Four Things on a Friday, Summer Edition

So many interesting things, so little time! Here are four that came past my gaze in recent weeks I thought you would want to know about as we move into summer:

• A free Regency paper doll to print and color. Flora looks like she would be oodles of fun, besides being nicely period correct. Find the doll here and her clothing here.
• Summer reading. Not sure how long it will last, but one of the lovely Timeless Regency anthologies, Spring in Hyde Park, is on sale for 99 cents. 
• Eye candy when you’re inside hiding from the heat. I’ve been slowly adding to my Pinterest boards, with nearly 300 tall ship pictures, more than 200 cowboys, and nearly 150 of drool-worthy English estates. I generally don’t go mad for a certain designer, but oh, the House of Worth! That board has more than two dozen historical gowns and more coming.    
• More ideas on dealing with the heat. Check out this lovely video on how historical ladies and gentlemen stayed cool.

Here’s to a lovely summer!

Cowboys with Benefits

What do you think of when you think of cowboys? Pintos and paints? Finely tooled leather boots? A Stetson set at a cocky angle? Charm and power rolled into one?

How about books, recipes, and silver necklaces?

Yes, it seems having your first Western out calls for quite the party. First up, thanks to those who played the Cowboy Name Game! The winner of the autographed copy of A Rancher of Convenience is sharyonda. Congratulations! E-mail your physical address to reginascott@owt.com, and I’ll send that right out to you.

But wait, there’s more!

To celebrate the publication of all three of the Lone Star Cowboy League: The Founding Years books, my publisher is offering free on Amazon a collection of recipes related to the stories plus extended excerpts. Here’s one of the recipes to tantalize you, courtesy of Louise M. Gouge.  

Still here? Good. Because there’s even more!

To highlight all the fabulous Western romances available this month, my publisher Love Inspired is offering a chance at a copy of five books plus a beautiful silver necklace from Montana Silversmiths. 

Do not enter on this blog! You have to go to the Harlequin site to enter. Click here, and good luck!

Because, who knew cowboys came with benefits?

Launching a Rancher

It’s finally here! My first official “Western” romance arrives on bookstore shelves today. A Rancher of Convenience is the third story in the Lone Star Cowboy League: The Founding Years series, following Renee Ryan’s Stand-In Rancher Daddy and Louise M. Gouge’s A Family for the Rancher. However, you don’t have to read those books to understand this one.

Sweet mail-order bride Nancy Bennett can’t believe it when her husband is exposed as a cattle rustler—and killed. And when the banker holding the ranch’s mortgage questions whether she can run the ranch on her own, the pregnant widow has nowhere to turn. Until steady foreman Hank Snowden proposes marriage.

Racked with grief about his role in Lucas Bennett’s death, Hank resolves to do right by the man’s wife and child. So it’s natural for him to step in as Nancy’s newly minted husband. But the marriage of convenience may become more than a mere obligation…if only Hank and his bride can brave the first steps toward elusive true love.

Reviewer John Charles at Booklist had this to say about the book: “A smartly crafted, emotionally engaging love story that also admirably celebrates the inner grit and outer gumption needed by the women who settled the West.” 

I had some trouble naming Hank in this story. You see, he arrived with the name Clyde Parker, which I didn’t cotton to. Changes to the story necessitated that Clyde be a crotchety older rancher, so my cowboy told me he’d rather be named Hank anyway.

Wonder what the name of the cowboy in your life might be? Play my handy dandy little game below. If you share the results in the comments before 9pm Eastern Time on Thursday, September 8, I’ll enter you in a drawing to win an autographed copy of the book.

You can find A Rancher of Convenience at fine stores near you and online.

Harlequin 

Amazon  

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo  

iBooks 

Indiebound 

The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

Welcome to the Cowboys of Little Horn

They’re here! The cowboys of 1895 Little Horn, Texas, have begun arriving. Renee Ryan’s Stand-In Rancher Daddy (July) introduced readers to 19^th century Little Horn, a small town made up of ranchers with big hearts, and now Louise M. Gouge’s A Family for the Rancher takes it one step farther, showing life on a cattle ranch and one dedicated to breeding cattle ponies.

