Thanks for playing my puzzles yesterday. I hope you had as much fun as I did.
I drew a winner at random, and a big YeeHaw goes to:
Laura
Congratulations, Laura!
I sent you an email this morning with instructions for claiming your Beauty & the Beast playing cards. I hope you have many fun game nights with them. 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Today, we’re celebrating all things To Love a Beast.
~ Goodies ~
My western retelling of Beauty & the Beast has been honored with several awards this season, including winning the Golden Scroll award for 2026 Western Novel of the Year and the Will Rogers Medallion for Best Western Romance. These goodies are fun for me, but I have one that I hope will be fun for you.
To Love a Beast is now on sale for only $2.49! Click on the image to purchase on Amazon.
~ Games ~
How about a few puzzles to enhance the festive spirit?
Let’s start with a jigsaw puzzle.
If you enjoy word searches, click the image to play (the puzzle will open in a new window).
~ Giveaway ~
Leave a comment with your finish time for one or both of the games, and you will be entered to win these super fun, stained glass inspired Beauty & the Beast playing cards.
This past weekend, the Witemeyer clan traveled to College Station, Texas for a momentous occasion. My daughter, Bethany, graduated from Texas A&M with her PhD in Computer Science! WooHoo! We officially have a doctor in the family. 🙂
I’m so incredibly proud of her. Six years of hard work has paid off. Even better, she’s starting this week as a new faculty member at Abilene Christian University, her undergraduate alma mater, which means she’s back home. Hooray!
She is renting a house near campus and will likely be unpacking for a while, but she has her own space and is excited to make it her own.
Interestingly enough, when we attended the commencement ceremony, I learned that Texas A&M is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. They opened their doors in 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and graduated their first class in 1880. In the early years, they were a military school and required all students to join the Corps of Cadets. Due to the military aspect, women were not allowed to enroll for the first 17 years. Occasionally, the daughters of faculty members could sit in on classes, but they could not enroll or seek degrees. The first female – Rachel Hook – matriculated in 1893, but there were still a lot of restrictions in place. It wasn’t until 1963 that women were admitted on a limited basis, and 1969 that all restrictions were removed for female students.
I actually have a hero in an upcoming novel who attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas back in the early days. The Cadet Corps gave him some weapons training that will come in handy for him as the story progresses. It was fun to incorporate this piece of Texas history in a writing project, especially since the school is connected to my daughter.
I’m so thankful that Texas A&M grew to accept women and expanded their areas of expertise beyond agriculture and mechanical pursuits. As a top-ranked school, they provided a wonderful place for my daughter to grow and flourish in her field.
Do you have a family member you’d like to brag on?
Feel free to share in the comments. I’d love to hear about it!
Seeing a cover for the first time is like meeting a blind date. You hope for attraction to strike. You look for something to spark your interest and inspire a positive impression. When I get the email from my publisher or my indie cover designer, I’m filled with a mix of excitement, hope, and anxiety. A picture is worth a thousand words (or 90,000 in the case of my novels), and this one image needs to convey my main character’s personality and hint at story elements in a way that compels a reader to click to learn more.
Early in my career, I had little to no say over my covers after they were designed, but with more experience and a proven track record (and my agent’s great contract negotiation skills) I now have a chance to give feedback before a cover is finalized. This is such a boon. This particular cover went through several iterations before we landed on a final product that made everyone happy. The designers are absolutely amazing at what they do and were able to implement my suggestions admirably.
Just from this little glimpse, you can learn that my heroine is a bookish lady. Exactly the impression I wanted to leave. Jane Cowan is a shy parson’s daughter who much rather be reading than interacting with others, unless those others were under the age of 10.
Jane meets a pair of adorable young runaways at the Albany train station – runaways who just happen to have a very single father. Since the train station plays a pivotal role in this initial meeting, we chose to feature that setting on the cover.
Drum roll please . . .
What do you think?
Wooing the Wallflower is Book 2 in the Secret Society of Spinster’s series, and it will be releasing next February. It’s up for preorder now.
Here is an early version of the cover that I decided to change.
