Tag Archives: Smitten Historical Romance

Double Jeopardy – The Story Behind the Story – with Giveaway

By Donna Schlachter

The story behind the story is often told in the form of back cover copy on the book, but I think it goes way beyond that. Sure, that bit on the back tells us a little about the main characters, the overall plot, and perhaps some about the decisions the main characters must make, because always—let me repeat this—always the choices they are faced with conflict with each other. At first glance, it seems they cannot have everything.

So let’s delve a little deeper into the story behind the story.

Rebecca Campbell was born in New York City, the only child of wealthy socialite Matilda Applewhite Campbell and Robert Campbell. Her mother is everything Rebecca—Becky to her friends—wants to be. Beautiful. Poised. Confident. Instead, she seems doomed to inherit all her traits from her father, who she adores. Reckless. Impulsive. A daredevil.

Becky’s father is gone more than he’s home. When a year passes with no word from him, she sets out, on her own, for his last known location—Silver Valley, Colorado. On her arrival, she learns he has been murdered. Determined to make his mine a success—his last letter promised that as soon as he struck it rich, he’d send for her and her mother—and to find his killer, she settles in at the mine.

But somebody doesn’t want her to succeed. And after a series of accidents and near-misses, she admits she’s in over her head. And the only person she can trust is Zeke—or can she?

The hero is Ezekial Graumann. Most everybody calls him Zeke. Zeke and his family own a fairly large piece of land in southwestern Colorado near the town of Silver Valley. Zeke has two married brothers, as well as two unmarried sisters. In good years, with enough rain, their land can support the three families if they are diligent and careful with their stock. However, the last few years have seen droughts and not enough snowfall, and the grazing is poor. Zeke wants to build his own house, maybe get married and have his own family, but the land won’t support another household.

Unless he can buy water rights from a spread upstream. But he doesn’t have the money to do that. So he looks around town for some weekly work to earn enough to buy the water rights and receive his share of the family land.

And along comes Miss Rebecca Campbell. She is feisty, stubborn, and doesn’t know anything about mining. Yet her determination to find her father’s killer and her resolve to make his mine successful gnaws at Zeke’s heart. And soon he finds himself imagining what it would be like to have her at his side as his wife. Except she’s obviously not ranching material, either.

But when accidents happen at the mine that threaten her safety, he must acknowledge that his feelings for her are more than mere curiosity. Now he must choose between saving his ranch or saving this woman who has stolen his heart.

So what keeps them from getting what they want? The villain, of course. Suffice it to say, it is a man. This man is one of the longest-term residents of Silver Valley, a man of impeccable reputation. On the outside, he looks wealthy. Wears nice clothes. Speaks well. Sounds well-traveled and educated.

But on the inside, he’s dark, greedy, and lazy. Well, lazy only in the sense he wants to get rich quick. He actually spends a lot of energy trying to cheat and steal his way into wealth. If only he’d use his superpowers for good.

I will randomly draw one name from all who leave a comment for a free ebook of Double Jeopardy. Drawing to take place on 1/8/20.

Don’t forget to stop by our Launch Event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/2220456174726867/

Double Jeopardy is available at https://shoplpc.com/double-jeopardy/ Amazon.com, and fine booksellers in your area.

MOB--Donna Schlachter
About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas and full-length novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

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The Cowboys Cover Reveal

My First Novel’s Cover!

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It's Here--Cover Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! It’s finally here! After having the honor of publishing seven novellas in seven different collections with Barbour (with more to come next year), I am finally getting the chance to see my name on a cover all by itself. Sand Creek Serenade, my first novel-length fiction, is coming out on March 14, 2019, and I am over the moon excited!

This story was a bit scary to write. I’ve never written about a well-known historical event like The Sand Creek Massacre. I’ve shied away from those because they are so heavily researched and written about, it’s been daunting to think about getting all the history correct.

However, from the moment this story came to me, I knew it was one that needed to be told. In fact, it was originally meant to be a novella-length piece in a collection of four stories. But as the plot came to me, I quickly knew I wouldn’t be happy writing just 20,000-30,000 words for this tale. It needed a full novel to do the story justice. Not to mention that I already had sequel ideas forming. So I made the decision to turn it into a novel, and to my wonderful surprise, Smitten Historical Romance was interested in it!

For those who haven’t heard about this story yet, here’s the back cover blurb:

Dr. Sadie Hoppner is no stranger to adversity. She’s fought to be taken seriously since childhood when her father began training her in the healing arts. Finding acceptance and respect proves especially difficult at Fort Lyon, where she’s come to practice medicine under her brother’s watchful eye.

Cheyenne brave Five Kills wouldn’t knowingly jeopardize the peace treaty recently negotiated between his people and the Army. But a chance encounter with the female doctor ignites memories of his upbringing among the whites. Too intrigued to stay away, tension erupts with the soldiers, and Five Kills is injured.

As he recuperates under the tender care of the pretty healer, an unlikely bond forms. However, their fledgling love is put to the test when each realizes that a much greater danger awaits—a danger they are wholly unable to stop and one which neither may survive.

And without wasting any more time, scroll down to see the beautiful cover that artist Elaina Lee did for this story.

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And here it is!

Sand Creek Serenade