Welcome Guest Author Misty M. Beller and a Give Away!

I’m so excited to visit with my Petticoats and Pistols family again!

My latest book, Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret, released this week! In it, our heroine and her uncle are working with a group of surveyors to map out potential routes for the coming railroad.

One of the things I love about writing historical romance is the detail I get to research for each book. So much of my research doesn’t make it into the story, but I still love to learn it!

Surveying back then was no walk in the park. These brave folks had to trek through some seriously rough terrain, lugging around heavy equipment like compasses, levels, and surveyor’s chains (called Gunter’s chain). The chains were a whopping 66 feet long, with 100 links! Surveyors would stretch them out to measure distances, and let me tell you, it was no easy feat.

Gunter’s Chain & Surveyor’s Compass. Courtesy of the New Hampshire Historical Society

One of the surveyor’s secret weapons was triangulation. By measuring angles between distant points and doing some fancy math, they could figure out exactly where landmarks were and create a grid of reference points across the land. This technique was a game-changer, allowing for more accurate maps that covered bigger areas.

In my story, the surveying was done for the railroad. But history tells us that later in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey stepped onto the scene with a larger mission: to create detailed maps of the entire country, including the wild, wild West. Surveyors working for this agency had their work cut out for them. They battled through dense forests, climbed steep mountains, and crossed dangerous rivers, all to gather the data needed for these maps.

So the next time you look at a map of the American West, give a nod to those early surveyors. These hardworking folks played a huge role in shaping the frontier, giving settlers the information they needed to build new lives and communities. Without their dedication and skill, the West might have remained a mystery forever!

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

I pray you enjoy Miles and Clara’s story in Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret!

In the wild mountains of the Montana Territory, the Coulter ranch is a place of family, second
chances…and a hidden fortune.
Miles is the youngest of six brothers, and he’s spent most of his life helping guard the family’s
secret: a sapphire mine hidden deep within the Montana mountains. With threats from a past
enemy looming, a survey team’s arrival stirs suspicion—until he meets Clara Pendleton, whose
presence captivates him.

Clara Pendleton joins her uncle on a survey team tasked with mapping the coming railroad's
path, only to find herself entangled with the enigmatic Coulter family. When her uncle’s accident
leads them to find refuge in the Coulter home, Clara is irresistibly drawn to Miles Coulter and his quiet strength. This feels like the haven she craves…until a series of mysterious attacks endanger
everyone on the ranch.

As Christmas approaches, a sleigh ride through a snowy wonderland fans the growing spark
between Clara and Miles into a flame, but a broken runner leads Clara to discover the family's
secret. Now she’s faced with an impossible choice: betray the man she’s coming to love or risk
the lives of his entire family—and her own uncle.

From a USA Today bestselling author comes a mountain saga filled with high-stakes adventure,
forced proximity, a Christmas surprise, and love that heals wounded hearts.

Amazon   Barnes and Noble     Google Play   Books 2 Read

Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author with over 1 million books old. She writes romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love. Raised on a farm and surrounded by family, Misty developed her love for horses, history, and adventure. These days, her husband and children provide fresh adventure every day, keeping her both grounded and crazy.

Misty’s passion is to create inspiring Christian fiction infused with the grandeur of the mountains, writing historical romance that displays God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters. Sharing her stories with readers is a dream come true for Misty. She writes from her country
home in South Carolina and escapes to the mountains any chance she gets.

Author Page   Amazon   Facebook   Instagram   BookBub   Good Reads

 

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83 thoughts on “Welcome Guest Author Misty M. Beller and a Give Away!”

  1. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman to receive a medical degree, springs to mind. She had to really exert herself to join the “old boys’ club” of educated/certificated doctors. I know I read an historical fiction novel about her but it was so long ago the title and author are escaping me.

    Thanks for running the giveaway. Do you recall from your research when Gunter’s chains first came into use? Would George Washington have used them when he was a surveyor? I’m guessing Lewis and Clark had them.

    • I love this, Mary! Dr. Blackwell sounds like my kind of lady. ??

      I don’t remember reading for certain that Washington used the chains, but I’m pretty sure he would have. They were created in the 1600s in England and were used throughout colonial America. In fact, surveying with Gunter’s chain was a primary reason why America didn’t accept the metric system. We chose to accept the English system of land measurement in surveying.

  2. I’ve enjoyed reading about the women who delivered library books during the great depression. They encountered dangerous terrain, people, conditions, etc in their travels. I have collected many books about this subject and enjoy them so much!

    (During the Great Depression, the Pack Horse Library Project was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) program in which the librarians, who were often called “book women” or “book ladies,” delivered books to remote parts of Appalachia.) – copied

  3. I’m not entering the drawing because I already own Pretending to be the Mountain Man’s Wife. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your books. I own many of them because I buy every one I can afford.

