Welcome to the blog tour and giveaway for Chasing the Wind by Paula Scott,

hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Today I welcome PAULA SCOTT to my blog and she is hanging out with me to talk about Chasing the Wind and chasing a dream.

Take it away Paula:

GUEST POST

by Paula Scott

In 1842, explorer John C. Frémont landed by steamboat in St. Louis, looking to hire the well-known guide Andrew S. Drips to lead his expedition to the Wind River in Wyoming. Unable to locate Drips, Frémont chose Carson instead. It was the beginning of a long and lasting friendship and partnership that would prove fateful for California. For the next several years, Carson, along with Fitzpatrick, worked as a guide for Frémont on three expeditions through Oregon and California.

The timing of these two legendary men teaming up was perfect. The American public had become fascinated with the western frontier. Tales of hostile Indian tribes and unsettled land stirred the public’s imagination. Frémont’s published reports on his expeditions soon became famous, as did Kit Carson, but Carson was never comfortable with his fame and avoided recognition when he could. He also was incredibly shy around the ladies but would lay his life down for any woman. Sadly, he was haunted for the rest of his life by the death of Mrs. Ann White.

Ann and her baby girl had been captured by the Apaches who massacred her husband and the men accompanying their wagon on the Santa Fe Trail. No one listened to Carson’s advice about how to rescue her. Mrs. White was found dead with an arrow in her heart after the rescue party confronted the Apaches the way Carson told them not to. Ann had been horribly abused and passed among her captors as a camp prostitute. Her baby girl was carried away by the Indians and never found.

Carson discovered a book about himself in the Apache camp near Ann’s dead body. This was the first time that he found himself in print in a dime novel. In this adventure story, Carson was the hero who saved a white woman from the Indians. He wrote in his Memoirs: “In camp was found a book, the first of the kind I had ever seen, in which I was made a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundreds … I have often thought that Mrs. White read the same … and prayed for my appearance that she might be saved.”

I will miss my days with Kit Carson. Creating the world of California Rising has been so enjoyable. After more than twenty-five years chasing this dream of finishing this series, and the past twelve months of chasing Kit Carson, I’m sad but incredibly satisfied to see California Rising come to completion.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Chasing the Wind
Author: Paula Scott
Publisher: West Butte Publishing
Release Date: March 20, 2018
Genre: Inspirational Historical Fiction

A beautiful, half-Indian girl raised by the Californios finds her fate intertwined with an American frontiersman haunted by his past in 1850 California.

As California comes to statehood amidst the madness of the gold rush, Isabella Vasquez must wed a buckskin-clad American who wins her in a card game. Though their union is passionate, Isabella soon finds herself abandoned in a brothel, where she rises to fame as a singer known as the Bluebird. Yet because of her Indian blood, the Bluebird will always be bought and sold in the white man’s world. When more is demanded of the Bluebird than just singing, Isabella flees to Fort Ross in search of her Russian father and her own race of people.

Peter Brondi has battled Indians all his life. The last thing he wants is a half-Indian wife. While taming the West with Kit Carson and John C. Fremont, Peter has fought the Mexican War and lost his beloved fiancée, Maggie, to his half-Indian brother, Paul. To satisfy his father’s dying wish, Peter vows to find his brother and put an end to the hate that’s between them. But when history repeats itself and Paul steals Isabella away, Peter must come to terms with his past and the animosity he holds against all Indians, including his half-brother and the wife he has forsaken.

*Chasing the Wind is the final story in the sweeping saga of California Rising, a tale of love, betrayal, and the ties that bind brothers together and California to the nation.

PURCHASE A COPY: Goodreads | Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melony Teague is a freelance writer who believes everyone has a story to tell and each story is unique and sometimes wilder than fiction. She loves to uncover the good news in society and writes human interest and community pieces. As co-author of As the Ink Flows, she loves to inspire and motivate others through her written words. In her spare time, she reviews books and interviews authors. These reviews can be found right here on her website. She also teaches seniors in her local community to write their own personal story. Melony Teague was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada. She now lives in Toronto with her husband and their two children and two cats. Check out her recent publications here