HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Saturday Snippet: She Suspected He Would Doubt Her Story

Today's Saturday Snippet is taken from 
Otto's Offer 
 Book 3, Lockets & Lace series

          “All right, that’s enough! You say another word, Uriah, or move from where you’re standing, I won’t just put you in my jail, I’ll bury you under my jail.” The sheriff turned to face Libby. “Now, miss, I guess I need to hear your side of things.”

          Libby glanced at his face, then away as she sought to calm herself. She had seen the expression like the one worn by the sheriff before in people who looked down on her because of her Indian features. She suspected the man would doubt her story, but she did not know what else to do but tell the truth. “I worked with a woman who helped me write letters to Mr. Chambers through a marriage service. I read the letters, and she wrote the letters back for me since I don’t write well. We decided on Mr. Chambers because he said he was twenty-eight, not too old, and because he claimed to have a large ranch with much livestock. Although I am white and was raised as a white person, I am aware of my appearance which shows some native ancestry. The woman helping me and I were very careful to learn if Mr. Chambers was concerned with the appearance or background of the woman he wished to marry. He only claimed he wanted someone young and strong enough to help on his ranch.”

          “She didn’t tell me she was Injun.”

          Libby swallowed, but she said nothing in reply. She refused to defend herself again.

          The sheriff pinned her with a piercing look. “You still want to marry this man?”

Please CLICK HERE to find the full book description and purchase link. 

Otto's Offer is Book 3 in my own Atwell Kin series. Most of the books in this series are also part of one of the series sponsored by the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. Here is how the books line up and the schedule so far:

The Atwell Kin series:

Book 0 - Charlie’s Choice (Prequel)
Book 1 - Virginia’s Vocation (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 2 - Kizzie’s Kisses (also part of Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series)
Book 3 - Otto’s Offer (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 4 - Hannah’s Handkerchief – scheduled for release Spring, 2020
Book 5 - Lyman’s Rescue – scheduled for release Spring 2021

Each is a stand-alone sweet romance.

You may find my books on my Amazon Author Central account by CLICKING HERE. Please click the FOLLOW button to follow me.

 

Great Summer Reads: Monk's Bride

Through a crazy twist of fate, Caroline Clemmons was not born on a Texas ranch. To compensate for this illogical error, she writes about handsome cowboys, feisty ranch women, and scheming villains in a tiny office her family calls her pink cave. She and her Hero live in North Central Texas cowboy country where they ride herd on their three rescued indoor cats as well as providing nourishment outdoors for squirrels, birds, four feral cats, a fox, a raccoon, and two possums. 

The books she creates in her pink cave have made her an Amazon bestselling author and won several awards. She writes sweet to sensual romances about the West, both historical and contemporary as well as time travel and mystery. Her series include the Kincaids, McClintocks, Stone Mountain Texas, Bride Brigade, Texas Time Travel, Texas Caprock Tales, Pearson Grove, and Loving A Rancher as well as numerous single titles and contributions to multi-author sets. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, reading her friends’ books, lunching with friends, browsing antique malls, checking Facebook, and taking the occasional nap.

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A destitute widow; a reformed con man; the danger that links them…

Betsie Galloway Hirsch has escaped Memphis with her son. Her gambling husband tricked the wrong people and they’re demanding Betsie pay his debts—or else. She’s come to Kincaid Springs to stay with her mother and seek a safe place for her son. Being so far from her former home, she feels secure. That is, until danger confronts her.

After 34 years alone, Michael “Monk” Magonagle is falling in love with Betsie and is fond of her son. Monk is certain she is not free of the men her late husband cheated. Although he is not a violent man by nature, Monk is willing to fight for Betsie’s safety. He and the men of the Kincaid family prepare to meet the enemy.

How can Betsie and Liam be protected from the approaching danger? Will she and Monk be able to forge a love that endures or will one of them be silenced forever? What toll will the enemy exact? 

  
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Snippet:

They were at the Kincaid front door. She hated their time together was over.

Monk put his hands on her shoulders. “Betsie, may I kiss you goodnight?”

Inside she was yelling yes!, but she pretended to be demure. She certainly didn’t want him to think she was a hoyden. “I think that would be all right.”

He removed his hat and pulled her into an embrace. She’d thought he meant a kiss on the cheek, but that wasn’t the case. His lips sought hers softly at first, then as if he would consume her. Without conscious thought her arms went around him, pulling him closer.

When he broke the kiss, it was as if she’d been deprived of a part of herself. Each of them panted with ragged breaths. He held her a few minutes longer, his forehead against hers.

“I apologize for getting carried away.”

“Please don’t. I was hanging on to you as if I was drowning and you were a life preserver.”

He brushed an errant curl from her face. “Then you’re not sorry?”

“Not a bit. I have to admit I was carried away, too. Perhaps it’s not proper to admit, but I enjoyed your kisses.”

Her admission brought a wide smile to his face. “Goodnight, Betsie. I’ll be by to escort you to Mass in the morning. I hope I may call again soon.”

To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

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Great Summer Reads: Virginia's Vocation

My name is Robyn Echols. Zina Abbott is the pen I use for my historical novels. I’m a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America. I currently live with my husband in California’s central valley near the “Gateway to Yosemite.”

I love to read, quilt, work with digital images on my photo editing program, and work on my own family history.

I am a blogger. In addition to my own blog, I blog for several group blogs including the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog, which I started and administer.

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Will Virginia’s chosen vocation fill the empty spaces in her heart?

