#NEW RELEASE -- GARNET #GIVEAWAY

Yee Haw! Today is release day for GARNET, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge, book 9. I’m so excited about this book and I hope readers will be too. Writing in a multi-author series is fun but not easy. Everything has to be coordinated so none of us contradicts the others. 

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

Garnet is a spunky heroine. She was brave enough to leave Georgia to become the mail-order bride of Michael Chandler and help him operate his Crystal Cafe. Only nine months after she arrived, a terrible disaster occurred and Mike, his brother Joe, and sister-in-law Dessie were killed. This left Garnet managing the café on her own, taking charge of her niece and nephew, and grieving for those who died.

She’s not one to have a pity-party. Instead, she works hard to fulfill her duties at the Crystal Café and take care of Hyacinth, age 6, and Joey, age 8. She’s devoted to these precious children and even enjoys the café—if only she had someone to help her. Then, she has a prowler in her rooms above the café. What if the children or she were hurt? Who prowled through her things and why?

Adam Bennett is a rugged bounty hunter who slips up and is waylaid by the man he’s chasing along with his two cronies. After a severe beating, they kick him into a deep ravine and make off with his horse, pack mule, and all his gear. Eventually he struggles out of the ravine and down the mountain to Wildcat Ridge and the Crystal Café.  Will a paper marriage help or hinder his search?

Here’s an excerpt when Adam show up at the café the day after the prowler:

A loud rap at the back door startled her. She kept the curtains closed unless they were serving food and couldn’t see who had knocked.

Joey grabbed his stick. “Don’t answer it. Might be the robber there.”

She wiped her hands on her apron. “Or a friend who needs something.” Joey didn’t know the Colt .45 was in her apron pocket. After taking a deep, bracing breath, she opened the door.

The dirtiest man she’d ever seen stood there. His beard was as dirty as his clothes. Fresh cuts showed through the mud on his face. He was tall and broad-shouldered but looked as if he could barely stand.

“Ma’am, my name is Adam Bennett. Please don’t be put off by my appearance. I was robbed up the mountain a ways and lost all my gear. I’m mighty hungry. If you need anything done, I’d like to work for a meal.”

Joey was by her side. “He isn’t the one from last night.” All the same, her nephew kept his pick handle in his hand.

“We’re the Chandlers. Come in and sit down. Wait, wash your hands and face at the sink first. You can’t handle food while you’re that filthy.”

While the man washed his hands, she filled a plate from leftovers and poured a cup of coffee. “Joey, please get my medicine box from upstairs.”

He leaned close. “I don’t think I should leave you alone while he’s here.”

Joey took being man of the family seriously. “Oh, all right. Hyacinth, would you get the medicine box for me?”

“How come he doesn’t have to and I do?” Usually sweet, Hyacinth was a bit spoiled and definitely jealous of her brother.”

“Because Mr. Bennett is injured and needs our help. Please hurry.”

Her niece stomped up the stairs while muttering under her breath, her golden curls bouncing with each step.

When Garnet glanced at the man, she saw he’d wolfed down his food. “I’ll get you more. How long since you’ve eaten?”

“Not sure how long I was in and out of consciousness up there. They attacked me on Saturday. What day is this?”

“Monday. No wonder you’re hungry.” She set another plate of food in front of him and refilled his cup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I had a lot of fun with Garnet and Adam, the children, the children’s grandparents, and the people in Wildcat Ridge. The villain is an especially dangerous one but our hero and heroine are up to the challenge—we hope!

The universal Amazon buy link is http://getbook.at/GarnetWOWR.  

GARNET is available in e-book, print, and is free in KU. I hope you’ll read and enjoy GARNET.

To celebrate the release, I’m offering a $5 Amazon gift card to three people who comment here.

THE WIDOWS OF WILDCAT RIDGE

Have you read any of the exciting new series, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge? This series takes place in a mining town in Utah in which a horrendous tragedy has occurred. In one mine disaster, many miners were trapped. Townspeople rushed to help when a second blast happened, killing those who’d offered aid. As a result, there are numerous widows and orphans left in the town of Wildcat Ridge.   

The series deals with these widows and orphans. Charlene Raddon conceived the series and invited nine additional authors to participate. Some of us have more than one book in the series. Charlene did all the covers and chose the names of the widows and at least one of the orphans.                 

PRISCILLA, the first book in the series, released September 15, 2018. BLESSING, by me, released October 1, 2018. Releases continue through May 15, 2019. Below are a few of the books:

JOSEPHINE, by Kit Morgan, released November 30, 2018.

ELEANORA, by Pam Crooks, released January 1, 2019.

GARNET, by Caroline Clemmons, will release January 16, 2019. Now available for preorder at http://getbook.at/GarnetWOWR

GRACE, by Tracy Garrett, will release on February 1, 2019.

ROSEMARY, by Kristy McCaffrey, will release February 15, 2019.

A SNEAK PEEK AT GARNET!

What a wonderful year 2019 will be! I believe in the power of positive thinking. There are so many things in my life for which I’m grateful—my husband Hero, our daughters, our home, the freedom to write my stories, and so much more. With all these treasures, the year promises to go well.

Today, I want to give you a sneak peek at my upcoming January 16 release, GARNET, one of the Widows of Wildcat Ridge Series. I believe this will be the ninth book in that series with more great reads to come. If you’ve been keeping up, you know we’re releasing a book every two weeks through May. Each book is titled by the heroine’s first name.

Charlene Raddon, who conceived the series, created all the covers. In my opinion, she has done a fabulous job. I love the way the woman’s head shot is merged into the Utah landscape.

