Showing posts with label American Indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Indian. Show all posts

Monday, July 22, 2024

Trail of Promises by Susan F. Craft

 

1753 along the Great Wagon Road that ran from Philadelphia, PA to Georgia. A broken wheel delays Tessa and the wagon following them while the rest of the wagon train moves on. From there great tragedy and trials as they continue on unfold in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Their recovery and perseverance as they travel on, situations and people they encounter are skillfully brought to life and greatly enrich the story. Hard to put down, great read every minute of the way.

I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#TrailOfPromises #SusanFCraft #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #ChristianHistoricalFiction #WildHeartBooks


About the Book

Book: Trail of Promises

Author: Susan F. Craft

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: June 25, 2024

A marriage of convenience will protect her reputation on the long trail ahead, but he’s barely more than a stranger…

Tessa Harris is a woman without options. When she’s stranded nearly two hundred miles from her destination, her only companions are a former British Cavalry officer and his two young brothers. Society dictates they cannot travel without a chaperone, but can she trust this handsome stranger to protect her if they choose to marry? And if so, should she show her feelings or guard her heart? She’s learned the hard way how painful it is to love a man who doesn’t reciprocate.

Stephen Griffith has enough responsibility caring for his young brothers, and now he shoulders the massive responsibility of keeping his new wife safe as they cross the wilderness toward a new life. And though he tries to keep her at arm’s length, reminding himself their marriage may only be a temporary arrangement, he cannot seem to shake the feelings growing for her.

When they fall into the hands of outlaws, Tessa and Stephen must overcome their hardest obstacle yet. Only God can bring them safely to the end of the trail where enduring love awaits. 

Click here to get your copy! 

About the Author

Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in writing, editing, and communicating in business settings.

She authored the historical romantic suspense trilogy Women of the American Revolution—The Chamomile, Laurel, and Cassia. The Chamomile and Cassia received national Illumination Silver Awards. The Chamomile was named by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance as an Okra Pick and was nominated for a Christy Award.

She collaborated with the International Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile An Equestrian Writer’s Guide (www.lrgaf.org), including almost everything you’d ever want to know about horses.

An admitted history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch watching geese eat her daylilies. She most recently took up the ukulele.

More from Susan

Tessa Harris and her father, Thomas, are portrait artists, limners, who travel from town to town seeking commissions.

Limners were among the first to record glimpses of life in colonial America. By the early 1700s, wealthy colonists hired limners to paint portraits of their families. These limners, mostly self-taught, generally unknown by name, turned out naive portraits in the Elizabethan style, the Dutch baroque style, or the English baroque court style, depending upon the European background of both artist and patron.

Rather than a true portrait, the paintings were most often idealistic and did not give a true representation of the personality of the sitter and were often two dimensional. Artists focused on the material wealth of the subject, giving much attention to their clothing and accessories. Some artists painted only the faces of their subjects, explaining that they need not bother with tedious sittings and that they would paint the bodies and clothing later. They would show their subjects English and French prints from which to choose whatever costumes and backgrounds they preferred.

Like most artisans of their time who found it difficult to support themselves with paintings only, limners also worked in pewter, silver, glass, or textiles or took jobs doing ornamental paintings of clocks, furniture, signs, and carriages. Many painted miniatures—tiny watercolor portraits—on pieces of ivory, often oval-shaped and commonly worn as jewelry. Limners also painted on paper and canvas and earned, on average, $15 per portrait.

Limners Samuel McIntire and Duncan Phyfe became celebrated painters of furniture. Famous colonial portrait artists included Joseph Blackburn, Peter Pelham, John Smibert, John Singleton Copley, John Trumbull and Charles Wilson Peale. An American artist, Benjamin West, became painter to the king and president of the Royal Academy in London. American artists flocked to his studio to learn under his tutelage, including Gilbert Stuart, who painted a famous portrait of George Washington.

