Lorna, a mail-order bride arrived in Clear Creek, Kansas and married her groom, only to have him disappear the next day. She's left penniless in the frontier town but Lorna Jantz's neighbor, Lyle Elison, comes to her rescue, and they fall in love along the way.
But Lorna is still married, until the same groom uses the same tactic on another mail-order bride, Helen Higby. The dishonest man is caught, but this time Helen is left on her own, with four young girls along.
For me, the best part of writing is researching where a character is "from" to give them a background.
I chose Gettysburg, PA for Helen which opened up a lot of stories, and hurt for Helen. Why? Her husband and father died on the battlefield, right where they farmed south of town. I read that eight thousand men and three thousand horses died on the three-day battle in July of 1863. Can you imagine the horror and stench this caused? And you're looking for your loved ones? The people in the area had to help bury these soldiers, drag the horses into piles and burn them, and take care of the other thousands of soldiers wounded, from both sides of the armies.
Whoa...that's some major emotional baggage to carry around and try to overcome. But then add the background of why each of her daughters had a different father?
The story may be "sweet" but has depth because of the heroine's background before meeting the new man in her and her daughter's lives. And then you add his background, and his overbearing mother to the mix...
Here's the description:
A sweet historical romance set in 1873. Helen Higby answers an ad for a mail-order bride, but finds out her groom is already married—and wanted by the law—after their wedding ceremony. Now stuck in Clear Creek, Kansas, with her four little girls, Helen needs a way to provide for her family.
Ethan Paulson is in charge of the family hotel while his parents take an extended trip. Ethan’s fiancée, Sarah Wilerson, left him at the altar last summer and he’s had a hard time accepting her rejection—until a beautiful woman and her children take up residence in the Paulson Hotel.
Helen had worked in a hotel in Pennsylvania before traveling to Kansas, so she helps Ethan organize and improve the offerings of the Paulson Hotel, while falling in love with him.
Sparks fly when Mrs. Paulson, Ethan’s mother, returns to find changes, including a family making themselves at home in the hotel, and in Ethan’s heart. Can chaos and drama turn into love and a happy ending for everyone living in the Paulson Hotel?
You can find the book on: Amazon
Thanks for stopping by to enjoy today's Sweethearts of the West blog.
Congratulations on your new release.
ReplyDeleteI like to hear/read background material an author researched. This about that battlefield is stunningly dramatic and heart-breaking--just the right scenario for a character.
Good job, Linda.
Thanks, Celia. Reading what people went through during the Civil War, without the government assistance we'd get now, would have been terrible. You had to fend for yourself and help others as much as you could.
DeleteLinda, I love hearing background material and research details. That battlefield must have been horrific. I can't imagine searching through so many bodies for my loved ones. What a waste of lives! No one wins a war.
ReplyDeleteI read the details of the battle during July 1-3, 1863 and tried to picture myself in Helen's place. Or worse yet, think of it happening on the farm and fields I grew up on. I didn't go into details in Helen Heals a Hotelier, but it would have been a rather dramatic, gruesome experience that would have given me nightmares forever.
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