Maggie Blackbird

Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. Readers can jump from one author to another who share hooks from their current WIP (work in progress) or any previously published books.

For this week’s edition of Book Hooks, I give you a teaser from Born for This, book one in the Maizemerized series, a time-travel, paranormal romance that is 50% off when you purchase from Extasy Books.

She’s always been obsessed with her ancestors, and now he’s offering her a chance to live with them…forever.

Second-year university student Edie Whitecrow gobbles up each course on Indigenous studies.  If only she could experience the lives of her Anishinaabe ancestors instead of reading about them.  On her way to a Halloween party decked out as a historical Ojibway maiden, she spies a corn maze in a spot known to be barren.

A scarecrow figure beckons Edie to enter with the enticing offer of making her biggest wish come true.  She jumps at the chance and finds herself in the past, face to face with the man who haunts her dreams—the handsome brave Thunder Bear.  He claims he’s spent twelve years waiting for Gitche Manidoo to send her to him.

Life in the eighteenth century isn’t what Edie romanticized about, though.  When her conscience is tested, she must choose between the modern day or the world of her descendants—where the man she was created for resides.

Genre(s): Time Travel, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Paranormal Romance, Adult.
Heat Rating: Level 3
Publication Date:  October 29, 2021
Publisher:  eXtasy Books

PURCHASE A COPY AT 1/2 PRICE AT EXTASY BOOKS

Edie removed the paddle from the river and rested it across her lap. She leaned over and cupped water to her mouth. Quenching her thirst wasn’t enough, though. Her body cried to be doused in the cold liquid.

“Let me help you.”

Edie hung her head. For Woman of the Sky to take the bow would be even more shameful. The older women always steered while the younger women did the hard paddling.

“I will be fine, but thank you for offering.” Edie dipped her paddle back in the water.

Thunder Bear sat in the bow of the other canoe.

Walks with a Limp steered.

“What is going on?” Thunder Bear didn’t shout but had raised his voice enough to be heard.

How could Edie admit she was tired and needed a break already? “My arm cramped. I will be fine.”

He stopped paddling and tilted his head. Curiosity reflected in his gaze. Their canoes bumped. Water lapped at the freeboards. He laid his hand on both gunwales to keep them from separating. “Paddling upriver is a strenuous task.”

Edie stared straight ahead, nodding. Murmurs came from the sterns. Maybe Walks with a Limp and Woman of the Sky were speaking about what a big failure Edie was. She couldn’t help it. If she had to choose, she’d rather drive her car to the ceremony site. The white world was too ingrained in her to be like her ancestors.

“Look at me, Fire Woman.” Thunder Bear’s tone was coaxing.

She turned her head.

Concern lurked in his gaze. “If you are tired, say so. We can stop.”

Edie raised her chin. “The others are not stopping.”

“No, they are not, but they have lived this way their whole lives. You have not, have you?”

Running her broken nails—no longer a perfect manicure—along the paddle across her thighs, Edie nodded.

“I understand you wish to prove yourself, but people will have more respect for you if you work at your pace. No one expects you to master our ways even by the end of the summer.”

“I…” Fine, she’d speak her fears. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“I know you can. You were born for this. Now rest. Drink some water. Eat some jerky. Woman of the Sky will hold the canoe so the current does not take us back to where we came.”

“I will,” she dutifully replied.

“When we arrive, many will be proud you made the journey, no matter how long it takes us,” he assured her.

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