About the Book

Book: Once upon a Courtship

Authors: Kit Morgan, Chautona Havig, Tricia Goyer, Marylu Tyndall, Regina Scott, Marlene Bierworth, Linore Rose Burkard, Camille Elliot, Louise M. Goudge, Lisa M. Prysock, Teresa Slack, Marilyn Turk

Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

Release date: October 22, 2024

Once Upon a Courtship: A Sweet Historical Romance Collection
A Limited-Time Collection of 12 books from 12 beloved Christian authors spanning rustic landscapes, elegant ballrooms, rugged cowboys, enigmatic spies, and daring pirates! Delight your romantic heart with Colonial, Regency, Victorian, Western, and Gilded Age Romance and preorder your copy today!

Mail-Order Millie by USA Today Bestselling Author Kit Morgan
Imagine mail-order bride Millie’s surprise when she finds out her so-called husband is really a spy working for the president.

Courting Miss Darling by USA Today Bestselling Author Chautona Havig
Muriel Darling thought her heart rode off with a cowboy, but when his boss writes letters, maybe romance is in Miss Darling’s future after all.

The Privateer’s Prize by Christy Award Finalist Author MaryLu Tyndall
Left at the altar, a woman must rely on the man who broke her heart to deliver a message to change the course of the Revolutionary War.

Grace in the Storm by USA Today Bestselling Author Tricia Goyer
As hurricane winds howl, a feisty pirate and a captivating tavern owner find their destinies changed by the storm’s fury.

Leftover Mail-Order Bride by Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling Author Regina Scott
When mail-order bride Victoria’s groom left her at the altar, she vows to find love, but meets Jack, seeking help on the ranch, love optional.

Clara’s Compassion by Critically Acclaimed Author Marlene Bierworth
Clara’s compassion for workers on the frontier of the Canadian Rockies proves conflicting for railroad boss, Graham, in matters of the heart.

Miss Spencer Meets Her Match by Multi-Award-winning Author Linore Rose Burkard
Miss Spencer attends a Cinderella Ball unwillingly, not knowing the “prince” is in disguise.

Lissa and the Spy by USA Today Bestselling Author Camille Elliot
Seeking a marriage of convenience, plain Lissa becomes entangled with enigmatic Lord Stoude and a secret mission for the Crown.

Abiding Faith, Freedom’s Call by Multi-Award-Winning Author Louise M. Gouge
A pacifist Quaker widow and a prisoner of war officer risk their lives. Will the gap between peace and the American Revolution be a chasm too wide?

Jory’s Story by USA Today Bestselling Author Lisa M. Prysock
When a spy and local adversaries descend, can a governess protect the duke’s children and her heart?

Priscilla’s Promise by Award-Winning Author Teresa Slack
Priscilla Channing wants to honor her father by marrying the man he chose. But he’s not the same man, nor she, the same woman.

The Gilding of Minnie Tucker by Multi-Award-Winning Author Marilyn Turk
A Biltmore maid opens the wrong door and stumbles into a guest whose mutual attraction could be their doom.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Authors

Twelve authors bring you stories that span from the Colonial era, through Regency, Victorian, Western, and into Edwardian and the Gilded Age.

More from Chautona

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to write historical fiction? Here’s a “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” version that sorta shows how it can go.

If you give an author a historical assignment, she’ll want to choose an era for it. If she chooses Colonial, she’ll need to research what that period included.

She’ll research it and discover that there were lots of places colonized by lots of countries.

She’ll pick one. If she picks American, she may discover how big of a role ships played in that period. A pirate might appear.

If a pirate appears, she’ll jump the Colonial ship for a swashbuckling one and buy an eyepatch—just to get into character.

While learning of how lawless the open sea could be, pictures of a lawless Old West with cowboys and sheriffs might tempt her to leave rolling sea waves for waving prairie seas.

She’ll buy a covered wagon. If she buys that wagon, her HOA will demand she get it out of her front yard. She’ll settle for spurs. The cat will not be amused.

If her cat protests too much, she’ll decide to get him a girlfriend. She’ll go online and order one. That will remind her of mail-order brides. She’ll begin researching. The idea of dip pens and beautiful paper and wax seals will make a serious hit to her budget. She’ll justify it as “research.” If she goes overboard, she might start a story-by-mail service with a new letter sent each week. Reams of paper fill her front yard. The HOA will send a sternly-written letter.

But the deadlines loom on the horizon. She’ll pray for help. Thinking about prayer will remind her that her (not-as-yet-to-be-put-on-paper) fictional town needs a church. And some civilizing. If she prays and all that happens… she’ll research more.

While researching, she’ll remember she meant to do a story from earlier in the century. She’ll buy a ball gown—Regency style. What’s a ball gown with nowhere to wear it? She needs a ball!

If she wants to go to a ball, she’ll need to know how to dance. She’ll sign up for English country dance lessons and learn that the waltz of that time is very different from ours.

She’ll research how it evolved. If she studies well, she’ll learn how scandalized folks were and decides to move her story forward. She likes the waltz. To prove it, she’ll buy vinyl albums of Strauss’ waltzes and play them nonstop.

