Sarah Lamb

Sarah is wife to an amazing teacher and mom to two boys who are growing up just a little too fast. She spends her days working and writing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Things Aren’t Always What They Seem…and a giveaway! 

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I’m not sure where you live, but chances are good you’ve heard about the northern lights. I’m also guessing that you remember several weeks when pictures were posted ALL over the internet, from places that never thought they’d see those lights.

In my attempt to capture those lights, something unexpected happened and really changed my perspective on how I want to see things from here on out. 

It had been a week. One of THOSE kinds of weeks. A glance at the calendar was showing the next would likely be the same, filled with places that had to be gone to, phone calls that had to be made to places like the insurance company, playing phone tag with doctors, and I just wasn’t getting anything done that I needed to. It was all survival. 

Chances are you’ve had days like that and can fully understand the stress and overwhelm, and the simple fact that none of that mattered. Things HAD to be done. There was no other choice. 

Although I was exhausted, while in bed I remembered a few more things I needed to urgently do the next morning and went to check they were on my phone. Well, my finger slipped, and Facebook opened. And I started seeing pictures. Amazing pictures. Right where I lived. The northern lights! 

Curious, I raced down the stairs, threw open the front door and saw nothing. So, I went to the back door. The sky was pink. I gaped for a second, raced back into the house, up the stairs, got my teen out of bed, woke up my husband (who later admitted he was so tired he thought he just saw a sunset. At midnight.) but let the youngest sleep. 

Once we stepped outside and I showed them, I thought, my phone! Let me get a photo! So, I raced back upstairs (I was getting my late night exercise, phew!) and as I got back outside, my husband and teen went back to bed. I aimed my camera here and there, and eagerly looked at the images. Nothing. It wasn’t picking up anything! Just black sky that was blurry. And now, the bright pinks had faded dramatically. 

But that wasn’t right! I’d taken photos, so what had gone wrong? What I saw wasn’t showing up. Why? I fumbled around and changed a setting on my phone. Still nothing. Beyond disappointed, I walked back to the house, snapped one last photo, but didn’t even look at it. What was the point? The others sure hadn’t worked. 

Back in bed, I was feeling upset and frustrated. How come everyone else was seeing these amazing things? And getting incredible pictures, and I wasn’t?

I scrolled through those four photos, intending to delete them, when I saw it. The last one I’d taken. It showed the colors. In a place where it had been dark. 

So, I dashed down the stairs, rushed out the back door, camera in hand. I stood and snapped photo after photo of the night sky, looking like it usually did. All dark, and starry. Then, I looked at my photo roll. 

Colors. Pinks, and greens. Things that hadn’t appeared to my eyes. 

All of that beauty was right there. It had been right there the whole time, just I hadn’t seen it. It wasn’t that I didn’t notice it. But that I couldn’t see it because I didn’t have the right lens. 

How many times do we look and someone and think how amazing they are? So beautiful, so perfectly put together? But are they looking at themselves through that same lens, I wonder. I don’t think they are. We are always critical of ourselves. 

Those are the characters I like to write about. The ones who are special, just don’t know it yet. Just like each and every one of us is…even if we don’t always see it.

Today, I’d love to give away to one reader a copy of a book, just where that exact thing happens. 

In Romancing the Wrangler, Rose is sure she’s ugly. She’s let her mother’s criticisms make her feel like she has no good qualities. She feels like she isn’t good enough, and that her parents don’t love her. That’s the lens she sees things through. Levi’s feeling something similar, and doesn’t understand why his family is forcing him to do what they want.

I’m not going to spoil anything for you, but it really struck me how the fact that such beauty in the sky could be seen, but only through a different lens, made me wonder what else I’ve been missing out on, and how many times my frustrations and difficulties have made me miss out on something beautiful. 

Rose and Levi experience that too. 

I hope that as July starts out for you, it’s filled with beauty and joy, even if it’s simply in something small that you do for yourself. You are 100% worth it to have that. You might not see your own beauty, but I’m sure others do. 

I’ll announce my winner this evening, so please watch so I can get your contact info! To enter for a chance at an ebook of Romancing the Wrangler, I’d just love to know: What’s something you find beauty in? 

Sheriffs of the West: A Shocking Surprise

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It stunned me recently when I learned that in the Old West, the men who were tasked to keep the peace, protect the citizens, and bring order to lawlessness were not on a set salary and often had to take on extra work to survive. 

 

While generally these men were elected to the position, and some didn’t have any experience in keeping the law, the sheriff was an important person in the town. So, you’d think that not only he’d get a little respect, but also be paid decently in order to provide incentive to keep the town safe, right? After all, Thomas Jefferson called the office of sheriff “The most important of all the executive offices.”