I didn’t particularly care for this model. I did like her updo and glasses, but everything else just felt slightly off. Also, while she is a parson’s daughter and the church plays a major role in the story, I was afraid having the church as the backdrop made her seem too pious or holier-than-thou. My agent actually worried that the image might portray the opposite, that she was skipping church to read her novel. The book she is holding felt wrong too. Even though this was a stock photo, it felt a bit fake somehow.
Anyway, one of the other designs that they had already been working with included the train station, so we had a great starting place for a new vision, and I’m so happy with the way it turned out in the end.
What attracts you to a book cover?
There is something special about family food memories. I used to love visiting my maternal grandma. She was a no-nonsense woman who shared her love through food more than words. She made the best jams and jellies from fruit grown either in her garden or wild berries my grandpa gathered down by the creek. But my favorite food memory with Grandma was her persimmon cookies. She would keep persimmon pulp in her freezer just so she could make my favorite treat whenever we visited. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I just knew she made the best cookies that were soft and just a little sticky and so yummy. They were small drop cookies with persimmon moistening the batter much like pumpkin does in pumpkin bread. Add some sugar, cinnamon, and raisins and they became a delicious treat.
When she passed (at age 102!), I asked my uncle to send me her recipe if he could find it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find it. A few years later, I found a recipe online that created a very similar cookie. It might not be exactly the same, but it is close enough to elicit those tender memories.
Persimmon Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup persimmon pulp*
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup raisins
*Note – Use hachiya persimmons for baking. They are the more elongated ones. (Think Roma tomato as opposed to a round, garden tomato.) Let them get overripe (you’ll need about 3) and squeeze the pulp right out of the skin and puree with a blender or food processor.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, salt and spices; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the shortening with the sugar using a hand mixer. Beat in egg then beat in persimmon pulp. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until everything is combined. By hand, stir in the raisins.
4. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. They can be placed close together because these cookies don’t spread much.
5. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for five minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yield: 24-36 small cookies
Do you have special family food memories?
Only six days until Part of Your World releases! I’m so excited to share my next western fairy tale with you.
I thought I’d whet your appetite by sharing a short excerpt. Enjoy!
Zane piloted his newly refurbished catboat through slightly choppy waters, grinning as the mainsheet swelled with the wind and sped him along the Galveston coast. Manning the tiller from a bench in the stern of the boat, he laughed aloud at the thrill of racing across the Gulf at speeds rivaling a galloping horse. Better than a horse, for a boat didn’t tire. As long as the wind blew, the boat ran. And how he loved it!
Freedom. Complete and utter freedom. No matchmaking mama trying to tie him down, no father glaring in thinly veiled disappointment, no meticulous mentor evaluating his every measurement. Just a man and the sea.
And a song?
A woman’s voice carried on the wind. A sweet, pleading call. Heartfelt and beautiful. Zane adjusted the tiller to steer the bow more into the wind, feathering the sail to forfeit power and slow the boat. He scanned the shoreline, seeking the source of the song, like a sailor falling prey to a mythical siren. Something about that voice stirred his soul and set his heart to pounding an irregular rhythm.
“Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!”
A hymn? Even more intrigued, Zane urged his boat nearer the shore. There. She stood on a rocky outcropping. A woman dressed in dark blue, arms open and raised, hair whipping about in the wind. Red hair? It was hard to tell from this distance, but it seemed to absorb the sunlight and catch fire.
His hand grew lax on the tiller, his attention riveted not only by the music but by the passionate woman in the throes of worship. . .
. . . She repeated the final phrase, taking liberties with the notes like an opera diva, elongating some, trilling others, rising in a crescendo as she turned the music skyward, climbing up instead of down the scale until she hit a note of such purity, he rose from his seat, wanting to climb with her. The climactic tone rang through the air, raising gooseflesh on his arms. Slowly her arms lowered, and a change came over her. A stillness. Like a startled rabbit. She’d seen him. He felt the connection between them, even though he couldn’t make out her features from this distance.
He stood there, watching her as she watched him, neither of them moving, the moment fraught with meaning too heavy to set aside. Then the wind gusted from a different direction, rocking the boat and whipping the long, horizontal pole supporting the bottom of the sail violently over the cockpit. Zane tried to duck, but it was too late. The wooden boom crashed into the side of his skull and launched him overboard.
