Series

What is That I Smell?

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Did you know that our sense of smell was the first thing to develop when humans appeared on earth? Our “smellers” are very old and very complex. It was not only vital to locating food but also finding a mate. Our nose can sense 1 trillion odors, both good and bad.

So when I’m writing stories, I need to implement the sense of smell far more than I do.

Fragrances and odors are closely entwined with memories. A sniff of Pond’s loose body powder for women instantly reminds me to my mom. And Old Spice always brings back times with my dad.

I remember so often coming home from school and Mom would have red beans cooking on the stove or she’d have a cake baking in the oven. If I smell those, it instantly sends me back to my childhood. Also, in my childhood, if a certain food gave off what to me was a bad smell, it wasn’t going in my mouth. I watch my great grandson who’s almost three. He always smells things before he puts them in his mouth. It think that’s very interesting. A dog often does the same thing.

Courtesy of Jade87 on Pixabay

My husband never wore any after shave much because he had asthma and smells would sure send on an attack. But I loved the natural smell of just the soap after he showered. Smells are so powerful.

We camped a lot and I still remember the smell of an open fire and my mom frying bacon or making coffee. There’s nothing like it.

Did you know our sense of smell is strongest in the evening? Smell is directly related to the sleep hormone. In man’s early days on earth, smell helped us not only find food but to discern danger. It came in mighty handy.

And then there’s the fragrance of rain in the air. The official word is petrichor. It’s the release of organic compounds in the soil into the air during and after a rain event. I don’t know about you, but that’s one of my favorite smells. I love to stand outside just smelling the fresh air. It refreshes my soul.

Smells are closely associated to romance. I once dated a guy for a short time that gave off a scent that I could not get past. He was clean and didn’t have body odor but I hated the scent of him. Later, I learned that he was not the person he presented to people and was thankful I dodged a bullet, thanks to my discerning nose!

Now it’s your turn. How has your sense of smell helped you in life? Do certain things spark memories? I can’t wait to hear your responses.

Also, don’t forget that Creek is available for preorder. It’ll be in ebook and paperback. The paperback should show up on Amazon in a few days.

This leads off the multi-author Gun For Hire series. I can’t wait for you all to see these fabulous covers that the Charlene Raddon made. Here’s a list of the authors: Margaret Tanner, Charlene Raddon, Heather Blanton, Carra Copelin, Jo-Ann Roberts, Caroline Clemmons, Tracy Garrett, Cheryl Pierson, and Winnie Griggs.

Here are the three of the series that are already up.

Next month, I’ll have some giveaways of Creek as well as an awesome book trailer.

Don’t forget about our Petticoats and Pistols Reader Group on Facebook! CLICK HERE

Wishing you all a blessed day and week.

Linda Broday 

Visit Redemption Ridge with Guest Liwen Y. Ho

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A big welcome to Liwen Y. Ho today as she shares about a fictional town you’ll want to get to know!

You’re Cordially Invited to Visit Redemption Ridge… 

 

Hello! I’m so honored and thrilled to have a chance to chat with you today. And what is it that I’m excited to share with you about? It’s the beloved town of Redemption Ridge in Colorado! 

 

Established in 2023 in the hearts and minds of six Christian romance authors, me included, Redemption Ridge is the home to some lovely and strong heroines and their dashing and respectable heroes. Located in the heart of this small town is Redemption Ridge Ranch, a bustling tourist spot that offers riding lessons, equine therapy, as well as resort-style accommodations. Our stories are set around the Christmas season and take place on the ranch and around town.  

 You might be wondering, how does it work to have six authors write their own books in a shared town? Well, there’s a lot of teamwork and coordination involved! 

 All the important information of our stories is recorded in spreadsheets so we can refer to them when needed. And I do mean everything! From details about our characters’ hair and eye colors to their personality traits and their passions, we’re all aware of one another’s plots and characters. 

