Petticoats and Pistols is proud to host guest author Sinclair Jayne:
Hello – Sinclair Jayne here. One of my favorite places to set a romance is in Marietta, Montana, which is a Tule Publishing and Tule author created town loosely based on Livingston, Montana. I’ve traveled to Montana many times, but never yet to Paradise Valley, where Marietta is, surrounded by two intensely gorgeous mountain ranges—Gallatin and Absaroka.
It’s a given that a Montana romance not only stars the hero and the heroine, but also the setting—the connection to the rugged and beautiful land, the traditions, the tight, smalltown community where people are fiercely independent, yet may need their neighbors, especially in a ranching community. And of course, there’s the spectacular scenery, along with the geology, geography, wildlife and of course weather.
Any time there is an opportunity to participate in a multi-author series at Marietta, Montana’s Copper Mountain Rodeo, my hand shoots up. “Me, me, me.” I live in a rural town in Oregon, and the annual rodeo and the fair are a must and a way for the community to reconnect to the ranching and agrarian roots. For my new book Rogue Cowboy, I wanted to dig into rodeo culture and embrace the healing power of family, small town, ties to the land and of course second chances.
Rogue Cowboy is a reunion romance along with a secret marriage of convenience. The love story features Riley Telford, a local horse trainer cowgirl and former Special Forces soldier, Cole Jameson, who grew up ranch in Texas, but has come to Montana to reclaim his secret bride. No one in his tightknit ranching family has ever divorced so he’s determined to win Riley’s heart so their marriage can be ‘real.’
Western Cowboy romances are my absolute favorite to write. Readers and writers love them for a reason. Cowboys are iconic. The cowboy code. The western hero might be morally grey, but they have their own code of honor and way of being in the world that feels both classic, but so necessary in our complicated present. There is no dialing in a cowboy hero. Readers have high expectations, and I lean into the challenge of meeting them. A Cowboy doesn’t need to swagger (but yum if he does). He does require confidence, goals, a can-do attitude and yes, even if he’s a bad boy, he needs to be kind in some way, take care of the heroine, even when she’s convinced he’s the last thing she needs. Cowboys commit.
Rogue Cowboy: Excerpt (after five-year separation)
Riley headed to the barn, needing time to rope her carefree, cowgirl persona snugly around her.
She drew in a deep breath and her heart leapt to her throat. What a gorgeous smell, teasingly familiar. It took her back to the before. She closed her eyes remembering. Bergamot, hint of cedar, sun-warmed leather and something exotic like sandalwood—not that she’d smelled actual sandalwood.
But it smelled heady. Taunted familiarity and safety. Miles out of reach.
Cole. If only. She inhaled again. Pretended she could go back in time to when she’d desperately crushed on him and wanted to show off. Before when life was simple, and the future was a sparkly gold and pink road she could run down, her head full of dreams.
How had she been so stupid and young?
She opened her eyes and through a crack in the door dandelion seeds floated in the shaft of light.
Make a wish.
From behind, a strong arm slipped around her shoulders and a hand anchored lightly on her hip, trapping her between a hard body and the cool metal of Cinnamon’s stall.
“Hello, Riley.”
Want to learn more? Here’s my website & newsletter sign up: https://sinclairjayne.com
About Jayne:
Sinclair has loved reading romance novels since she discovered Barbara Cartland historical romances when she was in sixth grade. By seventh grade, she was haunting the library shelves looking to fall in love over and over again with the heroes born from the imaginations of her favorite authors. After teaching writing classes and workshops to adults and teens for many years in Seattle and Portland, she returned to her first love of reading romances and became an editor for Tule Publishing last year. In addition, she’s published over 30 romances of her own.
Sinclair lives in Oregon’s wine country where she and her family own a small vineyard of Pinot Noir and where she dreams of being able to write at a desk like Jane Austen instead of in parking lots waiting for her kids to finish one of their 12,000 extracurricular activities.
