GIVING GIFTS TO PEOPLE!

Please welcome Kirsten Osbourne, a friend whom I admire a great deal. As long as I’ve known her, I’ve never heard her say an unkind word. She always focuses on being kind and positive. Kirsten has a fun giveaway today to one person who comments.

Remember that your comment enters you in a drawing for a Kindle Fire 7 on Christmas Eve!

  

What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory? 

Opening stockings was always my favorite thing. My mom always went all out, and there was lots of fun stuff involved.

What is your favorite adult Christmas memory?

Each year is always the best. I’m embroiled in making candy and baking! It’s been a lot of fun.

Is there a Christmas song that’s your favorite?

A.   Secular  “Up on the Housetop”      

B.   Religious  “Away in a Manger”

Tell us about your family’s Christmas traditions. 

Well, everything will be new this year. Usually we do Christmas Eve with my in-laws, and then Christmas Day with my mom. We open presents in between and it’s a whirlwind. Now we’re far from them, so we’ll do presents on Christmas Eve and stockings on Christmas mornings. My son and I are baking to take as gifts to neighbors and friends.

What about Christmas do you most enjoy?

I love giving gifts to people. Don’t care if I ever get one. It’s all about making others happy!

Is there something about this holiday that drives you crazy?

People’s greed seems to be worse at Christmas time.

What do you hope for this Christmas?

To have a nice time with family and friends and find that perfect gift for my son. (And for fairies to come and magically wrap all our presents!)

Do you have a treasured Christmas food?

Not really!

Do you have a Christmas book you’d like to share?

I have LOTS of Christmas books! https://www.amazon.com/Ephraim-Seven-Sons-Book-5-ebook/dp/B077YWQVS8 EPHRAIM is the newest!

EPHRAIM Summary: 

Maria Villanueva is still unhappy that her brother was taken from her and put into a foster home--which was really a boys' ranch--four and a half years before. When she finishes her education, she moves to the town closest to his location to start a business and be close to her brother. She expresses her unhappiness for the situation with one of the brothers running the ranch, and he makes sure she spends more time there to see what the ranch is really like.

Ephraim McClain knows within minutes of meeting Maria that she is the woman he's destined to spend his life with. He offers her the first client for her new business, and does his best to make sure she's always around him. As they get to know one another, he loses his heart. Will she be able to understand that the ranch is a good place? Or will she continue to battle her feelings for him?

Giveaway

Why don’t I giveaway a random bag o’ crap? A bag filled with swag and a couple of signed books, etc.

Kirsten Osbourne, Author

Kirsten Osbourne hails from the state of Wisconsin, lived in Texas for almost thirty years, and recently has found the perfect family home in Idaho. She is a mother, a writer, and a wife. Married to the love of her life for over fifteen years, she knows that true love exists and wants to share her vision of love with the world. Writing is something she has always loved and plans on doing for a long time into the future.

Kirsten Osbourne writes contemporary romance as well as historical. She invites you to join her world of fantasy and make believe where there is always a happily ever after at the end.

Website: http://www.kirstenandmorganna.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Kirsten.Os/

@AuthorKOSBOURNE

https://pinterest.com/authorkirsteno/kirsten-osbourne-books

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pioneerhearts/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/contemporarywesternhearts/

Follow on Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Osbourne/e/B005G995IS

Follow on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kirsten-osbourne

THE NEW WILD WESTERN WOMEN IS HERE!

The WILD WESTERN WOMEN are at it again! The winter holidays find them in Mistletoe, Montana and a bit inconvenienced because of a blizzard—make that a series of blizzards and a measles epidemic. How do they manage? You’ll have to read the books to find out! WILD WESTERN WOMEN MISTLETOE, MONTANA's  link is: https://amzn.com/B01M6BD4TB

Novellas included are:

MISTLETOE MISTAKE by Caroline Clemmons – When the sheriff sent for a town doctor, he didn’t expect a woman.

MISTLETOE SCANDAL by Sylvia McDaniel – A city girl, a cowboy, and a dog trapped together in a blizzard discover Christmas wishes can come true.

MISTLETOE AND MOONBEAMS by Merry Farmer – He stopped at her saloon to rest but they ended up trapped alone together for a week!

MAIL-ORDER MERRY by Kirsten Osbourne – He wanted an independent wife, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted her to come with two young children and a nurse!