 We also chat online regularly about each other’s stories and how we can make them connect. Readers can expect to see characters from one book make guest appearances in other books. There are also mentions of the same restaurants and stores, as well as holiday events like the annual Christmas barn dance, so there’s plenty of continuity and familiarity throughout the series. 

 What about tropes?

I’m glad you asked! We already published six books in the Christmas in Redemption Ridge series last year and six more will be available before the year is over. Marriage of convenience, fake relationship, and autumn romance (later-in-life stories) are just a few of the tropes that are covered. One of the books that was released last month, Marrying the Billboard Cowboy, is a fun take on a modern mail-order bride romance. Another one releasing next week, Matchmaking the Cowboy, is a second chance romance with a matchmaking twist. 

 

My book coming out next month will be Doting on His Best Friend. As you can tell from the title, this story features two best friends who have a reverse age gap romance (she’s nine years older). The leading lady is a therapist who specializes in equine therapy. Even with a background in counseling (something I did before becoming an author), I didn’t know much about this kind of therapy, so I had a lot of fun researching it.  

 

One thing I learned is that therapy horses require a special type of temperament, specifically one that enjoys attention, is tolerant of the environment and riders, and has great ground manners. In Doting on His Best Friend, you’ll meet such a horse, an American Quarter Horse named Sully. He is a sweet horse known for his soulful, dark brown eyes and patience. 

 Speaking of horses, I’d love to hear about your experience with them.

Do you ride? Have you ever tried equine therapy?

Share your answer for a chance to win an autographed copy of Doting on His Best Friend when it releases next month!

(Please note: A print copy will be provided if the winner is a U.S. resident, and a digital copy will be provided to an international winner.) 

 Thank you so much for taking a trip to Redemption Ridge, Colorado with me today! 

USA Today bestselling author Liwen Y. Ho works as a chauffeur and chef by day (AKA a stay at home mom) and a writer by night. Her strength is in creating character-driven, deep POV romance infused with faith, humor, and happy ever afters.

In her pre-author life, she received a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Western Seminary, and she loves makeovers of all kinds, especially those of the heart and mind.

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her techie husband and their two children (AKA munchkins).

Meet Mandi Blake, and Hear Her Amazing Journey!

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Hi! I’m Mandi Blake, and I’ve been invited to be a guest author on the blog today.

A little about me…

I write Christian cowboy and small town romance. I live in Alabama where I grew up on a cattle farm. If I’m not reading or writing, I love to travel with my family and explore new places all over the world.

I started writing about six years ago, and I published my first book five years ago. Time is flying on this amazing journey, and I am excited to see what new and wonderful surprises are coming next.

I started off writing small-town romance set in Georgia. It was close to home, and I’m a small town girl through and through.

But once that series was over, I decided to shake things up a bit and write a cowboy series set in Wyoming.

Don’t ask me why. I have no idea why I chose Wyoming. I’d never been there, and I had no plans to go there. Sounds like a challenge, but I was ready to research and see what I could learn. I knew a little about raising cattle. I’d been around it my whole life. I wouldn’t trade growing up on a farm for anything because I had the best childhood.

I wanted that love of the land and hard work to shine through in my stories. The weather isn’t always cooperative in Wyoming, so I assumed an already difficult job had to be ten times harder in the harsh climate.

That was the beginning of the Blackwater Ranch series. Each book followed one of the tough-as-nails Harding brothers, and the last book was about their cousin who also lived on the ranch.

The Blackwater Ranch series was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I grew so much writing those books. I loved right along with the characters and readers. I met so many people who just happened to pick up the books and like them. Readers became some of my dearest friends.

When the series was over, I wasn’t ready to let go of Blackwater. I immediately started a spin-off series about a dude ranch in the same town, and Wolf Creek Ranch took everything that Blackwater Ranch did for me and quadrupled it. These contemporary Western romances were the stories of my heart, and as they say, the rest is history.

When the Wolf Creek Ranch series came to an end, guess who still wasn’t ready to leave this fictional town of Blackwater. Me!