 

1875 Sheriff’s Office in NE

 

The town sheriff had a heap of duties. It included collecting taxes, watching over inmates at the jail and managing the building, investigating crimes, transporting prisoners, arresting lawbreakers, and of course keeping the town safe. That might include breaking up fights, going after Wanted men, stopping a thief, making sure nothing was getting out of hand in the saloon, or a host of other things. I’m imagining there was some paperwork involved somewhere too. It sounds like a full time job, right? Maybe a little quiet time here and there, but generally something was always going on.  

 

Sheriff Langford and family 1888 Florida

 

In return for fulfilling their list of duties, many of these lawmen had their pay come only from a percentage of the fees they collected, like taxes or fines from someone they arrested. In order to supplement, they’d take on extra jobs. One number I read said only 8% of the taxes collected went to the sheriff. While it sounds like a good bit, if a sheriff was in a town where there were primarily homesteaders, I sure can’t see them making much! No wonder the bounty on a Wanted criminal was so tempting! It was a hard job, but I think Jefferson was right. They were the most important of all! 

 

Past Hamilton County, TN Sheriffs

 

Luckily for my sheriff, Asher Steele, he doesn’t have to worry about taking on a second job. His biggest worry is not letting himself fall in love. Asher thinks he comes from bad blood and he’s scared to pass it along. 

 

 

If you are interested in reading a little more, here’s the blurb:

 

The plan? Pretend he’s her betrothed and try not to fall in love.

Sheriff Asher Steele doesn’t plan to settle down. Not ever. In fact, he avoids the ladies all together. And he doesn’t plan to explain why that is. No one’s been able to break through the walls of his emotions and that’s just the way he likes it.

But when Isabelle Bowman comes to town with a secret of her own, and a heap of trouble following her, he might be the only one who can help her. What he’s not counting on is falling in love along the way and considering opening the walls of his heart to protect her.

Running from her half-brother, who desires nothing more than to kill Isabelle Bowman and take her inheritance, she’s desperate for a place to hide. Uninterested in marriage, she thinks the sheriff’s idea is preposterous. But she’s left with no option. With no funds, a sheriff who thinks she’s a troublemaker or a liar, and his plan that will never work, she’s sure things are not going to end well.

But could they both be wrong about what the future holds?

 

And you can click right here to learn more. Asher’s Secret is available in ebook, paperback, human narrated audiobook, and large print.  

 

Now, I have a question for you! Do you have a favorite type of Old West lawman?

All About Irises

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Hey everyone! Are you enjoying all of the beautiful flowers popping up? I know I am. While I’ve always appreciated a beautiful garden or bed of flowers, it wasn’t until I got older that I grew a whole new appreciation of them. They are an incredible amount of work, and I am very honest in the fact that I’m terrible at it, and I don’t have the time I need to properly care for a garden. I try every year, but I just can’t seem to do it. 

My paternal grandmother loved her garden, and she loved to watch things blossom. Each year, when I go through mine, checking to see what’s blooming (or dying!) I can almost feel her with me, though she’s been gone for many years now. 

Flowers and gardens are so important to people. A single flower can bring back a precious memory, like that of a wedding bouquet or gift from a loved one. I suspect, that’s in part why many of those who settled in the West made sure to bring flower seeds with them. 

My book, Iris, comes out this month, and just about the only thing Iris is good at, is gardening. As I was writing that, I wondered, were there particular types of flowers that were brought West? Obviously not every seed or bulb grows in every place. Did they adapt and become a new variety? We have several irises that were planted before we bought our house, and I enjoy them each year! I think I’d have found their bright specks of color very welcome if I were on the prairie. Look at these, aren’t they stunning? 

 

 

 

Photos from BookBrush

 

It’s obvious that some flowers were also incredibly important to have, for their medical purposes, like evening primrose, horehound, or feverfew, but I bet some of these had sentimental purposes as well! I wonder if the iris had special meaning for anyone.

And speaking of irises, since that’s the title of my book, here are a few fun facts about the iris: 

  • Most pests do not like irises
  • In Greek mythology, wherever Iris stepped, flowers sprang up. 
  • Iris means rainbow, and the bearded iris comes in nearly every color imaginable.
  • The three upright petals on an iris flower stand for faith, wisdom, and valor.
  • Some parts of the iris have been used medicinally
  • Each color of an iris means something different

 

If you’d like to read more about my particular Iris, you can grab a copy of this novella for only .99! 

Here’s the blurb:

Iris is a handful. Liam is in dire need of a wife. But is he that desperate?

