About the Book
Book: Texas Divided
Author: Sherry Shindelar
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: March 25, 2025
He thought he was rescuing her from the Comanche. Now the Civil War soldier must prove he isn’t the villain she thinks he is.
Driven by the looming expectation of becoming a suffocatingly proper
lady, Morning Fawn is determined to escape the confines of her uncle’s
plantation and return to her adoptive Comanche tribe. But with each
failed attempt, her hopes dwindle, and she wonders if she’ll ever find
her way back home or if that world is forever lost to her.
Devon Reynolds, disillusioned by the price of affluence and the
horrors of war, leaves his privileged life to join the Texas Rangers and
later the cavalry. In the military service, he finds purpose . . .
until he loses his wife during childbirth while he is away. In an
attempt to redeem himself, he takes one last fateful mission to rescue
Morning Fawn from the Comanche. But the results force him to question
the righteousness of his actions and the cause he serves.
When Devon returns to Texas as a Yankee spy, his path crosses with
Morning Fawn once more. Determined to save her from the prison of her
uncle’s house and to recover Texas from the Confederacy, Devon is drawn
to her fierce spirit and unwavering resolve. But can two wounded souls,
each fighting their own battles, find solace and love amidst the chaos
of war?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Originally from Tennessee, Sherry
loves to take her readers into the past. She is an avid student of the
Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an
English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her
students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2023 Genesis finalist,
Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota
with her husband of thirty-eight years. She has three grown children and
three grandchildren.
More from Sherry
The Cotton Road
I loved the opportunity to tie the Texas frontier and the Civil War together in Texas Divided, the second book in my Lone Star Redemption series.
I have been an avid student of the Civil War for a couple decades. However, until I started researching for Texas Divided, I had no clue that the Yankees ever invaded Texas. But they did in November 1863. Why? It was because of cotton. By 1863, the Federal blockade of the Confederate coastline was fairly secure, and Texas became the golden gateway for funding the Confederacy.
Cotton from Arkansas, western Louisiana, and east Texas traveled the Cotton Road. This dusty trail ran from the railroad terminus in Alleyton, TX (about seventy miles west of Houston) by way of King’s Ranch near Corpus Christi to Brownsville and across the Rio Grande to Matamoros, Mexico, the largest cotton market in the world during the war. In regards to commercial activity, it rivaled pre-war New Orleans or Baltimore.
A young teamster wrote that from the watchtower at King’s Ranch, the main stop on the way to Matamoros, he could see hundreds of wagons on the road at one time, a long train of dust rising up as they traveled toward Brownsville and the Rio Grande.
At some points the trail was almost a mile wide due to traffic, and more than one hundred miles of it was desert with no water. Puffs of cotton clung to the sagebrush and cacti along the way and lingered for years after the war.
When the cotton reached Matamoros, it was loaded onto steamboats and/or wagons owned by Mexicans and transported to the mouth of the Rio Grande at the Gulf of Mexico. International ships from Britain, France, and other countries hovered there, sometimes hundreds at a time, waiting to fill their hulls with cotton. And the Yankees couldn’t stop them. If a Federal ship fired on a British, French, Mexican, or ship of another nationality, it could have been considered an act of war.
By 1863, cotton, which had sold for .10 cents a pound in 1860, now sold for as much as $1.89 a pound, and one bale averaged 450 – 500 pounds. The money made on the sale of cotton was the financial bloodline of the Confederacy. For example, in just one week in August, twenty thousand pounds of gunpowder arrived in Brownsville, purchased with proceeds from the sale of cotton.
That’s why the Federal Army invaded Brownsville in early November 1863. Their mission was to stop or at least seriously hinder the cotton trade. Doing so could save lives on the battlefield and perhaps bring an earlier end to the war.
The Yankees reached the city without any resistance. However, they found a meager one hundred and fifty bales on the Texas side of the river and could only gaze at the more than ten thousand bales stacked along the Mexican wharves. The Rebs had moved or destroyed everything of value.
The invasion lasted for several months and forced the Confederates to improvise and find new trails for the cotton shipments, hauling the loads via San Antonio to Eagle Pass and Laredo. Unfortunately, the Yankees only netted a hundred or so bales here and there.
Cotton continued to reign until the war efforts in the East bled the Confederacy dry. But for those few months at the end of 1863, hopes were high, especially amongst the two regiments of Texas cavalry fighting for the Union, Texans who abhorred the Confederacy and who had left Texas to avoid being forced into the Reb army. These men returned with the Federal troops in November 1863 to restore Texas to the Union and wreak havoc on the Cotton Road.
Lieutenant Devon Reynolds is one of these Texans, loyal to the Union, and determined to do his part to rescue Texas from the grip of the Confederacy. Except in his case, he trades his Yankee uniform for that of a Confederate and dons an eye patch, operating as a spy and saboteur. But his life becomes complicated and his mission uncertain when he runs into Morning Fawn, the woman he kidnapped from the Comanche eighteen months before. As far as she’s concerned, he ruined her life by sentencing her to her uncle’s plantation. Can he complete the mission and right the wrong? Texas Divided is a story of redemption, faithfulness, and perseverance. The characters come to an end of themselves and discover that God can make a way where there was no way.
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 20
Texas Book-aholic, May 21
Blossoms and Blessings, May 22 (Author Interview)
Pause for Tales, May 22
Locks, Hooks and Books, May 23
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 24
Artistic Nobody, May 25 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 26
lakesidelivingsite, May 27
Books You Can Feel Good About, May 28
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, May 29 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, May 30
Holly’s Book Corner, May 31
Stories By Gina, June 1 (Author Interview)
Book Butterfly in Dreamland, June 1
Bizwings Book Blog, June 2
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Sherry 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.
Publishers Weekly and #1 Amazon bestselling author, Dani Pettrey
has sold nearly one million copies of her novels to readers eagerly
awaiting the next release. Dani combines the page-turning adrenaline of a
thriller with the chemistry and happy-ever-after of a romance.
It’s
Fight Night: Lessons For Men on Samson’s Fight uses the story of Samson
to challenge men to examine their lives through the lens of strength
and weakness. Designed for personal or group study, this Bible study
delves into the complexities of Samson’s journey, asking men to reflect
on their God-given strengths and areas of vulnerability. By exploring
themes of divine purpose, failure, and redemption, this study invites
men to seek guidance from God as they grow in faith and understand their
true potential. Become a warrior, step into the ring and discover
timeless lessons on strength, weakness, and grace.
Todd Woodfill is
a modern-day Renaissance man whose life could be inspirational if it
didn’t so closely resemble a comedy sketch. Married to his absolutely
amazing, beautiful, intelligent, and talented wife Holly for a whirlwind
30 years so far, he couldn’t imagine doing life without her support.
With four incredible children and one extraordinary grandchild, who
refer to Todd as Dad, Papa, dork, old timer, and weirdo, Todd has been
blessed far more than he deserves.
To celebrate his tour, Todd is giving away the grand prize of a $100 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!