Through the last twelve books set in this little town, I’d introduced tons of side characters, so I decided to make my next series, the Love in Blackwater series, about some of them.

Since these new books are still so close to the ranches, I get to include my older characters in the newer books!

Y’all, I’m having too much fun.

Have you ever gotten so drawn into a book that you think about the characters when it’s over? My aunt, who is an avid reader, always told me she would envision what the characters might be doing once their story was over.

I get to show readers pieces of the ongoing lives of the characters they’ve known and loved. They sometimes play a big part in other stories, and their “lives” continue long after “The End.”

The first book in the Blackwater Ranch series is Remembering the Cowboy. Noah and Camille’s love story started it all, but even after their happily ever after, we got to see Camille fighting for justice in a courtroom in Better Together, the fourth book in the Wolf Creek Ranch series. We get to see how she juggles a family and a successful career all while being a rock for her friends when they need a hand.

One of my favorite scenes in the book I’m writing now is a wedding where all of the people in town are gathered together. Some of the Hardings have kids! Their fictional lives are being lived in new stories, and I’m so excited for these possibilities.

As something special for you, I’ve put the Blackwater Ranch series on sale. For April 5-6 only, you can get both of the three ebook box sets for this series for 99 cents each (in the US and UK only). You can read the whole series for two dollars or borrow them and read for free in Kindle Unlimited.

I also have a giveaway!

In the comments, tell me about the first book you read that sparked your love of all things Western. One winner will receive a signed paperback copy of the first book in my Blackwater Ranch series, Remembering the Cowboy. I’ll also throw in a matching bookmark and some other little goodies. A winner will be chosen on Sunday, April 7th. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Thank you so much for having me on the blog today. I hope to “meet” you again sometime.

A Match for Silas

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Hi, Janice Cole Hopkins here and I am thrilled to be a guest blogger on Petticoats & Pistols. It’s my fifth time doing this over the years, and I very much appreciate the opportunity of visiting with you. I’m a huge fan of Western romance because it’s what I mainly read and write. Of course, I wear several hats, and I also enjoy the P & P blogs daily as a reader. Even though I’m a prolific writer who published 16 books last year, I’m also an avid reader who reads over 365 books a year. I know because I leave at least one review each day on Amazon for the books I’ve just finished. Before you question my sanity, I agree that 16 books were too many for any one year, and I have vowed to slow down. I will only be publishing eleven books in 2024 and eleven in 2025. LOL.

I have now published three books in the multiple-author project, The Matchmakers – Agatha Returns. I’d like to share my new release about a blacksmith, A Match for Silas, with you today. Silas has abandonment issues since his beautiful mother left him and his father when he was just a child. His father was also a blacksmith, and his mother didn’t like that lifestyle.

 

Silas appeared briefly in both A Match for Marshall and A Match for Cord, but now, he tells his own story. When even Vanessa, the town flirt, wants nothing to do with him, Silas decides to follow Marshall’s and Cord’s examples and write to the matchmaker. But when his intended bride comes, she’s exactly what he doesn’t

Click to Buy–A Match for Silas

want, someone from high society. However, her circumstances prevent Jacqueline from returning home, so what’s he to do? They decide to take things slowly while he courts her, but he’s so afraid she won’t be happy with a lowly blacksmith that he jumps to conclusions.

Click to Buy–A Match for Merle

For my readers, this will be a series within a series because all eight of my books in this MAP are set in Pinyon Falls, in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas. A Match for Marshall and a Match for Cord have already published, and Marshall and Callie and Cord and Moriah also make appearances in this new book. Then, there will be five more of my books to come in the series, the last being published in August of 2005. The next book is A Match for Merle. This will be Vanessa’s story, and I’ve already written the rough draft. It’s on Amazon preorder now and will be published on July 1. However, any of my books can be read as standalones because they all have a definite ending and never require you to read another book to tie up loose ends.

Do you like a series of books set in the same place that has former characters appearing again? Would you rather read a series like this or a standalone book? What is the longest series you’ve ever read (how many books)?

