COLORADO IN SUMMER AND WINTER

First, Mary Preston won the giveaway posted on Friday's blog. Congratulations, Mary. 

Don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post.

One of my favorite trips is one through the Southwest several years ago. Hero had a new car, a Mitsubishi sedan, on which we put a gazillion miles traveling here and there. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but we went a LOT of places in that car before it eventually spluttered its last gasp.

Anyway, on this trip, we went over Wolfe Pass, Colorado in a rainstorm. Hero had his hands full driving but I was able to enjoy the incredible beauty of the landscape. The entire state is gorgeous—something even a dyed-in-the-wool Texan like me can admit.

Silverton, Colorado

We also visited Silverton, Colorado on July 4^th and were surprised the temperature was 32 degrees F with patches of snow still on the ground. Fortunately, we had brought very light jackets, but we were cold. Bright sunshine saved us and we enjoyed touring the town.

I had no idea then that I would write a book set in Colorado. At the time, all of my books were set in Texas except for one fluke novella set in Georgia. That changed when gracious and excellent author Cynthia Woolf invited me to participate in a project she had conjured called THE SURPRISE BRIDES. I loved the idea and so did Callie Hutton and Sylvia McDaniel.

Instead of seven brothers as in the old movie musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, we would write four brides for four brothers. We wanted nothing to do with kidnapping, so the mother of these four brothers writes away for mail-order brides. Scheming Mama Fraser poses as each of her sons when she writes these letters and arranges for all four brides to arrive on the same train.

We decided a snowstorm rather than an avalanche should isolate them on Fraser's Circle F Ranch five miles from Angel Springs. A different avalanche plays a part in my story. Certainly we didn’t want to wait all winter to have the brides married. So, one of the brothers is a minister and can marry them—including himself and his bride.

This was the most difficult project with which I have ever been involved. For weeks emails flew back and forth among us to insure each of us included key elements without compromising the others’ books or offering four versions of the same story. The result is, I believe, four great western historical romances that will engage fans of that genre.

The books are JAMIE, CALEB, GIDEON, and ETHAN. The series is THE SURPRISE BRIDES. They are stand alone books and you don’t need to read any one of them to follow the others.  Due to the progression of events in the books’ content, if you plan to read all four I would suggest reading JAMIE first then ETHAN followed by GIDEON and ending with CALEB.

If you haven’t already done so, I hope you’ll give THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE a chance to entertain you and that you’ll also purchase the other three brothers’ stories. The books are priced low at only $2.99 each.  Here are the buy links at Amazon, but the books are available at Apple, Nook, and Kobo.

THE SURPRISE BRIDES buy links:

Caroline Clemmons, JAMIE http://amzn.com/B015272I3W

Cynthia Woolf, GIDEON  http://amzn.com/B015JLMQBU

Callie Hutton, CALEB  http://amzn.to/1KvP4id.

Sylvia McDaniel, ETHAN http://amzn.com/B015PG1FOI

**I’m giving away a free e-copy of THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE to one person who leaves a comment today. If you already have a copy of that book, you can choose another from my books on Amazon.

NEW RELEASES -- JOSEPHINE AND JAMIE

As promised on Friday, here is more information on BRIDE BRIGADE: JOSEPHINE, which is now available at Amazon and—if not already—will soon be available as an e-book on iBooks, Nook, and Kobo.

Here’s the blurb for JOSEPHINE:

Josephine Nailor is desperate to escape a terrible situation. When the opportunity arises via a newspaper ad, she and her best friend slip away from their oppressive fathers and head for Richmond.  Neither can relax until they’re far away from their tiny hometown. With wealthy young widow Lydia Harrison’s help, Josephine and six other young women have a new life waiting in Tarnation, Texas.

Michael Buchanan is fairly content running his mercantile and being mayor of Tarnation. The town is dusty and tiny, but it’s growing. He believes it holds all he needs to be happy—except a wife. There are no available women in town, but he hopes Lydia Harrison’s Bride Brigade will offer a woman he can wed. He is immediately attracted to Josephine.

But Josephine has every reason to mistrust men in general and politicians in particular. Will her misgivings ruin her chance at happiness?

And here’s an excerpt of JOSEPHINE:

Josephine brushed and pulled back her hair. “At least we’re clean and neat even if we don’t have fancy clothes.”

Her friend chewed on her lip then met her gaze in the mirror. “I don’t really want to meet anyone right away.”

She smiled. “Afraid you might end up with someone like your pa or mine?”

Ophelia shook her head and pulled on her shawl to cover the stains on her dress. “Oh, no, Lydia won’t invite anyone who isn’t nice. She promised. I feel as shy as usual and need a little more time to adjust.”

Josephine tied a ribbon around her neck with her mother’s locket in the center. “Well, I don’t intend to marry. I want to find a job and be independent.”

Ophelia stared at her. “You mean you never want to wed?”

“Can you blame me?”

Her friend’s face filled with concern. “Jo, you can’t mean it. You’d never have a home and children. Think of your future. Who will keep you company in the evenings?”

“I’ll get a cat.”

The buy link for JOSEPHINE,  Bride Brigade book one, is http://amzn.com/B015M4FJUY

Please don’t forget THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE is also a new release. The buy link for JAMIE is http://amzn.com/B015272I3W. These books are $2.99 each in e-book, but are also available in print. The companion books about JAMIE’s brothers are GIDEON by Cynthia Woolf, CALEB by Callie Hutton, and ETHAN by Sylvia McDaniel.  GIDEON is available from Amazon at  http://amzn.com/B015JLMQBU. CALEB and ETHAN will be available as e-books by Wednesday. 

Happy reading!