Writer’s Digest awarded In the Shadow of a Hoax an Honorable Mention for Romance 2023
In the Shadow of a Hoax
In the Kingdom of Kaloma, a woman is forced to rely on a man to “keep her” and is forbidden from owning anything of her own. It’s the law.
In the remote village of Sevens, at the northernmost point of the kingdom, there lives a family with four daughters and a son, toiling day in and day out, hopeful a treaty with the boarding kingdom of Jast might change things.
When one daughter—at risk of being imprisoned for defending herself— hides away in the Whitling Woods. She stumbles upon a dying man and despite the risk to herself, chooses to save him. Only who he is has the power to change everything, including her heart…
Tarley Fareview, idealistic and stubborn, does what she can to support herself in spite of an unjust Kaloma law. When she defends herself after being harassed by a man, she is forced to flee into the woods disguised as a boy. She happens upon a dying man and must decide if she will risk her life to save him. Unable to walk away, Tarley chooses to intervene and saves the stranger, only little does she know that by doing so she’s risking the heart she promised herself she’d never give to anyone.
When the Crown Prince of Jast, Lachlan Nikolas—forced by the king to attend treaty negotiations with the kingdom of Kaloma in disguise—is attacked, his horse bolts, and they both careen over a cliff, falling to their deaths in a raging river below. Only, miracle of miracles, Lachlan doesn’t perish and instead is given a second chance at life, but at a price. When he wakes, he’s not only been stripped of his clothes but also his identity. Saved by a strange woman, Lachlan is forced to reinvent himself, open his heart to discover the truth about worthiness, and discover what it means to sacrifice oneself for true loves.
