Tuesday, January 21, 2025

A CALCULATED BETROTHAL - Denise Weimer - One Free Book

Bio: Denise Weimer writes historical and contemporary romance from her home in North Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A mother of two wonderful young adult daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

Welcome back, Denise. Why did you become an author? I sensed the call to write ever since I was in middle school and the trips I made with my parents to historic sites inspired stories in spiral-bound notebooks. I knew this was how God had gifted me—absorbing details, nuances of character, and blending them using right-brain creativity with left-brain research and organization. Being an author allows me to bring the past alive and His love and healing to readers through story form. Being an editor also allows me to help others hone the same skills.

If you weren’t an author, what would be your dream job? I very nearly went into historic preservation and restoration. Old homes and buildings tell such fascinating tales, just like books.

If you could have lived at another time in history, what would it be and why? I find American history fascinating during the years the nation was gaining independence and expanding, especially along the Eastern frontier. That time through the Civil War resonates most with me, although I also enjoy later periods of history as well. There would be something to be said for living in the Edwardian era through WWII when the old ways and manners were still practiced but some modern conveniences were to be had.

What place in the United States have you not visited that you would like to? The Grand Canyon and a snowy resort and Christmas town in Colorado.

How about a foreign country you hope to visit? I don’t see any international travel coming in my near future, but my top picks would be Scotland, Switzerland, or a return to Italy or Spain.

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently? My life has changed so much and there have been so many lessons in the last year, I couldn’t begin to name them all. But through it all, the biggest lesson is that He’s faithful.

That is so, so true in my life, too. Please tell us about the featured book? The death of her titled husband means that not only is Tabitha Gage no longer a lady—but she’s also abandoned on an isolated Southern Georgia plantation on the eve of revolution. With the fine house and fields sold to a neighbor, she’s left with a log cabin on unsettled timber land. Rather than marry the neighbor’s son, Tabitha determines to make her own way—and never again be shackled to a man she doesn’t love.

Sergeant Edmond Lassiter is one assignment away from promotion when he comes to the aid of a red-haired beauty fending off cattle rustlers. Thrown together during an attack at a nearby fort, the Patriot scout and Loyalist widow are surprised by the values they share—including honesty, loyalty, and equality. When Edmond learns the same man who ruined his family is after what little Tabitha has left, he convinces her they should work together to make her land profitable—all while fighting off the British from East Florida and her greedy neighbor, who sabotages their every effort to succeed. Their work together will be a business arrangement…nothing more. But as a British invasion threatens, the truth soon becomes clear—continuing the connection between them will risk far more than their hearts.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Early February, 1777

The morning she awoke at home after the funeral of her husband, Lady Tabitha Gage opened her eyes to bright winter sunlight and shuddered—with relief. She was free.

But a lady no longer.

Terror quickly replaced the relief. Free, yes, but also alone on a thousand-acre South Georgia rice plantation. Across the Altamaha River, Creek and Seminole Indians roamed the no-man’s land of tangled swamps and bogs, allied to the British who held East Florida. Lord Riley’s allegiance to the Crown had not excluded his cattle from being raided. Should an invasion come, it would not protect this plantation, either—especially now he was gone. After Henry’s name appeared on the St. Andrews Parochial Committee’s list of twenty-nine suspected Tories last autumn, River’s Bend was equally susceptible to Patriot retribution. 

And yet it was to River’s Bend Tabitha had returned—fled, more like—the day after she’d seen Henry laid to rest in the Christ Church burying ground. Keeping up appearances in Savannah had required more fortitude—and fortune—than she possessed now. Not to mention, her twin, Temperance, was too apt to see past Tabitha’s façade. And their father, too apt to pull her back under his control.

Tabitha sat up but clutched the covers beneath her chin, not yet ready to relinquish their warmth for the chill of the January morning. Maybe she could stay here all day.

When she’d first set eyes on her new husband’s country house, she’d cried. The white frame home with its two tiers of piazzas and saltbox-style extension in the rear set among the live oaks and palms appeared so parochial in comparison to his elegant brick Savannah residence. What a little fool she’d been. Her upstairs room with its twelve-foot ceilings, walnut furniture, and tapestry curtains and counterpane had since become her refuge. Lord Riley had sought her out here less and less frequently as his hope for an heir dwindled over the eleven years of their marriage.

And now the burden of that expectation was gone, along with the silent judgment of the man who’d imposed it. She knew not whether to stretch her shoulders with the relinquishment or continue to cringe under the accusation she’d come to expect. Her own head supplied it in the absence of Henry’s voice. What kind of wife was she to not mourn her husband?

Buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Calculated-Betrothal-Scouts-Georgia-Frontier-ebook/dp/B0D577ZJ1B/

How can readers find you on the Internet? Connect with Denise here:

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Tuesday, January 07, 2025

Today is release day for MAGGIE'S JOURNEY


This is a second edition of an  award-winning book that released 15 years ago.

Excerpt:

“Mrs. Caine.” Angus McKenna came to an abrupt stop and cleared  is throat before starting again. “I’ve come to ask you something that . . . I never dreamed I’d . . . ever ask anyone.” His voice rasped, and he stopped to take a gulp of air, staring off into the distance.

She couldn’t take her eyes from him, even when the baby in her arms squirmed. “How can we help you?”

New tears followed the trails down his cheeks and disappeared into his beard. He grabbed a bandanna from his back pocket and blew his nose with one hand. “I’ve just lost the most important thing in my life.” He paused and stared at the ground. “I don’t know how I can go on without her.” His voice cracked on the last word.

Once again he paused, but much longer this time. His prominent Adam’s apple bobbed several times. “I’ve been crying out to God, but I don’t think He’s listening to me right now. If He were . . . ”

What a thing for a man to admit to them. Florence knew he must be near a breakdown. He did need help, but what could they do?

“I’ve decided . . . it would be best to find another family to raise one of my girls.” He stood straighter. “I’ve watched you with Margaret Lenora . . . ”

“Is that what you’ve named her?” Florence gazed at the sleeping baby, and her heart ached for the child. To grow up without a mother.

“Yes.”

Angus looked straight at Joshua, and her husband gave a slow nod. “Your husband has told me . . . how much you’ve wanted a child.”

For a moment, anger flared in her chest. Joshua shouldn’t share her secret with anyone. She took a deep breath to keep from saying something she’d regret. Even though she didn’t even look at her husband, she could feel his gaze deep inside. She was grateful he couldn’t see the ugly jealousy and covetousness that resided there.

“What I’m trying to say, Mrs. Caine, is . . . ” His Adam’s apple bobbed again. “Would you consider adopting one of my daughters and raising her as your own?” He snapped his mouth shut and just stood there waiting, staring at the ground and clinging to the tiny baby in his arms.

As her own? Was this God’s answer to her prayer for a baby? It could be. She knew she should try to encourage Mr. McKenna to keep his daughters. He might marry again and want all three of

them, but she pushed those thoughts aside before they could take root. This might be the only chance she would ever have for a child, and she didn’t want to lose it. Finally, she turned her attention toward Joshua.

“I’ll be happy with whatever you decide, Florence.” Love poured from her husband and enclosed her in its warmth.

How could she refuse? She held this precious bundle close to her heart right now, and she didn’t want to ever let her go.

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DFF4JTN2?storeType=ebooks&linkCode=sl1&tag=las_leadpage_lower-20&linkId=c5a26f97290589ad3b22c083d66bc59c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maggies-journey-lena-nelson-dooley/1102422760?ean=9781963212150

About the book:

The stories of these identical triplets percolated in my heart and mind for several years before I put them on paper. 

If I’m setting the story in an actual city instead of a fictional one, I want to find pictures or descriptions of that city. With Seattle, Washington Territory, in 1885, I had trouble finding any information. I did know a lot about wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, so I didn’t have trouble with the Prologue. With Chapter 1, I came to a standstill. 

I knew most libraries had Adult Research Librarians. So I called the Seattle library. I told the ARL that I didn’t want her to do the research for me. I just wanted her to point me in the right directions to find what I needed. 

Their library had digitized thousands of historical photographs. She sent me the link to where they were stored, by decade. The information with each photo included who took the picture and the names of the people in the picture, as well as the street names and names of the businesses if they weren’t on the building. 

This was like a gold mine to me. I went to the 1880 decade and went through the photos, printing the ones I needed to recreate the city. Everything in the book, besides the business of my characters are actual businesses in 1885. And the mayor and his wife who attended Maggie’s birthday party were the actual ones at that time. 

This is true for the railroad trip, Denver, and Little Rock as well. I grew up in Arkansas and lived near Little Rock when I was in high school. 

Book 2 in the series, Mary's Redemption, will release in March, and the third book, Catherine's Pursuit, will release in April.



If you are a member of a book club, I’d be glad to attend one of your meetings on Zoom to discuss my story. Email me at: lenanelsondooley@gmail.com if you want to book me.