Paulette D. Marshall Finds Our National Parks Inspiring!

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There is something about Yosemite that takes my breath away every time I visit. The mountains, tall trees, beautiful meadows, and waterfalls are amazing. No matter how many pictures you see, they just don’t compare to standing there and seeing it for yourself.

When I started writing Anna Yosemite National Park Bride, I knew I wanted Yosemite to be an important part of the story. I wanted my readers to be able to picture the tall pines, hear the birds, and imagine traveling through this beautiful country with Anna.

Anna Larson has known heartache and loss, but she hasn’t given up on her faith or the hope that God still has a plan for her life. Her journey brings her to the area around Yosemite, where she meets Christian Anderson, a hardworking wheelwright who lives in Wawona.

Christian wasn’t expecting Anna to come into his life, and Anna certainly wasn’t expecting him.

As they get to know each other, their lives begin to come together through simple things like church, family meals, wagon rides, and everyday life. Of course, things don’t always go smoothly. There are a few questions to be answered along the way, and Anna has to decide if she is willing to trust her heart again.

One of the places I especially enjoyed including in the story was Wawona.

I love researching historical places for my books, and it is always fun to imagine what they might have looked like so many years ago. What would Anna have seen? What would the roads have been like? How long would it have taken to travel from one place to another? Those are some of the things I think about while I’m writing.

Travel was certainly different in Anna’s time. Horses, wagons, and buggies were a normal part of life, and a broken wagon wheel could become a much bigger problem than it would be today.

That is where a wheelwright came in. A wheelwright was a skilled craftsman who made and repaired wooden wheels for wagons, buggies, and carriages. The work took skill and precision because those wheels had to stand up to rough roads and daily travel.

There is something else that makes Christian special to me. Christian Anderson was a real person who lived during this time and worked as a wheelwright. I enjoy taking bits of real history and weaving them into my stories, and Christian gave me the opportunity to do that.

Of course, the Christian you meet in Anna Yosemite National Park Bride is part of my fictional story, but knowing there really was a wheelwright named Christian Anderson made him especially fun to write.

Faith is also an important part of Anna’s story. She doesn’t always know where God is leading her or what her future will look like. She has to trust Him one step at a time. Christian has a few things to learn about trusting God too.

I hope when you read Anna Yosemite National Park Bride, you will enjoy visiting Yosemite and Wawona with Anna and Christian. Maybe you’ll even feel as though you’ve taken a little trip back in time.

AMAZON LINK

*****Giveaway*****

 I would be happy to give away an ebook copy of Grace Crater Lake Bride. To enter, please answer the questions:

Have you ever visited Yosemite National Park? If you have, what was your favorite part? If you haven’t, is it somewhere you would like to visit?

Blessings,

Paulette D. Marshall

 

 

 

 

New Young Adult Story — Free E-book Giveaway

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Howdy!  Hope y’all are doin’ well on this beautiful Thursday!  Well I hope you’ll forgive me, but I just noticed (believe it or not) that this is more or less a repeat of my last post two weeks ago.  I must admit to being thoroughly swamped at the moment and so I hope you will excuse me.

I am filling in for the beautiful and amazingly talented Cathy.  I know.  Touch shoes to try to walk in, but I’ll try.

I have a new release out and it’s the third book in the Young Adult Series I’m doing entitled OUR ENEMY BRINGS CHANGE.  This is a sweet teen romance, set in around the 1840’s between a Blackfeet Young Man and  a young teenager, Miss Starling) who came to live with her Uncle Jed when her parents died in a boating accident.  Jed just happened to be a trader in the far reaches of Blackfeet country.  The first story started when Starling (the heroine) was only 16 and on a steamboat set to take her into the dreaded Blackfeet Country.  Because her Uncle Jed was unable to meet her at the boat’s landing at Fort Union, he sent his almost-nephew — Good Eagle — to  meet Miss Starling and protect her on the steamboat as it was to go even further west…straight into Blackfeet Country.  Well needless to say, the two of them DID NOT hit it off.  However, he was told to guard Starling on the boat and he did.

