Native American Historical - "Beneath The Shining Mountains" - 5* Reviews

[Linda Acaster]

Hi everyone

I've finally got my second rights-reverted Historical Romance uploaded to Kindle: Beneath The Shining Mountains

Blurb:
It is the good times between the coming of the horse and the encroachment of land-hungry settlers. On the northern plains, among the Apsaroke people, Moonhawk yearns for Winter Man to notice her, but why would a man with so many lovers want to take a wife? Her wry challenge to his virility captures Winter Man's attention but starts an escalating game of one-upmanship that threatens to lead Moonhawk and her family to ridicule and shame. A story of honour among rival warrior societies, and one woman's determination to wed the man of her dreams.

BENEATH THE SHINING MOUNTAINS
Genre: Historical Romance (Romantic Suspense); heat level: sensual
86,000 words.

Review:
“In 'Beneath The Shining Mountains' Linda Acaster has delivered the perfect balance of a gripping, heart-warming romance with a solid knowledge of North American Indian tribes, their customs and way of life.” – Avril Field-Taylor, author of 'Murder at Oakwood Grange – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery'.

BENEATH THE SHINING MOUNTAINS also includes additional material:

7,000 word excerpt from HOSTAGE OF THE HEART by Linda Acaster
Genre: Mediaeval Romance (Romantic Suspense); heat level: sweet
When Rhodri ap Hywel sweeps from his Welsh fastness to reclaim stolen lands, he also takes the English Lady Dena as a battle hostage. Betrayed as worthless by her kin, dare she place her trust, and her life, in the hands of a warrior-knight shielding dark secrets of his own?

About the Author:
Linda Acaster is an award-winning author of four novels and 70+ short stories. She lives in the United Kingdom where she was a Northern Plains re-enactor, giving talks to adult and school groups.

[Karen Fenech]

Hi Linda,

Rights reversion can take some doing. : )  Congratulations on this new edition.  It sounds like a good read.  I'm off to take a look at the book.

Karen

[Linda Acaster]

Hi Karen - I was lucky. I grabbed 'em as soon as they became available. If I'd waited until I could use them I'd never have got them back! (Indie authoring on Amazon has only been possible for non USA residents since the beginning of the year)

Hope you enjoy the sample, and thanks for dropping by - Linda

[Karen Fenech]

Hi Linda,

Grabbing your e- rights as soon as they became available was good thinking.  It's been my experience that it is a s-l-o-w process.  : )  So glad it worked out for you.

All the best with indie authoring!

Karen

[Sandra Edwards]

Congrats on getting your rights back, Linda. Sometimes, that process can be a bear. BENEATH THE SHINNING MOUNTAINS sounds like a great read. I've downloaded a sample 

Sandy

[Linda Acaster]

Getting the rights back was the best business decision I ever made. Pity I haven't made a few more good ones - LOL. Yes, the process was slow, but once it's started the publisher can't renege without good reason as there's a time sequence involved, at least there was with my contract with Harlequin UK.

[Karen Fenech]

Re pity about good business decisions - LOL.  There a few business decisions I also wouldn't mind undoing. : ) 

All the best to you, Linda!

Karen

 

[Dana Taylor]

Hi Linda--

Your book intrigues me.  Love the title and the cover.  It's so great to see a book that may have some elements we haven't read a million times over.

Dana Taylor

[Linda Acaster]

Dana: glad you are intrigued. I like reading novels with what the industry considers odd attributes. Alpha males that are built as if they've been weaned on steroids and are all fantasy sex I find laughable. I want my characters to be human, able to reveal their inner strengths, and weaknesses, not just to the reader but to themselves when put under pressure. I want a 3D world as every bit interlocking as I'd get if I read an epic Fantasy. I want layers in the storyline; whether all readers mark each one is immaterial. I don't want my male main character to labour under a short "nickname" which demotes him to the level of a cartoon. 'Steals Horses in a Painted Whirlwind' was my preferred choice based on research of the Apsaroke and what his life had delivered by the start of the novel, 'Dart' was suggested by my editor (!!) and under pressure I had to go with her second choice 'Winter Man' which I've stayed with for this re-issue as the poor bloke is now chained to it - LOL.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the sample, and thanks for dropping by.

Linda

[Victorine]

Hi Linda!

Oooh, I love a good romantic suspense novel.  And I'm a "sweet" romance reader, so I might have to grab a copy of Hostage of the Heart.  It looks good!

