A Warm Welcome to Tammy Barley


If you could have dreamed up the ideal way to wake up this morning, what would that have been like? No alarm clock, thick drapes to keep the room pleasantly dark, so you could have slept in until you felt rested and fabulous? Keep going. What else? A feather-stuffed mattress beneath you? Warm quilts curled snugly under your chin? A hunky man with a lazy grin bringing you fresh éclairs and hot coffee or cocoa?

In Faith’s Reward, Jessica Hale Bennett probably wishes she could have enjoyed just such a morning….

January 1865
Honey Lake Valley, Northern California

“Jake?”

    Jessica Bennett jolted upright in bed, her hand trembling as it searched the cold sheets in the darkness beside her. Her fingers brushed Jake’s equally cold pillow, then the soft fur of the cat that huddled on it, the only trace of warmth in the place where her husband had gone to sleep beside her. “Jake?”

     Wind rattled the windowpane with nearly enough force to crack it. The wintry cold had seeped through the glass and turned the bedroom to ice. Jess hugged her flannel nightgown firmly to her and sat still and alert, straining to hear over the storm for any indication of movement in the house, either upstairs or down. She heard no thud of boot heels on the plank floor, no jingle of spurs to suggest any presence inside the house but hers.

    Judging by the thick darkness, dawn was still hours away. Though she and Jake had worked until sometime after midnight, until they were both exhausted, he must have rested in bed until she had fallen asleep, but no longer than that. Once he had been certain she and the baby within her were at rest, he must have gone back to work and joined the next shift of cattlemen who fought to keep their horses and cattle alive, digging them out of the snow and providing hay to stimulate their bodies’ heat.

   The misty darkness abruptly grew darker, closing in around her.

   Then, blackness.

    An image flashed through her mind—she stood in boot-deep snow under a gray sky, a Henry rifle gripped in her hands. At her sides stood two of the cattlemen. More than a dozen Paiute Indian men stepped forward to stand alongside them. She recognized one Paiute who worked at the ranch. The others were strangers. Their faces revealed fear, and resolve. In front of her, perhaps five paces away, stood thirty or more renegade white men who, as one, reached their hands to their holsters, drew their guns, then took aim at Jess and the Indians. Jess cocked the Henry rifle, pressed the butt to her shoulder, and sighted down the barrel at the cold, glittering blue eyes of the man who aimed the bore of his revolver at her. Though fear burned like liquid fire beneath her skin, she firmed her grip, shifted her index finger from the rifle’s trigger guard to the curve of the metal trigger. And pulled.

     The hot coffee, cocoa, and fresh éclairs are sure sounding better, aren’t they? Fortunately, Jess is married to a hunky man with a lazy grin, and you’ll see that she has plenty of ideal mornings, and the love of a good man who will risk his life for her…and for whom she will risk herself.

     Faith’s Reward, book three of The Sierra Chronicles trilogy, hits the shelves January 4, 2011! For more details, and to enter to win “The Day of Your Dreams” contest, visit http://www.tammybarley.com/Bookshelf.html.

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22 thoughts on “A Warm Welcome to Tammy Barley”

  1. On behalf of all of the Fillies and readers thanks for stopping Wildflower Junction and blogging today. The books sounds fabulous. Can hardly wait to read it. Hugs from Texas, Phyliss

  2. Tammy, a big welcome back to the Junction. We’re happy to have you. Loved the excerpt of Faith’s Reward. Wow! Lots of suspense in those paragraphs. It definitely piqued my interest. Best wishes for much success.

  3. Hi, Goldie! My books are available most major book retailers–Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon, and many others. Links are listed at my Web site, http://www.tammybarley.com/Bookshelf.html, right beneath the book cover photos. =)

    Happy Saturday, Phyliss and Linda! It’s always such a joy to be here! Hugs right back!

    Connie, this novel has more twists than a snake’s spine. Remember to enter to win a vacation at my Web site! =)

  4. That short blog was enough to make a person run down to the nearest store and purchase this book. I will as soon as it warms up a bit.
    Happy Saturday.

  5. Greetings, Mary! The book will be available in the next handful of days, so enjoy being toasty warm today. =) If you’d like to be notified as soon as it’s officially available in stores, simply fill out the “Notify Me” quickie form at http://www.tammybarley.com/index.html (beneath my photo on the right, the first box with a red border), and I’ll let you know when retailers put it on the shelves! =)

    Tammy

  6. Hey Tammy,

    Welcome back to the Junction! Hope you had a good “turkey” day.

    I absolutely agree with Mary J – you had me before the end of the blog. 🙂 Congratulations on the release of Faith’s Reward!

  7. Hi Tammy!
    Great to hear from you.
    I LOVE THE SIERRA CHRONICLES!!
    i love jess’s spunk, how endearing all the characters are and especially jake–oh how i love jake 🙂

  8. Thank you, Tracy! My “turkey” day was one of the best ever. Don’t you LOVE all those yummy leftovers? =)

    Howdy, Tanya! It’s great to “see” you again!

    Tabitha! Dahlink! Yep, there are too few Jakes in the world! =)

    Hugs!

    Tammy

  9. hi and welcome Tammy; yes that is a good morning to wake up to.

    congrats on Faith’s Reward’s release.
    Your book sounds like an intense read; can’t believe how people had to live but then they didn’t know any different.

  10. Hi Tammy,
    Faith’s Reward sounds really good. I will look forward to reading it soon. I can’t wait to find out what is going on between Faith and Jake.
    Congradulations on it’s release!

  11. Greetings, Robyn, Sharon, and Melinda! Thank you so much for your comments! The first two books in the Sierra Chronicles delivered adventure, romance, intrigue, and suspense. In this third one, I also added a dash of thriller, so that the fingers that turn those pages will periodically be white-knuckled. =)

  12. I can’t wait for the next book. I have been enjoying this series and got it for our library. We have many women who read Christian Fiction and they especially enjoy the pioneer and western stories. Unfortunately, I no longer work there, but I will make sure they get FAITH’S REWARD. My ladies have been looking forward to the rest of the story.
    Good luck with the release in January.

  13. Hi, Patricia, Quilt Lady, and Cindy! I was just marching in the local annual Christmas parade in full Victorian costume with my living-history group, and I didn’t get home until now. =)

    Patricia, I am SO jazzed that you’ve enjoyed the Sierra Chronicles adventure and have gotten it for your library (one of my favorite places!). I hope book three is just as fun an adventure as books one and two. =)

    Quilt Lady, if you’d like to see a book trailer video, they’re at my Web site: http://www.tammybarley.com/Bookshelf.html. The book trailers are a quick, nifty way to hear more about the series. =)

    Smiles right back, Cindy! =) Faith’s Reward should be on bookstore shelves in the next week or so . . . just in time for snuggling up on a cold winter day with a new book and a big hot cocoa. =)

    Hugs!

    Tammy

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