Well, it’s now two years later and Starling is 18 and Good Eagle is 20.  But Starling is now considered an adult and, oh my, she’s now found herself in love with Good Eagle.  But, unfortunately for Starling, Good Eagle does not return her love (he is still in love with another)…though he and Starling have become the best of friends.

And so begins book #3, OUR ENEMY BRINGS CHANGE.  I write this romance under the pen name of Genny Cothern.

So let me tell you a bit more about this 3rd book with a blurb and an excerpt:

Our Enemy Brings Change

A spellbinding and sweet Native American historical romance for Young Adults featuring two people who are friends, but who must not fall in love with each other.

What Will Happen When We Give Our Enemy His Life?

When Starling Nelson begs Good Eagle—her best friend and partner— to spare the life of an enemy, little does she know how this one single action might affect her life. For a year now, Starling has realized her friendship with Good Eagle has blossomed into love. But, because Good Eagle’s heart belongs to another, she has learned to ignore the rapid beating of her own heart whenever Good Eagle is near.

Good Eagle finishes the fight the young Nez Perce warrior started and grants the warrior his life, but only because his partner, Starling, insists upon it. But when the Nez Perce warrior offers a piece of advice to Good Eagle, it has the effect of changing not only Good Eagle’s mind-set about love, it might very well change his life forever.

But, there are doubts about a happy ever after for Good Eagle and Starling, because, though Good Eagle’s past love is no longer alive, in spirit she still haunts him.

Can Good Eagle and Starling win against the supernatural? Or will this one chance at love fail, separating them forever?

Perfect for Readers who love

** A haunted hero and a beautiful “off limits” friend

** Sweet Native American Historical Romance

** Adventure and sweet love in the Old West

** Friends who believe love might destroy their honor

I hope you like this cover as much as I do.  It’s a bit of a change from my usual covers.  But I love the detail in this cover as well as the bright colors.  If you’ve ever been to Montana, then you probably know that the environment is not brown and drab, but it vibrant with color.

And so, here is an excerpt — a different one from my last blog two weeks ago.  In this scene Starling and Good Eagle are on the trail to discover a war lodge built somewhere in the Two Medicine area.  They have gone there to scout out the war lodge and to discover what (if anything) the enemy left behind.

EXCERPT

Our Enemy Brings Change

At last, by mid-day, we beheld the butte Deer Leggings had pointed out to us several days ago; it was known to the Pikuni as Móskizipahpi-istaki or Heart Butte. Rugged Mountains in the shape of a heart at its peaks jutted up toward the sky, while at its base, a large pine and hardwood forest butted up to it. We were only a few steps away from the pine forest now, and, entering into the cooler temperature of it, we traveled within its dense and dark depths, both of us keeping a look out for the war lodge or any other surprise.

The scent of pine was strong here and pleasant, despite the gloomy-like interior of the forest, where light so rarely found its way to the ground.

Good Eagle led the way, and, turning slightly in his seat, he motioned me forward. As I guided my pony up to Good Eagle on his right, he looked over his shoulder at me and said, “I believe I know where this lodge is. And, if I am correct, we will find it farther back from here and closer to the mountains. It is there where the pines are the most dense. I have been here before and I believe we will discover the lodge to be well hidden amongst the trees in this forest. Now, take heart and find your courage. Though I know the feel in these woods is gloomy, making it seem as if an enemy watches your every step, it is usually not so. I do not sense the presence of an enemy here. Still, keep your pony close to mine as we go through the pines.”

“Yes,” I said. “I will follow you. Indeed, with you here with me, I feel secure.”

Glancing at me quickly, Good Eagle smiled. “Okí, come on, let’s go!”

We then found the lodge with ease. I had never seen an actual war lodge and I was stunned to witness its cleverness in design.