Good luck with your books!

Vicki

[Betsy the Quilter]

Linda--

welcome to KindleBoards and congratulations on your book rights and republishing!  

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[Daphne]

Hi, Linda - I enjoyed Hostage of the Heart, so this book will definitely be going on my list of "must haves".

[Linda Acaster]

Hi Daphne. As you liked Hostage of the Heart, you'll love Beneath The Shining Mountains. Deeper, more convoluted story.

Thanks for dropping by.

Linda

[Steph H]

'Steals Horses in a Painted Whirlwind' was my preferred choice

What a great name.  Long, but great.   Maybe you should write another book in this area and use that name for the new 'hero'.  It deserves being used.

I've picked up both your books and look forward to getting around to them (the ol' TBR stack is murder!).

[Linda Acaster]

Hi Steph - Steals Horses in a Painted Whirlwind - long yes, but it would have been cut to Steals Horses in the novel, eh? Editor's response?? 'We don't want anything that smacks of the hero being 'painted'." I nearly swallowed my tongue in my surprise. What do you say to stuff like that? Well, nothing if you want to be published - LOL.

Thanks for buying the books. Read them in order, tho, Hostage of the Heart first.

I know what you mean about the TBR pile. Could build a house with mine. I need to go on a desert island for a month. Tho if I did I'd end up using the peace to write!

Regards - Linda

[Linda Acaster]

In case anyone is interested, I'm blogging this week at http://www.icysnowblackstone.com/ on the Thread of History that links my two Historical Romances with my pb Timeslip Thriller. And today I'm interviewed on Must Mutter http://stuartaken.blogspot.com, mostly regarding Beneath the Shining Mountains.

Stuart Aken has just started doing interviews, but has put out a call for interested parties. If you fall into that category, take a look at his site to see if it could be a fit. He's a link to possible questions in the r/h column.

Scott N: I'm not ignoring you. Your interview questions are on my desk and I'll be in touch shortly.

Regards - Linda

[Linda Acaster]

Reviews are starting to come in for Beneath the Shining Mountains and I'm overjoyed that they are brilliant - and surprisingly long.

Classic Romance Revival http://tinyurl.com/2wodfco 5 wings ...I loved learning about their customs and rich culture, and seeing the land through their eyes. It is an epic, heroic world... I was enthralled throughout

http://www.tonivsweeney.com/ 4 stars For a fresh look at an old subject, seen through the eyes of Native Americans and not those of the invaders, this novel, previously published in the UK as A Wife for Winter Man is a little gem.

If anyone would like a copy for review, get in touch.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Today's featured author at the Indie Spotlight is

Tuesday: Linda Acaster - Beneath The Shining Mountains

http://www.theindiespotlight.com

Come up and read and leave a comment.

Edward C. Patterson
& Gregory B. Banks

[Linda Acaster]

Hey, Edward, thanks for bumping me. I've just got in (6pm in the UK), checked it was up http://www.theindiespotlight.com/?p=2981 and came straight across to announce it.

We've already got a comment, too, and I've responded. I'll check in again later. Regards!

[Linda Acaster]

Thought it about time to revisit my thread, and to share something of its background, especially as I am about to update my signature pic to herald a new novel.

Beneath The Shining Mountains came from a lifelong fascination for the daily lives of the nomadic peoples of the northern plains. Now, please bear in mind that I am (a) British and (b) of the... er, life experience... to recall b&w single channel TV across here. My mother still regales anyone who will listen that she was recuperating after having my brother and to keep me occupied had to cut from newspaper a war bonnet. This would make me about four years old. Why? How did it ever come about?

The entire family has rationalised this, but the fact remains that at the time, like most British families, we had no television, only radio (cue mournful violin music and a hat being passed round), so I couldn't have picked up the fascination from that, and at four years old I was a bit young to be taken to the cinema. As I grew into my early school years the neighbours would bring picture books on Native American cultures they'd picked up for pennies at church bazaars. I learned about salmon fishing with huge nets on Northwest coast rivers, about cooking in hot-pools in Yellowstone, of wickiups and adobe in the Southwest, of longhouses and potlaches, of making and using flint tools and the utility importance of rawhide and separating sinew, but I never lost my focus on the northern plains. By the age of nine I could bore for England, and probably did.