If she plays the music too late, her neighbors will call in a noise complaint. The HOA will call an emergency meeting. She’ll miss it. She’s too busy deciding between that mail-order bride and an antebellum miss (and stuffing a thousand envelopes to mail tomorrow).

Pictures of waltzes at balls with hoopskirts and satin prompts her to order her own. If she puts it on, it threatens to get stuck when she tries to walk out the front door.

If she gets stuck, she’ll shimmy out of the dress (good thing it was a little big) and lets it sit there as décor.

The HOA comes armed with pitchforks and scissors. Fascinated, she wonders where they got the pitchforks. The gown does not survive.

Her indignation prompts her to reconsider and write something more Gilded Age—the long, close-fitting gowns (except for bustles as big as those hoopskirts!). If she puts one of those on and walks out the front door, she’ll find a man there. Gaping. She may think she looks stunning. If she thinks that, he might pull out a stungun—along with a court order to appear and pay a fine.

When she sees that fine, she may swoon (or it could be she didn’t know how to lace the corset correctly). He’ll catch her and help her to her couch (it’s not a fainting couch).

When he brings her a drink, she may tell him the whole story.

And if she tells him the whole story, he might suggest writing Sci-Fi would be safer.

After a long nap and a weird dream, she decides he’s right. She’ll write about people in space. And chances are, if she researches writing about people in space, she’ll discover that it’s just another Colonial story.

(Oh, and she’ll need a new home. She had to sell hers to pay the HOA fines. Anyone want to subscribe to her story letters?)

My Impressions

Once Upon a Courtship is an anthology of twelve different novellas by different authors. All are Christian-themed, sweet, and clean. They range from the Colonial to the Gilded Era. I read a sampling of four authors’ works: MaryLu Tyndale, Regina Scott, Marlene Bierworth, and Chautona Havig.

MaryLu Tyndale’s story, The Privateer’s Prize, was just as enjoyable as her other pirate stories I’ve read. Jilted at the altar by Isaac, Thea encounters him as a hostile privateer as she attempts a journey North as a spy during the Revolutionary War. Attempting to force Isaac to band to her wishes, Thea’s actions cause damage that is hard for Isaac to forgive, even as he attempts to keep her safe. As the two struggle to stay ahead of their pursuers, they begin to see themselves as they had been years earlier, with flaws that would have torn them apart. Even now, God is refining each of them.

Isaac regrets the way he treated Thea in the past,

“He had not only broken her heart, but he had pushed her away from God, a far worse condition than being jilted.”

Even as Isaac realizes a deeper, truer love for Thea( and she for him) he still holds one possession firmly in his fisted hands.

“Isaac had turned back to God, had committed his life to Him, but he had never fully given Him everything. He had never put Him first. How could he justify such selfishness when Jesus had given His all, His very life, for Isaac?

***********

“Humility. One more item to add to the list of characteristics Mrs. Dalrymple expected Victoria’s husband to possess, along with patience, faithfulness, fiscal responsibility, kindness to animals, and frequent tithing. He would have to be an absolute paragon among men. She’d never find a groom to match.”

In Leftover Mail-Order Bride by Regina Scott, Victoria Milford has traveled west in 1870s Washington Territory to be the answer to a mail-order bride ad. Upon finding the gentleman already married when she arrives, Victoria must find work or a husband. Her hostess, Mrs. Dalrymple, fancies herself a matchmaker. Will Victoria follow Mrs. Dalrymple’s advice or her own heart? What happens when the gentleman who most appeals, Jack Willets, only wants a wife who will be an assett to the ranch?

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In Clara’s Compassion by Marlene Bierworth, a young woman travels West to the Canadian frontier, the Rockies, and the end of the current railroad. By marrying the railroad master there, Clara can still teach like she wants and receive her inheritance that may soon be lost. But will her compassion for all people, no matter their origins, blend with that of her husband-to-be, whose railroad exploits these same people?

When confronted about her activities that offend the self-righteous townspeople, Clara avers,

“Compassion for the needy holds no boundaries where God is concerned.” What will it take to make these two hearts like-minded and the townspeople willing to accept both Clara and her husband-to-be?

Notable Quotables:

“Does being accepted by the majority make ignoring the minority acceptable?”

“You are like my conscience taking bodily form.”

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In Courting Miss Darling, Chautona Havig does it again! She at once amuses me, admonishes me, teaches me, and entertains me. Muriel answers a letter of introduction and begins corresponding with a Dakota Territory rancher. We follow the correspondence of these two lonely people as they slowly reveal who they are on paper. I really admired Muriel for her strength, wisdom, and love she shows teaching the Casper, Wyoming children. Pete also has many good qualities, one being an ability to remember a “conversation” and ask more questions about someone in connection to that. That was one quality that endeared him to Muriel, and it was a real-life quality that endeared my hubby to me as we corresponded for awhile during our long-distance dating.

I enjoyed reading Pete’s mom’s admonition about self-confidence:

“you are a son of the King of Kings. That means you are to be humble, for you are not the King Himself, and confident because your Father is the King and will protect you against all manner of things.”

Ms.Havig leads the her characters on a very twisted path to matrimony. But, oh, the lessons they and you, the reader will learn as you journey together!

I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.