Release Day and Deeper Look At Young Adult Fantasy Romance The Hunter’s Moon

A great deal of musing and research went into my new YA fantasy romance series,Secret Warrior. Book 1, The Hunter’s Moon, is out now. I’ve signed a 3 book contract with the Wild Rose Press. This does not rule out more titles. Each story is novella length and will be available in eBook format only. They release faster this way.

The concept behind the series evolved for years before I wrote a word. Although the setting is present day, I’ve drawn on my knowledge of colonial America, Native Americans, particularly the Shawnee, the mountain people, herbal lore. and my imagination. Since this is fantasy, not everything in The Hunter’s Moon, or future titles, can be traced back to any particular people, but much can. The mythos behind the werewolves in Secret Warrior is uniquely mine.

Historically, the Shawnee do not believe in werewolves, but they and other Native Americans admire ‘Brother Wolf’.’ Their reverence for nature, respect for their elders, inherent spirituality, and regard for courage and loyalty are all significant. Some aspects of the story are inspired by their values. Others are not. The dragon like thunder bird comes from Native American lore, and supposed sightings.

Jim Great Elk Waters, Shawnee Elder and Pipecarrier, assisted with the language. He also helped with several of my historicals. For a more accurate portrayal of the Shawnee, read my award-winning adult historical romance novels, Red Bird’s Song, available in kindle and print, and Through the Fire.

‘The Lizard Lady’ mentioned in The Hunter’s Moon and fully featured in Book 2, Curse of the Moon (release date TBD) is a fascinating character I learned about through late Shenandoah Valley historian and author John Heatwole. Mr. Heatwole interviewed mountain and valley people, compiling their accounts into a book, Shenandoah Voices. He also hosted a radio program. One of my favorite accounts is ‘The Lizard Lady’, a creepy shifter woman  from back in the gap who basks in the moonlight as an enormous lizard. InSecret Warrior, she’s a witch with two daughters. Other mountain people lore emerges in the series as well.

When the first settlers came to the Shenandoah Valley in the early/mid 1700’s, my Scots-Irish ancestors among them, Shawnee were living near the present day town of Winchester. They also hunted in the valley, a thoroughfare for Native Americans going north or south, but were soon evicted and war broke out. In Secret Warrior, a small band remain in the mountains as guardians of the forest. I’ve placed them in the ridges surrounding Fort Valley, a little known valley hidden between the Massanutten Mountains, just east of the Blue Ridge. A nugget I gleaned about George Washington ordering Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan to build the first road into Fort Valley and the plan to use it as a hideout if the Continental Army lost to the British at Yorktown, formed the basis for the series. And then there are the hala’a’kwa lin’nuwech’kie, Star People.

‘Nuff said, or I’ll give too much away. I hope you’ll enjoy The Hunter’s Moonand the Secret Warrior Series.

***The Hunter’s Moon is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and from other online booksellers. Although the series is written for teens 14 and up, (younger for prolific readers), the stories are entertaining for any age.

Ghostly Historical Romance Novel Traitor’s Curse and the Traitor’s Legacy Series!

Though written to stand alone, Traitor’s Curse is the third novel in the Traitor’s Legacy Series, set during and just after the American Revolution in North and South Carolina, and reaching into Virginia.

Deep intuition, visions, and research all inspired this historical novel with a strong paranormal element. Like ghosts. Traitor’s Curse is out in both kindle and print at Amazon, and Nookbook at Barnes & Noble, and various eBook formats wherever electronic books are sold. My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, has Traitor’s Curse in print and eBook, currently half price.

Blurb: 

A quest for treasure unites Captain Stuart Monroe and Hettie Fairfax, but as their romance grows, so does the danger.

Halifax, North Carolina, 1783.

Captain Stuart Monroe returns home from the Revolutionary War to find Thornton Hall threatened by a peacetime foe: debt. He knows the location of a treasure amassed to pay for the capture of Benedict Arnold that would restore his manor to its former glory. The catch, it’s hidden in the graveyard, and coveted by old enemies.

