About the Book

Book: Once upon a Courtship

Authors: Kit Morgan, Chautona Havig, Tricia Goyer, Marylu Tyndall, Regina Scott, Marlene Bierworth, Linore Rose Burkard, Camille Elliot, Louise M. Goudge, Lisa M. Prysock, Teresa Slack, Marilyn Turk

Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

Release date: October 22, 2024

Once Upon a Courtship: A Sweet Historical Romance Collection
A Limited-Time Collection of 12 books from 12 beloved Christian authors spanning rustic landscapes, elegant ballrooms, rugged cowboys, enigmatic spies, and daring pirates! Delight your romantic heart with Colonial, Regency, Victorian, Western, and Gilded Age Romance and preorder your copy today!

Mail-Order Millie by USA Today Bestselling Author Kit Morgan
Imagine mail-order bride Millie’s surprise when she finds out her so-called husband is really a spy working for the president.

Courting Miss Darling by USA Today Bestselling Author Chautona Havig
Muriel Darling thought her heart rode off with a cowboy, but when his boss writes letters, maybe romance is in Miss Darling’s future after all.

The Privateer’s Prize by Christy Award Finalist Author MaryLu Tyndall
Left at the altar, a woman must rely on the man who broke her heart to deliver a message to change the course of the Revolutionary War.

Grace in the Storm by USA Today Bestselling Author Tricia Goyer
As hurricane winds howl, a feisty pirate and a captivating tavern owner find their destinies changed by the storm’s fury.

Leftover Mail-Order Bride by Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling Author Regina Scott
When mail-order bride Victoria’s groom left her at the altar, she vows to find love, but meets Jack, seeking help on the ranch, love optional.

Clara’s Compassion by Critically Acclaimed Author Marlene Bierworth
Clara’s compassion for workers on the frontier of the Canadian Rockies proves conflicting for railroad boss, Graham, in matters of the heart.

Miss Spencer Meets Her Match by Multi-Award-winning Author Linore Rose Burkard
Miss Spencer attends a Cinderella Ball unwillingly, not knowing the “prince” is in disguise.

Lissa and the Spy by USA Today Bestselling Author Camille Elliot
Seeking a marriage of convenience, plain Lissa becomes entangled with enigmatic Lord Stoude and a secret mission for the Crown.

Abiding Faith, Freedom’s Call by Multi-Award-Winning Author Louise M. Gouge
A pacifist Quaker widow and a prisoner of war officer risk their lives. Will the gap between peace and the American Revolution be a chasm too wide?

Jory’s Story by USA Today Bestselling Author Lisa M. Prysock
When a spy and local adversaries descend, can a governess protect the duke’s children and her heart?

Priscilla’s Promise by Award-Winning Author Teresa Slack
Priscilla Channing wants to honor her father by marrying the man he chose. But he’s not the same man, nor she, the same woman.

The Gilding of Minnie Tucker by Multi-Award-Winning Author Marilyn Turk
A Biltmore maid opens the wrong door and stumbles into a guest whose mutual attraction could be their doom.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Authors

Twelve authors bring you stories that span from the Colonial era, through Regency, Victorian, Western, and into Edwardian and the Gilded Age.

More from Chautona

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to write historical fiction?  Here’s a “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” version that sorta shows how it can go.

If you give an author a historical assignment, she’ll want to choose an era for it. If she chooses Colonial, she’ll need to research what that period included.

She’ll research it and discover that there were lots of places colonized by lots of countries.

She’ll pick one. If she picks American, she may discover how big of a role ships played in that period. A pirate might appear.

If a pirate appears, she’ll jump the Colonial ship for a swashbuckling one and buy an eyepatch—just to get into character.

While learning of how lawless the open sea could be, pictures of a lawless Old West with cowboys and sheriffs might tempt her to leave rolling sea waves for waving prairie seas.

She’ll buy a covered wagon. If she buys that wagon, her HOA will demand she get it out of her front yard. She’ll settle for spurs. The cat will not be amused.

If her cat protests too much, she’ll decide to get him a girlfriend. She’ll go online and order one. That will remind her of mail-order brides.  She’ll begin researching. The idea of dip pens and beautiful paper and wax seals will make a serious hit to her budget. She’ll justify it as “research.”  If she goes overboard, she might start a story-by-mail service with a new letter sent each week. Reams of paper fill her front yard.  The HOA will send a sternly-written letter.

But the deadlines loom on the horizon. She’ll pray for help.  Thinking about prayer will remind her that her (not-as-yet-to-be-put-on-paper) fictional town needs a church.  And some civilizing.  If she prays and all that happens… she’ll research more.

While researching, she’ll remember she meant to do a story from earlier in the century. She’ll buy a ball gown—Regency style. What’s a ball gown with nowhere to wear it?  She needs a ball!

If she wants to go to a ball, she’ll need to know how to dance. She’ll sign up for English country dance lessons and learn that the waltz of that time is very different from ours.

She’ll research how it evolved. If she studies well, she’ll learn how scandalized folks were and decides to move her story forward. She likes the waltz.  To prove it, she’ll buy vinyl albums of Strauss’ waltzes and play them nonstop.

If she plays the music too late, her neighbors will call in a noise complaint.  The HOA will call an emergency meeting. She’ll miss it. She’s too busy deciding between that mail-order bride and an antebellum miss (and stuffing a thousand envelopes to mail tomorrow).