Said Good Eagle, “I remember this war lodge from when I had once come here with my father. It is rather ancient and is not much used by my people anymore. It was many years ago when he brought me here. You see, it is the duty of my father, who is often the leader of war parties, to know where these war lodges are located all over Pikuni territory. They are usually found to be close to a trail, and they are used over and over by many a Pikuni war party.

“But, my father has told me the enemy, too, knows of their locations, and so it is not unusual for the Nez Perce to have used this lodge. But, even knowing the enemy might also be aware of the location of these lodges, many of my people still use them. However, although these kinds of war lodges can be convenient when one has a need of them, my father feels it best to construct a new war lodge when he is at the head of a war party; he would make his own, one as yet unknown to the enemy.”

I nodded, but I did not speak.

We both dismounted, leaving our animals hobbled in a large area of grass so they might feast upon it and recover their strength. Good Eagle and I came up close to the structure and I asked, “How are these built? I can see they are constructed to remain here for use, but how is it done?”

Quite good-naturedly, Good Eagle took my arm and stepped toward the war lodge while he explained, “The leader of the war party selects a spot to build the structure, usually close to a war path and within reach of water for bathing and for drinking. All the men begin to build the shelter as a place where they can rest and smoke meat and prepare for the dangers of war. Windfalls, as you can see, are plentiful in these wooded areas and the cottonwood and willow tree branches are used mostly because they are in abundance here along the river bottom.

“Now, three, maybe four or five, large and sturdy cottonwood limbs are found and put together like a tepee. These form the structure of the lodge. And then, other, smaller limbs are placed here alongside the main structure, while smaller limbs, bushes and small branches are put here and there over the entire structure. Large stones are found and are used to hold the lodge in place. Then, slabs of tree bark are put onto and around the lodge in order to keep the weather out of the structure. Bushes, leaves and more pine boughs are placed around it, also, to keep everything in place and any holes are quickly found from within the lodge and are closed up so that no rain or snow will fall inside, nor will smoke escape through the holes to announce to the enemy where the lodge is built.

“Now,” said Good Eagle, pointing, “as you can see, there is a long tunnel leading into the structure so that it can only be accessed by bending low and crawling through the tunnel into the lodge inside.”

“Yes,” I replied. “I think I would say it looks like an inverted V shape.”

“Quickly,” said Good Eagle, “let us gather up some dry wood so we can build a fire within the lodge.”

We did so easily enough, there being many dry branches and logs on the ground. Within moments it was done, and, carrying the wood to the war lodge, Good Eagle bent and crawled into the opening, pushing the stack of wood before him. I followed.

It was dark in this tunnel-like structure and I was glad when we, at last, reached the interior of the lodge. But, because all the cracks in its walls were covered over with bush or tree bark from the outside, there was no light in the structure’s interior except for what came through the lodge poles from above. Also, because of the darkness of the forest, I could see almost nothing within, even once I came to stand up to my feet and my eyes had adjusted to the dark.

Said Good Eagle, “Let me start a fire in the center of the lodge so we might more easily locate the headdress we have come here to find.”

I didn’t help Good Eagle to build the fire because, using little more than flint and punk, it generally took me much longer than he to stoke up a fire. However, Good Eagle was a master at it, having learned how to do it long, long ago. And so, very quickly the interior of the lodge was thrown into a flickering, yellow light which seemed to me to be about as bright as moonlight, and perhaps, just as flattering.

At last, I could see what was inside the lodge, and, without looking at Good Eagle, I murmured, “Well, I can now understand why there is such a strong odor of pine here in this lodge. The men who had used this war lodge, slept on many pine boughs and have left them here. I had thought, when we first entered, that the odor inside here would be rotten, perhaps from the remains of animals. But, this is not so. It is the sweet smell of balsam, as well as prairie sage, which permeates the inside of this structure.”

Good Eagle didn’t reply to me. Instead, when I looked up toward him as he stood on the other side of the glowing firelight, I saw he was gazing at me in an uncommonly strange manner. He said nothing; he did nothing. He simply stood there looking at me as though he were seeing me for the first time.