Which fairy tale tropes are your favorite in romance novels?
Over the last several years, I’ve had a grand time retelling classic Disney fairy tales in western settings. Next month I’ll be releasing my latest in the Once Upon a Time in Texas series – Part of Your World.
The Little Mermaid holds a special place in my heart. It first came to theaters when my husband and I were dating, and when we were apart the summer before our wedding, my husband wrote me a letter with all the lyrics to Kiss the Girl. Now, this was pre-Internet, so he couldn’t just Google the lyrics. He had to find a cassette recording then rewind it over and over to get the words down. Yes, we’re that old. Ha!
My heroine, Muriel Quinn is a long-distance swimmer who idolizes Agnes Beckwith. Agnes grew up the daughter of a swimming instructor and performer. She was performing in swimming shows across England from age four onward. As a teenager, she turned her attention to distance swimming. In 1875, at age 14, she made history by swimming five miles in the Thames from London Bridge to Greenwich. In 1878, she swam twenty miles. By 1885, she was appearing in the Royal Aquarium of Westminster billed as The Greatest Lady Swimmer of the World.
I styled Muriel’s bathing costume after those that Agnes wore, since she couldn’t possibly swim long distances in the typical bathing costumes of the day.
Muriel swims along the coast of Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico. And as you might expect, her swimming skills come in handy when our hero, Zane Erickson, has a boating accident and finds himself in need of rescue.
Muriel and Zane come from vastly different worlds. She is the daughter of a man who works at the docks. He is the only son of a socially elite family and is training to be an architect under the great Nicholas Clayton, one of the most successful American architects of the Gilded Age, especially in the south.
Zane has no interest in the marriage his mother wishes to arrange—until the mysterious young woman who saved his life reappears as a potential match. However, their reunion is no coincidence. Caught in a dangerous web of blackmail and deceit, Zane and Muriel must risk everything to protect their growing love—and the lives of those they hold dear.
Preorder Part of Your World Here
This is my first official beach read! Not a common occurrence when one writes historical western fiction.
Are you a beach person?
Do you like frolicking in the waves or do you prefer staying on shore?
My husband really wants a travel trailer. He bought the truck to pull it a couple years ago, and is dying to get the trailer. I like the idea of traveling too, except that weekends are my writing time, and despite what my husband thinks, writing on the road is not conducive to greater creativity. At least not for me. I do best as a hermit in a space with a closed door with no sound and no disturbance. So, maybe that means when he gets his trailer, I’ll get to retire from the day job so my weekends will be move available. Somehow, I don’t think that will fly just yet, but who knows? It might make a good bargaining chip.
Homes on wheels are nothing new in the American West. One has only to picture the iconic wagon train to realize that. However, there were other, more permanent homes on wheels in use in the late 19th century as well. Ones I recently discovered during a research rabbbit trail for my current work in progress.
I’m working on another western fairy tale retelling – this time a Rapunzel story. My long-haired heroine has been raised by a traveling medicine show peddler who uses her amazing tresses as a tool to sell his invigoratin hair tonics and beautifying elixirs. Wanting to keep the heroine isolated and firmly under his control, and needed to travel every week for his business, they live in two wagons. One is the peddler wagon he uses to sell his merchandise, and the other is more of a homey cabin on wheels. A sheepherder’s wagon.
The sheepherder’s wagon was invented in Wyoming in 1884. Designed for shepherds who lived out with their flocks for months at a time, these small cabins on wheels (also known smiply as “camps” or “arks”) were ideal for a sturdy, warm, transportable home. Typicaly build for one person, the one I’m imagining for my heroine and her “Papa” has been expanded slightly to allow for a second, upper bunk at the back of the wagon.
Did you notice the wagon tongue right outside the door? Many times, travelers would use the tongue as a step if the didn’t have a portable stair option like the one pictured above. Also notice that the door is crafted in the Dutch style with and option to open just the top half. This is how the traveler would drive the team. They would sit on a bench inside the door or stand behind the closed bottom section of the door, and drive from there.