  4. Sally Ride, our first woman in space. She was a physicist and astronaut.
    She broke barriers for all future women astronauts.
    Looking further back, Estee Lauter. While many women use that label’s products, few were aware the label was started by its name sake. Later changed to Lauder. American born, she and her French husband created the first well known face cream. Later creates Youth Dew, bath oil still used by millions today.

  5. One book I read had a daughter take over for her ailing father in Alaska and panned for gold.

    Another put horseshoes on horses who ran in races.

  6. I can’t remember the author but some of my favorites are a female blacksmith, a female judge, and female ranchers. Most of them were set in Wyoming.

  7. The first romance book I read was Forgiving by LaVyrle Spencer. In the book the heroine took over her father’s newspaper business.

    • Bridgette did you ever watch that TV show about the woman Pinkerton? They wanted women because they wanted to send people in undercover and women was such a sneaky way to do it.
      The show was only one season. Maybe…eight shows. I hated it when it quit.

  8. I love your books, Misty! I read your newest release, Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret in one day. I love Miles and Clara’s story!

    My favorite genre is Christian historical fiction. Some of the jobs I’ve seen women perform in historical fiction novels are in the medical field, such as women doctors or nurses (I’m a retired RN and love reading about the medicinal practises in our history), women ranchers, newspaper reporters/owners, blacksmith and town governor.

    Thanks for the giveaway. Blessings.

  9. Hi Misty!!! I read once that the surveying Louis and Clark did all across the Louisiana Purchase ended up being within fifty miles of the true length they traveled. Almost shockingly accurate.

    • These are both such fun ones to read about! The first book in this series has the heroine as a female doctor. 🙂

  10. Good morning, rustling the cattle , I think that is pretty brave and amazing of them or also running around with bank robbers. Thank you for the chance . Have a great day and a great weekend.

  11. I find the women who had to go west were strong, resilient and had true grit. I have enjoyed reading historical fiction when the women have been left to run their family farm or ranch. Can you imagine how hard the work for them was handling all the different jobs of running a household plus doing the farm/ranch work. I have also enjoyed reading stores about the Harvey girls, and all the stipulations that entailed. I have read about women who made waves to become doctors, lawyers, scientists, botanists, telegraph operators and so much more.

    • You’re SO right, Danielle! I think about that sometimes, as I’m working around the farm. How much harder all the tasks were back then, and having to do the men’s work too would be exhausting!

  12. Loved this book, just finished it LATE last night. lol Very interesting article about surveyors. Never knew about the Gunter’s chain. Since that is our last name, it would be interesting to know if it was named for someone by that name.

    I guess the most interesting jobs for women that I have read about in historical novels would be one about a woman gunslinger, a spy, a doctor and a rancher. Not all in the same book of course. lol

    • I’m so glad you loved the story, Sarah! And, yes, the chains were named after Edmund Gunter, who created them in the 1600s. He was an English clergyman and mathematician. Very smart man!

  13. I’ve read historical fiction books in which the main female characters have been detectives, a sheriff (loved that one—if only I could recall the title or author!), cowboys in disguise, doctors, spies, and a watchmaker.

    • Those sound so good! I think Marrying Miss Marshal by Lacy Williams has a law-woman as the heroine.

  14. Unusual positions would have been archaeologists, blacksmiths and doctors. It is exciting reading about breakouts into those fields.

  15. In Seduced: A Hades and Persephone Regency retelling Poppy (Persephone) was basically a servant (abused) by her Vicar brother and ended up with Alexi (Hades) in the “underworld when she decided to help all the men losing their money to the gambling tables. Both Alexi and Poppy are “broken” people and teach each other how to survive while falling in love.

  16. I’ve read westerns where there was a woman doctor and also women prospectors. Those were good books. It can be fun seeing a woman work in a field that was unusual back in the day.

  17. Doctors, nurses, teachers, baker, cook, maid, guardian, nanny to name a few. Thank you so much for being here. God bless you.

  18. I don’t know if it could be considered a job, but i am reading a series called The Secrets of the Blue and Gray about female spies during the Civil War. I was surprised to find out how many of them there were and they faced the same dangers as their male counterparts including prison and even death. A good series by Vanessa Lind.

  19. Some interesting ones are Pinkerton agents, spies, running a plantation, blacksmith, baker, and lighthouse keeper

  20. I have read of women blacksmiths, bounty hunters, Pinkerton agents, passing as men to fight in the Revolutionary War and Civil War and to drive freight wagons. There have been others, but in many cases, they either have to assist men who are given credit for the job the women do or have to pretend to be men in order to do the job they want.

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