Hettie Fairfax inherited the Sight from her Cherokee ancestors, and her otherworldly visitors warn her, and Stuart, away from the buried treasure. Half-dead from fever, she delivers a message: the treasure is cursed. But will he believe a girl half out of her mind with illness? Even when a very real enemy attempts to poison her? Stuart soon wants to marry Hettie, but she fears her “odd ways” will blemish his reputation. The spirits have their own agenda, however, and the battle against darkness tests everything the couple holds dear, including their love for each other.~

Award-winning historical romance novel, Enemy of the King, opens the series (before I realized it was one), followed by Traitor’s Legacy. For more on these and my other stories, visit my Amazon Author Page where ALL my books reside.

Historical Romance Red Bird's Song Re-Released By Amazon Encore Publishing

Award-winning historical romance novel

Re-release day has come for award-winning historical romance novel Red Bird's Song by the Amazon Encore Publishing Division.

Based on events that occurred to my ancestors in the Virginia colonial frontier, Red Bird's Song centers around their conflict with the Native Americans during the French and Indian and Pontiac's War. This adventure romance has a The Last of the Mohican’s flavor.

Research into my English/Scots-Irish ancestors unearthed accounts that inspired much of Red Bird's Song. My fascination with Colonial America, particularly stirring tales of the frontier and the Shawnee Indians, is an early and abiding one. My forebears had interactions with this tribe, including family members taken captive. I have ties to Wicomechee, the hero of Red Bird’s Song, an outstanding Shawnee warrior who really lived and whose story greatly impacted the novel. More on Wicomechee  is included at the end of the story, as a bonus for those who read it. I’ve gone on to write other Native American themed historical romances, some with paranormal elements, each carefully researched. I'm grateful for the help of historians, reenactors, anthropologists, archaeologists, and the Shawnee themselves. All the titles in my Native American Warrior series are available in kindle at Amazon.

The initial encounter between Charity and Wicomechee at the beginning of Red Bird’s Song was inspired by a dream I had on New Year’s Eve–a propitious time for dreams–about a young warrior taking an equally young woman captive at a river and the unexpected attraction between them. That dream had such a profound impact on me that I took the leap from writing non-fiction vignettes to historical/paranormal romance novels and embarked on the most amazing journey of my life. That was years ago and the saga continues.

At the start of Red Bird's Song, I also met the prophetic warrior, Eyes of the Wolf, in another dream. When I describe him in the book I’m envisioning a character I know. Eyes of the Wolf became a spirit guide and spoke to me throughout the writing of this book, and others. He’s there still in various guises. My journey with him is not complete.

The attack at the opening of Red Bird’s Song in the Shenandoah Valley is based on one that occurred to my ancestors and is recorded by Historian Joseph A. Waddell in The Annals of Augusta County. A renegade Englishman by the last name of Dickson led the war party that attacked them. I’d initially intended to make Colin Dickson in Red Bird’s Song the historical villain that he was, but as soon as he galloped onto the scene I knew differently.

Regarding the setting for Red Bird’s Song: In the early mid 1700’s, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and surrounding mountains was the colonial frontier. Only hardy souls dared to settle here. The bulk of these were the tough Scots-Irish, among them my ancestors. If 18th century warriors only had to fight regular British troops, they might ultimately have prevailed. They scared the crap out of men trained for conventional warfare. But the long knives were born fighters, and not easily intimidated. They learned from their cunning enemy and adopted their methods, weapons, and clothing.

The ruggedly beautiful Alleghenies are also the setting for some of my other historical-paranormal romance novels, Through the Fire, Kira, Daughter of the Moon, The Bearwalker's Daughter, and my short historical romance, The Lady and the Warrior. I see these ridges from our farm in the Shenandoah Valley. The foothills are only a hop, skip and a jump away from us. The ever-changing panorama of the seasons never fails to inspire me. My latest venture, a YA fantasy romance series entitled Secret Warrior, (release date TBD) is also set in the mountains.

Red Bird's Song is Book 3 in my Native American Warrior Series. The series loosely ties together based more on time and place and strong Native American characters than as a traditional series that follows the story line. However, Kira, Daughter of the Moon is the actual sequel to Through the Fire, and there will be other sequels. In addition to Native Americans, hardy Scots-Irish frontiersmen and women, colonial Englishmen and ladies, and even a few Frenchmen also play an important role in this series. So far, it spans the gamut from the dramatic era of the French and Indian War, through Pontiac's War, The American Revolution, and shortly afterwards.

