COTT: Beneath the Blackberry Moon by April W Gardner

About the book:
War, captivity, hunger that will not be denied. And a blackberry moon
with enough pull to endure the test of time.

Frontierswoman Adela McGirth has never feared her neighbors, the Creek
Indians, but a suspicious encounter with a steely-eyed warrior shakes her
confidence. As dreaded, a skirmish with the natives sends her family
fleeing into a hastily constructed fort. But no picket is strong enough to
hold off a party of warriors who fear nothing but the loss of their ancient
ways.

Totka Lawe, a Red Stick bound by honor to preserve his heritage, will do
what he must to expel the whites from Muscogee soil. But in the midst of
battle, he is assigned to protect those he’s expected to hate and kill. One
of whom is the copper-haired woman who has haunted his thoughts since that
strange night under the blackberry moon. The war was simpler before his
enemy became a beautiful face with a gentle warrior’s spirit he cannot
resist.

But what woman would have a warrior whose blood-soaked hands destroyed her
life?

Then again…does she have a choice?

Romance novelist Meghan Townsend’s marriage is slipping, and no amount of
prayer seems to help. She aims to recapture her husband’s waning attention
by getting in shape and finds escape by crafting her own fictional love
story. Taking inspiration for the hero from a new friend—the attractive,
spiritual, and attentive Curtis Jameson—she pours her yearnings onto the
page, and craves the kind of pulse-pounding romance found in her book,
Racing Hearts…

In 1916 Corona, California, motorcars are all the rage, and racing them is
what Meghan’s hero, Russell Keegan, does best. But when his competition
vandalizes his car, the only mechanic available is a greasy woman in a
man’s overalls.

After a racing accident claimed her father’s life, Winifred became the sole
breadwinner for her family. She is disdained as a female mechanic, but her
daddy’s trade is all she has left. Can she swallow her hatred of the races
and take up Russell’s offer of big bucks to fix his car, or will she lose
everything to mounting debt?

Under Meghan’s skillful pen, these two embark on a thrilling, adventurous
romance. But she finds that writing those love scenes with Curtis’s face in
mind takes her heart places it shouldn’t go. Will she realize in time that
real life can be better than fiction?