Now it’s your turn – do you think a strong sense of setting enhances a story? Do you have a favorite setting? Share your thoughts in the comments and you’ll be entered in the drawing for the special prize package pictured below.
Hey, Sinclair! I think a setting helps with a story. I love Marietta, Montana.
I LOVE setting stories in Marietta, Montana. The community that Tule and the Tule authors have built over the years makes it feel so real to me. Funny though I haven’t been in Montana in years. I’m hoping this spring or summer my husband and I could do a road trip there. Lately I have been reading books set in Alaska, and THAT is a setting that stars as a main character–impacting everything and everyone around it.
I’ve been thinking about setting a mystery series in Oregon at some point soon, and wonder if I’d be able to really world build to the extent that the town and the surroundings feel so viscerally real. It’s a talent for sure but also a skill
I definitely think the setting helps with a story. I love small town, snowed in, and western romances.
I love small towns too, Bonnie, and most of my stories take place in the west–Montana and Oregon and one series in Texas. The snow always seems romantic, but every time it snows in the part of Oregon where I live, life seems to come to a stop, so as long as I don’t need to try to drive in it, I love it–beautiful.
My son’s going to grad school in Helsinki, and he really LOVED the snow. He sent us so many pictures.
Oh, it definitely helps
Do you have a favorite setting that you enjoy when reading a book (or watching a movie), Rhonda?
I enjoy the small town second chance romance setting. Whether is in the country or at the seaside or anywhere in-between, I enjoy them all.
Second chance romance or reunion romances is STILL one of my favorite tropes. And I love setting stories in (and reading stories set in) small towns. I feel like the world building feels more intense and comprehensive. I can really picture the streets or the businesses and locals. I love when a small business is used a few times in a story or a setting as it feels quite intimate, and easy to visualize–familiar.
Yes, I love a western setting, horse ranches, out on the prairie with a wagon train, cattle drives, in the beautiful country with mountains with snow on top, wide rocky rivers, deep huge forests, and small western towns.
That sounds gorgeous. You sound like you enjoy more historical romance, although cattle drives are still common in the west. I have never seen one, but I LOVE to see the sheep drives in England or Ireland where the sheep take up most or all of the road and the dogs are running along side and behind and the cars have to wait for nature to do its thing.
I agree with everything you said about cowboys. I love stories about cowboys.
Cowboys are my favorite genre of romances to write. I didn’t think they would be when I wrote my first cowboy story–want me cowboy. and after that Cowboy Takes It All. I had to do a lot of research–more because I wanted to really be able to create the authenticity of the life view. I live in a rural Oregon town now so that definitely helps. The cowboy is so iconic to the American psyche and the land too is part of the cowboy’s soul as well as the story–inextricable. And I love being able to research ranches–often for sale and then including features in a story I am writing as it helps me to picture and describe it.
I only read Cowboys – many thanks!
Whoo hoo! Can’t go wrong with that. I have vowed that I am only going to write cowboys for now on, as I feel really content and connected when I write a cowboy hero and their friends/family/colleagues. What are some cowboy stories that you are enjoying now or are favorites from your past?
I adore reading a good western setting. Small towns have so much heart in books. And of course sexy cowboys. What’s not to love.
Definitely. I love having a strong ranch setting and then a small, contained western town that has deep roots and connections to its history. I think as our world seems to get bigger and faster, we lose the tight connections. Plus I’ve moved often in my marriage so I don’t really have deep roots, so I like to connect characters that do.
The setting makes the story is how I feel. My favorite setting are the mountains or prairie.
I love mountain stories–I think it’s the rugged terrain and of course the views. In reality, I love the theory of mountains more than I would living there–probably because I’m not that great and hiking and living in a mountain setting seems like it would involve a lot of going up–why can’t hiking be just a walk? But I do love characters who live in rugged terrain–so aspirational and sexy and connected to their bodies and the world, and of course they have to be rugged and independent but able to help others so reliable, trustworthy.
Do you have a favorite mountain story?
The setting brings a descriptive core of the story. Visualizing the setting builds layers to a story. Yes!
