Eve Gaddy: Love Me, Cowgirl

I'm lucky enough to be part of the 78th Copper Mountain Rodeo Series, coming to you this fall from Tule Publishing. My book, Love Me, Cowgirl, will be out September 29, 2016.

Disillusioned with love, Dr. Sean Gallagher returns to Marietta to join its expanding medical facility. Marietta’s newest, most eligible bachelor isn’t looking for long-term involvement – especially not with his brother’s much-younger former girlfriend, Honey Jordan. But short term? That’s another matter.

Escaping a toxic relationship with her father, barrel racer Honey spends as little time as possible in Marietta. Home for the 78th Annual Copper Mountain Rodeo, a brief fling with the town’s hottest new doc might be just the thing to distract her until she can leave again.

But when a riding accident strands Honey in Marietta, an affair meant to last a few nights turns into something much deeper, leaving both Sean and Honey torn between the safety of saying goodbye and the heartache of losing what they dare not admit they’ve found — one true and lasting love.

I had so much fun writing Love Me, Cowgirl. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas, home of the Fort Worth, Texas, Stock Show and Rodeo--it was the Fat Stock Show and Rodeo when I was younger and I can't help but think of it that way. I went to the rodeo every year when I was growing up. Barrel racing was one of my favorite events.

I've been married to a doctor for a long time, and I always enjoy writing about people in the medical profession. I always have a soft spot for my heroes and Sean Gallagher definitely rates a giant soft spot.

Honey Jordan is a heroine who knows what she wants and goes after it. Only problem is, she doesn't believe she can have a long-term relationship, since she can't stick around Marietta for more than a couple of weeks at a time.

But that's fine with Dr. Sean Gallagher, ER doc, recently returning to Marietta to practice. Sean and Honey have a few surprises coming their way once Honey is sidelined by injury and stuck in Marietta.

I've written about cowboys, cowgirls and rodeos in the past. Cowboy Come Home is one of my favorite books. The hero, Jake Rollins is a retired saddle bronc champion and his heroine, Anna Leigh Connor, teaches barrel racing.

But it's been a while since I wrote that one, so researching about rodeos, and especially barrel racing, was definitely important. Not to mention, fun.

I can't wait until September 29 when Love Me, Cowgirl is released!

Here's a link to all the 78th Copper Mountain Rodeo books!

http://tulepublishing.com/booklists/?displaytype=series_cover#the-78th-copper-mountain-rodeo

Catch Me, Cowboy Jeannie Watt

Protect Me, Cowboy Shelli Stevens

Want Me, Cowboy Sinclair Jayne

Love Me, Cowgirl Eve Gaddy

Here are some links you might want to check out. You can even pre-order Love Me, Cowgirl!

Find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evegaddyauthor

@evegaddy on Twitter

pre-order links for Love Me, Cowgirl here: http://bit.ly/TuleCowgirl

Cowboy Come Home links http://bit.ly/cchlinks

www.evegaddy.net

His Blushing Bride - More Marietta!

Are you as in love with Marietta as I am? We, the authors, are seeing a lot of comments like this on Netgalley, Goodreads and Amazon:

"I've genuinely loved the Marietta Mini series from Tule publishing..."

And we look, yes, we do! We want readers to be as excited to visit this wonderful town and all our characters as we are to write their individual stories.

Which is why I'm so pleased to be part of the latest "Married in Marietta" Bride series. Have you seen the covers?

Very pretty, right? I happen to have bookmarks that look like this. If you would like me to mail you one, contact me through my website (http://danicollins.com/contact/) or message me through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DaniCollinsAuthor) with your postal address. I'll pop one in the mail to you.

Now, I'll be honest. One of the reasons I love visiting Marietta is to visit my own characters. While I do my best to pick up other authors' characters for a line or two, I feel most comfortable bringing my own back onstage. In His Blushing Bride, you'll see all the characters from my previous three Montana Born novellas.

Bastian (Sebastian) is actually the brother of Liz from Blame The Mistletoe so I thought it would be fun to include a bit of their interaction for you here:

Excerpt from His Blushing Bride:
(note: I cleaned up the language in this posting. The book uses real swears.)

Bastian ran out to the ranch first thing, gave Blake a hand for an hour, then drove his sister into Bozeman where she shopped for maternity wear and stock for the spa. He bought a new laptop, tablet, and phone along with a few more shirts and shorts, a decent suit for the wedding, some sunglasses and—

“What are those for?” Liz asked in a tone so accusatory, the entire drugstore stopped to glance their way.

“I begin to see how you wound up pregnant,” Bastian said dryly. “Did I make a big deal about you buying a breast pump?”

She gave him the tight-lipped, displeased older-sister look, but stowed whatever she wanted to say until they were in the car.