Rancher Edmund McKay likes his life simple and quiet—everything feisty neighbor Lula May Barlow is not! But with a cattle rustler on the loose, he’s duty-bound to protect the widowed mother, even without her approval. Yet he never expected to enjoy her company. And he certainly never thought her crowded, bustling house would be the first place he’d ever feel at home…

After a harsh childhood, Lula May knows how to stand on her own two feet. She doesn’t need Edmund’s help—but she’s starting to want it, all the same. So are her children, who clearly have matchmaking in mind. And when a threat from the past resurfaces, she realizes all that’s at stake…including her chance for a lifetime of love.

 

If you just can’t wait to learn more about Little Horn, A Rancher of Convenience, this year’s finale by yours truly, from the publisher now in print and ebook or preorder it on Amazon. And we’ll be sure to whoop it up when the book comes out officially in early September.

you can also buy

Because what are cowboys without a hoedown?

Longing for Little Horn

I’ve been privileged to write about some wonderful settings. England’s Lakes District in the late Georgian era. Regency London. Pioneer Seattle. And now, Little Horn, Texas.

 

Never heard of it? I’m not surprised. Little Horn, Texas, is the brainchild of the amazing editors at Love Inspired. They conceived of a small town populated by big-hearted ranchers. Six books came out in late 2015 and early 2016 about the town today. And, starting in July, Renee Ryan, Louise M. Gouge, and I have the honor of taking readers back to the founding years.

You see, these books are what my publisher calls a continuity. That is, the location, characters, and overall story arc crosses three or more books and are developed by the editors. They create a “bible” describing places and people and the overall plots, then hand it to the authors to flesh things out and make the stories come alive. Renee, Louise, and I worked closely together to make sure we were describing things in similar ways, from the way characters talked to the sound of the wheezy organ in the church. We also hammered out plot points and the transitions between books. In addition, because our heroines all turned out to be good cooks, we came up with a cookbook of recipes for the time period (Lone Star Cowboy League: The Cookbook :-)). It will come out in September with extended excerpts from our three books.

I undertook the endeavor as a challenge, and there were times it was just that. From the beginning of my career, I tended to interconnect my books, often on the fly. Now I had to not only keep track of the details in my story but the details in everyone else’s story as well. My stories often evolve as I write them, with characters becoming more defined with each draft. Now I had to be very purposeful. For example, I couldn’t suddenly decide to give my hero a mustache without letting the other authors know so they could give him one as well! (No worries—no mustache. J)

I fussed enough about getting plot and characterization consistent among the books and historically accurate that I told my husband and critique partner I never wanted to write another continuity again!

And then my editor asked if I would revisit Little Horn for the 2017 continuity set there. Once more I’d get to end a great set of stories, this time featuring orphaned triplets.

How do you say no to cowboys AND triplets?

So, I am happy to announce that I will be writing another cowboy story set in Little Horn to be published in mid-2017.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll give some of the Little Horn stories a try. They are all part of the series called Lone Star Cowboy League. Here’s the list and publication dates so far:

• A Reunion for the Rancher, Brenda Minton, October 2015 (contemporary romance)
• A Doctor for the Nanny, Leigh Bale, November 2015 (contemporary romance)
• A Ranger for the Holidays, Allie Pleiter, December 2015 (contemporary romance)
• A Family for the Soldier, Carolyne Aarsen, January 2016 (contemporary romance)
• A Daddy for Her Triplets, Deb Kastner, February 2016 (contemporary romance)
• A Baby for the Rancher, Margaret Daley, March 2016 (contemporary romance)
• Stand-In Rancher Daddy, Renee Ryan, July 2016 (historical romance)
• A Family for the Rancher, Louise M. Gouge, August 2016 (historical romance)
• A Rancher of Convenience, Regina Scott, September 2016 (historical romance).

A new set of contemporary romances starts in October titled, Lone Star Cowboy League: Boys Ranch. Guess I’ll be moseying back to Little Horn come fall. J