Story Blurb for Red Bird’s Song:

Taken captive by a Shawnee war party wasn't how Charity Edmondson hoped to escape an unwanted marriage. Nor did Shawnee warrior Wicomechee expect to find the treasure promised by his grandfather's vision in the unpredictable red-headed girl.

George III's English Red-Coats, unprincipled colonial militia, prejudice and jealousy are not the only enemies Charity and Wicomechee will face before they can hope for a peaceful life. The greatest obstacle to happiness is in their own hearts. As they struggle through bleak mountains and cold weather, facing wild nature and wilder men, Wicomechee and Charity must learn to trust each other.

"A beautifully written story filled with adventure and suspense...This book touched my soul even as it provided a thrilling fictional escape into a period of history I have always found fascinating." --Night Owl Book Review by Laurie-J

"I loved the descriptions...I felt I was there...Many mystical episodes are intermingled with the events...The ending is a real surprise, but I will let you have the pleasure of reading it for yourself."  --Seriously Reviewed

***For more on Red Bird's Song and my other titles, visit my: Amazon Author Page.

Historical Romance Novel Traitor's Legacy On Sale for .99!

Traitor's Legacy, the sequel to award-winning historical romance novel, Enemy of the King, is reduced to .99 in kindle at Amazon and nook book at Barnes & Noble.

Journey back to the drama, intrigue, and romance of the American Revolution, where spies can be anyone and trust may prove deadly.

Traitor's Legacy Blurb:

1781. On opposite sides of the War of Independence, British Captain Jacob Vaughan and Claire Monroe find themselves thrust together by chance and expediency.

Captain Vaughan comes to a stately North Carolina manor to catch a spy. Instead, he finds himself in bedlam: the head of the household is an old man ravaged by madness, the one sane male of the family is the very man he is hunting, and the household is overseen by his beguiling sister Claire.

Torn between duty, love, and allegiances, yearning desperately for peace, will Captain Vaughan and Claire Monroe forge a peace of their own against the vagaries of war and the betrayal of false friends?

***The Sequel to Traitor's Legacy, ghostly Gothic historical romance novel, Traitor's Curse, will be out this fall on November 6th. Stay tuned.

This is a series of three novels, so far. Each story is written to stand alone, but it's more meaningful for the reader to begin at the beginning with Enemy of the King set in 1780, South Carolina.

History, Mystery, Romance, and Ghosts–Traitor’s Curse!

Ghostly, Gothic, historical romance novel, Traitor’s Curse, the sequel to Traitor’s Legacy, and the third novel in the series, is coming out November 6th from The Wild Rose Press. The print may show up a week or two earlier at Amazon, so late October for that format. Just around the corner, right?

Set in historic Halifax, NC, on the heels of the American Revolution, Traitor’s Curse builds on the central theme in Traitor’s Legacy. Both novels center around the hidden treasure collected by a band of Patriots to bribe a Loyalist into revealing the whereabouts of the infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold, the man they badly wanted to hang. Although America’s most wanted ultimately fled to England, the treasure remained in Halifax where the haunting mystery in Traitor’s Curse unfolds.

While the historical aspects of that era are authentically depicted in the story, intriguing paranormal elements are also interwoven; among them, a ghost. Other possibilities for his presence in the home are suggested, so choose as you will. It’s kind of a mind game, but significant clues are given for the discerning reader. Bear in mind that the author believes in ghosts and cursed treasure.

Enemy of the King, the first book in the Traitor’s Legacy Series, isn’t listed as such because the series hadn’t yet been conceived when it was published by the Wild Rose Press. However, each story follows the other so it’s best to read them in order, though not mandatory. The novels are written to stand alone. So, hop in wherever you find yourself.

Those of you seeking familiar characters from Traitor’s Legacy will be gratified by their return and, I think, captivated with the new heroine, Hettie Fairfax. Hettie appeared to me in a sort of vision, while I was walking around our misty meadow. Quite an unusual experience, one of many that helped birth this story.