Pictures of waltzes at balls with hoopskirts and satin prompts her to order her own.  If she puts it on, it threatens to get stuck when she tries to walk out the front door.

If she gets stuck, she’ll shimmy out of the dress (good thing it was a little big) and lets it sit there as décor.

The HOA comes armed with pitchforks and scissors. Fascinated, she wonders where they got the pitchforks. The gown does not survive.

Her indignation prompts her to reconsider and write something more Gilded Age—the long, close-fitting gowns (except for bustles as big as those hoopskirts!).  If she puts one of those on and walks out the front door, she’ll find a man there. Gaping. She may think she looks stunning. If she thinks that, he might pull out a stungun—along with a court order to appear and pay a fine.

When she sees that fine, she may swoon (or it could be she didn’t know how to lace the corset correctly).  He’ll catch her and help her to her couch (it’s not a fainting couch).

When he brings her a drink, she may tell him the whole story.

And if she tells him the whole story, he might suggest writing Sci-Fi would be safer.

After a long nap and a weird dream, she decides he’s right. She’ll write about people in space.  And chances are, if she researches writing about people in space, she’ll discover that it’s just another Colonial story.

(Oh, and she’ll need a new home. She had to sell hers to pay the HOA fines. Anyone want to subscribe to her story letters?)

Interview

You have a new book coming out! What is it?

Glad you asked!  Once Upon a Courtship is a twelve-author/book collection with stories from some of readers’ favorite historical novelists.  Kit Morgan, Trisha Goyer, Regina Scott, Louise M. Goudge, Linore Rose Burkard, Camille Elliot, Marlene Bierworth, Marilyn Turk, Marylu Tyndall, Teresa Slack, and Lisa M. Prysock. Mine is just one of the novellas in this amazing collection.

So… readers notice that you’re in a lot of collections/anthologies.  I assume that means you like them?

Funny story there… the answer is a mixed bag of incomprehensible thoughts. The first collection I was a part of was our Christmas Lights Collection back in 2015. Cathe Swanson, Vikki Kestell, April Hayman, and I all joined together to put out a collection of Christmas stories. This year marks our ninth-annual anthology!  YAY!  So obviously I do enjoy collections. It’s a good way to get to know other authors, discover which authors our readers enjoy (so we can be sure to share when new books come out!), and to collaborate with new ideas.  It’s also a LOT of work—especially with something like Once Upon a Courtship. The group decided to try to make a USA Today Bestseller run, so we’re all in crunch time mode right now.

What sorts of books will we find in Once Upon a Courtship?

As a collection of “historical romance novellas,” we knew we’d have a broad selection, and that’s one of the strengths of sets like this.  Readers are sure to find some era they’ll enjoy.  All books are romances, so there will be all the swoony moments (in varying degrees of sweet and clean), but they vary in eras. We have Colonial, Regency, Pirate, Westward Expansion, Victorian, Edwardian, and Gilded Age for sure.  I’ve probably forgotten someone—sorry!

Which era is your book?

Courting Miss Darling takes place in the Dakotas in the mid-1880s. It is a sister book to my novel Jack. Originally given away as a bonus short story for those who preordered Jack, I couldn’t stand seeing it lounge around in my files, so I doubled it and turned my epistolary short story into a full-length novella. For those who have read the original story, one huge change happens in the middle that totally changes everything.  Combined with more letters, a few diary entries, and some more of their lives in their respective towns, I hope it’ll feel like a new book to the few people who got to read the original story.

Why are so many collections only $0.99? How do you make any money on those?

Well, there are two answers to this one.  First, the people who read these collections, primarily read them through Kindle Unlimited. We make far more money on those reads than we do on an actual sale. Imagine $0.35 divided by twelve. That’s not even a full three cents per author for her book! So as far as income goes, we usually hope people will read in Kindle Unlimited rather than purchasing.  However (and second)… this set isn’t in Kindle Unlimited yet and won’t be right away. See, if we want to make the USA Today Bestseller list, it can’t be.  To reach that goal, we need to have the collection available on all retailers.  We need lots of sales from Barnes and Noble in particular.  So, the $0.99 becomes a draw to reach the needed number of sales.  That’s the raw truth of it. Eventually, the price will go up (which will still be a bargain for twelve books!) and it will be in Kindle Unlimited. But not right away and not for long.

Now that you’re done with this novella, what are you writing?

Well, as I mentioned, the ninth-annual Christmas Lights Collection is coming out next month, so I’m working on getting that story done.  This year’s collection is titled An Evergreen Christmas, so I’m back in New Cheltenham with an abandoned Christmas tree farm and how finding it might just save a family’s Christmas.  But between working on that, I’m happy to chat about Courting Miss Darling and the other awesome stories in Once Upon a Courtship.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, September 13

Book Looks by Lisa, September 13

Melissa’s Bookshelf, September 14

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 15

Texas Book-aholic, September 16

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 17

Stories By Gina, September 18 (Author Interview)

Lots of Helpers, September 18

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 19

Devoted To Hope, September 20

For Him and My Family, September 21

Holly’s Book Corner, September 22

Jeanette’s Thoughts, September 23

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 24

Books You Can Feel Good About, September 25

Madi’s Musings, September 26

Giveaway

To celebrate their tour, the Authors are giving away the grand prize of a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5441