In 1754 in British colonial New York, an artist took out the following ad in the Gazette and the Weekly Post: Lawrence Kilburn, Limner, just arrived from London with Capt. Miller, hereby acquaints all Gentlemen and Ladies inclined to favour him in having their pictures drawn, that he don’t doubt of pleasing them in taking a true Likeness, and finishing the Drapery in a proper Manner, as also in the Choice of Attitudes, suitable to each Person’s Age and Sex, and giving agreeable Satisfaction, as he has heretofore done to Gentlemen and Ladies in London. He may at present be apply’d to at his Lodgings, at Mr. Bogart’s near the New Printing-Office in Beaver-Street.

I pray that my Great Wagon Road series honors the Lord and the gifts He has given me and that you will love my characters as much as I do. Soli Deo Gloria.

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Giveaway



To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2ca3e/trail-of-promises-celebration-tour-giveaway 





My reviews



Saturday, June 29, 2024

Texas Forsaken by Sherry Shindelar

 



A really special story. Deeply encompassing story about a girl in Texas who had been a captive of the Comanche as a young girl, living with them for seven years before a conflict with soldiers killed her Indian husband and took her and her baby away to reunite her with her extended family. Her emotions are raw and she doesn't want to go back to living with white people. Garrett is the soldier who killed her husband. He tries to protect and provide for her and the baby, and becomes entranced with her. It's a very rough road and then to add to things Texas succeeded and forced the federalists to leave. Tense and a very tough struggle all the way through the story from more than one side. Strong love tale with good faith lessons. 

I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#TexasForsaken #SherryShindelar #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #ChristianHistoricalFiction 




About the Book

 

Book: Texas Forsaken

Author: Sherry Shindelar

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: May 21, 2024

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Seven years ago, Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded to nothing more than vague shadows, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior, having a baby, and rebuilding her life. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life, and she is taken captive again, this time by those who call themselves her people. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Enrolled in West Point to escape his overbearing father, Captain Garret Ramsey has graduated and finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, witnessing the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave? Or is there hope she might heal to love once more?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author



Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. She is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2023 Genesis finalist, Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of thirty-eight years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.

 

 

 

More from Sherry

The story of Cynthia Anne Parker, the most famous captive of the nineteenth century, haunted my heart for a couple of decades. Abducted from one world, adopted into another, and then stolen back, Cynthia Ann’s story of love and unrepairable loss captured my heart. All the more so since it was fact, not fiction.

I longed to give her a second chance. So I developed a character who was similar to Cynthia, started the narrative at the moment of crisis, and wrote a different trajectory. I couldn’t give Cynthia a happy ending, but I could give Eyes-Like-Sky a story of love and hope taking root in the midst of devastating loss.

Cynthia was taken captive by Comanches at age nine during an attack on her family’s fort in the Texas frontier in 1836. Her father and several extended family members were killed, and her brother John, her cousin Rachel, and a couple other family members were captured along with her.

Her Aunt Elizabeth was rescued a couple months after the attack. Her cousin Rachel, who had been badly abused by the tribe, was ransomed a couple of years later and died within a year of her return. John adopted the Comanche lifestyle and lived with the tribe for years before eventually leaving the tribe to farm in Mexico. But Cynthia became Comanche and became an integral part of the tribe for over twenty-four years.

She married an influential war chief, Peta Nocona, and had three children with him, including Quanah Parker, who eventually became a powerful Comanche chief. Several times over the years, Indian agents and traders attempted to ransom her, but she refused to go, and the tribe rejected their offers.

In December 1860, Texas Rangers, along with U.S. Cavalry troops, attacked her village and captured her and her baby girl, Prairie Flower (Topsanah), killing everyone else in the camp. (There has been significant historical debate about whether her husband was present at the time. Some accounts claim he died fighting to protect her. Other evidence points to him having been away on a hunting trip at the time of the attack and dying a couple years later from an old battle wound.)

Eventually, one of Cynthia’s relatives claimed her and took her to live with family, but she refused to accept this new life that was being forced upon her. Repeatedly, she tried to escape to the open plains, desperate to find her husband and her sons. One of her uncles eventually agreed to help her look for her people, but they’d have to wait until the Civil War ended.

