MAIL ORDER OUTLAW -- BRIDES OF TOMBSTONE FROM CYNTHIA WOOLF

How exciting to welcome one of my favorite authors, Cynthia Woolf. Authors are constantly trying to come up with something we haven't used before, and Cynthia has accomplished that extremely well. Her latest release is MAIL ORDER OUTLAW, the first of her Brides of Tombstone Series, and this book has many surprising characters and events. I've already purchased my copy and no doubt you'll want to do the same when you read this post. This book is so interesting that I simply won't be able to stop reading MAIL ORDER OUTLAW until the last line. Late bedtime tonight. ☺ 

Here's what Cynthia has to say:

Thanks for having me Caroline.

I want to talk a little bit about my new series, The Brides of Tombstone. I love doing mail order bride stories but for this one I wanted them to be a little different. I chose Tombstone because it was someplace that everyone has heard about, although next time I think I’ll make up my own city. I can make things exactly the way I want them then.

My husband and I did do a long weekend trip to Tombstone. Two days down, we live in Colorado. Two days back and one in Tombstone. All I can say is that the Tombstone that’s there now is very tame compared to what it was in 1882, the year my book is set. The City of Tombstone circa 2015, is little more than a tourist trap. The buildings are the same ones as were there in 1882, at the height of the silver boom, but they are filled with souvenirs and a few had tours. It was interesting enough, but not historically accurate which is what I’d hoped for.

The first book is called MAIL ORDER OUTLAW.  You can tell by the title that it's a little different than your average mail order bride story. Here's the blurb:

Ed Talbot isn't husband material. He's an outlaw, was forced into his father's gang at the age of thirteen, and is wanted Dead or Alive in more than one territory. But now his father is dead, he hates the life, the blood, and his brother's rages. When a stagecoach robbery goes awry, Ed ends up with a satchel full of charming letters from an enticing your miss. Unfortunately for Miss Lizzie Cobb, her betrothed is now dead, and Ed Talbot sees a way out. Impersonating a fine, upstanding young man shouldn't be too difficult. Despite the risks, falling in love with her proves to be all too easy.

Isolated on her mother's ranch just outside Tombstone, Miss Lizzie Cobb doesn't have the time or the means to find a respectable husband. As a half Apache woman in the Arizona Territory, being a mail order bride seems like the only solution to her problem until she realizes that San Francisco is too far away, and she'll have to leave her vulnerable mother and baby brother behind. Her solution? Call off the wedding.

When her groom shows up on her doorstep, she's shocked. He's handsome, strong, and has traveled hundreds of miles to claim her. His kisses inflame her body and his presence soothes her soul. Falling for the rugged man is beyond her control. But the past has a way of catching up to outlaws, and facing the truth is going to be hard...for both of them.

Does that sound enticing to you? I certainly hope so.

Here is a short excerpt from MAIL ORDER OUTLAW that I hope you'll enjoy.

Outside Tucson, Arizona Territory, May 12, 1882

Ed Talbot adjusted his bandana to cover the lower half of his face. The stagecoach his father had targeted for his latest robbery was about to crest the hill. When it did Ed and his half-brother, Harvey, would be waiting. His father, Josiah Talbot, would fall in behind the vehicle until it came to a halt.

Josiah rode with Harry and Joe, closing in behind.

Ed and his brother waited and the coach was slowing as it was supposed to. Suddenly the shotgun rider started firing his rifle at the men closing in behind.

Ed and Harvey rode toward the coach. Harvey fired his pistol and killed the shotgun rider, but not before they saw Josiah fall. The stage came to a halt and Ed kept his gun on the driver, while Harvey rode past the coach to where their father lay on the ground.

“Nooo.” A howl like Ed had never heard came out of Harvey. Ed knew then that their father was dead, but he didn’t grieve. The man Ed had hated for most of his life was dead. He rejoiced.

Harvey walked forward, reloading his gun as he came. As soon as he got had a full cylinder, he aimed at the driver and shot him dead.

Ed saw what was going to happen and jumped off his horse and ran toward his brother. He grabbed his brother’s arm. “Harvey. What the hell do you think you’re doin’?”

“He killed Pa. He deserved to die. The driver and this man are a witnesses and have to die…” Harvey’s eyebrows came together and he narrowed his eyes. “Or you do and then he dies anyway. Now you got a problem with that?”

That was no choice and Ed was about to say so, when Harvey raised his pistol and fired. The man who’d done nothing but be a passenger on the wrong stage, was dead.

“Couldn’t let you say something you might regret, little brother.” Harvey holstered his gun. “Gather up all the stuff including the luggage and then search all three men,” he instructed Harry and Joe.

Ed noticed a valise in the coach that he assumed belonged to the man. He took it and tied it to his saddle bags.

“Let’s go,” said Harvey. “Take the coach horses, we’ll sell them in town and set the coach on fire.”

Joe gathered up sage brush, so prevalent in this part of the desert near Tucson and piled it inside the coach. Then he took a stick match out of his pocket, struck it against a rock and started the kindling on fire. Within minutes the stagecoach was burning and black smoke billowed into the sky. If they hung around, they’d be found by the sheriff’s posse.

“All right let’s get out of here.” Harvey turned and rode his horse the way they’d come, back to their hideout in the Mule Mountains.

Not having any choice, Ed followed his brother. Harvey would kill him in a heartbeat rather than let him go. Their father had been the same way. Fifteen years ago, when Ed’s mother died, Josiah had taken him into the gang. Ed was thirteen. He learned how to rob stages, trains and banks. He learned how to kill people but he never actually killed anyone. He’d managed to avoid that particular deed. His father and brother thought him a coward, but Ed had no taste for killing a living soul or the outlaw life in general.

Buy links:

http://amzn.com/B00XEKFLIE

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mail-order-outlaw-cynthia-woolf/1121894192?ean=2940151415125

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/mail-order-outlaw/id993479746?ls=1&mt=11

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/mail-order-outlaw

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cynthia_Woolf_Mail_Order_Outlaw?id=U74kCQAAQBAJ

Cynthia Woolf, Author

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends. Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian who brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She write her first story at the age of ten...a romance about a little boy she liked at the time.

Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at Colorado Romance Writers for saving her sanity and encouraging her to explore her creativity.