Neighbourhood group games included 'block', and hide & seek, and... cowboys & indians. No prizes for guessing which side I stood on, and despite no one wanting to be 'on my side' there was no way I was going to catch a bullet from extended fingers and fall down dead. With my trusty length of stick and knotted elastic bands I could hold my own by slithering from bush to bush in the grass. Aunts arrived with cousins in frilly pink dresses. I came in from the garden... My mother despaired.

But all this distilled into my writing, and the need for research, the need to empathise, never left me. Beneath The Shining Mountains has been the only novel I wanted to write set in the period, set in the region. And even though the tipi has long since disintegrated, I still have the moccasins and dresses, and the knife that my mother, all those years ago, would never let me have.

If you'd like to sample the fruit of that fascination, check out Kindleboards' brilliant addition to readers' enjoyment: http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B003VTZZNO

Thanks for reading.

[Linda Acaster]

Beneath The Shining Mountains is being spotlit on Bargain eBooks today, so I thought it a golden opportunity to wish all my Kindle readers a wonderful festive season, no matter what is being celebrated in your household. Or on your beach, for those living in warmer climes.
http://bargainebooks.blogspot.com

Happy Christmas!

Linda

[Linda Acaster]

Good grief! Not been keeping my eye on the ball and Beneath The Shining Mountains" has dodged under the #100k rating mark - #73,000 to be precise - AND #65 in Native American!

Now, I know this is, er... small potatoes... for most of the contributors on this forum, but for me this is a fist in the air. Yeah!! I'd like to thank all my buyers, over Christmas and since.

Regards to you all!

[Linda Acaster]

It's Valentine's weekend, so indulge yourself with a good wine, a box of choccies, and a Native American Historical Romance full of incident and adventure - Beneath The Shining Mountains

Moon Hawk yearns to be noticed by the most charismatic man in the Apsaroke village. Fearing her father will marry her to another, she plans a campaign to ensnare Winter Man's interest. But what does she have to intrigue him, a man with lovers for every night? Her chastity.

...`Ha!' Winter Man spat after her. `Your lover seems to have deserted you. No *boy* waits for you that I can see.'
Moon Hawk's heart sang. He'd drawn on the bait as she knew he would. Swallowing her smile of excitement, she turned back to him with a look of disdain.
`Lover? I have no lover! I am chaste. There's not a man alive who can entice me.'

And so begins a courtship of tease and spar that escalates to threaten her family's honour, and the life of the man she loves.

Classic Romance Revival: 5 wings; ToniVSweeney.com 4 Stars.
"...should be listed with the Classics. The story mesmerized me, with its rich detail and strong emotions..."
"...the perfect balance of a gripping, heart-warming romance with a solid knowledge of North American Indian tribes, their customs and way of life..."
Currently ranked #32 in Native American

Read an excerpt on-screen: http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B003VTZZNO

[Linda Acaster]

My no-Europeans Native American HistRom continues to be spotlit in #samplesunday. Join me at http://lindaacaster.blogspot.com for part 3.

     The hunters drew their horses to a standstill and looked on at the antics of their more youthful cousins with a mixture of amusement and disdain. Men who had counted coup did not begrime their prestige by entering into such games, but they all remembered when they had.
     Moon Hawk had eyes only for Winter Man. He flanked the group, a mercy she gave thanks to First Maker for. She’d no idea what she would have done if he’d been surrounded by his friends. Despite being away from the village for more than four days, his raven-black hair was as immaculately dressed as ever she had seen it, its length almost touching his horse’s rump, the quiff above his brow erect and as whitened as a swan’s tail. His leggings were stained with mud and water to the knee, speaking much of his industry on the hunt. No shirt stopped the sun from shining on this bronzed skin, and only a looped necklace of tiny bone discs adorned his well-developed chest. Moon Hawk’s eyes traced the slight shadow of each rib beneath his muscled arm, and followed the expanse of firm flesh down past his breechclout belt to his powerful thigh. Just looking at him brought a thrill of expectation.
     Putting such thoughts from her mind, she drew a determined breath. If she didn’t act now…

[Linda Acaster]

As well as continuing with #Samplesunday across on http://lindaacaster.blogspot.com I am offering all my novels for discount during "Read An Ebook Week" (6-12 March).

For 50% discount, add the coupon code RAE50 at the checkout https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18144

Someone likes it; it's #14 in Kindle > Native American. Happy Reading!