Readers, this is a
novella collection by four of my favorite authors of historical romance. This
time the collection has a Prologue and Epilogue that gives in a different
flavor.
I read the book as
soon as my copy arrived. As always, each of these women gave us an interesting
story with three dimensional characters who grabbed my heart and didn’t let go
until their story was told. Each unique story stayed with me a long time giving
me a chuckle and a smile every time I revisited it.
You won’t want to
miss this book.
Margaret Brownley's
story
Courting Trouble
How did this
collection come about?
The four of us worked together on A Bride for All Seasons, and we had so much fun we decided to do it
again. We started with a phone conference to brainstorm. Robin suggested we do
something with unlikely brides and the next thing we knew our muses were off and
running.
Are these stories
connected in some way?
The book opens with at a revival. One of the ministers
attending is miserably in love with a woman he fears would make an unsuitable
pastor's wife. The other ministers tell him stories about other unsuited
couples and how God brought them together.
How does your story
fit in with the others?
In Courting Trouble, my heroine is
known as the “black widow.” That's because all three of her husbands died under
mysterious circumstances. How's that for an unsuitable bride?
Who chose the setting
for this collection?
We each chose our own settings. My story takes place in Colorado.
What did you want the
reader to take away from your story?
My goal in writing is to provide readers with an entertaining
story that puts a smile on their faces and maybe even a little hope in their
hearts.
Readers want to get
to know the authors they read. Can you tell us three things my readers probably
don’t know about you?
I live in a halfway house. That's because I'm surrounded by projects
that are only half complete and may never see the end. Can anyone use a half
sweater or half quilt?
I run a shelter for abused, neglected, and depressed Boston ferns. I can turn
any fern into a gigantic mass of fronds guaranteed to take over the room. No
one is allowed into to my house unless first agreeing to adopt a fern. And no,
you can't bring your sick fern over.
My office is painted Monet purple, and I sit on a big rubber
ball. I fell off it recently during an earthquake.
Please give us the
first page of your story.
Colorado 1882
Brock Daniels scowled at the brief he’d been studying for
more than an hour. Obstreperous conduct? It took thirty-two pages to list a
complaint that added up to little more than one shop owner calling another a
name generally reserved for crooked politicians and stubborn mules.
Hardly a week went by that a similar freewheeling lawsuit
didn’t cross his desk. No wonder the town was on litigation overload. They sure
didn’t do things here in Colorado like they
did back in Philadelphia.
Tossing the brief down, he reached for his fountain pen. No
sooner had he dipped the nib in the ink well and started to write than a slight
sound made him lift his gaze. A boy about ten or eleven stood in front of his
desk, staring at him with big rounded eyes.
It wasn’t the first time someone had sneaked up on him while
working at his desk. The two room office had been his for six months and he
still hadn’t gotten around to attaching a bell to the front door.
Brock stuck the pen in the holder and reached into his vest
pocket for his watch. The gold case opened with a flip of his thumb. It was
nearly ten p.m. Too late for someone so young to be roaming the streets. He
snapped the watch shut.
“May I help you?”
For answer, the lad placed four coins on the desk with such
care that the money had to have been hard earned. The coins added up to
fifty-six cents.
“I want to hire you,”
the boy said.
Where can my readers
find you on the Internet?
You can find me on FaceBook, Twitter, Google+, and
Pinterest.
Now we’re welcoming
Debra Clopton, a fellow Texas
author.
How did this collection
come about?
We had an all-out brainstorming session conference call that
was the most fun. We tossed about everything but the kitchen sink and grabbed
hold of this idea when it showed up. It was a blast.
Are these stories
connected in some way?
Yes, by a fifth romance. It starts out with a bunch of
pastors sitting around a campfire. This young pastor needs advice dealing with
romance troubles that involve a young woman he thinks is unsuitable as a
pastor’s wife. The 4 older pastors tell the poor fella about an unlikely couple
that they’d known. And so the stories of unlikely brides begins.
How does your story
fit in with the others?
OH, my heroine is very unlikely. She’s been trapped beneath
her destroyed home after a tornado ripped through her land and killed her pa. I
fashioned her after Crazy Cora from the movie Quigley Down Under and loved every moment bringing her to life. She
was unconventional before she got hit on the head since her pa raised her to
shoot better than most men and to use a whip—both he deemed the necessary tools
a woman in the west needed to survive. She has no idea how to handle love … and
the men she’s pointing her pearl handled pistol at are truly shaking in their
boots. I think readers will love Crazy Katie Pearl … at least I hope so.
I know I did, and I
didn’t know she was fashioned after Crazy Cora. I absolutely love the movie Quigley Down Under . Who chose the
setting for this collection?
I believe we all did.
What did you want the
reader to take away from your story?
I want readers to sigh at the ending after they have rooted
whole-heartedly for my hero and heroine. I also want them to see that God walks
beside us all the time, even in unlikely times.