I haven't read all of them yet, but I sighed with pleasure when I read MISTLETOE AND MOONBEAMS by Merry Farmer.  I got carried away with too many people involved in the measles epidemic in MISTLETOE MISTAKE, but I still enjoyed the story. You can bet I'll read the other two stories now that the box set is released.

KIRSTEN OSBOURNE, CHAMPION CAT HERDER!

Kirsten Osbourne

Kirsten Osbourne is a creative writer who conceived a massive undertaking that is working! She wanted to have a group of writers spin novels from a single event that spread across to each state in the United States. Eventually, she included the territories, too—50  books, 50 mail-order brides all beginning in the fall of 1890. Because Kween Kirsten (as she is known on the Pioneer Hearts Facebook Group) is incredibly popular with her fans and other western historical authors, she had instant response.

Kirsten Osbourne for the win!

Several of her friends from the Pioneer Hearts Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/pioneerhearts/)  assisted in setting up this American Mail-Order Brides Series project. Kirsten had such response that she added the territories to the states of 1890 to give more authors a chance to participate. Honestly, can you imagine her convincing forty-five writers to actually keep her “Sooper Sekrit Project” a secret? Talk about herding cats. ☺

Cowboys herding cats

You probably know that Kirsten Osbourne wrote the Prequel and it’s available FREE at www.newwesternromance.com along with a brief description and cover photo for each of the fifty books.  They’ve been released one-a-day since November 19 and continue through January 7th. Erin Dameron Hill designed the cover drape of the American flag and did most of the covers (including mine).

Each book is available on Amazon for $2.99 and through Kindle Unlimited’s subscription service for the first 90 days. After that, some will be distributed to other venues as well—author’s choice. If you haven’t joined those snapping up these western historical romances, give them a try. Each author has her own voice and writing style, so there is great diversity even though they all involve a mail-order bride heroine. Some include humor, some pathos, all have a happily-ever-after ending. I like that, don’t you?

There my cover is, far right, fourth row,
PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON.

I read for entertainment and pleasure. If I wanted to be upset, I’d watch the evening news. For reading, I want to go to a happy place where the good guys always win and the heroine and hero find a soul mate. That, my reader friends, is satisfaction!

Cup of tea, good book in print or
e-reader equals a perfect escape.

ROMANCE NOVEL HEAT LEVELS

I write all heat level except erotica. I think whether or not the couple has sex depends on the characters and their situation but some readers don’t understand the difference in the ratings. Please let me explain the way I see these ratings.

 Sweet – This involves no touching below the neck except the arms and hands. I have written sweet novels over the years. More of them later than earlier. A great author to read for sweet romance novels is Debra Holland and her Montana Sky series and Mail Order Brides of the West series. Another, if you like humor, is Kirsten Osbourne. My sweet novels are O’NEILL’S TEXAS BRIDE, WINTER BRIDE, STONE MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS (novella), TABITHA’S JOURNEY (novella), LONG WAY HOME (novella), STONE MOUNTAIN REUNION (a short story) and the contemporaries HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME and mysteries DEATH IN THE GARDEN and ALMOST HOME. One of my favorite sweet with a hard edge series is the 1947 serial WOMEN OF COURAGE: LOVE RELEASED by Geri Foster. This is superb writing that keeps me hooked on every line. I feel as if I know these characters personally.

Sensual – Many of my novels fall into this category. There’s consummated sex but it’s not of the super-steamy variety. Those include GABE KINCAID, HIGH STAKES BRIDE, SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME (novella), THE MOST UNSUITABLE HUSBAND, OUT OF THE BLUE (time travel), MAIL ORDER PROMISE (in the duet MAIL-ORDER TANGLE with Jacquie Rogers) and the contemporary BE MY GUEST. In fact, some of sex scenes are between a hero and heroine who are married. Those would be BRAZOS BRIDE (now free), THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE (now free), THE MOST UNSUITABLE COURTSHIP, BLUEBONNET BRIDE, McCLINTOCK’S RELUCTANT BRIDE, and THE MOST UNSUITABLE WIFE. If you like sensual novels, you’ll enjoy reading books by Cynthia Woolf, Callie Hutton, Jacquie Rogers, and Sylvia McDaniel.

