About the Book
Book: Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret
Author: Misty M. Beller
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: January 28, 2025
In the wild mountains of the Montana Territory, the Coulter ranch is a place of family, second chances…and a hidden fortune.
Miles is the youngest of six brothers, and he’s spent most of his life helping guard the family’s secret: a sapphire mine hidden deep within the Montana mountains. With threats from a past enemy looming, a survey team’s arrival stirs suspicion—until he meets Clara Pendleton, whose presence captivates him.
Clara Pendleton joins her uncle on a survey team tasked with mapping the coming railroad’s path, only to find herself entangled with the enigmatic Coulter family. When her uncle’s accident leads them to find refuge in the Coulter home, Clara is irresistibly drawn to Miles Coulter and his quiet strength. This feels like the haven she craves…until a series of mysterious attacks endanger everyone on the ranch.
As Christmas approaches, a sleigh ride through a snowy wonderland fans the growing spark between Clara and Miles into a flame, but a broken runner leads Clara to discover the family’s secret. Now she’s faced with an impossible choice: betray the man she’s coming to love or risk the lives of his entire family—and her own uncle.
From a USA Today bestselling author comes a mountain saga filled with high-stakes adventure, forced proximity, a Christmas surprise, and love that heals wounded hearts.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Misty M. Belleris a USA Todaybestselling author with over 1 million books old. She writes romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.
Raised on a farm and surrounded by family, Misty developed her love for horses, history, and adventure. These days, her husband and children provide fresh adventure every day, keeping her both grounded and crazy.
Misty’s passion is to create inspiring Christian fiction infused with the grandeur of the mountains, writing historical romance that displays God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.
Sharing her stories with readers is a dream come true for Misty. She writes from her country home in South Carolina and escapes to the mountains any chance she gets.
More from Misty
Surveying the Wild West: How Surveyors Mapped the Frontier in the 1870s
One of the things I love about writing historical romance is the detail I get to research for each book. So much of my research doesn’t make it into the story, but I still love to learn it!
In Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret, our heroine and her uncle are working with a group of surveyors to map out potential routes for the coming railroad.
Surveying back then was no walk in the park. These brave folks had to trek through some seriously rough terrain, lugging around heavy equipment like compasses, levels, and surveyor’s chains. The chains were a whopping 66 feet long, with 100 links! Surveyors would stretch them out to measure distances, and let me tell you, it was no easy feat.
One of the surveyor’s secret weapons was triangulation. By measuring angles between distant points and doing some fancy math, they could figure out exactly where landmarks were and create a grid of reference points across the land. This technique was a game-changer, allowing for more accurate maps that covered bigger areas.
In my story, the surveying was done for the railroad. But history tells us that later in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey stepped onto the scene with a larger mission: to create detailed maps of the entire country, including the wild, wild West. Surveyors working for this agency had their work cut out for them. They battled through dense forests, climbed steep mountains, and crossed dangerous rivers, all to gather the data needed for these maps.
So the next time you look at a map of the American West, give a nod to those early surveyors. These hardworking folks played a huge role in shaping the frontier, giving settlers the information they needed to build new lives and communities. Without their dedication and skill, the West might have remained a mystery forever!
I pray you enjoy Miles and Clara’s story in Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret!
Blessings!
Misty
My Impressions
If you are a fan of the American Western frontier, horses, or historical romance, Misty M. Beller’s series, Brothers of Sapphire Ranch is a recommendation I would give you. We have worked our way with Beller down to the youngest brother, Miles, who feels the need to prove his worth to his brothers. His story is volume seven of the series, with one brother yet to have his story. I definitely think you need to read these books in order, though there is a basic recap of the group at the beginning.
I thought this couple might have been a little young, but people did (and still do) get married early back then. I enjoyed their romance that was helped along by forced proximity as Clara and her injured Uncle Hiram are forced to stay with the clan while Hiram’s injury heals. This is a love-at-first-sight novel, or as I’d prefer to think of it, interest aroused at first sight.
Poor Clara! She is placed in a predicament that no one would want to be in. How will she and those she has learned to truly care for escape unscathed? About a quarter way through the book, there are twists and turns that really cause the action to start igniting.
“He felt like a true friend, the first she’d had in ages.” I loved the way Miles listened to Clara. Really listened. So much so, that a special treat at Christmastime is a result. I enjoyed reading about the horrible snowstorm while safe in my chair!
One thing I have to say for the Coulters: their love for the Lord and for each other produces a very attractive atmosphere in their compound. “…the camaraderie, the laughter, the genuine care for one another—it was more than she’d known in a long while.”
Another element I liked seeing. Some Coulters whose stories we’ve already experienced, still have flaws and need tempered by others, whether a spouse, a brother, or a friend.
One part I didn’t see was a true ending. And that is because just as I thought things were winding up for a solution, Beller throws in a monkey wrench and now we need the next and last book!! And we need it yesterday!
I received a copy of the book from the author through Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“old grief hung in his words. She knew that sadness. It never left, just…changed.”
“Sometimes, our minds protect us from the things that hurt too much to remember. It doesn’t mean you loved them any less.”
“The man wore suspicion like a pair of trousers.”
My Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, February 22
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, February 23
Books You Can Feel Good About, February 23
Melissa’s Bookshelf, February 24
Madi’s Musings, February 25
Simple Harvest Reads, February 25 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, February 26
For Him and My Family, February 26
Life on Chickadee Lane, February 27
Betti Mace, February 27
Texas Book-aholic, February 28
Locks, Hooks and Books, March 1
Jeanette’s Thoughts , March 1
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 2
Cover Lover Book Review, March 3
Mary Hake, March 3
Devoted To Hope, March 4
An Author’s Take, March 5
Holly’s Book Corner, March 5
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 6
Blossoms and Blessings, March 6
lakesidelivingsite, March 7
Pause for Tales, March 7
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Misty is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
Appalachian Trail both north and south. She is also the published author of over 25 romance novels and novellas. Lauralee’s desire is that readers will come away with both an entertaining story and a lesson that ministers to the heart. She makes her home in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 