Iris Green doesn’t mean to be such a walking disaster. Trouble just seems to find her though, and scares off all would-be suitors in the process. Unbeknown to her, her mother submits her name for a mail-order bride, thinking that’s the only way she’ll ever see her daughter married off.

Liam Gardener thinks it’s a hoot his potential bride has a flower as her name, it’s a perfect match for his last name, so it must be a good sign. However, moments after meeting her, he’s regretting it something awful. Iris comes in like a whirlwind and turns his quiet life upside down, and he’s not sure if he likes that.

When two very different personalities clash, will the outcome blossom into something special or will their future wilt before it even starts?

And here is my lovely cover! Quite iris-y. Is that a word? I think I’ll make it one!

 

You can click here to find it on Amazon.

In the meantime, tell me, do you grow any irises at your house? 

Sarah Lamb has a winner!

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Thank you all for commenting! I’m excited to announce a winner for an ebook copy of A Journey for Leah.

Tracy Delegal, congratulations!

Please send me an email and I’ll get that over to you.

sarahlambwriting@gmail.com

 

 

Prairie Fires: Needed but Deadly

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Hey everyone! I’m so excited to be doing my first blog post here and to be joining these other amazing fillies and sharing more about the West, myself, and my books. I’m giving away an ebook today, too. 

Let’s jump into it! Recently, I needed to do a little research on something. I wanted to make sure that I was writing a scene authentically, as I’d never experienced it firsthand before. What I found was more shocking than I’d imagined.

“Faster than a horse could run,” a historic witness said, “like a devouring army” another warned. As you guessed from the blog title, they were talking about a prairie fire. These fires weren’t like anything those from the East had ever seen before. They spread quickly and could burn a length of 600 feet in a minute and burn as hot as 700 degrees Fahrenheit! Is it any wonder why a fire was one of the most feared natural and manmade disasters? 

 

PHOTOGRAPH BY KYLE MODERHAK, MYSHOT

 

But as I was researching these fires for a book, I learned some fascinating things. Even though they were deadly, fires played an important role on the prairie. Started on accident by a cookfire or lighting, or on purpose by Native Americans to make a pasture or drive wildlife, wildfires kept the prairie land as it was—a prairie. 

A prairie fire is an important thing needed in the renewal of a prairie. I had no idea until I started to research that. Without it, the wide open spaces would become a forest or filled with brush. Interestingly, the fire does not destroy prairie grasses. That’s why they grow back so quickly. As the fast moving fires went across, the base survived. Where the grasses grow actually lives underground, and the root systems can sometimes be fifteen feet deep, which means they survive these devastating fires.

 

Photo from Urbana Park District

While those new to the prairies might not have known how important the fire was for the prairie’s existence, they knew, without a doubt, how dangerous it was. In A Journey for Leah, Leah has joined a wagon train and experiences one of these fires first hand. 

While today, prairie fires that are started, either accidentally or on purpose are usually able to be controlled, back in the 1800s, it really was a matter of life or death. It would be impossible to outrun a fire and it’s terrible to think about. 

Here’s a small excerpt from that scene in A Journey for Leah: 

 

        All around them, men and women were rushing to the wagons and pulling out tools. Children were rushing to the stream, the older ones holding the small ones in the water, while those large enough to help were grabbing buckets to fill with water.

         “I don’t understand,” Leah said, as Stanley pulled out a shovel and some sacks. “What’s happening?”

         He pointed to the distance, where a near endless line of smoke filled the air. “Fire. We won’t outrun it. When a prairie fire starts, it spreads fast. All we can do is try to prevent it from getting any closer.” He pointed to a few dozen feet away, where men were starting to dig a trench. “We need to make a barrier, one deep enough and wide enough the fire can’t cross.”

         Leah felt cold then. That’s why the youngest children were in the water. It was to save their lives. 

 

Creating a firebreak was the only thing that could be done back then. It made watchful eyes, care with fire, and tools such as a plow an absolute necessity. It was much harder back then to create a firebreak. They didn’t have machines like we do, to do the job quickly. That’s one of the things I admire so much about the men and women who came before us, they made good use of what they had and, to be completely honest, built things that would last and were of better quality than we have!

While fire doesn’t appear too often in my books, I know it was a real concern, and I’m grateful for the chance this gave me to do a little research. 

A Journey for Leah is available in ebook, paperback, large print, and human narrated audiobook, if you’d like to keep reading. 

 

 

Since it’s my very first time blogging here, and I’m likely a new to you author, I’d love to give away an ebook of A Journey for Leah to one reader. You can enter just by leaving a comment telling me something you enjoy about historical romance books, and a random winner via number generator will be chosen.

Petticoats & Pistols