Readers want to get
to know the authors they read. Can you tell us three things my readers probably
don’t know about you?
1. I truly understand God’s faithfulness … my first husband
passed away in 03, and God never left my side.
2. 6 years later, trusting God, I finally went on my 1st
date a blind date and met my husband J God truly works in
mysterious ways.
3. I absolutely believe Banana taffy of any kind is God’s
special gift … I even have my donkey Samantha in my 2nd book And Baby Makes Five love it, because I’m
so crazy about it.
My husband of almost
50 years was a blind date, and I didn’t like blind dates. My first one had been
rather unpleasant and I never planned to go on another one. Yes, God works in
mysterious ways. Please give us the first page of your story.
A COWBOY FOR KATIE:
She might be as crazy as they said but Katie Pearl had
learned that most men were light between the ears. She wondered which one of
them she was gonna have to shoot today.
It wasn’t as if she wanted to, but if they came snoopin'
around, she was willin’ to oblige them.
“There ain’t no sense pretending you like this, Katie Pearl,
no sense at all,” Katie told herself.
From her perch on the wagon seat she could see the dusty
buildings of town. And as Myrtle May pulled the wagon round the bend in the
road Katie’s insides tensed up.
“You’re a good horse, Myrtle May. Yes you are.” She was glad
to have the comfort of her old horse with her as the fire in the pit of her
stomach informed her trouble was near.
Town was trouble and there was no getting around it.
Where can my readers
find you on the Internet?
I love to hear from Readers and have them join my
newsletter. I try to return all letters but sometimes because deadlines are
pressing its hard. So I love being able to connect with them through my monthly
newsletters and also my contests. Join at http://www.debraclopton.com
from there they can easily find my links to facbook, twitter and goodreads.
Happy reading everyone!!!
Welcome Mary
Connealy. Each of these novellas are also available individually as ebooks.
Here’s her cover for that.
How did this collection
come about?
This is the second book in a two book contract we signed
with Thomas Nelson. The first book A
Bride for All Seasons came out last summer. Once we tricked TN into doing
one, they decided to trick us into doing two. It’s been great.
Are these stories
connected in some way?
They are connected by a group of pastors sitting around a
campfire talking about the “unlikeliest couple” they’d ever performed a wedding
ceremony for.
How does your story
fit in with the others?
The stories don’t intertwine at all beyond the pastors
spinning their yarns, a small prologue and a short epilogue tie them stories
together.
Who chose the setting
for this collection?
We picked a date which coincided with a gathering someone
had heard of, of pastors with ministries on the frontier. But the settings were
left up to each of us. We did talk about it, wanting to mix things up a bit and
not all set our stories in the same place.
What did you want the
reader to take away from your story?
I think the basic story is Maizy MacGregor learning to take
pride in who she is. She’s quite a character but she’s got all the things a
woman needed to succeed in the west and if she wasn’t always a proper lady,
well, too bad.
Readers want to get
to know the authors they read. Can you tell us three things my readers probably
don’t know about you?
Um….I have a sort of “problem” with pretty jewelry. Not fine
gemstones, just fun pretty jewelry. I LOVE IT! I’ve got quite a pile of it.
Please give us the
first page of your story.
Spitfire Sweetheart
Saurita, New Mexico 1879
Maizy MacGregor leaned her head back against the rocks and
knocked her Stetson off. She grabbed it as it fell, then tossed it aside in
disgust. She had on men's clothes, her hat, her britches, her shirt, her boots,
the six-gun she wore on her hip. It had never bothered her before Rylan
Carstens moved in next door.
She wiped her eyes. It was sure enough bothering her now.
The water roared beside her, cascading down in a rush. She came
here when she needed to be alone. And she really needed that now.
Tossing aside her buckskin gloves, she pulled her red
handkerchief out of her hip pocket—no lace kerchief tucked up her sleeve for
Maizy—and wiped her eyes again and blew her nose in a completely unladylike way.
How had she let herself get this upset? And over a man, of
all things.
Over her neighbor who she'd long ago accepted would never
see her as anything but a child and an unattractive, annoying child at that.
She was used to it and ignored it mostly, but today stung. He'd
found her walking among his Angus cattle.
Maizy looked to her left and watched the sleek black herd
spread out on the long downhill slope. She hadn't gone near them this
afternoon. Instead she'd just slipped into this spot. She'd been using it for a
get-away since childhood.
But this morning she'd walked right into the middle of his
herd, wanting a close-up look. They were gentle cattle, not a horn on a single
one of them. They weren't tame enough to touch, they gave way if she got too
close. But they didn't run for the hills one day then attack the next like
longhorns tended to do.
She'd heard they were gentle, even the bulls. And she was
savvy about cattle. She knew how to judge their tempers and stay clear of them
when necessary. Her eyes rested on one especially young calf that might have
been born just today, long after cows usually threw their calves.
