Ivy
Book Title: Ivy (The Montgomery Sisters Book 3) by Kat Flannery
Category: Historical western romance, 164 pages
Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Publisher: Picco Press
Release date: November 11, 2018
Tour dates: July 1-31, 2019
Content Rating: PG + M (swearing and mild violence)
Book Description:
Ivy Montgomery is tired of her sister’s constant nagging and protectiveness. Blind, she decides to escape in the middle of the night when she is captured and brought far from home. With no understanding of the outside world, Ivy must use her keen abilities to navigate the wilderness around her. Anger and hopelessness are her only defenses against the things she cannot do.
Until she meets a strong-minded Lakota Chief, who will not let her cower to the blindness any longer. Lakota Sioux Chief of the Paha Sapa, Hotah is on a hunt for his brother, Kangi. Cast from their tribe five years before, Kangi has grown a dark spirit and a hatred for all white people. Now on reserved land, Hotah makes a deal with the General to capture his brother in return for his people to have the provisions they need. After rescuing Ivy, he promises to take her home, but danger is near and Hotah soon realizes it is not just his brother he should fear.
A blind woman and a Sioux Chief…
Writing is not an easy task, and to write an engaging novel takes time, and patience. Novellas are a diabolical thing all on their own. The pacing is quicker, the story shorter, and the outcome has to be just as satisfying as a full-length novel.
The Montgomery Sister’s is a novella series, and thus, writing Ivy’s story proved to be a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. I’d never written about a blind character before, and although it was intriguing the story did not want to flow like the others before. How does one write from a blind person perspective when they are not blind themselves? Well, like I write all of my historical novels…research.
A lot of it.
Ivy nestled herself inside of my heart, and I wanted to make her story not only one of redemption but also one of resilience. After all who better to succeed than a blind woman with no self-esteem or know how of the real world?
I could not fail her. The story had to be perfect, engaging and emotional. How was I going to do this in a novella? How was I going to explore all of this amazing character in 30,000 words? The pressure mounted as I pondered this very thing. I refused to begin writing until I had it all worked out in my head…which is not a normal process for me. I usually have the idea and go with it, but not this time. I muddled along for weeks considering all aspects of this troubled woman, and then it hit me. She needed a special man to help her see who she really was. This couldn’t be any man either, he had to be strong-minded, caring and patient.
Introducing Lakota Chief, Hotah of the Paha Sapa tribe.
When I wrote the first scene with Ivy and Hotah together everything fell into place. Hotah needed Ivy as much as she needed him. Together they learned how to trust, and fight for what they wanted. Learning to lean on the each other is what makes these two characters so amazing, and their story soon filled the pages and my heart.
Three sisters who basically have raised themselves in barely settled territory. The first two have proven themselves strong but found love and have decided to remain together, since Poppy and her husband may travel together as Pinkertons. Ivy, the youngest, has been isolated and pampered by the elder sisters, as her sight has been declining. However she is made of just as stern stuff as the other two. The trouble is they have grown used to not seeing her as capable.
Hotah, chief of a local Sioux Indian tribe, has always been a proud, strong warrior. He has always had the best interests of his people at heart. He trusted the U.S. government when they said his people would be taken care of if he cooperated. Family loyalty is strong among his people's beliefs.
His brother became a renegade, mentally unstable when his wife died, and did not join their people on the reservation. Soon the time came when Hotah has to make another difficult choice, and agree to find his brother, in exchange for the tribe to get the previously agreed upon provisions and care.
It is during this time when Hotah finds himself rescuing Ivy and having to choose which ultimate sacrifice is the least painful road.
I will be honest and say that I did not enjoy this book as well as the first two. The writing is still high quality and the story kept my interest, but it did not grab me as emotionally as the first two books of the series. It is a more difficult book to read, but clearly showed the parallels between the imprisoned lives of both main characters.
Meet the Author:
Kat Flannery Author Bio:
Kat Flannery’s
love of history shows in her novels. She is an avid reader of historical,
suspense, paranormal, and romance. A member of many writing groups including the National Romance Writers of America (RWA), Kat
enjoys promoting other authors on her blog. When she’s not busy writing, or
marketing Kat volunteers her time to other aspiring authors.
Kat’s
been published in numerous periodicals throughout her career, and continues to
write for blogs and online magazines. A bestselling author, Kat’s
books are available all over the world. The BRANDED TRILOGY is Kat’s award-winning series.
With seven books published, Kat continues to write two novels a year.
Creativity is in all aspects of Kat’s career. She does Social Media and
Marketing for her own career and businesses, writing ads, and other content. Kat
is the CEO and owner of Picco Press where she writes, publishes, markets and mentors’
other authors
Get Kat’s Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/cQmCzL
A blind woman and a Sioux Chief… Interesting guest post about the challenges of writing diverse characters. Thank you for posting.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your honest review of IVY. :)
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