Garnet is one of the women widowed by the mine explosions. She has in her charge her niece and nephew who were orphaned by the disaster. Now she is stretched thin operating the café alone while caring for two children and grieving for all the friends and kin who died. As if that wasn’t enough, the previous night she had a prowler in her rooms over her Crystal Café:

Here’s an excerpt from GARNET:

A loud rap at the back door startled her. She kept the curtains closed unless they were serving food and she couldn’t see who had knocked.

Joey grabbed his stick. “Don’t answer it. Might be the robber there.”

She wiped her hands on her apron. “Or a friend who needs something.” Joey didn’t know the Colt was in her apron pocket. After taking a deep, bracing breath, she opened the door.

The dirtiest man she’d ever seen stood there with his arm braced on the door frame. His beard was as dirty as his clothes. Fresh cuts showed through the mud on his face. He was tall and broad-shouldered but looked as if he could barely stand.

“Ma’am, my name is Adam Bennett. Please don’t be put off by my appearance. I was robbed up the mountain a ways and lost all my gear. I’m mighty hungry. If you need anything done, I’d work for a meal.”

Joey was by her side. “He isn’t the one from last night.” All the same, her nephew kept his pick handle in his hand.

“We’re the Chandlers. Come in and sit down. Wait, wash your hands and face at the sink first. You can’t handle food while you’re that filthy.”

While the man washed his hands, she filled a plate from leftovers and poured a cup of coffee. “Joey, please get my medicine box from upstairs.”

He leaned close. “I don’t think I should leave you alone while he’s here.”

Joey took being man of the family seriously. “Oh, all right. Hyacinth, would you get the medicine box for me?”

“How come he doesn’t have to and I do?” Usually sweet, Hyacinth was a bit spoiled and definitely jealous of her brother.”

“Because Mr. Bennett is injured and needs our help. Please hurry.”

Her niece stomped up the stairs while muttering under her breath, her golden curls bouncing with each step.

When Garnet glanced at the man, she saw he’d wolfed down his food. “I’ll get you more. How long since you’ve eaten?”

“Not sure how long I was in and out of consciousness up there. They attacked me late morning on Saturday. What day is this?”

“Monday. No wonder you’re hungry.” She set another plate of food in front of him and refilled his cup.

Although the book won’t be released until January 16, it is already available for preorder. I love that feature, don’t you? On the day of release, the book magically pops up on my Kindle. No Abracadabra necessary.

Universal buy link for ALL Amazon stores: http://getbook.at/GarnetWOWR

BLESSING RELEASED TODAY AND GIVEAWAY!

Before we moved to the city, we lived in a rural area which included numerous successful horse and cattle ranches. I love writing about the West, especially the Old West, and enjoyed knowing these ranches were nearby. As a child, my dream was to ride the range with Roy Rogers, fighting rustlers and injustice. If I couldn’t do that, at least I lived near real cowboys and ranchers.

When Charlene Raddon invited me to take part in her new series, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge, I was flattered and intrigued. I had never written a book set in Utah. In fact, I’d only been in Utah briefly a couple of times and never to the part featured in the series. Still, Charlene had an interesting premise and I couldn’t say no.

Writers have to stretch themselves occasionally or find themselves in a rut. This series stretched my reserves but I persevered. I’m pleased with the result and I hope readers will share my enthusiasm. This is a wonderful new series that I know readers are going to love!

Charlene has also created the cover for each book in this series. Each book is a woman’s name. Blessing finds her name too fussy and prefers to be called Buster. I love the expression on her face on the cover, don't you? I think the model looks sweet and gentle, which she is, but she's no pushover. She's learned to stand up for herself and takes being in charge of a large ranch seriously.

Here’s the BLESSING blurb:

With the death of her father last month, Blessing Odell inherited the largest ranch in that part of Utah, the Rafter O. She goes by the nickname Buster and wears men’s overalls but they can’t disguise her regal beauty and natural grace. She is also generous to the community, which is why she’s splitting proceeds from the sale of 100 horses with the widows of Wildcat Ridge.

Thad King has tracked stolen horses to the Rafter O Ranch. He’s determined to capture and see punished the horse thieves who beat his former employer before stealing his horses. He is successful in being hired to work on the ranch, but he doesn’t want to believe Buster Odell or her father had anything to do with stealing horses.

Convinced of her father’s innocence, Buster and Thad work to discover the real culprit. Their search leads them on a dangerous journey.

Here’s an excerpt from BLESSING:

Her foreman said, “Not sure. Maybe the bill of sale is mixed up in some the other papers. There was such a mess we might not have gotten all the papers where they go.”

She thumbed through a stack of receipts. “That’s true but I thought I’d gone through everything. I even brought all the papers down from Papa’s room and I’ve sorted them.”

Thad stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “Well, if you don’t have a bill of sale, how can you claim they’re not stolen?”

She peered into his face, ready to punch him in the mouth. “My papa did not steal horses and would never have bought stolen horses! You can get that idea out of your head right now. I’ll find the bill of sale. Give me a few days and I’ll find that piece of paper and make you eat it.”

“You show it to me and I’ll be happy to.”

Amazon buy link: http://Getbook.at/blessingWOWR

On January 15, I’ll release GARNET, another of The Widows of Wildcat Ridge Series. Watch for the release every two weeks of the next book in the series. The first, PRISCILLA by Charlene Raddon, was released on September 15. NISSA by Zina Abbott will be released on October 15. Other great authors follow with book releases scheduled through spring.

**Don’t miss joining my Facebook Group, Caroline’s Cuties, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/277082053015947/ 

To celebrate the release of BLESSING, I'm giving away an e-book copy to two people who leave a comment today.