Howdy, fellow western romance readers!
I’m so excited to be back with y’all to talk about books, the West, and history! I’ve learned so much from the posts on Petticoats and Pistols, and I’m glad I get to contribute to this blog.
When I was drafting Bluebonnet Fields, the final book in the Wildflower series, I got to visit the Hill Country in Texas, which is where the bluebonnets grow. It’s also where my grandma is from. And her mother, and her mother’s mother.
They were a family of cotton pickers. Migrant workers.
My grandma grew up running the roads of the Hill Country and picking furrow after furrow of cotton.
But, in between the work, they made time for fun, and dancing was often their favorite activity.
Gruene Hall, in Gruene, Texas, (pronounced “green”), is the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas. It was started in 1878, and it hasn’t changed much at all. The layout of the building is the same—bar at the front, dance floor in the middle, side-flaps for open-air dancing, tin roof, and a small stage opposite the bar. The outdoor garden, with the live oak trees and stone walk-ways are also still the same.
Oh, the fun this building has seen! The music it has heard!
Gruene Hall is one of my favorite places in Texas, and two-stepping or waltzing the night away at this establishment, as so many others have done, is a privilege and an honor.
And in Bluebonnet Fields, I was able to give that joy to Kenna and Levi. It’s where Kenna has her first dance, and where they share their first kiss. It’s truly magical.
And I can imagine my great-grandmothers there, having themselves a grand time, loving the music, dancing the night away, and maybe giving away a kiss or two!
Do you have a favorite historic spot or town that instantly transports you back in time? Please share and one commentor will win a copy of Bluebonnet Fields!
BLUEBONNET FIELDS
Texas, 1890
Kenna Ainsley has no use for love. It only brings betrayal and disappointment. She finds solace in her work as a Harvey Girl, and the independence that brings.
But one day a stranger sits down at her table. He’s a Deputy Sheriff, and before she can blink, he’s dragging her back to Galveston on an erroneous charge that she’s a runaway wife.
Kenna plots her escape. But even as she tries to free herself, her heart is working against her. She’s falling for the handsome Deputy Sheriff, which sends her fleeing to the one place she swore she would never go.
Deputy Sheriff Levi Brandt has plans, and Kenna is at the center of them. After one look at her, he knows there’s no way in hell she’s gonna end up hitched to anyone else but him. But he’s gonna have to do some heavy lifting to get her to trust him. Lucky for her, he welcomes the weight. No matter how far she runs, he’ll find her. Always.
Excerpt
When Kenna entered the hall on the arm of Levi, she took in her surroundings with an excited eye. The dance floor was in the direct center. A bar was at one end, near the main doors, and the stage where the band was playing was opposite it. The area was flanked by tables, and several rectangular windows that had flaps designed to draw in a breeze.
People were about, some at the bar with glasses of beer, some at the tables eating, while couples twirled to the lively reel being played by the band. Kenna knew the tune. She’d heard it once spilling forth from a saloon in Galveston. She’d stopped to listen outside the doors for a brief moment.
“You ready?” Levi asked, leaning down near her ear.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she announced. She looked at him, her pulse racing in anticipation of all that was going to occur and what might occur this night.
He grinned. “Then hang on to me, darlin’, because I don’t intend to let your feet touch the floor.”
And with that, he swept her up into his arms and twirled her onto the dance floor. With his gaze locked on hers, he took her through the lively steps, spinning and whirling her to the strains of the fiddle, guitar, drum, harmonica, and banjo.
Without a care, she put her trust in him, grateful not to have to worry for one night. She was going to forget her cares and let herself go.
When the first dance ended, there was barely a second to breathe before the next one was starting. He never relinquished his hold on her. His arm was tight around her waist, and he was keeping her deliciously close as he expertly slipped them into the waltz that was now being played.
As he turned her about the room, she basked in his intent attention and possessive hold. His gaze was gleaming with heat and promise, with want and delight. She fell into his eyes and hoped in hers he saw her own desire.
The waltz melted into a reel, then back into a waltz once more, and as the evening darkened into night, her heart soared to the Heavens and stayed there. Her head was spinning, her body was humming. She never wanted to let him go.
And when another fellow tapped him on the shoulder, making Levi pause, and indicating his want to cut in, her breath caught in fear that Levi would give her up.
“No,” Levi fairly growled at the man, an instant fury leaping from him.
The fellow raised his brow, then set his jaw and walked off.
Levi immediately began dancing with her again, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
He set his lips next to her ear. “I told you, Kenna, you’re mine for tonight. I’m not sharing.”
She squeezed his hand and curled her fingers more tightly about his arm. An involuntary reaction that showed her pleasure at his gruff vow.
His answer was to tighten his arm about her waist, pulling her even closer.
Book Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bP2ewY
What about you? Do you like to dance? If so, what is your favorite kind and where? Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for one ebook copy of Bluebonnet Fields!
Author Bio
Kara O’Neal is an award-winning author of over thirty historical romances. Humor, family, love, and romance take center stage in her novels, and her characters have been touted as “real, complex, and down-to-earth”. Her books are available in print and ebook.
When not writing, she’s a teacher, but she’s always a mother to three talented children, and the wife of a man quite worthy of being called “hero”.
Telling stories is her passion, and she does so with memorable characters and unique plots certain to keep you reading late into the night! Visit Kara O’Neal at http://www.karaoneal.com.
Where to Find Kara
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As soon as I saw Jacqueline Cochran’s name on the list, I knew I had my patriot. Not only have I always loved the name, I was fascinated that she was a female pilot, something I’d never written before. Even better, her patriotism took root in the 1940s–which worked out perfectly because the six books before mine were set in the late 1700s and mid-1800s. We definitely needed to bump up the locket’s journey to the 20th century!
I am generally loath to crow about my own books, which is sorta silly when you think about it. I mean, who else is going to crow about my books if not me? I’m not good at look at me, though, and if it were possible in this day and age to simply write a book, hand it to my publisher, and then crawl back into my writing cave and start a new one, without ever having to think about said book again, I would do it that way. But publishing doesn’t work like that these days. Maybe it never did.
All that said, I’m here today to be Nan Reinhardt author (<– over there) promoting a brand-new release — out today, as a matter of fact. If you love romance and Montana and spunky heroines and handsome cowboys with big hearts, Help Wanted, Cowboy might just be the book for you. Rory and Millie’s story is book 3 in my Juniper Falls Ranch series, so if you’ve read books 1 and 2, you’ll recognize Beth and Del Foster, who own Juniper Falls Ranch, Gus, their grizzled ranch hand, Bo Kennedy, the former rodeo cowboy turned ranch foreman, and others, as well as the little Montana town of Marietta. Sage’s Chocolate Shop, the Graff Hotel, Copper Mountain—all the places in Marietta that you already know and love are part of the story, too, as Rory and Millie feel their way to their own happily-ever-after. Because of course, there’s always an HEA in a Nan Reinhardt novel.
A Montana bull rider temporarily working as a ranch hand. An OB nurse who wants “a favor.” Two opposites thrown together. A treasure hunt adds to autumn magic. 
Oh, oh, P.S.: If you haven’t been to Juniper Falls Ranch yet, here’s a great opportunity for a first visit–