It is 1858. With both parents dead, Virginia Atwell lives with her older brother, Jefferson, and his family in Booneville, Missouri. Under the pseudonym, V. A. Wellington, she secretly has been submitting articles to a well-respected investigative journal about controversial topics. To her dismay, she learns her family plans to buy new farmland in the wilds of central Kansas Territory, making it almost impossible for her to continue her clandestine article submissions. More importantly, Virginia is terrified of the prospect of living so close to hostile Indian tribes and dying by their hands because they resent white Americans moving onto their traditional buffalo hunting grounds.

Virginia persuades her brothers to give her a share of their parents’ inheritance so she may attend one of the few colleges in Ohio that accepts female students. There, she finds Avery Wilson, one of her professors and fellow boarder at Bettina Calloway’s boarding house, resentful of female students, conceited and annoying, especially after his criticism and resentment directed towards the author, V. A. Wellington, whose articles are published while his submissions are rejected.

Virginia’s publisher insists V. A. Wellington meet with him in person in St. Louis to discuss a new assignment. When her landlady insists she cannot travel alone, Avery, curious about Virginia’s secretive meeting and unable to resist his growing attraction to the irritating but brilliant student, offers to escort her.

Once the editor discovers his star contributor is a woman, he refuses to send her to write about conditions on the Kaw reservation and the proposed treaty the government intends to impose on the natives. Hoping to favorably impress the editor, Avery offers to pose as Virginia’s fiancé in order to accompany and protect her on her assignment. Her heart goes out to the Kaw, but what can fill the empty spaces of her heart?

Virginia’s Vocation is also part of the author’s Atwell Kin series

~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 
  

Snippet:

…He then turned to face her while shaking his head in resignation. “All right. Go try on a few pair to see which fit best. Just be aware, we will expect you to put those gloves to good use.”

            Of course. Virginia could not help the disgruntled directions of her thoughts. Anything to further the achievement of your goals for the future. If you knew mine, you would laugh them into the ground.

To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

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Saturday Snippet: She Raced Past the Wagons

Today's Saturday Snippet is taken from 

Kizzie's Kisses

Book 2, Grandma's Wedding Quilts series

 

          The pepperbox pistol her papa had bought for her mama, and which Mima had declared more than once she would never use, Kizzie had tucked into the back of her waistband. She had raised her eyes in gratitude when no one had questioned her about why they couldn’t find it. That three-shot pistol, and the big kitchen knife she had stuck down the side of her work boot were all she dared take for her own protection. The shotgun she had left for Mama and Jesse plus Jesse had his own hunting knife. The rifle Papa had with him, which was why she needed to find him and tell him to forget about any cattle he hadn’t sold yet and come back to protect his family from the Indians.

          Instead of turning Sugarcone loose or tying her to the back of the wagon for the trek east, Kizzie had climbed into the saddle. She had ignored her family members as they called out to her. She had not looked back as she raced Sugarcone past the wagons and down the lane towards the road leading to Junction City, and after that, Fort Riley. 

Please CLICK HERE to find the full book description and purchase link. 

Kizzie's Kisses is Book 2 in the Grandma's Wedding Quilts series. It is also Book 2 in my own Atwell Kin series. Most of the books in the Atwell Kin series are also part of one of the series sponsored by the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. Here is how the books line up and the schedule so far:

 

The Atwell Kin series:

Book 0 - Charlie’s Choice (Prequel)
Book 1 - Virginia’s Vocation (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 2 - Kizzie’s Kisses (also part of Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series)
Book 3 - Otto’s Offer (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 4 - Hannah’s Handkerchief – scheduled for release Spring, 2020
Book 5 - Lyman’s Rescue – scheduled for release Spring 2021

Each is a stand-alone sweet romance.

You may find my books on my Amazon Author Central account by CLICKING HERE. Please click the FOLLOW button to follow me.

Saturday Snippet: One Never Knew

Today's Saturday Snippet is taken from 

Virginia's Vocation

Book 19, Lockets & Lace series

 

          Even though Avery had been hired as a new professor of English literature and grammar at Oberlin College, he had not been able to save much from his previous job instructing rowdy boys at the all-male secondary seminary. Feeling more like a disciplinarian than a teacher while he was there, he happily resigned from that job when offered the position at the college. Of course, Oberlin was not his first choice of colleges to work for since it accepted female students—a waste of instructional time as far as he was concerned—but he treated it like a stepping stone in the right direction. His Presbyterian minister from home in Indiana had been instrumental in providing him with a glowing reference to this institution which had been established by two Presbyterian ministers in the 1830s.

          Raking his fingers through his brown hair he recently cut short, Avery wondered if the other upstairs rooms were decorated in a similar fashion. It would make sense, since Mrs. Drusilla Chilton, his mid-fifties landlady, made it clear all upstairs rooms housed male boarders. Which begged the question in Avery’s mind—did she take in female boarders? He hoped not, but one never knew.

Please CLICK HERE to find the full book description and purchase link. 

Virginia's Vocation is Book 1 in my own Atwell Kin series. Most of the books in this series are also part of one of the series sponsored by the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. Here is how the books line up and the schedule so far:

The Atwell Kin series:

Book 0 - Charlie’s Choice (Prequel)
Book 1 - Virginia’s Vocation (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 2 - Kizzie’s Kisses (also part of Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series)
Book 3 - Otto’s Offer (also part of Lockets & Lace series)
Book 4 - Hannah’s Handkerchief – scheduled for release Spring, 2020
Book 5 - Lyman’s Rescue – scheduled for release Spring 2021

Each is a stand-alone sweet romance.

You may find my books on my Amazon Author Central account by CLICKING HERE. Please click the FOLLOW button to follow me.