In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ve been showcasing winners and finalists of the American Book Fest awards for Historical Fiction in different genres. While romance isn’t my thing (unless you count 35 successful years with the Duchess) cool stories are. Enter Jane Lewis and her book, The Wylder Rose.
What’s your deal, Jane?
I fell in love with romance when I read Kathleen Woodiwiss books many years ago. I never wanted her books to end and decided someday I would write historical romance. I have a degree in music and work as a church musician on the weekends. After retiring from my corporate job, I’m free to pursue my dream as a writer. I have eight books published and will publish the ninth book soon. I write historical romance as Jane Lewis and rock star romance as Eve Lyn.
I was so excited when The Wylder Rose won the 2026 Central Region Oklahoma Writers National Excellence in Storytelling Short Historical category and was an Award Finalist in the 2026 American Bookfest American Fiction Awards.
I enjoy cooking, playing music, singing, weight training, and hanging out with my real-life hero, my husband.
What’s your book about?
The Wylder Rose is about Rose O’Brien while escaping from her abusive lover gets stranded in a blizzard. A handsome Scotsman, Callum MacPhilip finds her carriage stuck in a snowbank and the woman and her horse almost frozen. When Callum sees her face, he realizes she’s the woman he fell in love with at first sight when he watched her board a carriage in Cheyenne.
Callum nurses her back to health but must let her go when she recovers and moves to town for her job as a singer in the saloon.
The overprotective Scotsman watches over her but her fiery temper, determination, and desire for independence makes courtship difficult.
What is it about that time period that appeals to you?
The Wylder Rose is set in Wyoming in 1879. The people of that period were brave, traveling in wagons or horseback to start a new life in unknown territories. Life was hard but people persevered. Trains were beginning to cross the country to make travel easier and allow more people to move west.
I wanted to write a story with a handsome Scotsman as the hero. I chose a red haired fiery tempered Irish lass as the heroine.
The root of the story is her background as an actress living with a powerful man in Cheyenne, Wyoming who was a criminal and abuser of women. The best part of the story is how she defeats the villain in the end.
Whoa! Spoiler Alert. What’s your favorite scene in the book?
My favorite scene is when Callum takes the unconscious Rose to his cabin, takes her wet clothes off and places her in a makeshift bed in front of the fireplace. He takes his clothes off so his body heat can warm her and joins her in the bed. He drifts to sleep but wakes to a yelp and a draft of cold air as the blanket is yanked from him.
Where can we learn more about you and your work?
My website, www.janelewisauthor.com
Check out The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion. “Wayne Turmel’s The Deserter manages to feel both old fashioned and strikingly original. While it possesses qualities of the adventure tales of old—whether that be those of daring from Scott and Cooper or stoical Hemingwayesque figures or most directly P.C. Wren of Beau Geste fame with even a bit of T.E. Lawrence. “– Michael Harnett, author, Windmill Bluff
