Comes a Horseman Echoes Rising
Historical, Romance
September 1st, 2021
232
What if those who stand by you are the ones who betray you?
France, 1944
Sometimes the most desperate struggles take place far from the battlefield, and what happens in secret can change the course of history.
Victory is close at hand, but freedom remains frustratingly just beyond the grasp of German physicist Dr Kristopher Lehrer, Resistance fighter Michel, and the remaining members of the team sent by the Allies—Captain Matt Bryant, Sergeant Ken Lowe, and Dr Zhou Liang—as they fight to keep the atomic plans from the Nazis. The team reaches France and connects with members of Michel’s French Resistance cell in Normandy. Allied troops are poised to liberate France, and rescue is supposedly at hand. However, Kristopher is no longer sure the information he carries in his memory is safe with either side.
When Standartenführer Holm and his men finally catch up with their prey, the team is left with few options. With a traitor in their midst, who can they trust? Kristopher must become something he is not in order to save the man he loves. Death is biding his time, and sacrifices must be made for any of them to have the futures they want.
Author’s note: This is the second edition of Comes a Horseman. The first edition was released by another publishing house. This story has been re-edited, and uses UK spelling to reflect its setting.
See the Review:
We review this book here: https://www.paranormalromanceguild.com/review-comes-a-horseman-anne-barwell/
Guest Post: The Influence of Friendship
Thanks for hosting me today as part of my re-release of Comes a Horseman, the 3rd and final book in my WWII Echoes Rising series.
Although there are a couple of MM romances at the heart of my WWII Echoes Rising series, it is very much an ensemble story. As the series progresses these men, who probably would not have met if the war hadn’t thrown them together, become good friends, and more than that, family.
When I began writing the first book in the series—Shadowboxing—I had a couple of scenes clearly in my mind. One was how the series would end, the other a crucial moment which would drive a lot of the action in Comes a Horseman. However, as I began writing this final book in the series, I realised my characters had grown as their story progressed, and so had the friendships within their group. Their experiences and their time together had changed them. While the Liang—the prickly Chinese/British academic, sent to verify the plans for the German atomic bomb project—might have reacted in the way I’d planned at the beginning of Shadowboxing, or even Winter Duet, he wouldn’t now. The scene, as I’d originally envisioned it, wasn’t going to work.
Despite his original intention to do the job he was sent to do, and then go back to his comfortable office at Cambridge, Liang now thought of his companions as close friends. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone in their group had grown closer, despite the secrets they thought they had successfully kept from one another.
Splitting the couples up in Winter Duet so that they had to spend some time getting to know the others in their team, rather than staying with someone they trusted, had worked a little too well. So had travelling across Germany, while hiding out in a succession of safe houses together between the final scenes of the last book and the one I was now writing.
So what to do now?
I wasn’t going to abandon my original plan, but I needed to rethink the details. Enter some characters who weren’t in my original outline… I always end up with characters I hadn’t intended, who play an important part in the story. What’s up with that?
I think the story works better for the changes, but not only that, I still got to use my original idea, or rather Liang does. After all deceit works better when there’s some truth in it, right?
Purchase Comes a Horseman at:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3jId3Fa
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/ComesaHorsemanAB
About the Author
Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with a cat with “tortitude” who is convinced that the house is run to suit her; this is an ongoing “discussion,” and to date it appears as though Kaylee may be winning. Anne works in a library, is an avid reader and watcher of a wide range of genres, and is constantly on the look-out for more hours in her day.
She likes to write in series and even so called one shots seem to breed more plot bunnies. Her writing is like her reading – across a range of genres, although her favourites are paranormal, fantasy, SF, and historical. Music often plays a part in her stories and/or her characters are musicians.
She also hosts and reviews for other authors, and writes monthly blog posts for Love Bytes.
She is the co-founder of the New Zealand Rainbow Romance writers, and a member of RWNZ. Her books have received honourable mentions five times, reached the finals four times—one of which was for best gay book—and been a runner up in the Rainbow Awards.
Anne can be found at the following locations:
Website: https://annebarwell.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.barwell.1
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/annebarwellauthor/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/annesbooksandbrews/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annebarwell
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4862410.Anne_Barwell
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anne-barwell
Sign up for my newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/39edaba3e3ad/annebarwellauthor
Thanks again for hosting me, and for the wonderful review.