University
• Currently—Oakwood, Ohio


Author Barbara T. Cerny grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, which at that time was a small town of 30,000 people.

She left that little burg to see the world, garner three college degrees, and to serve in the US Army. After eight years on active duty and fourteen years in the reserves, she retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2007.

While deployed to the Middle East in 2005, Ms. Cerny finally figured out she had to get going on the real love of her life, writing. She wrote her first two novels during that time and hasn’t stopped. She is presently working on novels number seven, eight, and nine.

When not writing, Ms. Cerny works as an information technology specialist and supervisor for the US Air Force. She lives with her loving husband, their two active teenagers, two needy cats, and two turtles. The turtles patiently watch her write and listen to her intently as she discusses plot lines with them. (From the author.)

Visit the author's website.
Follow Barbara on Facebook...and Twitter.

Book Reviews
Tressa is a beautiful person who is sensitive to all the relationships around her. She is gutsy enough to start her own business, foresighted enough to plan her future and sensitive enough to care for the less fortunate. Ethan was an equal partner. Though crippled at an early age he was the motivation behind her actions. He too comes out as a strong character as he moves out of his father’s house and makes his own living. He could have depended on Tressa, but he chose to make a life of his own. The best part I loved was the relationship between them. A sweet understand, a camaraderie which encouraged the goodness in each other.
Rubina Ramesh - The Book Club
 

A nicely written historical romance, with a great heroine. I loved Tressa’s perseverance to do something different than what was expected of women at the time. Her relationship with the servants and younger Langley siblings was entertaining, and I thought she was quite ingenious in finding solutions to her problems. I almost wanted more. It kept me reading to the very last page.
Heather Osborne - Readers' Favorite
 

A wonderful and compelling storyline that drags the reader into it and makes you want to keep reading right to the very end. There are lots of twists and turns, agonies and ecstasies, and wins and losses.
Veta Lynne Murray, Editor - Muse It Up Publishing

Discussion Questions
1. Tressa is set in the late 1700's early 1800s. Does this time period work best for this story?  Could this story happen today?  

2. Tressa is a master baker. Very rare for that time period. Did it add to or detract from the story? How?

3. Ethan is handicapped. What do you think of a romantic hero in a wheelchair? Would you be attracted to a man/woman in a wheelchair?
 
4. In many romance novels, the two main characters fall into bed and love immediately. Is this realistic for the time period? How about for today? Do you like a quick fall then some conflict, or a slow build with the conflict?
 
5. Tressa starts her own business under the tutelage of Big Mo. She is Irish—very prejudiced against in that time period. Would this really have happened?
 
6. The author’s favorite statements in the book—“Ethan might have a broken body, but there was nothing broken about his deep and undying love for this Irish woman. In one evening, she proved to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that his manhood was not limited to one region of his body, and that making love was a total body experience.” Is making love a total body experience?
 
7. If you were writing the ending of Ethan and Tressa’s story, what would it be?
 
8. What did you think of Tressa’s relationship with Sarah? Was it appropriate? Why/why not?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

top of page (summary)