Prairie Flower died, word came that Cynthia’s son Pecos had passed away, as well, and the Civil War dragged on. Cynthia lost hope of ever being reunited with the two remaining members of her beloved family, Nocona and Quanah.  Overcome by sadness and longing, she sank into a deep depression and died of a broken heart.

Cynthia Ann’s story, the story of a woman torn between cultures, perplexed, intrigued, and haunted me. My heart ached for her loss, and questions flooded my mind. Some stories are like that. They stay with you, and this one was all the more indelible because it was true and filled with unknowns.

As I put pen to paper to begin Texas Forsaken, I sought to create an indelible story of heart-wrenching trials, forgiveness, and second chances. A story of love and hope born anew. A story of redemption.

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Giveaway



To celebrate her tour, Sherry is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2c06b/texas-forsaken-celebration-tour-giveaway 




My reviews

Thursday, February 6, 2020

An Uncommon Woman by Laura Franz


Buckhannon River, Western Virginia Spring 1770 Amazing story of frontier life with the presence of Indians around the settlers. Native Americans who didn't want them there.  Tessa and her family have a ferry business not far from Fort Tygart. Just her mother and five brothers. The detail of this story is written as though the author was there. I was fully engaged from the beginning and I swear I held my breath through the entire second half of the book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#AnUncommonWoman #NetGalley

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Monday, April 8, 2019

Beloved Hope by Tracie Peterson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32510779-beloved-hope?from_search=truehttps://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Hope-Heart-Frontier-Book-ebook/dp/B01MZGMPTR/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=beloved+hope&qid=1554750690&s=gateway&sr=8-1https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beloved-hope-tracie-peterson/1124824727?ean=9780764213281https://www.christianbook.com/beloved-hope-2-tracie-peterson/9780764213427/pd/213424?event=ESRCGhttps://www.powells.com/book/-9780764213281
Beauty from ashes.
1847 Whitman Mission
Abhorrent
Indians attacked and killed the males, raped and kidnapped the women, holding them hostage for a month. Two and a half years later, they are being brought to trial – and Hope is one of their key witnesses. She is constantly having to come to terms with her life afterwards, finding it a difficult thing to get over. Having to go through the trial brings it all back to life again. And brings back the memory of the secret she keeps. Tracie Peterson works her magic as few other do, presenting the facts and bringing to life the feelings of those who were involved.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#BelovedHope #TraciePeterson #NetGalley #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

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Saturday, December 1, 2018

Woman of Courage by Wanda E. Brunstetter

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18491964-woman-of-courage?ac=1&from_search=truehttps://www.amazon.com/Woman-Courage-Collectors-Continues-Little-ebook/dp/B07D8CMNDF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543686115&sr=8-1&keywords=Woman+of+Courage+by+Wanda+E.+Brunstetterhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/woman-of-courage-wanda-e-brunstetter/1128576159?ean=9781683227878#/https://www.christianbook.com/woman-of-courage-collectors-edition/wanda-brunstetter/9781683227878/pd/27878X?event=ESRCGhttps://www.powells.com/book/-9781616260835https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/woman-of-courage/9781683229681-item.html?ikwid=Woman+of+Courage+by+Wanda+E.+Brunstetter&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=3https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Woman-Courage/Wanda-E-Brunstetter/9781683227878?id=6163396555110

Get lost in the wilderness of North America!
Many lessons of faith and Christianity throughout this story of a young woman who travels from Dansville, N.Y. to Oregon/Idaho (about 3,000 miles, mostly wilderness) to teach the Nez pierce Indians about Jesus. Strength, determination and perseverance, pushing on when most would give up. A journey even the experienced would find difficult, but she has no experience to draw on. When everything is taken from her, she still has her faith and doesn't turn back. I'm sure, like me, that you will find something within that ministers and strengthens you. She believes strongly in her mission to bring people to Jesus, and has a long and difficult travel. But God uses adversity in many ways.  I've done some woods camping so I can appreciate what she went through, but not nearly to the extent. Let alone the threats she encountered. You know you will love a story of Wanda's! A fabulous story to get lost in.

