All That Free Time...

By Jeannie Watt

I retired to Montana last fall. Dream come true, right?

My horses and ponies weren't so sure. However, this is what their life looks like for the rest of the year, so as long as we keep a lot of hay in front of them and a windbreak behind them, they're cool.

After I retired, I thought I would have sooooo much time to write. After all, I wouldn't be commuting, teaching, coming home exhausted, trying to fit in housework and laundry around the job--I would be organizing my new house and writing!

Except, this is what my house looked like when we moved in.

We still have so much to do, but I'm happy to report that we now have sinks and counter tops. And this is the view from my kitchen window...

Which kind of made the lack of amenities like sinks and counter tops bearable.

My mom, who lives about 200 yards away, told me that time is like walking in the mud. When you free up some space, like say by retiring, something else rushes in to fill it. I scoffed. I was wrong. That something else, besides the house, is ranch stuff.

I've been around cows, but other than attending the occasional branding, I never really worked cows personally. That's all changed.

Now the cows run the show. In the winter, its a matter of moving them and feeding them. I'm still learning the tractor, so I open the gates and cut the stings on the bales. Kind of the internship role.

But here's the pay off, come spring...babies!

And a very, very happy husband, surveying his domain. Happy ending, but a busy one!

I hope everyone has a great Monday. If you want to find out more about me and my books, please check out my website or my Facebook page. Also, here's a link to my latest book, A Bull Rider to Depend On, which is, of course, set in Montana.

A BAD BOY WITH A GOOD HEART

Widow Skye Larkin will do anything to save her ranch, even if it means accepting help from bad-boy bull rider Tyler Hayward. But he and his penchant for partying are to blame for her late husband's financial indiscretions, which got her into this mess. She might be attracted to the dark, dangerous cowboy, but putting her trust in another rodeo man is unthinkable.

Ty knows he shouldn't be surprised that Skye isn't convinced he's changed. He wants to prove that beneath the bravado, and no matter what happened on the circuit, he's one of the good guys. Offering her a business partnership is just the first step. What will she do when he offers her his heart?

Life Happens . . . Anne McAllister

We moved in the summer from the Midwest (as in, "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.") to Montana.  We didn't do it just because there are four grandchildren here.  We left four grandchildren in Iowa -- albeit older ones.  But they were a big part of it.  Also my mother's family is from Montana, and it always felt like home to me when we came back here when I was a child.

So . . . we are 'home' now -- and instead of writing books about  Montana, which I seemed to do a lot of while I was in Iowa, before I barely got my computer unpacked I got asked to write a book set in England!

I said yes, of course.  That way I can justify going for research, right?

And I started writing -- or getting prepared to write.  I set aside my long-suffering hero of O'Driscoll Heir, promising to come back to him when my new fling had had his Happily Ever After, and I allowed my life to be taken over by some other man named Jack.

O'Driscoll had his revenge.  No sooner had Jack and I embarked on his book than I broke my wrist!

It is now three and a half weeks into the broken wrist. Jack's book is still on page 3.  But I've got some voice recognition software now, and I'm giving it a workout.  We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, the Cubs waited until we left the Midwest to win the World Series, which was quite wonderful (sorry, Cleveland).  So I wallowed in baseball while waiting for the wrist to come around. It's still not quite there yet, so I'm not writing any more on this.  Just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you all and wondering what curve balls life has thrown you lately.

On the plus side, the lovely talented Lee Hyat (she of the Tote Bags and Blogs blog, in fact) has done yet another superlative cover for one of my reprinted cowboys.  You get to see it here first!

The Cowboy and the Kid was one of my favorite books, partly because it grew out of my weekend audit of bull-riding school which was one of the most fun experiences of my writing career.  It also got to be RT's series romance of the year back in the day.   I think it is just as much fun this time around.  Hope you'll check it out when it's released again in late January 2017.

Moving, moving, moving

This is my moving crew, ready to roll. Two more trips...

Does the moving process ever end? As near as I can tell, no.  I'm about to embark on yet another long drive from Montana back to Nevada to pick up yet another load. This is almost...but not quite...enough to make me a minimalist. Almost.

Rumor has it that in only two more trips, we will have transferred everything from one place to the other. Call me a skeptic, but I'll believe it when I see an empty house on one end of the trip and a full house on the other.





I've written quite a few books this year, despitethe never-ending move in addition to my son's wedding this summer. I'm not sure how I got all the books done, to tell you the truth, although the other day I glanced over at my husband and murmured, "I'm so looking forward to not writing in the car."

If all goes according to plan, I will be living in only one house, instead of two, by the end of this month and I will be writing at a desk instead of on a lapboard.

I'm very excited about the Tule books I have in the works. Catch Me, Cowboy released last month, and now I'm working on an International Bull Rider book that will release next spring and have contracted to write a book for a fun series set in a Victorian hotel next fall. In addition to this, I have more bull rider books coming from Harlequin Western and more Brody's of Lightning Creek coming from Harlequin Superromance.

It's been a productive year, despite the chaos and I'm looking forward to doing a lot of Montana research for my future books--just as soon as the dust settles.

