Title: Pearls:
Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore
Author: BonSue
Brandvik
Publisher: Self
Length: 317 pages
Sub-Genres: Paranormal, Ghosts
BLURB:
Software developer Honor Macklin
believes she’s equal business partners with her philandering ex-husband, but
when family responsibilities take her to Florida ,
she discovers her ex may have cheated her in more ways than one. Spirits at the
Belleview Biltmore hotel try to help Honor by invading her dreams to share
memories from the life of Darcy Loughman, a young Victorian woman with big
problems of her own. When the two worlds collide, Honor and her new lover,
Josh, along with his clairvoyant four-year-old son, try to figure out how Honor
can use lessons from the past to change her destiny.
The setting for this novel is the famous and currently endangered historic Belleview Biltmore Resort inBelleair ,
FL. Florida ’s
founding fathers, Henry B. Plant. The author is working with preservationists,
hoping to find investors willing to save the wonderful, 820,000 sq. ft. hotel
from demolition.
The setting for this novel is the famous and currently endangered historic Belleview Biltmore Resort in
EXCERPT :
Late in the afternoon, Honor
Macklin took her checklist list out of her pocket and with a triumphant
flourish, checked off the item “Clean-out Mom’s Kitchen.” Then she gathered up
the day’s treasures, including the
antique journal, and put them in her car. Remembering her hotel room at the
Belleview Biltmore was quite chilly the night before, she went to her mother’s
closet and grabbed an old-fashioned flannel granny-gown to sleep in, and then
drove the short distance back to the hotel to order room service.
Belly full, bathed and dressed in
her mother’s old flannel gown, Honor snuggled under the goose-down comforter,
against the oh-so-soft pillows and began to read the faded text in the old
journal. It began, “I long for a world so different than the one I inhabit…”
As she began to drift off to sleep,
Honor became aware of a chill in the air and she heard voices coming from…
coming from where? The hallway? Her suite? She tried to focus on the
conversation.
“She has the journal. It’s time for
her to know everything,” a woman’s voice said.
Honor rose from her bed to
investigate and was amazed to find two women sitting in her parlor, clothed in
full Victorian dress. Then it slowly began to sink in. They weren’t exactly
what you would call solid.
“Who… what…” stammered Honor,
startled almost beyond words.
“Good evening, darlin’,” the larger
of the two women greeted her. “I’m Margaret and this is…well, this is Darcy. We
see you’ve found her journal, gone from sight these many years.”
Margaret turned to face the thin,
older woman. “It’s time, Darcy. You know it’s the right thing to do.”
“But what if she doesn’t
understand?” The older woman looked worried. Her anguished eyes locked on
Honor.
“She comes from good stock. She’ll
understand,” the plump woman replied.
Suddenly, Honor found herself
inexplicably fading from her hotel room, into a fog. She floated through the
mist, enjoying the sensation. When the fog lifted, she was sitting at a
cast-iron garden table with a cool breeze caressing her face.
She felt dizzy and a bit sick to
her stomach, as if she had just stepped off a roller coaster. Desperately, she
tried to orient herself to her new situation by focusing on a pink hibiscus
bush nearby. She heard someone call out from a nearby path.
“A grand afternoon to you, Madam
Darcy.”
Honor turned toward the voice and
saw the heavyset woman who had called herself Margaret, waving at Darcy, who
was seated across from Honor at the garden table.
Honor’s mouth hung open as she
gazed beyond the courtyard to the original Belleview Hotel. She felt Darcy’s
eyes upon her, pulling her attention back across the table.
Darcy spoke as though they were
still in Honor’s hotel room, seemingly unaware their location had changed, or
that she appeared to be several decades younger than she had been only moments
ago…
BUY LINKS:
SAVE THE HISTORIC BELLEVIEW BILTMORE
HOTEL OR
THE RIGHT COURSE OF ACTION MAY BE A MATTER OF
PERSPECTIVE
When I entered this world, I was either the most hideous thing to ever
exit a woman’s body in a delivery room, or the most beautiful baby ever born.
It’s a matter of perspective. You
see, I was born in the days when Mother Nature (not doctors) decided
birthdates, so even though I was due in early June, I was born August 17th. I was so far overdue that I was born fat and
in need of a manicure, pedicure, hairstylist and body-hair removal. From my
Mom’s perspective, she had somehow birthed a monkey. From the medical staff’s
perspective, I needed a good cleaning. They knew the downy hair would come
right off my body and that my long, black hair, once pulled off my face and
into a little palm-tree ponytail, would look just fine. So when my dad saw me for
the first time, his perspective was that I was the cutest, chubby-cheeked,
ponytailed baby in the world.
Perspective
In the battle of preservationists verses developers, the Belleview
Biltmore Hotel is either a one-of-a-kind, priceless historic gem in the heart
of Belleair , Florida
When I first learned about the battle between preservationists and
developers over the fate of the Belleview Biltmore, I visited the hotel to gain
my own perspective. I was awed by the beauty of the hotel and immediately overwhelmed
by the echoes of those who have gone before. After one tour, my perspective
aligned with preservationists and I knew I must help save the hotel. I was also
inspired to write stories about people who might have visited and/or worked
there in days gone by, and whose spirits never left the hotel.