Steamy – Involves more graphic sexual terms and longer sex scenes. I’m not sure I’ve written any novels in the steamy category, but if I have it’s the contemporary SNOWFIRES.  Someone who does steamy extremely well is Anna Jeffrey. Her THE TYCOON and THE CATTLEMAN will leave you breathless. I can hardly wait until she releases the third in the Sons of Texas series, THE HORSEMAN. In the meantime, you can preorder her super steamy DESIRED for only 99 cents.

Erotica --  Graphic and may include BDSM. One I’ve read that was well-written was by Sylvia Day. Other well known authors are E. L. James and Desiree Holt. I haven’t written anything in this genre.  

Every reader has specific expectations from a novel. Whatever you want from your time spent reading, there’s a romance novel waiting to take you on an exciting adventure with a happily ever after ending.

YEE HAW! WE'RE RIDING AGAIN!

Thanks to those of you who purchased the first WILD WESTERN WOMEN box set last fall (that set is still available). The five of us in that box set enjoyed such success that we created another edition called WILD WESTERN WOMEN RIDE AGAIN for the same great price of 99 cents for five novellas. Even those like me who abhor math can figure out the price is less than 20 cents for each novella. The difference is that this time the box set is available only at Amazon.

Here are the novellas in WILD WESTERN WOMEN RIDE AGAIN:

USA Today Best Selling Author Kirsten Osbourne

Mail Order Mischief

When Elizabeth Miller agreed to manage a mail order bride agency eight years before, she'd had no idea that it would leave her lonely and isolated. She has secretly loved one man for almost a decade, and she is about to give up on marrying for love entirely. When she receives a letter from a man in Fort Worth looking for a bride, she considers becoming a mail order bride herself, because by doing so, she could be close to her sister. She doesn't want to be alone for the rest of her life.

Bernard Tandy agrees to work for Elizabeth after his life is shattered. As he slowly heals and picks up the pieces, he gets to know his beautiful employer. As the years go by, he realizes he is falling for her more and more, but he knows his place in life. When she insists on taking a trip to Fort Worth to check out a potential groom and see her sister, he knows he can't send her alone.  Will he be able to survive the long train ride to Fort Worth without letting his feelings show? Or will Elizabeth somehow convince him that they are meant to be? 

USA Today Best Selling Author Callie Hutton

Daniel’s Desire: In the Shadow of War (also available as a single title)

When Confederate soldier, Lt. Daniel McCoy makes his escape from a Union prison toward the end of the Civil War, his only thought is to get as far away from enemy territory as possible. But he doesn’t count on saving young widow Rosemarie Wilson’s life from an infected leg wound.  

Rosemarie has no use for Rebels soldiers, having lost everything, including her husband, the last time they came to her home. However, Daniel has not only saved her life, but is sticking around to help with the farm and her three young children until she recovers. 

With Union soldiers searching for him, every day that Daniel remains puts him in danger. Or is it the beautiful, feisty widow who has captured his heart the greater risk?

Best-selling Author Caroline Clemmons

Tabitha’s Journey (also available as a single title in the Stone Mountain series)

Would you become a mail-order bride?

Tabitha Masterson is certain whatever awaits her in Radford Crossing, Texas will be better than what her brother and that awful William have in mind for her in Boston. After her father’s death, her brother becomes a tyrant. She escapes to begin her new life in Texas, but trouble can’t be far behind. She believes if she’s married when trouble arrives, she’ll be safe. But her fiancé is reluctant to accept her as a substitute for the mail-order bride he’d courted.

Bear Baldwin is crushed when he receives a wire notifying him that the woman with whom he has corresponded for almost a year has passed him off to her friend. Do the two women believe he’s like an old shirt to be handed down? His mother urges him to give the substitute fiancée a chance, but his pride is stung and he hasn’t decided.

Best-selling Author Sylvia McDaniel

Scandalous Suffragette Brides: Abigail (launches a great new series)

Women Wanted – Feisty, Head Strong Women Need Not Apply

In New Hope, Texas women like children, are to be seen and not heard. Their only job in life is to marry, procreate and be a loyal, obedient wife. Thus the shortage of available women. Until, Abigail Vanderhooten is unexpectedly called home, her head filled with ideas of changing the world where a woman can own a business and have a bank account. This little rebel is determined to bring the town’s laws into the nineteenth century, even if it means sacrificing her reputation.