Most of these wagons incuded small cookstoves inside. Imagine you were caught in a Wyoming blizzard. You’d definitely want a way to stay warm. The stovepipe extended through the canvas roof.
There were also lots of drawers and cabinets to hold belongings. Just like in trailers today, people needed to be able to store their belongings securly during travel. Only the most essential items would be taken. There often was a window at the back, above the sleeping bunk.
The table for eating would foldor pull out when needed to save space. It was very tight quarters. Typically, these wagons were about 12 feet long and a little over six feet wide.
What do you think? Ready to go camping in a 19th century sheepwagon?
Are you a camper? Tent, travel trailer, or RV? What do you like most about camping?
Have you noticed that the western is making a comeback? In commercials, at least. Every time I see a western-flavored commercial I grin. They are mostly parodies, but since I love humor, that just makes me love them all the more.
Here is my countdown of the top 5 western commercials from the last year:
#5 – Progressive’s Ranch Ad
RVs that mimic a herd of either mustangs or cattle, a dirt bike bull, and even a tame water creature. All that’s missing is the branding iron.
#4 – Hyundai Sante Fe Hybrid Ad
A French cowboy in Paris, Texas – a hybrid driving a hybrid. I enjoyed his two steppin’ at the end of the ad.
#3 – The Zoc Doc Cowboy Auction
Love the conversation between these two livestock auctioneers. Fast-paced and fun.
#2 – The Savings Wrangler from GoodRX
Prescriptions cost out of control? Never fear. The Saving’s Wrangler is here. With her trusty sidekick, Dusty Pete the prairie dog. Corny but super cute.
#1 – Skip the Drama Blizzard from Cologuard
This one is my all-time favorite, probably because it’s got the historical western romance vibe that I love so well.
Which of these do you like best? Is there a recent western ad I missed?
He’s a deputy tasked with keeping the peace. She’s the temperance reformer who’s been disturbing his peace for months. Yet despite their differences, these two rivals need each other more than they care to admit.
Taming Lady Temperance releases next Tuesday (woot!), and I can’t wait to introduce you to Deputy James Paxton and fiery Noreen O’Sullivan. I love a spunky heroine, and Noreen is as spunky as you can get. She’s determined to shut down the saloon and cares not a fig if the entire male populace of Albany, Texas considers her a menace. She’ll speak her mind to anyone who will listen and even to those who won’t. She’s a spinster and proud of it. No man to tell her what to do or to steal her freedom. After growing up with a drunkard father who was a little too free with his fists, she believes herself called by God to make a difference in her community and spare other families the trials she and her mother endured.
.
James, on the other hand, is a middle child who has always been a peacemaker. I even gave him the surname of Paxton because it means peaceful settlement. He is a man of integrity, who uses his charisma to diffuse tense situations. He’s devoted to upholding the law and aspires to be sheriff one day. The town council tasks him with keeping the obnoxious temperance woman under control. Despite the fact that he admires her grit, he can’t afford to be seen as Noreen’s ally by the half of the town who can actually vote. Yet the more he interacts with her, the more he discovers that a kind and wounded heart beats beneath the militant exterior–a heart he’s coming to admire. Perhaps her passion for change is the spice his routine life needs. And maybe his penchant for calm can help her tame the destructive forces at war within her.
James and Noreen’s story is the first installment of my new Secret Society of Spinsters series. In addition to heartfelt romance, you’ll also uncover danger, a mystery villain, and a coded handkerchief exchange. 😉
Some of the tropes included in this story:
Rivals to Lovers
Opposites Attract
Duty vs. Desire
Spinster Heroine
Law Enforcement Hero
Found Family
Taming Lady Temperance is earning great reviews from early readers.
It’s not too late to grab the preorder deals. 40% off plus some great bonus goodies if you buy the print copy through Baker Books, and the preorder Kindle price is $9.99 until the 17th. Then it goes up to $12.99, so grab your copy today!
Preorder a print copy from Baker Book House here.
Preorder the ebook from Amazon here.
What are some of your favorite romance tropes to read?