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2008 Finalist, Spur Awards – Best Original Mass Market Paperback category, |
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One summer, I visited the Yellowstone Lake Hotel and picked up a copy of the book Plain to Fancy, the Story of the Lake Hotel, by Barbara Dittl and Joanne Mallmann. The rest is history -- I was so fascinated by the place and its story that I felt compelled to create a fictional cast of characters to come for a visit in the year 1900 - a fabulous place to while away the time.
The Story
It began with lies.
One-quarter Nez Perce, Cord Sutton attempts to hide his Indian blood by adopting the life of a gentleman. As part of the ruse, he intends to gain respect by buying the Lake Hotel, an island in the Yellowstone wilderness that offers elegant accommodations to travelers on the Northern Pacific Railroad.
When Chicago heiress Laura Fielding is rescued from a stagecoach robbery in Jackson Hole by a rugged looking mountain man in rough clothing, she hides the fact she is wealthy. She does not know the man traveling to the park with her is, in fact, Cord Sutton.
Nonetheless, during a three-day wilderness journey their alliance is sealed. Upon arriving at the Lake Hotel, Cord and Laura learn each other's true identities. . .and the fact Laura's father is backing a rival to purchase the hotel.
On opposite sides, Cord and Laura find bigotry, arson, and the desire for revenge threatens their growing love, and their lives. If they survive, Cord must learn to embrace his heritage and Laura must turn her back on her father's luxurious world. . .IF they survive. . .
The Lake of Fire.
from Lake of Fire
What they're saying about WILLA Award
Winning author Linda Jacob's novels
FOUR STARS! Romantic Times Book Reviews
Jacobs once again spins a winning tale of romance set against the beautiful backdrop of Yellowstone. The characters' captivating journey across the West of the early 20th century will keep the reader's attention from the first page until the riveting conclusion.
Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Romance Reviews Today
LAKE OF FIRE is a vastly rich and riveting novel set in the country's first national park. Linda Jacobs uses her familiarity with the setting to its full advantage to show the courage of her protagonists. The park could almost be called the third leading player in the drama that unfolds within and around it. Full of emotion and intrigue, rivalry, greed and the beginnings of love amid natural splendors, LAKE OF FIRE is an exceptional reading experience. Previous (award-winning) books in the series set in more modern times are SUMMER OF FIRE and RAIN OF FIRE. Anyone who has thrilled to the wonders of Yellowstone should be especially interested in Linda Jacobs's colorful, well researched novels.
Jane Bowers Romance Reviews Today
Spur Award Winner and Bestselling author Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
It began with lies.
One-quarter Nez Perce, Cord Sutton attempts to hide his Indian blood by adopting the life of a gentleman. As part of the ruse, he intends to gain respect by buying the Lake Hotel, an island in the Yellowstone wilderness that offers elegant accommodations to travelers on the Northern Pacific Railroad.
When Chicago heiress Laura Fielding is rescued from a stagecoach robbery in Jackson Hole by a rugged looking mountain man in rough clothing, she hides the fact she is wealthy. She does not know the man traveling to the park with her is, in fact, Cord Sutton.
Nonetheless, during a three-day wilderness journey their alliance is sealed. Upon arriving at the Lake Hotel, Cord and Laura learn each other's true identities. . .and the fact Laura's father is backing a rival to purchase the hotel.
On opposite sides, Cord and Laura find bigotry, arson, and the desire for revenge threatens their growing love, and their lives. If they survive, Cord must learn to embrace his heritage and Laura must turn her back on her father's luxurious world. . .IF they survive. . .
The Lake of Fire.
from Lake of Fire
What they're saying about WILLA Award
Winning author Linda Jacob's novels
FOUR STARS! Romantic Times Book Reviews
Jacobs once again spins a winning tale of romance set against the beautiful backdrop of Yellowstone. The characters' captivating journey across the West of the early 20th century will keep the reader's attention from the first page until the riveting conclusion.
Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Romance Reviews Today
LAKE OF FIRE is a vastly rich and riveting novel set in the country's first national park. Linda Jacobs uses her familiarity with the setting to its full advantage to show the courage of her protagonists. The park could almost be called the third leading player in the drama that unfolds within and around it. Full of emotion and intrigue, rivalry, greed and the beginnings of love amid natural splendors, LAKE OF FIRE is an exceptional reading experience. Previous (award-winning) books in the series set in more modern times are SUMMER OF FIRE and RAIN OF FIRE. Anyone who has thrilled to the wonders of Yellowstone should be especially interested in Linda Jacobs's colorful, well researched novels.
Jane Bowers Romance Reviews Today
Spur Award Winner and Bestselling author Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
FOUR STARS! Romantic Times Book Reviews
Jacobs once again spins a winning tale of romance set against the beautiful backdrop of Yellowstone. The characters' captivating journey across the West of the early 20th century will keep the reader's attention from the first page until the riveting conclusion.
Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Romance Reviews Today
LAKE OF FIRE is a vastly rich and riveting novel set in the country's first national park. Linda Jacobs uses her familiarity with the setting to its full advantage to show the courage of her protagonists. The park could almost be called the third leading player in the drama that unfolds within and around it. Full of emotion and intrigue, rivalry, greed and the beginnings of love amid natural splendors, LAKE OF FIRE is an exceptional reading experience. Previous (award-winning) books in the series set in more modern times are SUMMER OF FIRE and RAIN OF FIRE. Anyone who has thrilled to the wonders of Yellowstone should be especially interested in Linda Jacobs's colorful, well researched novels.
Jane Bowers Romance Reviews Today
Spur Award Winner and Bestselling author Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
Spur Award Winner and Bestselling author Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
"Lake of Fire is marvelous: well developed characters who grow in the course of the story, truly beautiful physical descriptions of place, and lots of action."
"Bold and brawling – and touchingly human" - Spur Award Winner and New York Times Bestselling author Robert Vaughan
"Bold and brawling – and touchingly human" - Spur Award Winner and New York Times Bestselling author Robert Vaughan
"Linda Jacobs's third installment in the Yellowstone Series, Lake of Fire, keeps up the superlative standard set in WILLA award winning Summer of Fire (Fires of 1988) and Rain of Fire (Supervolcano). This new journey into Yellowstone's past to the year 1900 is bold and brawling and touchingly human. Lake of Fire gives the reader a front row seat for Indian war, stagecoach robbery, and hot pursuit through the backcountry. At the same time, it is a journey into the heart of man . . . and woman."
Romance Junkies - 4.5 Blue Ribbon Review - LAKE OF FIRE isn't to be missed.
LAKE OF FIRE is a highly riveting tale set in historical America and centered around one of the most famous national parks in the US. The storytelling grips the reader, pulling them into the novel, and never releases them until the end. Weaving suspense and adventure splendidly with heartwarming romance, Ms. Jacobs impressively creates a tale with very real and likable characters as she masters plot aspects guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Reviewed by Lacey -- Romance Junkies
Carolyn Lampman -- "Road to Romance" Reviewers Choice Award Winner for her Western novel Wild Honey
"Linda Jacobs is a master storyteller. Lake of Fire is a guaranteed page turner, capturing the essence of Yellowstone and giving us a glimpse of its little known past."
Tina Welling, author of the Wyoming novel Crybaby Ranch
"First page, the reader is in love with the heroine, fifth page in love with the hero, final page in love with the author, Linda Jacobs, for giving the gift of a great story. Lake of Fire swirls with passion and adventure while informing you about the special world of Yellowstone National Park in the early 1900's, a time of wild beginnings that shaped the wonderland we know today."
"Uncanny insight into Yellowstone's geography and history" -- Bob Barbee -- Yellowstone National Park Superintendent 1983-1994
Once again, Linda Jacobs has blended her bounteous imagination with an uncanny insight into Yellowstone's geography and history. She weaves a turn of the century love story, steeped in high adventure and immersed in all the enduring human behaviors of empathy, malice, greed, prejudice and forbearance. As a person intimately familiar with Yellowstone's history, landscape and mystique, I found this a compelling book and had difficulty realizing that it is a creation of Linda Jacobs.
FIVE STARS
Harriet Klausner, Amazon.com's Number One Reviewer
Readers will enjoy this
National Federation of Press Women - Lake of Fire has a touch of everything: engaging narrative, intriguing characters, adventure, romance, and a remote locale descriptively drawn. Readers will find lots to like here.
Rus Bradburd, author of "Paddy on the Hardwood: A Journey of Irish Hoops" - "Few writers can tell a story like Linda Jacobs. Her books gallop out of our collective Western history, onto the page, and into our hearts."
Books that helped me understand the history of the early years of the park: For Everything there is a Season -- Frank Craighead, Falcon Press, Old Yellowstone Days -- edited by Paul Schullery, University Press of Colorado, and F. Jay Haynes, Photographer, Montana Historical Society. On the Nez Perce and the War of 1877: Soun Tetoken, Kenneth Thomasma, Grandview Publishing Co., and Following the Nez Perce Trail, Cheryl Wilfong, Oregon State University Press.
Thanks to my husband Richard Jacobs for consulting on firearms and other details, and to Dr. Lee Whittlesley, of the Yellowstone archives, for showing me around on my several visits there. Thanks to my agent Susan Schulman, my publisher Medallion Press, and to the following for giving critical input on all or part of the manuscript: Deborah Bedford, Carolyn Lampman, Elizabeth Engstrom, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, Sarah Lazin, and my Rice University writer's group - Marjorie Arsht, Kathryn Brown, Judith Finkel, Bob Hargrove, Elizabeth Hueben, Karen Meinardus, the late Joan Romans, Jeff Theall, and Madeline Westbrook.
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Website copyright © 2005-07 by Linda Jacobs. All rights reserved. Website design by Web Crafters. Represented by Susan Schulman: A Literary Agency * Photos of forest fires are at nifc.gov. (from menu, select “Photo Gallery”, Categories: Wildland Fires). |