Although I took note of how handsome he appeared in the flickering firelight, I thought little of it, for I had often admired his looks beneath the beams of a moonlit evening. And so, shrugging off my attraction to him, I said again, “I have noticed how sweet-smelling the inside of this lodge is.” I grinned at him.

Yet, he murmured not a single word in reply to me. He simply stared at me. A long minute ticked by in my mind, and, as I looked at him, I wondered what was wrong with him. Why didn’t he say something to me? Yet, he uttered not a single word.

“Well,” I said at length, “it might be wise for us to look for the headdress and return at once to the fort where we can present it to Deer Leggings.”

“Tsa, what?” At last Good Eagle seemed to come more fully into the moment. “I did not hear what it was you said.”

“Oh?” I asked, wondering what was affecting him in such a strange way. “Well, I will say it again, then. Perhaps we should look for the headdress and then make our way back to the fort.”

“Áa, áa,” was all Good Eagle replied. And then, as though he had been momentarily held in a trance, he shook his head slightly and shut his eyes. Opening his eyes and again looking at me, he said, “Of course. Let us do as you say.”

And, so began our hunt for the Nez Perce headdress. We each one inspected several different sleeping areas. But, it was Good Eagle, who, at last, found the tube which held the regalia. Not only was there a headdress neatly packed within it, there was another cylinder located close to it, and inside this other was an entire outfit of men’s dress regalia, complete with a tanned buckskin shirt, leggings, breechcloth and moccasins.

As Good Eagle was rolling the clothing up and stuffing it all back inside the tube, I said, “We should bring these back to Deer Leggings. I know he will be happy to see them.”

As I reached out to take one of the cylinders from Good Eagle, I accidentally touched the palm of his hand, and I almost jumped back because of the sensation of energy which fled over me. What had happened to me?

I looked up at Good Eagle’s face and saw a look of surprise upon his countenance, also; one probably mirroring my own reaction. I hardly knew what to do. Perhaps I should have taken a step back away from him. But, I didn’t. It was as though I had become glued to the floor.

Again, it was a long minute within my mind before Good Eagle at last said to me, “I think we should return to the fort, yet my people are not camped far from here, the Two Medicine area being a common camping spot for us during the Yiipo, the moon when the leaves grow. Would you like to come to my people’s encampment with me before we return to the fort? Perhaps it is well for you to meet the rest of your family, my father, my mother, my sister and brother.”

Taken a little by surprise, I replied, “I would be honored to go there with you.”

When he grinned at me, I thought my heart might likely have jumped up from my chest and into my throat, so quickly did it beat. I didn’t know quite what had happened to me…or to Good Eagle.

But, whatever it was, it left me with a warm sensation which was spreading all over me. Something, though I knew not what, was different between Good Eagle and me. And, whatever this was, it was so pleasant, I longed for more of the same.

But, of course, I didn’t say any of this to Good Eagle. He is, after all, my best friend, my almost-brother and my partner.

When Good Eagle seemed to become more of his usual good-humored, though teasing self, we left the lodge, as well as the pine forest and headed toward the camp of his people.

To say I was honored by his suggestion to take me to meet his family would have been an understatement, and I found I was so nervous at the prospect of meeting his parents, as well as his sister and brother, I barely spoke at all to Good Eagle along the trail.

But, in truth, this was as it usually was; one didn’t overly converse when on the trail.

Inwardly, I started rehearsing what I might say to his father and his mother, but alas, I could think of nothing which seemed to me to be quite worthy of the honor I felt. However, sighing deeply, I kept trying to practice what I might say….

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG88KVRV?tag=pettpist-20

And now for some more news:  She Steals My Breath , book #1 in The Medicine Man Series is on sale for $,99 and If She Were Mine is on sale also for $.99.  But If She Were Mine is going to be on sale only until the end of this month.  So do hurry and get your copy today!