Jack Turner likes being the mayor in a small, quiet western town where the biggest rabble rousers are cowboys on Saturday night. Everything is about to change when Abigail Vanderhooten, a tiny sprite of a woman returns to town, ready to take on the local laws. While trying to keep the town from splitting apart, he’s surprised how her strong spirit captivates him. And he’s shocked when she manages to worm her way into his bachelor heart, with her controversial ideas of women earning a living the same as a man.

With a woman’s revolution brewing, will Jack be forced to run her out of town, before he has a chance to convey how she’s changed him. Or will Abigail give up on New Hope, Texas and return to Boston?

Best-selling Author Merry Farmer

Trail Blaze

Darcy Howsam has one last chance to be a respectable woman and to have a secure life: traveling along the Oregon Trail to become a mail-order bride for a miner in California. But when the man who paid her way to meet him at Ft. Laramie takes one look at her and rejects her, demanding his money back, Darcy finds herself alone and desperate…. That is, until handsome stranger, Gregory Quinlan comes along. Greg isn’t looking for a wife, but love has other plans.

These are fun stories, some with action and danger. Don't miss out on this good reading box set. Want to grab your copy? Here’s that link again at Amazon.

 Thanks for stopping by!

YIPPEE! AN AUSSIE INVASION!

What a wonderful and hectic weekend this has been. My online friend Susan Horsnell and her husband Robert arrived Thursday from Australia. In addition to their other trip goals, Susan hoped to meet several western historical authors and see Texas firsthand. To help welcome them, Hero and I hosted a little get together Sunday. Several authors and their spouses came to meet Susan in person after knowing her online for several years.

Susan Horsnell (in white) shows Hebby Roman
and Kirsten Osbourne something on her laptop

In addition to moi, writers included Susan Horsnell, Kirsten Osbourne, Carra Copelin, Lyn Horner, Brenda Chitwood, and Hebby Roman. In addition to Hero, husbands included Robert, Keith, Jerry, Ken, and Luis.

Carra Copelin's hubby Jerry and Robert Horsnell at table. Kirsten Osbourne's husband Keith in dark red shirt in the corner is talking to Luis Roman (behind Jerry).

You can image my excitement.  Hero and I used to give huge dinner parties, but we have so-o-o lost the knack. Panic! Darling Daughter 2 came to help out. Eventually we realized these are friends who are not going to be super critical as long as there’s enough to eat and lots of laughter. 

You can’t get a group of writers together and not have talking and laughing. Not possible. You may have heard the din from where you are.

Carra Copelin and Lyn Horner with me
standing behind Lyn

You may wonder why Susan writes Texas-set historical romances when she lives in Australia. Why not? Many Americans write English Regencies or English-set mysteries. Besides, those of us who love the Old West can’t help ourselves. Another besides, Susan also writes books set in Australia. We simply have to tell our stories. 

Hero and Luis Roman

There are a lot of similarities between the Australian frontier and the Old West of the United States. Perhaps that’s why writing stories set in Texas came natural to Susan. (She also writes erotica as Lacey Roberts and those are set anywhere.)

Darling Daughter 2 and Hero

Susan is a retired nurse and, as such, has worked in a variety of interesting jobs. She’s very knowledgeable and adept at discussing medicine. Robert is a retired Commodore from the Royal Australian Navy, which means he’s only one step from an Admiral. Sounds impressive, but he’s a very down-to-earth guy who’s a good conversationalist.  

Carra Copelin, Lyn Horner, and Brenda Chitwood

In addition to her writing, Susan hosts the free website and blog, Easychair Book Shop at http://easychairbookshop.com Susan demonstrates her nurturing ability by promoting other authors work on her site. Stop by and check out the site if you haven’t already done so.

Hmmm. Masked bandit is wearing the same shirt as Brenda. 

During their visit, we had great plans for touring Fort Worth, but snow and ice played havoc with those plans. Sadly, Susan and Robert are leaving Tuesday to head for Houston, San Antonio and New Orleans. They’ll return here the 16^th for several nights before boarding their plane to return home.

Susan forefront in white. Behind her, left to right, Lyn Horner in green, Carra Copelin in flowered top, Brenda Chitwood, Hebby Roman in black and burgundy, Kirsten Osbourne in turquoise print, and (sadly) me, in a flowing tunic that makes me look the size of a house. So much for wearing a knit tunic to be comfortable!

Hero and I count ourselves very fortunate to have Susan and Robert visit. Wish you could have been here too! Next time we’ll save a bowl of chili and some cornbread for you.