 

Those who answer all three questions in a comment will be entered into a drawing for a Kindle copy of A Match for Silas.

 

Click to Buy–A Match for Silas

Click to Buy–A Match for Merle

Legend of the American Cowboy by Jan Scarbrough

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The Legend of the American Cowboy

Why do we love the legendary American cowboy?
Answer: Because he (or she) is who we want to be.

Real cowboys (and cowgirls like Annie Oakley) became romanticized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because the public admired the qualities they represented.

Duncan Emrich in a book entitled Folklore in the American Land claims that America has two original legends: Santa Claus and the cowboy.

In his book, Emrich lists these common attributes of an American cowboy.

  • Individualism
  • Independence
  • Freedom
  • Not given to bragging (I’ll insert “humble” here)
  • Courage
  • Cheerfulness
  • Pride
  • Loyalty
  • True to his word
  • Generosity
  • Kindness
  • Unbeatable

Women readers love a good cowboy tale because true cowboys esteem women. Emrich writes, “One of the strictest codes of the West was to respect women. No other class of men looked upon women with greater reverence.”

So, when you see the hunky cowboys on the covers of modern romance novels, remember they should represent an American ideal and someone we want to fall in love with.

I’ve written two contemporary Western romance series. One four book series is called Ghost Mountain Ranch. It’s not simply a sweet romance, but there’s a mystery element to all three books, which you must read to finally find the “bad guy.”

BUY LINK

I’ve combined The Ghost Mountain Ranch into a box set and into a paperback. I’ll give away one paperback book to one lucky reader who answers these questions in the comments: I mostly read eBooks on my Kindle app. Do you buy eBooks? Paperbacks? Do you like to hold a paperback book in your hand, or do you prefer to swipe to turn pages?

Also, if you read eBooks and you’d like one of my eBooks free, sign up for my newsletter HERE  and download a book!

 

 

Cover Reveal and a Giveaway!

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“Stone Landry stared into the green depth of her eyes and brushed a knuckle across Emma’s soft cheek. “One day.” He dragged air into his lungs. “One day I intend to court you, lady. That’s a promise. Hangman’s daughter or not.”

Courting Miss Emma, Book 2 of the Hangman’s Daughters series, will soon come your way and I want to share this gorgeous cover. The colors and fonts are really nice. I wish her skirt was a bit slimmer but maybe the wind got under it and ballooned it out. After all, we have a LOT of wind in Texas! I also love Emma’s hair and think it’s perfect. With sixteen orphans to keep track of, she wouldn’t have had a lot of time for her hair.

As with her sister Maura in Book 1, she’s never been courted, kissed, or even come close. At 26 years old, she would’ve been considered an old maid back in 1868. But when Stone Landry bought the property next door, Emma began to see herself as a woman with something left to give.

Stone gets her dander up right away after one of the orphan boys wanders over onto his property. He brings the kid back—along with a sharp rebuke for Emma to watch the children better. She sees red of course.

So, that’s how their relationship starts. They mix like oil and water. It isn’t that he doesn’t like kids, he was just never around any.

Add in a couple of adult camels and their baby and you get the idea. The kids weren’t going to stay on their side of the property line and that was that.

It’s a fun story with a group of unscrupulous bad guys trying to take both Emma’s and Stone’s land and shut down the orphanage. It leads to a land war with the couple fighting tooth and nail to stop them.

Wars have been fought over land since the beginning of time. Someone big and powerful always thinks they can take what they want and no one can stop them. It’s a familiar theme in westerns and it happens today all over the world. Sometimes the little guy wins.

This is a sweet romance with lots of action and a mix of humor thrown in. I think you’ll like this story that shows the depth of Emma’s and Stone’s hearts and their commitment to keeping Heaven’s Door open. No matter the cost.