He threw the bag with the box of condoms at her feet. No way was he going to apologize for being a healthy, responsible adult.

“I guess my real question is, who are those for?” she said, delicately shifting her feet away from the bag.

“Seriously?” She wasn’t teasing. This was a real question, and he couldn’t believe it was coming out of her mouth, directed at him and not her teenaged daughter. “It’s none of your business, Liz.” He shouldn’t have to point that out.

“This isn’t California, you know. Word gets around. Just tell me it’s not Petra’s teacher,” she said shortly.

“It’s not Pet’s teacher,” he lied.

“Liar,” she blasted, bracing an elbow on the door and covering her eyes. “Seriously, Bastian. Do you have to sleep with every single female that crosses your path? There’s a word for it, you know. Man-whore.”

“I think you’re a whore if you take money for it. When you do it just ’cause you like it, you’re a slut.”

“I see. This is how we’re playing? Nearly a doctor and you still haven’t grown up?”

“Stick with, ‘Quit screwing anything that moves.’ The ‘Get a real job’ speech is Dad’s.”

“I just don’t know why you can’t commit to one woman, settle down, and—”

“Yell at my kids?” he cut in sharply. “Make my wife cry? Be so unbearable to be around that my son tells me to get lost and my daughters get married out of high school? How did that work out for you, by the way?”

She kept her face to the window, not answering.

He swore under his breath. “Did I make you cry? Now I feel like a jerk.”

“You are a jerk.” She sounded cross, not hurt. When she looked at him, her face was worried. “Is that really it, Bastian? You don’t think you’d make a good husband? Because I think you’d be a great dad.”

He sighed, annoyed. Frustrated. And kind of relieved she’d say that. There were times when he envied his sisters. Their kids were great and their middle sister’s marriage was actually pretty good.

But marriage and family life had always struck him as suffocating. A trap. Their father sure hadn’t been happy. Men weren’t the only ones to feel that way, either. The women, the sheer multitude of unhappy wives who’d hit on him because they couldn’t stand their husbands… Why set himself up for infidelity and a messy divorce when he could skip getting married altogether?

Which wasn’t something he needed to say to his pregnant, engaged sister. She was upset enough. She knotted her hands over the bump in her lap. “Dad had PTSD. I wish our childhood had been different too, but there’s nothing we can do but accept it.”

Yeah, their old man had been the gift of misery that kept on giving while they were growing up. In some ways, he still was. He set very high standards, especially for his son, and wasn’t very forgiving of deviation. But Liz was right. They couldn’t go back in time and change anything. Bastian had fully accepted that. But…

“Listen. It looks like you’re getting it right this time. Blake seems great. I had to wonder about your decision to marry and have a kid and move to off-the-map Montana, but I respect your choice, Liz. And I’m making a different choice,” he summed up firmly. It was something their father had never made peace with.

Liz was slightly more progressive. She sighed out a long, suffering, “Fine. Live your life the way you want. But—not with Pet’s teacher.”

He wasn’t going to plead his case. He simply would live his life however he saw fit and Piper had the same option.

~ * ~

I'll be at the Romantic Times Convention in Dallas when this posts and, as I write this, His Blushing Bride is only available for pre-order so I only have the quick links below, but it is releasing on all digital platforms:

Amazon: US | Cdn | UK | iBooks

Have you been spending time in Marietta? Who are some of your favourite characters? Remember to email me with your postal address if you'd like a bookmark!

Trish Morey: The Lighter Side of Romance

What I love about romance is that it comes in so many delicious flavours. From sweet to spicy, angsty to flirty, contemporary to historical to futuristic to paranormal to everything in between. I love the sheer breadth and depth that romance affords both readers and writers.

When I write my Harlequin Presents, the stories generally veer toward the angsty. Big conflicts. Strong alpha heroes and frequently vulnerable, if gutsy on the inside, heroines. I love those stories. But my other love is romantic comedy, and there isn’t a huge amount of scope inside your average Presents for comedy. Wit, yes. A wry smile, absolutely. A cutting retort from your heroine that makes your hero’s ears bleed and your reader punch the air with her fist, sure. But laugh out loud comedy? No. It would be wrong.

So when I was offered the opportunity to write something for Tule publishing, a story where I set the creative boundaries, I jumped at the chance. And so Second Chance Bride was born. And just to really shake things up, I started it in a brothel. Yup. A romance that begins in a brothel :)

And oh my, I had such fun with this story! I took my hapless heroine, Scarlett Buck (yup, why the hell not?) all the way from Marietta, Montana, and dropped her in the outback of Western Australia with no cash and a pressing need to get home. Luckily for her, she meets Mitch, but to find out what happens next, you’ll have to read the book.

But here’s a wee taster - Mitch and Scarlett are in Broome, and Mitch finds something in the closet...