Also included in the Collectors's Edition - Woman Of Hope - about her adopted Indian daughter, Little Fawn, who wants to be a missionary to other Indians at a Rendezvous but her mother won't attend or let her go for reasons of her own. When the girl tries to go by herself she is captured and abused,  but meaning is brought and God shines through. A wonderful story of deep and abiding faith throughout.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Barbour Publishing, Inc and the Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

#WomanOfCourage #NetGalley

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Description from the Publisher:
A Woman of Courage Makes an Epic Journey
Take a three-thousand mile journey with Amanda Pearson as she leaves the disgrace of a broken engagement and joins the work at a Quaker mission in the western wilds. The trip is fraught with danger, and Amanda is near death before reaching her destination. Among those she meets are an Indian woman who becomes her first convert and a half-Indian trapper who seems to be her biggest critic. But love follows her into the wilderness and will determine the course of her future. You are sure to enjoy this historical romance adventure from New York Times bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter.

Included is the newly-written sequel, Woman of Hope, with Little Fawn’s story. Raised as an orphan by a loving white couple, Little Fawn always felt something was missing from her life. She longs to take the news of Jesus to the Nez Perce Indians, but despite being a missionary herself, Little Fawn’s mother forbids it. Will White Wolf, her intended, support Little Fawn’s decision when she abruptly follows the tribe’s migration onto the Plains?

Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Memory Weaver by Jane Kirkpatrick


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNJGKXQ/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1RFFFZPB488DX6YZ0JK6&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktophttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25058270-the-memory-weaver?from_search=true&search_version=servicehttp://www.christianbook.com/the-memory-weaver-a-novel-ebook/jane-kirkpatrick/9781441228208/pd/76702EB?event=ESRCGhttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-memory-weaver-jane-kirkpatrick/1121147306?ean=9780800722326http://www.deepershopping.com/item/kirkpatrick-jane/memory-weaver/6500335.html
http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Memory-Weaver/Jane-Kirkpatrick/Q401093090?id=6163396555110http://www.familychristian.com/catalog/product/view/id/328386/https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-memory-weaver-a-novel/9780800722326-item.html?ikwid=the+memory+weaver&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780800722326-0

Another wonderful Christian Historical by master story teller Jane Kirkpatrick, based on facts about American Indian missionaries Eliza and Henry Spalding, and their daughter Eliza. This is the story about the daughter - expanding on actual diaries and documents - mixed as Jane Kirkpatrick so skillfully does with faith and life wisdoms. 

At the age of 10 young Eliza was among the hostages taken by the Cayuse, a traumatic event (including massacres) that took place for 39 days before the British paid the ransom for their release. Eliza was forced to be an interpreter, since she was the only one who spoke all the languages of the captors and hostages.  This explores her life as she lives on after this tragedy, expected to act as an adult, and goes on to marry and raise children of her own. 

The story of her relationship with her father, her husband and actual events in their lives is very interesting - growing up and still coping with memories of her early life. It's woven with excerpts from her mother's diary, sometimes showing that things were not always the way that she perceived them from her 10 year old vantage point. You can't help but be touched by the story of this strong woman of the 1800's and her story of survival. 

From Eliza's mother's diaries:  

"... suffering arrives when one longs for what is not and can never be again. "
And during her life among the Indians: ". . . she aided me in understanding that the way I saw the world was not the only way to see it. "

As stated by the author: "It's my hope that this story allows each of us shaped by tragic and painful events to see that we are not alone and that there is a way to weave new cloth." 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Baker Publishing Group, Revell Reads - Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use ofEndorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”. 