Ever since I wrote Knight on the Texas Plains, I’ve always put children in my stories. They make the stories richer. Animals are another constant and I’ve had a variety—horses, dogs, cats, a monkey, a talking parrot, and now camels. You never know what’s coming next.

I’m giving away an ebook copy of the first book, Winning Maura’s Heart. To enter, tell me the one-word name of Maura’s love interest.

Aiming for His Heart Excerpt

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It’s been wonderful and difficult being book ten in the Pink Pistol Sisterhood series. Good because I’ve had wonderful books to read that have come before mine, but hard because I’ve had to wait so long to wait for my story to be released. But Jade and Dalton’s day finally arrived Friday!

As we’re all recovering from the long Fourth of July weekend, I decided to do something simple and share an excerpt of Aiming for His Heart with you today. I’m so excited to hear what you readers think of Jade and Dalton’s journey to happily ever after.

 

When they reached the airport exit, sliding glass doors whooshed open. The surprisingly brisk Texas wind swirled under Jade’s coat and up her skirt, chilling her. As she followed Dalton outside, she tucked her coordinating brown-and-camel plaid scarf around her neck and pulled on her leather gloves.

As they crossed the street between the terminal and the parking garage, she tried to lengthen her stride to keep up, but her skirt refused to allow anything but dainty feminine steps, forcing her to take three to his one. When she stepped onto the sidewalk, her heel caught in a crack. She tried to tug it free, but it wouldn’t budge. “Dalton, hold up.”

He glanced over his shoulder, shook his head, and returned.

She peered up at him. “I can’t free it.”

“I hope you packed decent shoes in your monster suitcase.”

“Of course, I brought casual shoes. I’d have changed into slacks and low heels, but I went straight from work to the airport,” Jade said as he tugged her shoe free—minus the heel.

She stared at her now-destroyed favorite black Jimmy Choo heel that he handed her. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Wear it until you can change into one of the store’s worth I’m guessing you’ve got in there from the weight,” he said, nodding to her suitcase.

“If my bag is too heavy, maybe you should add strength training to your workout,” she tossed out in frustration as she slipped on the heelless shoe and penguin-walked behind him.

She almost laughed. No one would believe strength training could improve on the perfection good old hard work had done.

The deep, rich, vibrant sound of Dalton’s laughter teased her ears, sending little tremors radiating through her. “Now, that’s funny. I think you’re lucky they let you on the plane with this anchor.”

“In my defense, it’s winter. Sweaters are bulkier and winter shoes are heavier. Plus, I packed for a month.”

“We have things called washers and dryers here, you know,” Dalton said and then chuckled again.

When they reached his truck, she stared at it for a second. Sure, he’d mentioned his truck, but she hadn’t envisioned one almost big enough to qualify for a monster truck rally.

Dalton opened the passenger door and held it for her. She leaned forward and placed the Ferragamo work bag she’d snagged on sale for almost half price online inside.

How would she get on the seat wearing a Zoey-original sleek pencil skirt made of barely stretching fabric? Noting to discuss the fabric choice with her friend, Jade lifted her leg to step on the silver board thing running along the truck. When her skirt tightened enough she worried it could rip, she returned her foot to the ground.

“Need help?” Dalton asked, amusement in his voice.

What could he do? Lift her into the truck? No way. She shook her head and scrambled to find an excuse. She pulled off her shoes and tossed them into the truck beside her bag. “I got this. I just couldn’t get decent footing.”

“Whatever you say.” Dalton grabbed her suitcase.

When he turned to place her bag in the truck bed, Jade grabbed the armrest with her right hand, her skirt with her left, hiking it up to mid-thigh, and started pulling herself up. The tailgate clanged shut, insisting she’d run out of time. She glanced over her shoulder, finding Dalton—feet apart and braced—staring at her with an intensity that sent happy hormones dancing through her. A slow, sexy smile spilled A slow, sexy smile spilled across his face as his gaze moved downward. “Nice legs.”

I hope you enjoyed this short excerpt Aiming for His Heart.  Click here to buy the book and read the rest of Jade and Dalton’s story.