If She Were Mine:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GWY3P5KS?tag=pettpist-20

She Steals My Breath:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TNDS67H?tag=pettpist-20

Well, that’s all for today!  Hope your Thursday is both beautiful and romantic!  Don’t forget to post a comment.  I’ll be giving away a free e-book of this story to one of today’s bloggers.

Paulette D. Marshall Will Return Friday!

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Our guest for Friday, September 25, 2026 is the talented Paulette D Marshall who writes romances set in national parks.

How many national parks have you been to? Did you enjoy the time spent there? Miss Paulette wants to chat with you about this AND her new book ANNA: Yosemite Bride. This multi-author series is shaping up nicely.

She’s giving away one copy of GRACE: Crater Lake Bride! Yee-Haw!

If you snooze you lose. That’s what I always heard. So get your self in gear and come over.

We’d love to see you.

 

Lewis and Clark’s Dugout Canoes

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I live in one of the areas of Montana that the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, traversed during the early 1800s (1803-1806). Beaverhead Rock, the formation that Sacagawea recognized as being close to the summer grounds of her nation, is one of the local landmarks.

Eighty percent of the Lewis and Clark expedition was accomplished by water. The explorers used various types of boats, barges, canoes and pirogues to accomplish the round trip journey, and I think the most fascinating of these are the dugout canoes that they carved during their travels.

The canoes were carved out of a single tree, using green cottonwood or Ponderosa pine because those woods are easy to shape when wet. The outside of the tree was kept wet, while small coal fires were set on the log to burn the wood away. As the wood burned, metal implements, such as axes and adzes were used to carve away the burned portions of the log, until it was hollowed out.

The completed dugout canoes averaged 30 feet long and 3 feet wide and weighed about a ton. They could carry a minimum of 800 pounds of cargo along with 7 men. The explorers also built larger canoes, 50-55 feet long, for travel on the Columbia river. These canoes could carry 2-3 tons of cargo along with 4-6 men. The larger canoes took 12 days to complete; some of the smaller canoes were built in 5 days.

Painting created by Split Rock Studios, Sioux City, Iowa. Original in the collection of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.
A partially finished dugout canoe displayed in a local park, created to demonstrate the construction technique.

The explorers carved 6 canoes from cottonwood trees at Fort Mandan in what is now North Dakota before heading west. One of the canoes was abandoned near the Big Hole River in Montana and the rest put into storage when the expedition shifted from waterways to horseback in order to travel over the Rocky Mountains into Idaho.

Once they crossed the Rockies, the men made five new dugout canoes from Ponderosa pine.  All of these canoes were wrecked or sold  before they made it past Columbia Falls. On the return journey, the explorers retrieved the canoes they had stored in Montana and used them to travel to the Great Falls of the Missouri. During the journey they carved a total of 15 canoes. William Clark carved two canoes near Billings Montana that were so unstable that they had to be lashed together. I bet that after days of burning and scraping, they were pretty determined to use them in anyway possible.

When the Animals Steal the Scene and a Give Away!

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There’s something about putting an animal into a story. At first, they’re just supposed to be there.
A horse carries the hero into town. A dog sleeps beside the stove. A barn cat wanders through a scene. Maybe there are chickens scratching around the yard because, well, it’s the Old West and there ought to be chickens scratching around somewhere.
And then something happens…

The animal develops a personality, and before you know it, the hero’s horse has opinions, the heroine’s dog has chosen sides in the romance, and the chicken has wandered into a scene where it most definitely does not belong.
In other words, the animal has become a character.
I’ve always enjoyed animal sidekicks in books, especially in Westerns. Animals were part of everyday life, so it’s only natural that they become part of our fictional towns and families too. Sometimes, however, things get a little out of hand.

Take Mr. Gilbert Snow who lives in my fictional town  of Clear Creek. Mr. Snow has a soft spot for animals, particularly ones that need rescuing. At one point, he rescued a collection of exotic animals from a cruel circus owner in New York before moving his family to Clear Creek. And when I say exotic, I don’t mean he brought home an unusually large dog. He has a lion. A camel. A chimpanzee. A zebra. And two lemurs.

