Storytelling vs. Historical Authenticity?

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We’re pleased to welcome special guest author Misty Beller back to the junction!

I’m so excited to visit with y’all again! The Petticoats and Pistols family is one of my favorite places to hang out. 🙂

My latest releasing is Winning the Mountain Man’s Love, and I was excited to research a job I’d not studied much beyond what I’ve seen on a thousand old westerns. 🙂

Our heroine’s work in this story is as a gambler in the mining town of Missoula Mills. She had a sort of love/hate relationship with being a professional gambler, but that job plays a significant role in shaping her character and her journey.

But what was the reality of gambling in this time and place?

During the 1870s, the Montana Territory was a wild, untamed land, attracting adventurers, miners, and those seeking to make their fortune by profiting from the miners. With the influx of men and money, gambling became a prevalent pastime and a lucrative business. Saloons, gaming houses, and even street corners became hubs for various games of chance, including poker, faro, and dice.

For many, gambling offered a quick path to wealth, but it also led to addiction, debt, and desperation. The lack of regulation and high stakes often attracted unsavory characters, making the gambling scene a dangerous and unpredictable world.

Women like Patience, who found themselves caught up in this world, faced even greater challenges. They were often viewed as mere entertainers or worse, and their involvement in gambling was seen as a mark of moral failure. However, for some women, gambling provided a means of survival in a society that offered few opportunities for financial independence.

Despite the risks and the societal stigma, gambling continued to thrive in the Montana Territory throughout the 1870s. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that anti-gambling laws and reformers began to push back against the pervasive gaming culture.

Thankfully, Patience didn’t have to wait so long to leave the gambling world behind her, but that life certainly left its mark on her. I won’t share any spoilers, but I pray you enjoy Patience and Jonah’s story in Winning the Mountain Man’s Love! 🙂

I’m excited to give away a signed copy of this book! To be entered for the giveaway, I’d love to hear some of the interesting job’s you’ve seen women perform in historical fiction novels. Leave a comment below to share.  🙂

 

Winning the Mountain Man’s Love

In the wild mountains of the Montana Territory, the Coulter ranch is a place of family, second chances…and a hidden fortune.

Jonah Coulter can’t stand to watch his former fiancée build a life with her one true love. That’s the way it always happens for him—second child of six, second choice for love. He’s relieved to escape his family’s ranch to search for the aunt of a lost child he rescued. At least little Anna needs him. She deserves to be reunited with her last living relative.

Patience Whitman fled from her past and the man who killed her late husband. Now she’s reinvented herself in the untamed Montana Territory. Relying on her gambling skills to survive, she’s determined to earn enough to buy independence from the constant threat of men—she’s never met one who isn’t greedy, controlling, or violent. But when a stranger shows up and says his brothers have taken in her orphaned niece, Patience must go after Anna no matter the cost.

As Jonah and Patience navigate the treacherous landscape of their pasts and little Anna’s future, they must confront their deepest fears and learn to trust each other. But when danger catches up to them, they must risk everything to claim the happily ever after they both crave.

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65 thoughts on “Storytelling vs. Historical Authenticity?”

  9. Hi Misty. I was so fun seeing you at the conference!
    don’t put me in the drawing. I just bought my copy.
    I probably do too many lady professions that tend to be men. Doctor, Justice of the Peace, lots of lady ranchers, I have to fight not to make all my heroines lady ranchers! I did a lady blacksmith. They’ve got to do SOMETHING until Mr. Right comes along!
    I’m doing a teacher at an orphanage right now. I don’t do many teachers and that’s the OBVIOUS job. So now I finally do one and the job is just barely mentioned, she’s busy hunting for treasure.
    Hmmmm I did a sharpshooter once, but it’s not like she made a living at it. a lady riding along with orphans on an orphan train. I did a Pinkerton Agent and a secondary character was a woman agent.
    A woman running a diner who couldn’t cook. That was funny. A woman missionary…who’s mission field was marching every afternoon in front of the tiny western town’s only saloon protesting the demon rum. She was also hired as a cook at that same diner…which all the men were so grateful for that, when she was marching with her protest sign they often complemented her biscuits when they went in to drink.

    • Mary! You had me laughing out loud as I read all these stories you’ve written! Especially the woman who owns a diner and can’t cook. ? Some of my all-time favorite of your books are women doing men’s professions.
      Loved seeing you at the conference! Hugs!

  11. I can only think of the interesting professions Mary Connealy gives her characters — rancher, investigator, inventor, first female justice of the peace. I live in southwest Montana. This book sounds great.

  15. I’ve read books with women as the sole owner of a ranch, Pinkerton agents, scientists, and one the inventor of a hot air balloon! Your book sounds really good!

    • Yes! My book Healing the Mountain Man’s Heart has a woman doctor as the heroine, and she was so much fun to write!

  19. I have read books where women did a “man’s job”. I have read about a blacksmith/iron worker, a judge, and a marshall these all in the same series by Mary Conealy, Also in the brides of fiddlers gap there was a fencing master/instructor. I love this series about the Coulter family.

  20. I have read a number of “unlady like” jobs that took these ladies and helped them on whatever path they took. Rancher, Sheriff, Mayor, Saloon Owner, Shoe Maker, Gun Seller, etc

  22. I love the cover. I think I recall a woman sheriff and saloon owner in some of the historical fiction books I’ve read. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of your book.

    • Love those, Vickie! And thank you for your kind words about the cover! 🙂 I’ve loved the covers in this series too.

  26. I loved this book, and all the ones in this series. I have read of women bankers, mayors, gun slingers, outlaws, spys and jewel thieves. Guess a woman has to do what a woman has to do.

    Would love to win a signed copy of this book by one of my favorite authors. Thanks for the opportunity.

  27. The most unusual that I can think of is a blacksmith! But I’ve read some where the women had untraditional jobs for their era like Justice of the Peace, doctor, sharp shooter, and rancher.
    I would love to win your book! It sounds very good!! Thank you!

  28. It seems to me that women could do about anything that man can do.. I have seen them being outlaws to seamstress and a little of everything else. So what ever they wanted to be they would do it.

  29. I can’t remember for certain if I have read it in a book, but I know there are women blacksmiths today and there certainly had to be some in the not too distant past. There are and have been women farriers which requirers blacksmithing. Many of todays women blacksmiths do delicate work – brass bowls, jewelry, etc., but there are those who do heavy duty sculpturing, gates, railings, etc.

  30. Cook, seamstress, saloon owner, hotel owner & a gun carrying bounty hunter. Women had to do a lot to survive in the West, so glad that they were strong women who created our historical history. Must put your book on my TBR list. Thank you, for the chance to win a copy.

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