A New Book, A New Lesson

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I’m excited for Aiming for His Heart to be released on June 30th. Writing this book, the tenth story in our Pink Pistol Sisterhood series, challenged me in many ways. First, at 40,000 words, it’s the shortest story I’ve written. I hear those who know me well laughing because you know I can’t say hello in less than fifty words. 🙂  In my first writing classes, the instructor asked if I was taking her class on writing tighter. To my I hadn’t decided answer, she responded that I needed to. Despite hard work on that, I struggled 60,000 word Harlequin novels within the overage allowance.

I also had less time to write this story. When I start a book, I count on two things happening. I’ll start in the wrong place, either too far into the story or too far . I’ll take wrong turns. Sure enough. Both happened with Aiming for His Heart. In fact, the wrong turns were so disastrous I pretty much started over once. Maybe twice. While I was proud of writing in the shorter time frame, as a tortoise writing (unlike many of my amazing rabbit speed writing filly sisters), doing so took its toll.

However, the main challenge came from my heroine, Jade. Boy did she and I get into a battle of wills. Okay. I hear you laughing again. Yes, I know I can be stubborn, too. ? Our trouble started during brainstorming. My story ideas almost always start with the hero. In fact, only one hasn’t. But in the Pink Pistol Sisterhood series the heroine receives the pink-handled pistol which plays a key part in the story. This meant the story needed to begin with Jade. Until I learned her backstory, her personality, and what she wanted, I couldn’t move forward. And blast the woman, she wouldn’t let me into her head.

I knew Jade’s mother died when Jade was ten. From then until she went attended college, Jade spent summers and school vacations with her maternal aunt in Oklahoma. There Jade found the love and acceptance she often didn’t receive from her workaholic, distant father and his new family. Jade revealed her past to me, but after that, she shut down. All she revealed was she was returning to Oklahoma to settle her aunt’s estate.

Anyone who’s taken on that task knows how emotionally and physically exhausting it is. Despite putting Jade in stressful situations, she remained distant, almost emotionless. Thankfully, while talking to my dear friend and critique partner, Nancy Haddock, I realized Jade acted that way because she didn’t want to feel anything. She didn’t want to let anyone in. I finally had my key to her character. Jade feared if she felt anything, especially grief, she’d fall apart and never recover. She viewed her emotions as the enemy because when she lost control of them, chaos and disaster followed.

Being a sinister author, I had to break her. But as often happens in my stories, in busting through my character’s defenses and forcing them to face their issues, I make a discovery of my own. I learned I had been at war with my emotions lately. Because I had been feeling too much for lack of better words, I didn’t want to feel anything and had shut down in some ways, too. Forcing Jade to deal with her emotions forced me to grow and deal with mine, too. I guess, not only do I write what I know, sometimes I write about what I need to learn.

GIVEAWAY:  To be entered in my random drawing for cactus tote leave a comment about a challenge that made you grow and what you learned or what new skill you acquired.

 

Tess Thompson Visits the Corral

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Hello to all the Western Romance fans! I’m delighted to be with you today. I’ll be giving away two paperbacks of my bestselling historical romance, The School Mistress of Emerson Pass. See how to enter at the end of my post.

I recently finished writing my Emerson Pass Series. I’ve been working on the books for over two years, so you can imagine that saying goodbye was a bittersweet. On the one hand, I was thrilled to have completed a 14 book series. I always feel a sense of accomplishment and relief when they’re done. On the other hand, the Barnes family felt like old friends and saying goodbye was hard. It’s a strange thing, this writing fiction. Characters I made up out of my head feel as if they’re real when I know they’re not. Readers tell me they feel the same way about the books they really enjoy. As a reader, I’m that way too. Book friends can sustain us during hard times! They never let us down.