From the book:
Eliza Spalding Warren was just a child when she was taken hostage by the Cayuse Indians during a massacre in 1847. Now the young mother of two children, Eliza faces a different kind of dislocation; her impulsive husband wants them to make a new start in another territory, which will mean leaving her beloved home and her departed mother's grave--and returning to the land of her captivity. Eliza longs to know how her mother, an early missionary to the Nez Perce Indians, dealt with the challenges of life with a sometimes difficult husband and with her daughter's captivity.

When Eliza is finally given her mother's diary, she is stunned to find that her own memories are not necessarily the whole story of what happened. Can she lay the dark past to rest and move on? Or will her childhood memories always hold her hostage?

Based on true events, The Memory Weaver is New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick's latest literary journey into the past, where threads of western landscapes, family, and faith weave a tapestry of hope inside every pioneering woman's heart. Readers will find themselves swept up in this emotional story of the memories that entangle us and the healing that awaits us when we bravely unravel the threads of the past.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

To Capture Her Heart by Rebecca DeMarino

http://www.amazon.com/Capture-Her-Heart-Southold-Chronicles/dp/0800722191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436961213&sr=8-1&keywords=to+capture+her+hearthttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23411596-to-capture-her-heart?from_search=true&search_version=service_imprhttp://www.christianbook.com/to-capture-her-heart-novel-ebook/rebecca-demarino/9781441223319/pd/74383EB?product_redirect=1&Ntt=74383EB&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCPhttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-capture-her-heart-rebecca-demarino/1120581760?ean=9780800722197http://www.deepershopping.com/item/demarino-rebecca/to-capture-her-heart-southold-chronicles-v2/6372686.html
http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Capture-Her-Heart/Rebecca-DeMarino/Q384219427?id=6163396555110http://www.familychristian.com/catalog/product/view/id/317226/https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/to-capture-her-heart-a/9780800722197-item.html?ikwid=to+capture+her+heart&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780800722197-0

In this Christian Historical Romance Rebecca DeMarino beautifully recreates life in 1653 on Long Island. There is a settlement from England living peacefully near the American Indian Montauk tribe, yet uncomfortable with the Dutch settlement nearby. You enter their homes and lives with detail of thought as well as surroundings. It's easy to see yourself there and become part of the characters' lives - some of whom are based on the author's actual ancestors. Her writing style reminds me somewhat of Lorraine Snelling in the Red River series. I have been researching my ancestry and some of my family came over during this time. I try to picture what it must have been like for them, and this helps.

This is the second book in the series. Although I wish I had read the previous book, there was enough fact provided to pick right up on the story. An Indian princess is captured at her wedding by another tribe and forced to watch as they murder her new husband, who was also a lifelong friend and companion. She is then taken into the woods in Connecticut and left to die even though her father paid the ransom.  A Dutch Lieutenant tracks and rescues her, and they come to care for one another on the way back to her family, even though the girl is in shock and mourning. She also has friends amongst the English, and two of them intercept their return home to escort her the rest of the way.

The return is difficult for her to come to terms with after the brutal murder of her husband, so she goes to stay with her Aunt who lives near the English settlement. The story is about the girl, Heather Flower, learning about God and regaining her life, being loved by two men whom she deeply cares about. She is at home with the English as well as her own native customs, but there is still a cultural separation between the people. You will feel torn with her as she struggles with her love for both men and learns to live again, finding out where she fits.  This was a page turner for me.  I eagerly waited to see what would happen next and it was filled with real life happenings in the settlement and other characters lives as well. I very much want to read the next story in the series (there's an excerpt included at the end of the book). Isn't that cover just gorgeous?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Revell/Baker Publishing Group - Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Celebrate To Capture Her Heart with a Giveaway on Rebecca's blog!
Grand Prize: $75.00 Gift Card of choice (Amazon, Target, iTunes or Google play), Signed copy of To Capture Her Heart & A Place in His Heart.  
Runner Up Prize: $25.00 Gift card to Barnes & Noble, Signed copies of To Capture Her Heart & A Place in His Heart
Second Runner Up Prize: Signed copies of To Capture Her Heart & A Place in His Heart


#contest

To Capture Her Heart Book Launch

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