She was just drying off when she heard him yell, “What the hell is that?”

Darn. She had a fair idea where he was and what he’d found and realized that maybe the gown hadn’t been quite as well hidden as she’d hoped. After all, there was at least a hundred yards of tulle in the skirt. But there were at least a dozen yards of closet too. Did he have to go open that particular one? 

Anyhow, no point admitting anything just yet. He was a man after all. Maybe he’d just found the ironing board. 

How do you like your romance? Dramatic? Sweet? Medical? Suspenseful? Or are you like me and like to mix it up a little and throw in a little romantic comedy (or something else) every now and then?

Leave a comment about your reading preferences and two lucky people will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Happy reading,

Trishx


*** Trish's winners are Mary Preston and Bonnie! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.***

Katherine Garbera: The Reluctant Bride

The Reluctant Bride was one of those stories that just sort of came to me all wrapped up.  I have never been impulsive at all so when I was kicking around ideas for the Great Wedding Giveaway, I thought what about someone who just said yes and got married.  But there’s not much conflict in that and for good fiction there has to be conflict. 

So I thought what if she said yes, got cold feet and ran.  Just that inkling was enough to make me start creating the characters.  Risa loves weddings and brides.  She’s a florist who’s been working in Vegas at a very posh wedding center. 

Monty is the kind of guy who never gives up so it doesn’t matter that Risa isn’t where he left her, he’ll find her and reclaim her. 

From there I had the fun of being in Marietta, MT again.  I just love the stories that have been set there and am always happy as a reader to go back there.  As a writer it’s like coming home.

Here’s a little except:

Stupid.

            She wasn’t sure about herself, but Monty; God knew she wished she had his confidence.  There was a marked difference in their reactions to tragedy.  He wanted to cram in as much life as he could…she wanted to hide and protect those she cared about.  His mouth moved over hers with the confidence and surety that she’d ever only experienced with him, and she knew that she wasn’t going to pull back and walk away.  Instead she slid her hand up his chest and curled her fingers around his warm neck,  burrowing between the warm downy collar and the man. 

            He was here because he wanted to be her man.

            Right now, it felt like he was, as his mouth moved over hers and sent shivers of desire coursing through her body.  It had been a long seven months apart.  She parted her lips and his tongue slipped inside her mouth and she sighed.

            He tasted just like she remembered.  It was silly when she tried to define Monty, but there was something spicy in his kisses and yet, at the same time, something that soothed the restlessness inside of her.  When he wrapped his arms around her, she felt like she’d found the home she’d always wanted.

            A safe place to land. But she wasn’t sure she believed in home any more.

            She’d always been a rambler.  And even this kiss wasn’t going to be enough to help her put all of her doubts and fears aside.  His tongue rubbed over hers, as his hands slipped lower to cup her buttocks and she stopped thinking.

            Stopped trying to analyze this and have it all make sense.

            Kisses weren’t supposed make sense, were they?  They were supposed to transport lovers to someplace magical and distant.

            And for her, his kisses did.

            His hands anchored her to the real world, and his mouth tempted and teased her to follow him.  To leave behind her worries on this dark deserted highway and focus on the one thing that was real: Monty.

            He plunged his tongue deeper into her mouth, and she felt the first stirrings of desire shivering through her nerves and pooling in the center of her body.  She tunneled her fingers through the silky hair at the back of his neck, twisting them to make him move his head the way she wanted.

            He did.  Increasing the pressure on her and deepening the kiss until she was aware only of Monty and his mouth, his arm around her hips which held her to him, and his hand which roamed up and down her back.  His touch was warm, even through the thickness of her coat. 

            She pulled her head back and, from her angle, could look down on his half-closed eyes.  This was the face she’d missed.  The expression that had haunted her dreams.  He was the man she thought she wanted to marry.  The man who she’d taken a leap of faith with  and said yes to.

            But then he opened his eyes and slowly let her slide down his body, before he stepped back, spreading his arms out to his sides.  He rubbed one hand over his jaw and his mouth and turned his back to her.

            She had no idea what he was thinking, but could venture a guess that it wasn’t very nice.

            Why should it be?

            She was playing a game in his eyes.  And she had no way of really making him see that her being lost and confused was just as disheartening from her point of view. 

            “Um…”

            “What?”  He glanced back over his shoulder.

            Yeah, what?  Time to take a break.  Run again…

            “Thanks for changing my tire.”

What about you?   Have you ever been impulsive and said yes and then thought better of it?  I’m the kind of gal who is stubborn so I wouldn’t run, I’d stand my ground and pretend that it was working out just the way I wanted it too!

I’m giving away a copy of all four previous Great Wedding Giveaway titles today as well to one lucky commenter.  


*** Katherine's winner is Janine! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.***