The lion has since taken up residence in the chicken coop. This meant that the chickens, understandably, needed new accommodations. Then there’s Sheik Ali, the camel, whom Mr. Snow rides into town. Because apparently arriving in Clear Creek on an ordinary horse just wouldn’t do. Alexander the chimpanzee is also part of the family menagerie, along with the zebra and two lemurs. At this point, I’m not entirely certain whether the Snow family owns the animals or the animals own the Snow family.

And that’s one of the things I love about using animals in stories. They create possibilities. An animal can add humor without a single line of dialogue. Put a dignified character on a camel and you already have possibilities. Put a lion in a chicken coop and suddenly an ordinary household problem becomes something quite different.But animals can do more than make us laugh. They can tell us something about the people who care for them. Mr. Snow didn’t collect exotic animals because he wanted a private zoo. He rescued creatures that had been mistreated and gave them a home. That tells us something about him without my having to stop the story and explain what sort of man he is. The way characters treat animals can reveal tenderness, patience, stubbornness, compassion—and sometimes a remarkable tolerance for chaos.

And animals can have relationships of their own with the characters around them. A horse might tolerate one person and adore another. A dog can become fiercely protective. A cat will, of course, do whatever it wants.
And every so often, you get a creature like Clyde, the Muiraran justice bird (belonging to my other pen name’s story world) who appears in some of my western books and definitely has his own ideas about how things ought to be handled.
But Clyde is another story.

The Snow family menagerie has always been one of my favorite examples of what can happen when animals become more than background decoration. They become part of the family, part of the town, and sometimes part of the trouble. And once that happens, it’s hard to imagine the story without them.

 

Now I’d love to hear about your favorites. Is there an animal from a book that completely stole the scene for you?
And just for fun—if you lived in an Old West town and could have one unusual animal sidekick, what would you choose? I’m giving away one e-book copy of Wilhemina, The Snows of Clear Creek, Book 1 to one lucky commenter. 

CHERYL’S WINNERS!

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Thank you all so much for coming by today and reading and commenting. Our readers are the heart of Petticoats and Pistols, and we appreciate you all! 

 

My winners today are…KARIJEAN AND JUDY SEXTON!

 

If you ladies will send me an email at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com, and put WINNER in the subject line, that will be great! Just let me know which of my digital books you’d like to have  and provide me with the email address you’d like it sent to and I’ll see that it ships out to you as soon as possible. 

 

Thanks again so much for making this a fun blog post! I love hearing from you all!

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS #4–CONAGHER AND CINDERELLA (AND A GIVEAWAY!) by CHERYL PIERSON

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Have you ever read a story that made you wonder why the author spent such a long, boring time describing an item or place that seemed of little importance to the story?

Usually when that happens, it’s because its importance will be revealed later on, or some scene will call up that particular memory or description for some reason—and its usually a pretty darn good reason!

Let’s look at Cinderella’s slipper as our first example for this. Of course, a glass slipper would be highly unusual, wouldn’t it? In fact, most likely, there would be no other slippers like that one pair!

This particular pair of shoes serves as a symbol for the entire story—improbable things happening to a young woman who has been treated so terribly for so long that lead to her ultimate happiness—it’s a story we can all relate to!

The magic that brings her happiness is not just going to the ball and all the wonderful things that happened on the way—the beautiful gown, the carriage, and so on—the true magic for Cinderella is falling in love. And how can the two lovers hope to be reunited? Well, if it weren’t for those exquisitely, perfectly-fitting glass slippers, everything else that came before—all the magic, hopes, and dreams—could have amounted to nothing at all. Everything hinges on the glass slipper fitting!

Hence the description of the slippers themselves, carrying the slipper on a pillow (which I always believed was taking a terrible chance!) and the endless search and trying on of the slipper throughout the kingdom.

