Please, please let me know when this gets pubbed. I’m saving a space in my TBR pile for you. *grin*

Yes, though it was less common than “Stephen”. Off the top of my head, the earliest “Steven” I can think of was one who was tried for treason under the Short Parliament of 1640; he was a tailor or weaver.

On edit: Oh, cool, Keith Lindley’s English Civil War book is on Googlebooks!

Sorry, no blurb yet, nor a summary. Only a completed manuscript whose epic word count is pretty much guaranteed to make an agent run screaming. I’m trying to trim, but I’m very new to this whole thing.

To everyone, thanks again for all the encouragement and advice. You’ve all given me hope that I might take this somewhere.

Loved the Revolution setting. I haven’t read nearly enough romances from this period. I was actually pleasantly surprised the hero was British. Seeing the date, knowing it was Revolution, I’d assumed the hero was American until you mentioned his red coat. As much as we love to read about the British aristocracy in romance, knowing the hero was a damned dirty redcoat (lol) made me do a double take. I loved it.

I’m with everyone else regarding the heat in Vermont as well as the Brits not being used to it, etc., but if the battle took place in the morning (5am – 10am) it might not have been that hot yet. Here in Oregon, the hottest part of the day is late afternoon when the sun really beats down. Of course, Oregon is on the other side of the States, so take my words with a grain of salt.

Do you have a blurb for this one? Or a simple summary? Because I’m just dying to know this guy’s story, and I’d love to know if/when you have plans to publish. Nothing you’ve written above isn’t anything that can’t be fixed with a good editor, and I think you’re well on your way to a great book if you keep up your prose. I immediately loved this guy, especially when he smiled at the “mouth of Hell” joke. Made someone from history become “real” for me.

This excerpt is especially fitting for me, since I’m teaching my dd all about Burgoyne, Ft. Ticonderoga, Arnold, & Hale in school time right now. So I’m definitely excited about this book. :) Great job!

One last thing, it’s interesting to me the battle took place on a date with so many 7’s!

~~Becka

Most farming families I know in Scotland and England tend to be named after their ancestors. I met one family that had eleven generations of Joseph, so the current family has grandfather named Big Joe, father Tall Joe (he was short, actually) and son Joe. Joe’s son broke the tradition by being named David. :D My step-dad’s family were all Jameses, Sinclairs, Benjamins, Johns, Alberts, and Davids.

I think Stephen is relatively new in working-class farming families, hence my earlier comment. To me, Stephen once belonged to middle class (or white-collar) families particularly those in law, accounting, religion (loads of vicars were named Stephen), and similar.

But these are just my observations, not a fact. Like I said, it wouldn’t bother me if the hero from that background was named Stephen.

Both Steven and Stephen do exist in C18. The Steven variant seems to be mainly a last name.

And — this is cool — Stephen is not particularly rare in Googlebook mentions. William and Thomas are only about six or seven times more common than Stephen.

If I were your editor, I might encourage you to cut some of the adjectives, and I too would find “Steven Blackthorn” a less-posh-looking name than “Stephen Blackthorne.” (In fact, it’s astonishing to me how different those names look: “Steven Blackthorn” is a peasant right out of Hardy, but “Stephen Blackthorne” is a Georgette Heyer Corinthian.)

Stephen shifted his eyes to focus on the scene in front of him.

I’d be interested in finding out what it is that he resents about his existence. Whether it is the war or something else.

ETA: Sorry, I should have refreshed my screen before posting, to see that others had already replied.

Just MHO. Take it with a grain of salt.

The hero (?) seems to be your common foot soldier, not a pampered officer from a upper class family who would have had his commission bought for him.

Agreed. I’m usually not that keen on historical romances that feature wars or battle scenes, but since the hero seems to be a foot soldier, I’d read it.

About the name – Blackthorne is somewhat stereotypically “posh”, but since it’s a romance, it doesn’t bother me that much. That said, if the hero was from a farming family, ‘Stephen’ may be a bit disconcerting, but not so much. At least his first name isn’t Devon. :P

(I’m still cursing the fact it was Thomas Hardy who came up with an awesome hero name: Gabriel Oak.)