The dark frontier romance Hearts at War is currently in the making, with an expected word count of 118 K and a projected release in the summer 2023.

 

Cover art: BookCoverZone

 

Anno 1865. Three regional conflicts, three conflicted hearts.

As the Indian Wars rage in Colorado, Ute hunter Tókwar wanders without purpose after finding his wife and unborn son murdered and mutilated by White trappers. Sick with grief, he’s about to leave for the Spirit World when he witnesses a joint Arapaho/Cheyenne attack on a convoy.

Heavily pregnant Bella is the daughter of a cotton plantation owner and his Black slave. While her fiancé, a Confederate soldier, is imprisoned on Rock Island, she flees the Civil War-ravaged Arkansas with a group of settlers to build a new home at the western frontier.

Young Cheyenne warrior Hevovetāso thirsts for blood. With his band of Dog Men on the prowl, he aims to avenge the innocents slaughtered at Sand Creek and wipe out all Whitemen. His plan comes to an abrupt halt when he’s wounded during a raid and forced to assist an enemy Ute deliver a baby.

Becoming responsible for a newborn amid the chaos and pain gives Tókwar some solace, but he knows it’s temporary. The beautiful, feisty mother is restless, and despite his growing attraction for her and fatherly love for her son, he must travel east and return her safely to her man. But how will he enter the Whiteman’s war zone without risking his life—or once more losing his heart?

#CivilWar #IndianWars #HistoricalRomance

 

 

Add the book to your shelf on:

 

---

 

About the project:

 

The novel combines three parallel conflicts in 1860s’ North America: the Indian Wars (here, west of the Rocky Mountains where Native tribes fought against the white army and militia), the Civil War (the Confederate south vs. the Unionist north), and the abolition of black slavery.

The novel is set in Colorado at a turning point in history when the United States gives the Black slaves their long-deserved freedom, while at the same time displacing the last of the free Natives to reservations where nothing grows, land that nobody wants.

The story combines this trauma with the traditional wars between the Utes and the Cheyennes, and amid these dramatic scenes grows an unlikely but intense romance.

You can find a historical timeline, old maps, and relevant photos and art here.

 

---