I so agree, Kathy. Visualizing the setting and what the characters are doing in it, is really one of my favorite things about reading. I feel so engaged with the story like I am there. Stories can really transport me, and I feel super connected–sometimes more than to my real life at times, especially when things are tough.
I love to have a setting that makes you want to live there. I especially enjoy when an author takes the time to build the town and people through a series, brings it to life so much that you can see the vision and want more.
I have a few sets of books that I reread just because of the way the author has made me long to visit those make-believe places.
I have a ton of favorite books too–I’m not sure if it’s because of character and their friend/family world or the setting—huh, you’ve given me something to think about.
what are some of your favorite books or series and settings that are your ‘keepers.’
I like to read books that describe the setting of the story. I think it adds to the characters and why they meet their challenges in a specific way.
I like settings set in the West since i am most familiar with that area. I can relate to the story better.
Familiarity does help with the setting. I have a series set in Belmont, North Carolina that I am just finishing writing the last book for, and my husband grew up there, so I’ve been there a lot and yet, some of the true elements of the setting didn’t work for what I wanted to do and so I moved a few geographic things around, and I’m sure that even though I mention that in reader’s notes, someone from Belmont will be ‘what the heck? The Catawba River doesn’t flow there!” I know, but I wanted my town on the riverfront. Probably should have changed the name–that’s what I usually do, but I was feeling stubborn, and plus I love the name.
A locale is important to the story and it allows me to picture it while enjoying the book. Love beaches.
I LOVE beaches too. I grew up near the ocean and often walked along it, especially in storms (I was a melodramatic teen), and I love the Oregon coast, but I haven’t really set a book near the coast. I do love rivers though–the water moving, passing through, symbolizes the passage of time or troubles, and can mirror an emotional state or set a tone or provide a danger or a sense of peace.
When I am reading a captivating story the setting gives me even more pleasure since I can visualize the place. A vital part of the entire book that explores the area is a must. Living in the mountains is always wonderful and is the best setting ever.
I don’t think the setting intrigues me as much as the characters. Just that little excerpt from your book has me very intrigued and wanting to read the book. By the way, I do love Montana.
Oh I am so happy you liked the excerpt. It’s always so hard to decide what to put in there as I feel like it can’t be too long, but context is necessary otherwise it’s all bewildering or awkward. Montana has so many possibilities. It’s one of the non-coastal states I’d be willing to move to if my husband wanted to pick up and go. Or Colorado. I love that state too.
Good morning and welcome! I love setting in the mountains and forests, I love the piney smells of the forest. I love western romance books, probably because I love and grew up watching westerns at home. I have never been to Montana, only in movies, especially westerns, maybe one day I will be able to go, which for some reason is a state I would love to visit. I love it when books describe the setting to where I can almost smell and visualize it. Your book sounds like a great read. Thank you so much for sharing about it. Have a Great weekend.
Thank you Alicia for responding. I love piney smells too. The Telford Ranch (the one in this book and my upcoming series) is in the foothills of the Absarokas)–so those stories have the most views, snow, piney smells and storms.
Lately I’ve been reading a new Rebecca Zanetti series set in very rural, very rugged Alaska, and the setting and the weather are definitely a driving character. I love being immersed in the story but it just makes me feel that there’s no way I could handle Alaska–but I’d love to be that much of a bad ass that I could stalk around there living my best life.
yes, no fav setting
I do think a book’s setting adds to a story. It produces a background that fills the mind with wondrous scenery. I always enjoy stories set in the mountains with all the trees and rivers and animals. It helps me to imagine being there.
Glad to have you here, Sinclair! Totally enjoyed working together on this series!
I always love working with you, Jeannie. You make me want to up, up, up my game. I always love working on multi-author series because I feel like the world building can be bigger.
I do think the story’s setting adds to the story, it gives me a clear picture in my mind. I like small town, western themes that are descriptive
I feel like the world building in small towns can be be more immersive, but that being said, I also love to read some stories that are set in a different country or a large city–it’s like a vacation, and some authors do a lot of research so that I learn something.