Story Blurb:

Halifax, North Carolina, 1783. Captain Stuart Monroe returns home from the Revolutionary War to find Thornton Hall threatened by a peacetime foe: debt. He knows the location of a treasure amassed to pay for the capture of Benedict Arnold that would restore his manor to its former glory. The catch, it’s hidden in the graveyard, and coveted by old enemies.

Hettie Fairfax inherited the Sight from her Cherokee ancestors, and her otherworldly visitors warn her, and Stuart, away from the buried treasure. Half-dead from fever, she delivers a message: the treasure is cursed. But will he believe a girl half out of her mind with illness? Even when a very real enemy attempts to poison her?

Stuart soon wants to marry Hettie, but she fears her “odd ways” will blemish his reputation. The spirits have their own agenda, however, and the battle against darkness tests everything the couple holds dear, including their love for each other.~

Coming soon to a theater near you. I wish.

For more on my work, I invite you to visit my Amazon Author Page.

Enemy of the King and Traitor’s Legacy are also available from my publisher, The Wild Rose Press,  Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers.

The Darling Buds of May

A soft spring day in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is scented with the sweetest blossoms. Many of our best loved flowers bloom in spring. Perhaps because they come after a long, cold winter, and are nature's reward. Or God's. Either way, I thought you might enjoy seeing some images my talented daughter Elise took of our garden(s) recently. I say gardens, plural, because we have many beds. Beyond the yard and gardens, we gaze down to the green meadow surrounding the pond like a gem from the Emerald Isles. And up above the glistening grass and green rye fields, are the wooded hills. Tender new leaves flushed with rose blend in with the many shades of green coloring the trees. Beyond the hills are the Allegheny Mountains. On a clear day, we can see the ridges tinged in green rising in the distance. Spring comes later in the mountains, but it comes in all its wealth and beauty. But back to the farm.

Below are some lovely quotes to accompany these images, with insightful commentary.

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden." ~Ruth Stout

I totally agree with Ruth Stout, and have her gardening book. A real treasure.

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." ~Anne Bradstreet

Amen, Anne Bradstreet. 

"Our spring has come at last with the soft laughter of April suns and shadow of April showers." ~Byron Caldwell Smith, letter to Kate Stephens

What a beautiful romantic thing to write.

"The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven -
All’s right with the world!"
~Robert Browning

Robert Browning is quite the optimist, which one can better aspire to be if one spends a great deal of time in a garden. The world has run mad, but love still shines brightly. And he was deeply in love with the talented poet who became his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant"

I do love the English Romantic Poets. Now, we must have some Keats.

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing." ~John Keats

Why did Keats value quiet breathing? Because he died young of consumption. But he knew love, and was in love with a wonderful woman. He also deeply loved nature and flowers.

"Every spring is the only spring — a perpetual astonishment." ~Ellis Peters

This is so true. I never weary of the delights of spring.


"The naked earth is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s kiss glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze."
~Julian Grenfell

I can't say it any better than this.

Flowers in order are bleeding heart, tulips in front of the old red barn, Virginia bluebells, violets arranged in an old bottle we found on the farm that turned lavender in the kitchen window, cherry blossoms, and a bouquet of lilac beside the large potted geraniums on our sunspace. Elise made the arrangements and took all of the images herself.

For more on me, please visit my blog at:  https://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

Easter's Past

I've always loved Easter, a joyous season when the earth is reborn in a swell of new life washed with vibrant color, a time of spiritual and physical renewal. I can't imagine Christ's resurrection taking place at any other time of year. This is most fitting. As a six year old recently returned from an early childhood spent in Taiwan, I delighted in my first egg hunt in a neighbor's yard filled with blooming crocus and daffodils. Tucked in the green grass and among those shining blossoms were the many-colored eggs, like hidden jewels. Magical. And chocolate rabbits. I was in awe of an American Easter.

Of course, in those days little girls wore hats and gloves and crinolines under their Easter dresses. Yes, I was born in the 1800's. I also received my first white Bible on Easter, which is still my favorite one. It had this new book smell and books were quite special back then because my father was an underpaid English professor and we were poor. I just liked smelling my new Bible, but did eventually read much of it. The names of my favorite Sunday School teachers are inked in the front under the section entitled Friends at Church. I must have been a real nerd not to have any children listed. Actually, I know I was.