Maizy knew better than to go near a new mama, no matter how
easy going she'd been before her calf was born.
She'd told Rylan all that and tried to make him see she was
in no danger. He'd thrown her off his land anyway and later followed her home
to complain to Pa, like she was a misbehaving child. He'd forbidden her to
trespass ever again.
The river was the border between his property and her pa's,
and it was true she was, right this minute, on the trespassing side. But surely
he didn't mean her little hidey hole was off limits. She barely had a toe over
the line and she was completely safe from his placid, fat cattle.
She did admit to taking childish pleasure in defying him.
And it was a harmless defiance. If he didn't know she was here, then he
couldn't throw her off.
Her horse was tied well across the river, on MacGregor land,
cropping grass. She couldn't see the brown and white pinto from here and
neither could her neighbor.
Hoping to get control of her hurt, she let herself soak in
the peace of stone and water and air, loving the way this rocky ledge cut off
the world. She couldn't hear anything thanks to the rushing water. Her spot was
curved into the rocks and she could only see straight ahead and to the left. Water
was on the right, cascading down from the mountain peaks. Her almost-cave hid
her from behind and overhead.
She could be in her own world, alone with her thoughts.
She'd always come here to lick her wounds.
A gunshot cut through the air and she sat up straight and
banged her head.
Looking for the source of that gun, she turned left and saw him.
Rylan Carstens.
And he was coming straight for her, galloping on his big
chestnut stallion. Even at this distance she could tell he was looking right at
her. How had he known she was in here?
Another gunshot echoed from his Winchester.
Rylan bent low over his horse, coming as fast as he could on
the rocky ground that rose to this bluff along the river. Was he trying to kill
her? If so, he was doing a poor job of it. The bullets were missing, going way
over her head. But even on their worst day she'd never done anything that
oughta make the man killing mad.
Where can my readers
find you on the Internet?
Seekerville
Petticoats and Pistols
My Blog
My Website
My Newsletter
And Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryconnealy
Now let’s welcome the
final author in this collection, Robin Lee Hatcher.
How did this collection
come about?
We had so much fun brainstorming and writing the first
collection, so it was very easy to slip into brainstorming mode for another
conference call. Then one of us took the ideas and wrote up a proposal and sent
it off to our editor.
Are these stories
connected in some way?
Yes, which is why it is best for readers to get the entire
collection (print or ebook) rather than just the individual ebook novellas. The
collection opens at a pastors' convention, old west style, where one pastor is
pondering his feelings for a certain woman back home, a woman he fears is
unsuitable to be a pastor's wife. When he confesses the same to the other four
pastors in his small prayer circle, they begin telling him stories about
couples who God brought together but who seemed unlikely matches. This leads
into the four novellas. The first pastor's story is wrapped up in an epilogue
at the end of the book.
How does your story
fit in with the others?
It is the pastors who tie the stories together.
Who chose the setting
for this collection?
We each chose where we wanted to set our stories. I chose to
set mine in western Wyoming.
What did you want the
reader to take away from your story?
I want them to sigh with happiness at the romantic ending.
Readers want to get
to know the authors they read. Can you tell us three things my readers probably
don’t know about you?
I love to treat myself to a full-body massage on a regular
basis. Helps the aches that come from all those hours at the computer.
I used to have naturally curly hair.
I got to be in the delivery room for the births of three of
my grandchildren. Awesome!
Please give us the
first page of your story.
A LOVE LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
Dear Editor:
Do you think there are men in this world who can value a
well-educated woman with a mind of her own and the courage to speak it? Is it
possible for a man and a woman to have an equal partnership in marriage, seeing
each other as God intended them to be? After thirty-five years on this earth, I
have begun to doubt it.
Sincerely,
Wishful in Wyoming
*****
Killdeer, Wyoming, August 1879
Molly Everton flung open the door to her father’s office in
the Killdeer Sentinel, not caring that it hit the wall with a loud crack. “Is
it true, Father?”
Roland Everton looked up from the papers on his desk. “Is
what true?”
“You know good and well what I mean. Have you hired someone
else as editor of the paper?”
Her father removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his
nose. A familiar delaying tactic. She’d seen it many times in her thirty-five
years.
Molly closed the door and then stepped closer to his desk,
trying to check her temper. “It isn’t fair. You know it isn’t fair.”
“My dear, you should know by now that many things in life
are not fair. Far from it.”
Where can my readers
find you on the Internet?
Readers should visit my web site and blog at
www.robinleehatcher. From there, they can
find links to my accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and
Goodreads.
Thank you, Ladies, for sharing this new collection with us. As I prepared this post, your first pages took me back to each story, and I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting each one.
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Four Weddings and A Kiss - Christianbook.com
Four Weddings and a Kiss: A Western Bride Collection
- Amazon
Four Weddings and a Kiss: A Western Bride Collection - Kindle
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