Mary Connealy writes “romantic comedies with cowboys” and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She has sold more than 1.5 million books and is the author of the popular series Wyoming Sunrise, The Lumber Baron’s Daughters, Brothers in Arms, Brides of Hope Mountain, High Sierra Sweethearts, The Kincaid Brides, Trouble in Texas, Lassoed in Texas, Sophie’s Daughters, and many other books.
Mary invites readers back to nineteenth-century Wyoming as she continues her Wyoming Sunrise Series, with the release of her latest book, The Laws of Attraction. Let’s see what Mary has to share about her new book.
FF: Can you tell us a little about your new novel The Laws of Attraction?
The Laws of Attraction is the centerpiece of this three-book series. I wanted to write a story with a backdrop of Women’s Suffrage in Wyoming, the first state to grant women the right to vote. In this novel, my heroine is a justice of the peace. Wyoming Territory allowed women to serve in public offices, to be on juries, own property—all sorts of roles beyond voting. And since Wyoming had the first woman justice of the peace, I decided to make my heroine the second.
FF: How is this novel different from book one in the series, Forged in Love?
I had the women all work in nontraditional jobs. Forged in Love’s heroine is a blacksmith. To be made the town judge, however, would be considered quite radical back then. Although my heroine, Nell, the widow of a lawman, is knowledgeable when it comes to the law and investigations, really she just wants to be a seamstress. Still, the town council presses her into service, and she comes through and finds herself enjoying being called “Your Honor.”
FF: Can you give us some context for the book’s historical setting? What was happening around this time in U.S. history?
The story is all about what was happening in U.S. history. Women everywhere were fighting for the right to vote, which was a cause that moved to the forefront after the Civil War. The research I did was so fascinating, about Susan B. Anthony and the protests surrounding women’s suffrage, and how this cause became linked to that of granting voting rights to former slaves. Somehow these two groups that seemed apt to work together, instead opposed each other with their trying to get one group’s voting rights to pass before the other.
FF: What inspired the idea for a series that focuses on strong female protagonists in careers that were unconventional for women at the time?
In my research, I stumbled upon the name Esther Hobart Morris, the first woman justice of the peace in America. I read her biography, several of them, and anything else I could find about her. I knew I had to use this as the backdrop to a series.
FF: Is this novel based on a true story?
Sort of. Esther Morris actually walks through the pages of the story. So, in that sense there is some truth woven into the fictional fabric of the book. But, as always, when the truth gets in the way of my story, I immediately abandon it to make the story work—and to make it fun and entertaining.
FF: What was one interesting thing that you discovered while researching for this story?
I loved the story of Wyoming being rejected over and over for statehood unless they took the vote away from women. Utah actually gave women the right to vote, but when taking it back was a condition of being admitted to the Union, Utah stripped away the right to vote. Wyoming absolutely refused. When word got out that “this year” it was going to pass, there was a riot in Washington, D.C.—protests against allowing it. One representative from Wyoming kept shouting the words from a telegram he’d received from the Wyoming legislature: “We will stay out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without our women.” Whoever was shouting this ended up having to climb a wall to escape the mob, but even as he climbed, he kept
yelling the words over and over again. That piece of history made me smile.
FF: What lessons do you hope people gain by reading The Laws of Attraction?
Mostly I just hope they have fun, that they come on an adventure with me. If I teach them any lessons, it’s probably by accident.
FF: Can you share what you’re working on next?
The Laws of Attraction is book two in the Wyoming Sunrise Series. Book three, Marshaling Her Heart, is coming in October 2023.
The Laws of Attraction
Wyoming Sunrise Series #2
Mary Connealy
Bethany House
Genres: Historical Romance, Western Romances
Release Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN-10: 0764241141
ISBN-13: 978-0764241147
Book Summary:
Can they risk giving in to the attraction between them while their lives are on the line?
If widowed seamstress Nell Armstrong has to make one more pair of boring chaps for the cowboys in her tiny Wyoming town, she might just quit the business altogether! So meeting Brand Nolte, a widower struggling to raise three girls on his own, seems like her dream come true. Brand has no idea how to dress the girls properly, and Nell finally has a chance to create beautiful outfits while also teaching the girls to sew.
But Nell is much more than a seamstress, and the investigative skills and knowledge she picked up alongside her late lawman husband soon become critical when a wounded stagecoach-robbery survivor is brought to town. As danger closes in from all sides, Nell and Brand must discover who has a target trained on them before it’s too late.
CLICK TO BUY
Buy The Laws of Attraction from the FF Store HERE!
CLICK TO BUY
Buy The Laws of Attraction from Amazon HERE!