Have a great day!
Jeannie

Barbara Ankrum: Christmas is Coming!

I just finished a new book, a Christmas story for Tule Publishing Group called, THE COWGIRL’S CHRISTMAS WISH and I’m so excited for you to read it. It’s the first Christmas book I’ve ever done in my long career and, frankly, I’m not sure why it took me so long to write one. The majority was done in the middle of summer heat waves and ninety percent humidity days when the thought of conjuring Montana in snowy December required extra imagination. But with a little help from holiday music, copious Pinterest photos and wishful thinking, I’m happy to say I love the final product.

It’s no secret that Christmas stories are wildly popular. I love them myself. As I wrote this story about polar opposites, (pardon the pun!)  I began to understand why they’re so in demand. When I asked myself what I wanted to read at that time of year, the answer was “something a little magical, something a little sweeter and more romantic.” So that’s what I wrote. It’s the story of a pair of good friends who just need a little push to realize they could be so much more. This is the third book in my Canadays of Montana series.  Eve Canaday’s cup is always half-full, and Dr. Ben Tyler, who’s not a fan of Christmas, is already halfway out of town as this story begins. Together, they are enlisted to fulfill the last wish of the mother of a little four-year old girl named Lily for a magical Christmas in oh, so merry Marietta, Montana.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m fascinated by the unexplained, the things we take on faith. But I wanted something a little more concrete in this story, something that made my characters question the Universe’s messages to them in a way they couldn’t readily deny. I won’t spoil the fun and reveal it to you now, but suffice it to say, this little messenger from the universe does his ‘jingly’ part to turn my hero and heroine toward each other.  And wishes, made at Christmas, always stand a better chance of coming true!

THE COWGIRL’S CHRSTMAS WISH comes out October 24th, from Tule Publishing Group and is up for preorder. And can I just mention here, LEE HYAT, the owner of this very blog, designed this awesome cover for me. I could not love it more! I hope you enjoy the book and that it gets you in the mood for the holidays! Let me know how you like it!

Here’s a little taste of THE COWGIRL’S CHRISTMAS WISH:

“You were saying?” Eve said, studying her fingernail. “Something about me being absolutely right?”
Leaning against the door jamb, arms uneasily folded, Ben’s mouth curved up into a grin. “That’s right. You were.”
The grin was throwing her off. “Anything else?”
“You look real pretty without makeup.”
“Don’t you try to butter me up, Doctor Tyler.”
“Truth.”
She yawned broadly. 
“I’m serious.”
“I’m not leaving if that’s what you’re worried about. If that’s why you’re still standing at my door, flicking compliments my way.”
His gaze narrowed. 
“A deal’s a deal’s a deal,” she said. “I promised to help with Lily and I will. Besides, if you’ve decided the best thing for you to do with your life is run off to the jungles of Borneo or the Amazon or—”
“—Honduras.”
“—or Honduras, instead of staying in Marietta and facing whatever it is that’s scaring you away, a place where people actually need and care about you, then who am I to try and stop you?”
He stiffened. “Scaring me? Nothing’s scaring me away. I’m choosing to go. Of my own free will.”
A beat passed before she decided not to say what she wanted to say. “Okay. Whatever. Fine. I’m tired, Ben. I’m going to bed now. See you in the morning.”
She started to shut the door, but he stopped it with his hand, incidentally covering hers. His touch, as it always did, sent want curling through her. She stared at his fingers for a long, gathering moment before meeting his blue, blue eyes.
And without any warning, he kissed her. On the mouth. A quick, buss of his lips that happened before she could evade it.  Not that she would have. His lips were softer than she’d imagined and his kiss tasted of wine and desperation. Just a glimpse, yet she was sure she wasn’t mistaken about the desperation.  
And just when she thought he was done, he deepened the kiss, pulling her practically naked self against him. She felt her nipples grate against the fabric of her tee-shirt, pressed up against the solid wall of his chest.  She grabbed the door for balance, and then his shoulders, her breath catching in her throat. His tongue breeched the seam of her mouth and she opened to him, hungry for this taste of him.
His desire jutted against her hipbone, raw and hungry as her own. Her heart pounded and stars flickered behind her eyes. 
Kissing her. Ben was kissing her.

On the Move -- Anne McAllister

At our house we are up to our eyeballs, literally, in packing boxes.

We are in the throes of moving house from the one where we've lived for over forty years (at least during the school years) to a new home in Montana. We've been in and out of Montana for the past twenty-five, and before that I spent vacations there as a child because my mother was born in Montana and we still have family there.

So, once the grandkids started arriving in Montana -- and The Prof neared the age of retirement -- we decided it was time to make a move. It took nearly a decade, but hey, we don't jump at opporunities the second they appears.

Besides, now the Iowa grandkids are all pretty well-launched and will be visiting regularly, I'm sure. In fact some of them are actually coming with us next week (though they will be returning home eventually -- I think).