I love when authors have a strong sense of setting in their stories, especially if it continues over time in a series of books. One of my favorite settings is the fictional town of Maple Springs, Tennessee, in the Watson Twins Mysteries series by Chelsea Michelle (pen name of authors A.M. Heath and Amanda Tero Matthews). When they created the town, they turned to their readers for help naming all of the businesses and a lot of the side characters. They asked my permission to use my mom and my late father as the owners of the diner in town, so when I read the stories, it’s extra sweet for me. They’ve also used my oldest daughter’s best friend’s name as a minor character, which she thought was amazing!
I love a great setting… one that pulls me in and gives me a sense of the environment that the characters are surrounded by.
I like small towns with a sense of community.
Loved, loved Rogue Cowboy and loved my week in Montana in July. I could imagine Marietta while I was traveling there, absorbing the West! Setting gives the story structure and a background to build characters. Marietta is one of the best!
Nan, you are so right! Setting does provide structure and also the color. Earlier Sarah mentioned characters are the most important to her, and I would agree, and yet setting also colors everything the characters say and do and think. A ‘cowboy’ romance in Detroit would read so differently than in Wyoming, just by nature of the setting–who’s there, what’s there–all of that would impact what the character thinks and feels and does and says so that they are inextricable. And so the plot too would be different
The setting definitely helps to make a story. Sometimes the settings of books become almost another character in a way.
I LOVE that. Yes. I don’t think I really internalized how important setting was to everything. I thought of it more as color or as someplace I wanted to go or be when I was writing a story, but now I feel like the setting is so integral and so much more than color/tone/atmosphere.
Yes I think a strong sense of setting enhances a story because it can really help paint a picture for you and make you feel like you are there. I really enjoy small towns, mountains, farms, & ranches.
I LOVE that. Yes. I don’t think I really internalized how important setting was to everything. I thought of it more as color or as someplace I wanted to go or be when I was writing a story, but now I feel like the setting is so integral and so much more than color/tone/atmosphere.
I enjoy reading a good western with a strong setting. I love the small towns.
I work for Tule Publishing as a developmental editor and also publish with them, and as a team, we always think that readership will fall off for western/cowboy romances, and yet they are still strong sellers. I think because they are classic and yet flexible–the characters can be old school and also a bit of a bad boy, rebel, independent spirit as long as the sense of place, strong moral code and love of the land and community is there. What’s been fun is younger readers are finding the joy and fun of cowboy romances–that’s exciting for me.
For me the setting of a book helps explain the characters and their actions. As you said earlier a cowboy story in Detroit wouldn’t make sense. Of course it could if he brings the Detroit girl home to the farm or ranch 🙂
I think settings can help make a story. I love small town settings because I have lived in cities, big and small, all my life.
For me, the setting is almost like another character in a story. What it adds is something special that isn’t easily found elsewhere. We have traveled to all 50 states and each offers something different. Montana has that wonderful, wide open country. You can see forever and re surrounded by big beautiful mountains. People that live there and work the land must be strong enough to deal with what weather can throw at them. They need to be tough to do the work, but at the same time, they appreciate those around them. They care deeply for friends and family and when they love, it is special and strong.
I grew up in the mountains, the Adirondacks, and love them. We lived in the N. Y. Adirondacks, the Northern Appalachians in Maine, the Rockies in Colorado, and now in the Blue Ridge Mountains in TN. In my husband’s Air Force career, we lived in a few other places, but the assignments in mountain areas were the best. For me there is something uplifting, almost spiritual to them. Even after over 30 years here, the sight of the mountains behind our house as we drive over the last ridge still touches my heart and makes me happy. More than anywhere else, mountains do that to me.
I read the samples on Amazon for several of the books. It sounds like I need to make a trip to Marietta and spend some time with these people. Poor Riley. The excerpt in your post did not end well for her as it continued. Thanks for visiting P & P today.
I like alldifferent settings.