Romance that's 'Out of This World' : 2026-06-07

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

Indigo - Guest Post for a new release

I'm delighted to welcome fellow Wild Rose press author Karen Hulene Bartell to my blog, and to have had the opportunity to read this gripping book!

This is such a wonderful roller coaster ride of a novel! Karen skillfully blends contrasting elements of Native American myth and folklore, complicated family relationships, mystery and supernatural/horror elements with beautifully descibed settings and a gentle love story. I was hooked from the first page and was compelled to keep on turning the pages until I reached the end - and still wanted to keep on reading. Next book soon please Karen! (Find out how she came to write the book a little later in this post.)

After encountering a Northwoods hunk, unscrupulous realtors, bloodthirsty prowlers, and a dysfunctional family, of which one member--

according to windigo legends--never left, is Raluca at risk of losing her heart, her inheritance, or her mind?

INDIGO BLURB

Reeling after her fiancé dumps her, Raluca Olson inherits a rustic cabin from an unknown relative. Eerie incidents and rumors of a mythical windigo alarm her, but she’s determined to learn the truth about her dysfunctional family before she flips the property.

Despite unscrupulous realtors, bloodthirsty prowlers, and a devious ex, her life improves with a rescued puppy, and passion ignites when she meets

Dylan McCoombs, but…

What does a demonic half-beast share with a psychosis and porphyria? Are monsters born or formed? Nature or nurture? Is a windigo spirit genetic? More importantly, does she carry the gene?

HOW I CAME TO WRITE INDIGO

Three years ago, we moved into a new neighborhood, where I’d walk my dog past a nearby cemetery. Each day, I’d see more elements for a story that was slowly developing: a “devil’s chair;” a creaky, hanging sign; a bare patch with just a footstone, a “hanging tree;” swerve marks on the road beside the cemetery; a mailwoman who chewed and spit; and a neighbor whose family suffered from hemophilia and who swore some of the events (that I ultimately wrote about in Indigo) actually happened to her in another cemetery. Elements of truth embellished with an overactive imagination is how Indigo came to be.