Anyway, it's a whole new chapter (book metaphor required, of course), and one that I'm looking forward to.  As I've done my share of writing about Montana -- and am currently in the final stages of my first Sons of Montana book for Tule -- it will be nice to look out my window and get inspiration instead of having to look at my photo albums and digital files for it!

But before I go I want to say how much I have loved living in Iowa.  My stepdad, who was raised here, could hardly wait to leave. I would never leave if it weren't for those grandkids.

As much as I love the mountains and the cowboys and the dry air, I love the history of river towns and the Northwest Territory and environs, and the best corn in the world (just had first of the year tonight for dinner) -- not to mention the best neighbors and friends whom I'm sorely going to miss.

I've spent two-thirds of my life here. It's where I reared my kids, started my career, raised my dogs -- and my one opinionated cat -- it's the place that I will always call home.  It gave me great joy, and I know when I come back, which I will certainly do at least once a year so those grandsons can continue to go to sports camp until they're too old, it will capture my heart all over again.

Thank you, Iowa. I love you.

Montana, here we come!

Photos:
1) mine
2) copyright 2011, J Kennedy, used with permission
3) mine

Jeannie Watt: Tosser Envy (Not the Rude Kind)

I’m moving. I love where I live now, but it’s time to move closer to my parents, so my husband and I are pulling up stakes this summer and moving to Montana. I’m excited to be closer to my mom and excited to have a new house, however…there’s this one small problem. I haven’t moved in twenty-two years.

My new view--as of this summer. So excited!

Do you have any idea how much stuff a person can accumulate in that length of time?  

A lot.

My house has a full basement and I have packed that sucker to the gills. Now I have to sort and toss and prioritize…and convince myself that the object is not the same as the memory.

Hard lesson—especially when I keep finding cool things I’d forgotten about, like, say, the velvet pants I wore in high school. Surely I’ll be a size 2 again and hip-hugger button-front crushed-velvet jeans will come back into style. Right?

The engagement boots--35 years later.

And what to do with the engagement boots? My husband and I met in college, where we were geology students, and instead of buying a ring, we spent the money on something we honestly needed—well-made his and her hiking boots. I still have mine. His wore out long ago and we can’t remember what happened to them. I’ll probably find them while packing up the rest of the basement.

But I can’t move everything, so I’m going to hire a hit man. I’ll put the stuff I need to get rid of in a certain area of the basement and ask my son to haul it away. And then I’ll hope that he gets the right stuff, because otherwise, he’ll be back at the donation place buying it all back.

Are you a saver or a tosser? Let me tell you—right now, I’m suffering from a huge case of tosser-envy.

Find out more about Jeannie at her website or on Facebook.

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.***

CJ Carmichael: Why Do We Love Montana?

The reality of life on a ranch in Montana is a lot of hard work...so why is this setting so appealing for lovers of romance and family sagas?

I’ve thought about this question a lot. Having grown up on a farm in Saskatchewan I know that country life is easy to idealize—for those who haven’t lived it. But the benefits are undeniable: the beauty of the land, the fortitude of the people, the resilience of the communities.

One of my favorite books about life on a Montana ranch is: “Sketches from the Ranch, A Montana Memoir” by Dan Aadland. Aadland is a combination rancher/poet/philosopher. He’s very down-to-earth as he describes his day to day responsibilities as a modern day “cowboy,” but always with a eye for beauty and truth, such as in this small sample:

“Spring on a Montana ranch is not only calving cows. It is also the crocus, the brave flower that picks its way, sometimes through snow, to decorate the still-brown grass of the dryland hills. It is a small boy with a bouquet of pussy willows in one hand, the other hand thrust into his mother’s palm as they come up from the woods late in the afternoon. It is the return of the meadowlark and the sandhill crane.”

Writers aren’t the only ones who love Montana. Paradise Valley (the setting for my fictional Carrigans of the Circle C) was inspiration, title and solace to John Mayer as he was crafting the music for his new album of the same name.

Many movie stars, famously Robert Redford, own property in Montana and some of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen (A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer) have been filmed here.

If Montana were a song, it might be the Eagle’s, “A Peaceful Easy Feeling.”

It might also be a place to call home, a land where the people are real and true, a place where you can believe in love and forever, and even dare to put them in the same sentence.

If you also love Montana, especially stories with that setting, tell me why and I’ll send you an autographed book from Big Sky Country!

Cheers,

CJ

Sage Carrigan never meant to be the other woman. Unfortunately, bronco rider Dawson O’Dell neglected to mention he was married the night he invited her to his bed after they’d both placed first in their rodeo events. When his wife walked in on them – Sage was deeply hurt and humiliated. After an accident in the ring the next day, Sage decides she’s quitting the rodeo–and cowboys—to become a chocolatier in her hometown ranching community, Marietta, Montana. She’s doing just fine, but then Dawson shows up —five years later, with a little girl in tow. He’s here for the Copper Mountain Rodeo hoping to win big. But he’s also got plans of settling down with his daughter and buying a house—the very same one that Sage has been dreaming about. He says he’s here for her and he’s making lots of promises. But can he keep them?

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

***Congrats, Emily Baucom, you won! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com***