Another early Easter memory is our family returning home from church and me climbing from the car to bury my face in a golden clump of daffodils by the back doorstep, beaded with rain. Their sweet scent said spring to me. And new life. I always imagined the tomb where Christ was buried and rose again surrounded by daffodils and crocus.

"For I remember it is Easter morn,
And life and love and peace are all new born."  ~Alice Freeman Palmer

"Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."  ~Floyd W. Tomkins

"It is the hour to rend thy chains,
The blossom time of souls."  ~Katherine Lee Bates

Ghostly, Gothic, Historical Romance ‘Traitor’s Curse’

I’m excited to announce my upcoming release, spine-tingling historical romance novel Traitor’s Curse, book three in my Traitor’s Legacy Series, and the sequel to historical romance novel Traitor’s Legacy.

The series opens with award-winning historical romance novel, Enemy of the King, Unlike the first two novels, Traitor’s Curse is set shortly after the American Revolution, and has a ghostly, Gothic flavor. Although, come to think of it, a ghost also figures in Enemy of King. I can’t seem to keep away from them. But Traitor’s Curse has a darker paranormal bent. Mystery and carefully researched history are strong elements in both Traitor’s Legacy andTraitor’s Curse. Enemy of the King abounds with adventure. And all three books pulse with the unpredictable and exhilarating scintillations of the heart. And humor, I always incorporate touches of humor.

Blurb for Traitor’s Curse:

Halifax, North Carolina, 1783. Captain Stuart Monroe returns home from the Revolutionary War to find Thornton Hall threatened by a peacetime foe: debt. He knows the location of a treasure amassed to pay for the capture of Benedict Arnold that would restore his manor to its former glory. The catch, it’s hidden in the graveyard, and coveted by old enemies. Hettie Fairfax inherited the Sight from her Cherokee ancestors, and her otherworldly visitors warn her, and Stuart, away from the buried treasure. Half-dead from fever, she delivers a message: the treasure is cursed. But will he believe a girl half out of her mind with illness? Even when a very real enemy attempts to poison her? Stuart soon wants to marry Hettie, but she fears her “odd ways” will blemish his reputation. The spirits have their own agenda, however, and the battle against darkness tests everything the couple holds dear, including their love for each other.

Colonial American historical romance novel Traitor's Legacy

Blurb for Traitor’s Legacy:

1781. On opposite sides of the War of Independence, British Captain Jacob Vaughan and Claire Monroe find themselves thrust together by chance and expediency.

Captain Vaughan comes to a stately North Carolina manor to catch a spy. Instead, he finds himself in bedlam: the head of the household is an old man ravaged by madness, the one sane male of the family is the very man he is hunting, and the household is overseen by his beguiling sister Claire.

Torn between duty, love, and allegiances, yearning desperately for peace, will Captain Vaughan and Claire Monroe forge a peace of their own against the vagaries of war and the betrayal of false friends?

Blurb for Enemy of the King:

1780, South Carolina: While Loyalist Meriwether Steele recovers from illness in the stately home of her beloved guardian, Jeremiah Jordan, she senses the haunting presence of his late wife. When she learns that Jeremiah is a Patriot spy and shoots Captain Vaughan, the British officer sent to arrest him, she is caught up on a wild ride into Carolina back country, pursued both by the impassioned captain and the vindictive ghost. Will she remain loyal to her king and Tory twin brother or risk a traitor’s death fighting for Jeremiah? If Captain Vaughan snatches her away, he won’t give her a choice.

All novels in the Traitor’s Legacy Series are published by The Wild Rose Press and available in print and eBook from their online bookstore, in kindle and print at Amazon, in Nook Book at Barnes & Noble and in eBook from all major online booksellers. Local bookstores can order the paperback in as can libraries. Release date for Traitor’s Curse TBD, but probably late summer.

Graphic Artist Debbie Taylor did the covers for Traitor’s Legacy and Traitor’s Curse. Rae Monet designed the cover for Enemy of the King.