THE BODEN BIRTHRIGHT (ALL FOR LOVE) - Mary Connealy - One Free Book

Dear Readers, I’m thrilled to introduce this collection to you. The front cover tells us this is “Three historical romance novellas of love and laughter.” And this is one of my favorite genres. Mary does this so well, and so do the other authors. You won’t want to miss this one.

Welcome back, Mary. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Well, in this book, Deb is a journalist and that’s what I am by education and for a while, back a long time, I worked at a small town newspaper. A lot of the work Deb had to do, is what I had to do. A newspaper has all these jobs that are NOT writing. And for a small paper an employee can end up doing them all.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

Me? Quirky? Wouldn’t it be weird and interesting if I do wildly quirky things all the time but I don’t even know it? I mean, what is quirkier than writing books, huh? Strange occupation.

Okay I’ve been thinking too long. I remember once going to an amusement park with a teen group from church. They all ran off to play and I had a day to spend in this park and amusement park rides are NOT my thing. So, I set out to ride a roller coaster and found out that if I SCREAMED every time the roller coaster swooped (which is really…constantly) I wouldn’t get sick. So I decided to ride every single roller coaster and pretty much spent the whole day screaming. It was pretty fun.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I wrote one book when I was twelve. I wrote a romance novel and I shudder at what it must’ve been like. I started my second book 25 years later, and I loved doing it from the start. I just loved it. I figured out really fast that writing isn’t what I do, it’s who I am.

When we’re doing what God created us to do, it really is who we are. Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

In recent years I’ve developed a love for a list of series that are mainly cop dramas and/or suspense. Michael Connelly, Lee Child, C.J. Box, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, a whole long list.

I love those kids of books, too. I’ve even written a couple of suspense novels. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I don’t run, run, run. I suppose that means I’ve let the world leave me behind, but my life is home, writing, grandkids. That’s about it. I watch very little TV. I don’t belong to lady’s clubs. I have a couple of friends I have coffee with once a month or less! As for keeping my sanity, well…have I? That’s open to debate.

I love you, Mary. You are so genuine. How do you choose your characters’ names?

I just discovered this and it’s pretty cool. I go to imdb.com. It’s a place that tells details about movies and actors. I pick western movies and go down the list of characters. It’s a great source of names someone else thought fit in a western. 

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

My children, four daughters, all four wonderful, honest, hard worked, sweet-hearted women.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

A sloth…a typing sloth. I can sit around a LOT. I’m not saying I’m proud of it.

I have to set timer to remind me to get up and walk while I’m writing. What is your favorite food?

Apricot torte from the Lithuanian bakery in Omaha, Nebraska. Oh My Gosh, Lena, this is the most delicious stuff!!!

Sounds like something I’d really like, too. Too bad they don’t ship them to Texas. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Getting published took my ten years. I overcame it by not giving up. And while I strove for publication, I kept writing. So I had twenty finished books on my computer when I earned my first contract.

It took me eight years to get published. Tell us about the featured book.

The novella contained in All for Love is the prequel novella for the Cimarron Legacy series. It’s called The Boden Birthright and it’s the love story between Chance Boden and Veronica Chastain, the rich daughter of a New Mexico rancher who got a half million acre ranch from a Spanish Land Grant. Frank Chastain was awarded this when New Mexico was still part of Mexico. Then the border changed and the Chastain land is now disputed. Frank needs to be an American and here comes Chance Boden, a pioneer from Boston. Frank makes a deal, marry my daughter and all this will be yours. Chance is insulted…but Veronica is real pretty and she loves Chance’s young son…in fact, she loves the boy a lot more than she loves him. He gets the land. She gets the boy. But how will them find love?

Please give us the first page of the book.  Boden Birthright, Cimarron Legacy prequel

“Bad boy!” Grandmama Bradford slapped Cole’s wrist. “You’ve sloshed tea on the lace of your shirt.”

Tea on the lace of his shirt? What? Chance Boden felt like he’d taken the slap himself, with a ten day old, ice cold mackeral.

When had his son started wearing lace?

He woke up at that instant to realize he’d been in a daze ever since Abby died. He’d loved her so much. Abby, precious Abby dying in his arms. He never should have let her have another child.

The grief almost dragged him back under. The guilt. The emptiness. The pain

The lace.

His eyes focused on his son. He had on pastel blue velvet short pants. His dark hair was in…in…God have mercy it was in ringlets.

There were high heels on his shining black boots.

Cole, four, flinched at the slap and said in a cultured, quiet voice, “I am sorry for my carelessness, Grandmama.”

What four-year-old talked like that?

When Chance was four he’d lived in Indiana on the frontier. He’d spent his time trying to grab his pa’s shotgun to shoot squirrels. Pa hadn’t slapped him either. He’d laughed and taught Chance how to fire the gun…then carefully hung it out of reach between lessons.

“I should hope so young man. Your new shirt is ruined.”

Chance opened his mouth to start yelling. To drag his son out of this room, and this house, and for heaven’s sakes out of that lacy shirt. He’d get the boy some proper trousers…and a haircut. The lace was bound for the fire.

Then he clamped his mouth shut, stood, excused himself and left the room. He knew his mother-in-law Priscilla too well. Nope, if he started yelling he’d lose this fight the minute he started it. He had to do something radical and he thought of exactly what as he marched out of the mansion.

He’d always been a man who faced things head on. Being clear-eyed and fast thinking had helped him get very rich in Boston.

Now he faced the fact that his in-laws would fight him for control of the boy who would be their only heir. And even considering that Chance was very well off, his wealth wasn’t a patch on Priscilla and Davidson Bradford. They had enough money and connections in Boston to take his son from him.

So Chance didn’t consider it an over-reaction to decide to grab his boy and run.

Love. It. How can readers find you on the Internet?

 http://www.maryconnealy.com/  
http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com
http://petticoatsandpistols.com  

http://www.maryconnealy.com/newsletter.html

And I’m on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maryconnealy

And Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryconnealy

Readers, here are links to the book.

All for Love - Christianbook.com
All for Love: Three Historical Romance Novellas of Love and Laughter - Amazon.com

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