Beyond Romance: The Perils of Plotting – #FirstNationsRomance #TimeTravelRomance #Giveaway

By Maggie Blackbird (Guest Author)

You know, I always start with a plot in my head, but by the time I get to writing, and I begin to really know my characters, I find they direct the story. I call myself a typist taking dictation for the two main characters, since they tell me which direction to take the story LOL.

Sometimes I even have the blurb already written, and then it requires changing or tweaking because the characters, while drafting, have changed the stakes, or added stakes, or deleted the main stakes. Hah.

I wish I could write a novel entirely plotted that fits the blurb I’ve written, but that has yet to happen. My characters come alive strongly in my head and direct me on the path they wish the story to take.

I guess this means I’m a pantster. I try to plot, and then the characters turn up their noses at the plot and hand me a new one.

Blurb

She went back in time to rescue him. She never counted on falling in love…

Alma Whitecrow prefers hunting and fishing with men, not romancing them. But hearing about the roguishly handsome coureur de bois, who saved her sister from the Dakota, haunts her thoughts and dreams. Well-versed in surviving the wilds, Alma resolves to travel to the mid-eighteenth century, as her sister once did, to save the man from impending death.

Charlot Baudelaire thumbs his nose at society’s expectations, content living as a loner, trading with people he calls the Saulters. If he needs a woman for the night, there is always a willing maiden. What he doesn’t expect is a spunky and stubborn female warrior to challenge him.

Charlot is not the man Alma dreamed about, and Alma is not the kind of woman Charlot pursues. But the longer they are together, the more drawn to each other they become, until Alma faces the biggest decision of her life. Stay with a man who may never reciprocate her love, or return to her Ojibway home and bland existence.

Book Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FYR2YQWF/

Apple: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/born-like-this/id6754779332

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/born-like-this-maggie-blackbird/1148648985?ean=2940182602631

Indigo: https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/born-like-this-maizemerized-2/bc03c982-9d06-34f6-9923-17ec5f92ffa7.html

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/born-like-this-1

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/born-like-this-by-maggie-blackbird

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243417458-born-like-this

Excerpt

Alma had expected to step into a battle. Reality set in. The only killing she’d done was animals when hunting with Grandpa. But if she didn’t shoot, she risked her own life and Theodore’s as she faced six Dakota sporting arrows.

Theodore growled, waiting for her command.

The Dakota didn’t fire at her, though. They seemed to fire everywhere else, hollering in a language she couldn’t comprehend. The fear in their eyes indicated she’d terrified them.

Maybe they assumed she was a ghost when she’d emerged through the flickering flames.

As the Dakota scattered, she tracked their moccasin footprints, but one set stood out. Grandpa had told her about the spread of the toes, and these toes weren’t spread. They came from a person who walked in shoes or boots. Someone who later in life had switched to the footwear of the Indigenous people.

She followed the footprints with Theodore beside her, sniffing. She used the end of her rifle to move aside the thick brush, which was why her homeland was called the bush at her reserve. There was nothing to call a forest or woods about Northwestern Ontario.

The thick underbrush kept trying to snag her clothing. Clothing she longed to remove. When she left home, she’d donned an outfit for a cold Halloween night. But summer bloomed here. She could remove her jacket since she had a sweater underneath, and beneath that a tank top.

A groan came about ten feet from her, and she aimed her rifle in the direction of the sound. She moved through the many twigs and branches but didn’t spot a blood trail. Whatever lay beneath the berry bush had been hit there.

Another groan.

Whoever was hurt wasn’t an animal. That was the sound of a human being. Maybe one of the Dakota?

She edged in closer until she caught the moccasins sticking out, along with breeches. This wasn’t a Dakota or warrior from the village under attack.

Her heart held its beat.

Had she found Charlot?

What Readers are Saying

“This novel is true to history while still spinning a lovely tale of love. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves historical and time travel romances.” –Goodreads Reviewer

“The story had me glued to the pages from start to finish. Loved and recommend this book.” –B&N Reviewer

“Based on prior reading from the author, I knew this would be a great book. I had no idea just how much I’d love it.” –BookBub Reviewer

“Once I started reading, I was not putting this book down.” –Goodreads Reviewer

This is one of the best romance novels I’ve ever read in my entire life. This book will pull you in full force and make you feel so many different emotions.” –Goodreads Reviewer

About the Author

An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. When she’s not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sister’s house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.

Author Links

Website: https://maggieblackbird.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maggieblackbirdauthor/

X: https://x.com/BlackbirdMaggie/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggieblackbirdauthor/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/maggieblackbird.bsky.social

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/maggie-blackbird

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Maggie-Blackbird/author/B07KQP1FFG

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18176196.Maggie_Blackbird

Giveaway

$20 Amazon or Paypal