 

 

Emerson Pass, set in 1910, is about a young school teacher who takes a job in a little mountain town out west. Once she arrives, she meets a widower and his five children and they all fall in love. Yay. The entire Barnes family and my heroine, Quinn Cooper, came to me in dream. I’m a woman of faith and fully believe that God whispered their stories in my ear while I was sleeping. I woke up to an image of Quinn getting off on a train in the middle of a snowstorm. In addition, my hero, Alexander and all five of his children were all so clear in my mind that I knew what they looked like and their personalities before I even opened my eyes that morning. However, I was in the middle of writing Cliffside Bay so I had to be satisfied with jotting the details in my journal so that I wouldn’t forget. I didn’t start writing The School Mistress until two years later! I went back to my notes and it was all in there, like the characters had been waiting for me to share them with the world. So, I did. I’ve enjoyed writing all my characters but these ones are special. If you haven’t met them, I hope you’ll give the series a try. They’re all in Kindle Unlimited and available in paperback.

Giveaway:  When was the last time you read a series or book that you loved so much you hated for it to end? Let me know in the comments below and you’ll be entered in the random drawing to be one of two winners of a paperback copy of The School Mistress.

Happy reading and thanks so much for joining me today!

Tess Thompson is the USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author of clean and wholesome Contemporary and Historical Romantic Women’s Fiction with nearly 50 published titles. Her stories feature family sagas, romance, a little mystery, and a lot of heart.

To follow Tess on:

BookBub click here
Facebook click here
Goodreads click here
Pinterest click here
Instagram click here

To buy The School Mistress click here

 

 

 

Rodeo Cowboys–Competitors, Friends, and Even Family

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Today we welcome Danica Favorite to the Petticoats and Pistols corral.

One of my favorite parts of the rodeo is the bronc riding. It’s such a great combo of talent, skill and a little bit of luck. The announcer at a rodeo series I often watch has always been good about sharing some of the inside stories of the cowboys, and one of the things I fell in love with was how many times he’d talk about how cowboys competing against each other were often close friends and traveling buddies. You think about rodeos as competitions, but it reminded me of my life growing up in the rodeo scene. The people do become like family, even if you spend all season vying for the top spots.

So when I came up with this series, I thought a lot about that sense of family, not just in my Shepherd’s Creek community, but also among these rodeo cowboys. That became the heart of The Bronc Rider’s Twins. What do you do when someone in that found family dies, leaving behind a mess? For Wyatt Nelson, that meant stepping up and being the husband and father his best friend couldn’t be.

Family is equally important to Laura Fisher. For those who read the first book in the series, Journey to Forgiveness, you know that the Shepherd’s Creek family is working through a very painful past. You don’t have to have read it to read The Bronc Rider’s Twins, but for me, this series isn’t just about each of the family members, but about the way they’ve found their way back to each other after being estranged for so long.

Though there is, of course, a happy ending, what I love about this book, and this series, is that we see how messy families can be, and how sometimes working through these issues can take a lot of time, patience, and love. And, even though we have a picture in our heads of what a family is supposed to look like, the family in this series isn’t your traditional family. But together, they find healing and hope.

About The Bronc Rider’s Twins:
A family he doesn’t expect…

But will protect at all costs.

Convinced he caused his best friend’s death, rodeo cowboy Wyatt Nelson will do whatever it takes to look after widow Laura Fisher and her infant twins—even propose to her. A marriage of convenience is the perfect solution to keep custody from Laura’s overbearing in-laws. But as Wyatt begins to fall for the little family, will he let guilt get in the way of his heart?

About Danica Favorite:
Danica Favorite has spent her life in love with good books.  Never did she imagine that the people who took her to far away places would someday be the same folks she now calls friends.

A mountain girl at heart, she lives in the Denver area with her family and ever-changing menagerie of animals.

Put it all together, and you find an adventurous writer who likes to explore what it means to be human and follow people on the journey to happily ever after.

Giveaway:
Danica will be giving away a copy of The Bronc Rider’s Twins. To be entered in the random drawing, leave a comment about someone you’re not technically related to, but you consider family, and how has that person helped you in your life?