WILD WESTERN WOMEN - NEW BARGAIN-PRICED BOX SET

What a pleasure to announce that I’m included in a box set with four of my favorite authors. WILD WESTERN WOMEN has been available for pre-order, but the release date is finally here! On November 1, the group of five historical western romance novellas and two bonus short stories is available for Kindle and iTunes and will soon be on Nook and Kobo. Woo Hoo!

The title doesn’t necessarily mean the heroines are wild—although you can form your own opinion by reading the box set. And it doesn't necessarily mean that the western women who wrote the novellas are wild.--but that might well be true. I'm not telling! ☺

Actually, we intended the title to refer to the strong women who lived in the Wild West. Each deserved the equally strong man with whom she fell in love. Here are the five novellas and their authors:

USA Today Best Selling Author Kirsten Osbourne – MAIL ORDER MISUNDERSTANDING

Julia traveled West to be a schoolteacher. Thomas requested a mail order bride. When he arrives at the train station to pick up his bride, Thomas mistakenly thinks Julia is there for him. Julia sees Thomas and thinks he's there from the school board. She's married an hour later.

USA Today Best Selling Author Callie Hutton – A CHANCE TO LOVE AGAIN

Widow Rachel Stevens is very happy with her job as a cook for the Lazy Sunset ranch where she is raising her son. However, the new foreman, Rusty McIntyre, is turning her life upside down. She could overlook how her son has begun to idolize Rusty, but she’s having a heck of a time ignoring the flutters in her stomach every time the man smiles at her.

But Rusty has problems of his own. His previously unknown fourteen year old daughter has just arrived to live with him. Used to always being on his own, now he has a young boy following him around imitating his every move, and a surly young lady glaring at him. Throw into the mix the tug he feels toward the ranch cook—who wants no part of him—and life is no longer as easy as it once was.

Best Selling Author Caroline Clemmons – SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME

After fleeing an abusive husband six years ago, Beth Jeffers wants nothing more than to protect her son Davey and to help her mother operate a Texas Hill Country boarding house. The strong women in her family have had no luck with men, and she has no intention of letting any man influence her son. Not even handsome lawman Matt Petrov, no matter how much her lonely heart urges otherwise.

Federal Marshall Matt Petrov, also known as Lone Wolf Peters, fell in love with Beth the first time he saw her. Then she was another man’s wife, so he kept his longing a secret. But he’s saved his love for her for six horrific years. Now, the lovely widow and he have crossed paths again. This time, he intends to risk all for a chance at happiness. First he must rescue his distant kinsman from an assassin’s clutches and protect Beth’s son Davey from the villain. Mystery, kidnapping, and twists await Matt and Beth. But will Matt’s secrets shatter the love he and Beth share?

Best Selling Author Sylvia McDaniel – DESPERATE

After the death of their father, the McKenzie sisters, Meg, Annabelle and Ruby try the normal ways for women to earn a living in a small western town. When they fail, the McKenzie sisters decide to take up their father’s profession, bounty hunting. They quickly learn they can use their feminine wiles and their Baby Dragoons to earn their way in the old west. They’re tough and resilient, badass women in this historical western novella. Kick off the adventure with the first installment of the new series, Lipstick and Lead with DESPERATE.

Best Selling Author Merry Farmer – THE INDOMITABLE EVE

The one thing Eve deLaurent has wished for in the two years since her sister, Amelia, was whisked away to America was to be a family again. But the tragedy that befell her once Amelia was gone has left her wounded, body and soul. Now, reunited with her sister, all Eve wants to do is run. Amelia’s new, happy life is a betrayal deeper than Eve can stand. She would leave and never look back, were it not for Mark Andrews.

As Cold Springs’s reverend, Mark is used to people confiding their darkest sins and looking to him for help. So when he sees the pain behind Eve’s mask of confidence, all he wants to do is help her. But Eve awakens a desire in him that reminds him that even a man of God is still a man. They seem to be everything the other wants and needs, but can the people of Cold Springs accept an actress in their pastor’s arms? Can they be together if bitter family betrayals keep Eve and Amelia at each other’s throats?

You’re only as strong as the loves that hold you together...

Plus Bonus Short Stories from Caroline Clemmons (“Stone Mountain Reunion”) and Merry Farmer, ("A Hero's Heart").

All of this at the bargain price of 99 cents!

Buy links are:

Amazon                AmazonUK             iTunes

Thanks for stopping by!