Once I was smitten
by the Belleview Biltmore, I started collecting historic information,
photographs, and the stories/personal memories of previous hotel guests,
workers and people who lived in the surrounding community. I also collected a
lot of reports from ghost hunting professionals,
previous hotel guests, and employees who reported ghostly encounters at the
Belleview Biltmore. From their perspective, numerous spirits still occupy the
hotel.
But the battle over
the fate of the hotel rages on. The majestic
Belleview Biltmore hotel has become run-down during the last twenty years. The reason
this happened is, once again, a matter of perspective.
Developers claim the reason proper maintenance wasn’t kept up is because the
hotel couldn’t draw enough customers to pay for necessary upkeep/maintenance
costs. From the preservationists’ perspective, the developers who had ownership
of the hotel, intentionally failed to maintain it because they hoped (and still
hope) to demolish the building and replace it with townhomes.
Several companies have studied the hotel and its economic viability, and
all have concluded that the hotel structure remains sound and if restored, the
hotel would be competitive in the local market.
From the perspective of developers, renovating the hotel is still too
risky an investment. From the perspective of preservationists, restoration of
the historic hotel is the only acceptable outcome.
Potential buyers, whose perspective agrees with the
companies who say that the hotel’s renovation is a viable option, have stepped
forward, hoping to buy the hotel and complete the renovation. The Belleview
Biltmore Partners (BBP) group is in the process of trying to assemble a group
of investors to purchase and renovate the hotel. And there you have it. The
issue of the hotel’s fate may eventually be settled, based on yet another
groups’ perspective – investors. Will they agree with the perspective held by
preservationists or developers? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, I will be writing stories about fictional spirits at the
Belleview Biltmore and continuing to try to save the historic hotel, in the
hope that the real spirits can remain
there for a least another hundred years.
A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE BELLEVIEW BILTMORE HOTEL
In the year 1896, railroad tycoon Henry Plant and his wife, Margaret,
built the Belleview Hotel as a winter resort for the extraordinarily
wealthy. A study, commissioned by Plant,
determined the highest coastal bluff in Florida
benefited from more days of sunshine than any other location in the state.
Plant bought the bluff and built the Belleview and the surrounding town of Belleair . The hotel was
completely self-sufficient and guests enjoyed every luxury imaginable at the
time. By the mid-1920s, the size of the hotel had doubled; making it the
largest occupied wooden structure in the world, and it had been added to the
Biltmore hotel chain. During WWII, the hotel served as quarters for the Army
Air Corps and a few years later, the property was
expanded to include beach property. The hotel’s prestigious guest list includes
US Presidents, British Royalty, and a host of celebrities. For more
information/pictures, check out: www.BonSueBrandvik.com Or www.SpiritsOfBelleviewBiltmore.com
BonSue Brandvik has lived in Pinellas County Pinellas County
BonSue earned her Associate’s degree at
St Petersburg College
and then pursued a Liberal Arts degree at the University of Tampa
The majority of BonSue’s business
career has been dedicated to the field of Human Resources. In 2004, she left
her position as Director of HR for TBE Group, in order to start a home-based HR
consulting business. As sole proprietor of HR Helping Hands, BonSue offers HR
services on an as-needed basis, to companies too small to hire a full-time HR
manager. She also became involved with local government and currently serves as
the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Board in Belleair.
BonSue volunteers as a court-appointed
Guardian Ad Litem, advocating for children who come into the court system
primarily as a result of alleged abuse or neglect. She also volunteers as a
docent at the Heritage Village Living
History Museum
in Largo and
she leads a writers’ critique group called Clearwater Writers Meet-Up.
Over the course of the last year,
BonSue has become involved in the cause to protect, preserve and restore the
historic Belleview Biltmore Hotel; the inspiration for a series of novels she
is currently writing. She published the first novel in the series, titled
“Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore, Book One,” earlier this year.
“Pearls” has earned several outstanding reviews, creating a demand for the next
book in the series, “Ripples”, which she hopes to finish within the next year.
BonSue also wrote and illustrated a
children’s educational and interactive workbook, titled “Where Do You Live,
Exactly?” which uses the principle of the Russian nesting doll, to reduce the
size of the universe one page at a time, until at the end of the book, the
child reaches his/her own home.
BonSue offers to speak to groups on a
variety of topics, including: The History of Florida, The Historic
Belleview Biltmore Resort, and How to Weave Historic Facts into Works of
Fiction.
When it comes to leisure activities,
BonSue enjoys reading, photography, gardening, golf, camping, and helping care
for the family koi pond. She is also addicted to Facebook and the on-line game,
“Words with Friends.”
Author Links:
Twitter: @BonSueB
Interested in checking out the entire tour? Click here.
Ruth - Thank you so much for hosting me on your site today. It's wonderful to find someone who knows about the historic Belleview Biltmore out here in cyberspace! ...BonSue
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