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, historical romance. Don’t forget to check out the other book hooks from participating authors here.

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

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Fire Woman had not even a minute to let the anger gnaw at her insides over what she felt was injustice. There had been water to retrieve. Wood to gather. A hole to create in the tiny wigwam for smoke to billow from, since she required a fire inside or she’d freeze for another night.

She’d prove where her loyalty lay by constructing what she’d need for the wigwam she’d share with her husband once their year was up. This winter she was supposed to have begun making everything for their new home, anyway. With the minimal birch bark containers she had, Mother had also left fresh birch gathered during the Strawberry Moon that Fire Woman could begin shaping into bowls and other cooking supplies she’d require.

The snow would soon come, and she’d also need snowshoes, something she did not know how to construct. This was something Mother was supposed to have taught her.

Loneliness pooled around Fire Woman’s heart. The sun had set. The voices from the other wigwam carried to where she stood alone. Thunder Bear had left. He probably would not be back until tomorrow or the next day.

Her belly grumbled. He was supposed to bring her food, but his trip meant she might not eat until he returned.

From the darkness, two fish were tossed her way. The dead creatures landed at her feet. Thunder Bear must have asked her family to feed her while he was gone. She had no spices, no dried berries, no mushrooms, no maple sugar, or anything to add to her dinner to make it flavorful. Well, pitying herself was pointless.

Yes, she could steal a canoe and try to find the portal, but she would not. Since childhood, she’d ached to live with her ancestors and wed a man brave and honorable enough to give her love to and open her legs for. Only quitters slunk off to pout and lick their wounded pride if all did not go their way. She’d prove to them she was Anishinaabe-kwe, strong and capable of not only accepting her punishment, but persevering.

Gratefulness was the way to look on her new plight. They could have served her a harsher sentence by banishing her for good, leaving her to die in the bush somewhere.

Plus, what she’d done was no better than what the White Government had done to the Ojibway when first sailing over to this land—shoving their beliefs down the throats of the People by telling them their views and customs were wrong. She’d gone and done the unthinkable—thrust her twenty-first century principles that had been schooled by the whites onto her ancestors, instead of respecting their dealings with what they viewed as a problem.

The Ojibway believed in vengeance, not revenge. Vengeance was justice in the eyes of the People, while revenge was retaliation of ones wounded pride.

She gathered the fish. Acknowledging a thank you was also unnecessary. As far as her family was concerned, they were feeding something dead out in the darkness.

All she could do was pray that Thunder Bear would soon forgive her and allow her back to the lodge—where she knew she truly belonged, something she was born for.

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