The slipper is all-important because it is the proof that she is “the one” –and it has come to symbolize the very story itself. when we see a picture of the glass slipper, we know it “means” Cinderella, right?

 

Think about Lous L’Amour’s iconic western, Conagher. Two lonely people meet and fall in love through heartfelt notes that Evie, the heroine, writes and ties to tumbleweeds. They could be found and read by anyone—or no one at all.

 

 

HERE’S THE LINK FOR CONAGHER AT AMAZON!

But the fact that Conagher feels they speak directly to him, shows us how important what she did is to the story. This is further borne out when, in conversation with him, she uses a phrase she’s written on one of the notes—and he knows immediately it is she who has been writing them.

 

Loneliness and the vast emptiness of the land is a common theme throughout the book. It was unimaginable to her that Conagher would be the one who found “that note” – the one she repeated the phrase from in conversation with him—but it wasn’t impossible. And his line to her is one of the most romantic of all time, in my opinion.

 

He takes one of the notes out of his pocket and asks if she wrote it, and she says yes, she did. She tells him she was just so lonely she had to talk to someone, even if no one was there to hear. He says, “There was, Evie, there was me.”

 

The details of:

  • The land around them and their feelings about the emptiness and aloneness of where they are…
  • Evie’s acting on those feelings by just writing them down on paper and tying them to tumbleweeds…
  • The act of Evie repeating the phrase in conversation she’d used on the note Conagher found…

all add up to make this story so special and memorable—and one you will not want to put down once you start reading!

Conagher isn’t a fairy tale, but it does have its own brand of magical connections that lead to love. The details and descriptions in both of these stories, as different as they are, give the reader insights that the author, in both cases, was masterful in providing throughout the story!

 

Finally, another couple of tales that come to mind are two short stories many of us read in our high school English classes—The Necklace, by Guy De Maupassant, and The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry. Do you remember these—both based on objects that were described in great detail—and the twists at the end that left you gasping in surprise?

 

If you haven’t read them, or even if it’s been a while, they are always good to revisit and are classic examples of why detailed descriptions of “things” can be so important to a story’s premise.

Can you think of an example in your reading where the detailed description of something had deep importance to the story? What was the first short story you can remember LIKING to read and study in high school? I’m giving away a digital copy of one of my books to two lucky commenters, (USA) your choice! 

Cheryl’s Amazon Author Page

Lacy Williams Has a Winner!

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Oh my goodness, what fun talking about favorite TV westerns! Thank you, Miss Lacy.

Now for the DRAWING!

One Commenter will get a paperback of Love’s Healing Path plus a $25 Amazon gift card. Yee-Haw!

And the WINNER is……………..

SHEILA GRAVELY

Yippee! Congratulations, Sheila. Now watch for Miss Lacy’s email and check Spam if you don’t see it.

Lacy Williams Has a Tribute to Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

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There was a stretch of my childhood when nothing — not schoolwork, not chores, not swimming or playing — got in the way of watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with my family. Weeknight episodes were a whole event at our house. Everybody had a spot on the couch. Nobody was allowed to talk during the good parts. And there were a lot of good parts.

It was shows like this (along with a lot of books from the library) that inspired how I write. Including book 6 in my Wagon Train Matches series, LOVE’S HEALING PATH.

What if Sully was a doctor instead?

If you watched the show, you remember exactly what I mean when I say Sully “loved with his hands before he ever loved with his words.” He didn’t announce his feelings. He showed up. He built things, fixed things, stood guard outside the door without being asked. You knew how he felt about Dr. Mike long before he did, because the show let you watch him fall while she was still too busy running a medical practice and a household to notice.

My hero Doc Jason Goodwin is a lot like Sully. Jason has grief in his past, like Sully. He puts up a lot more walls than Sully. And he’s protective like Sully. Wildfire, bear attack, explosion… he’s there to protect Maddie even before he realizes why he can’t stay away from her.

A trio of orphans shows up.

Dr. Mike takes in the three Cooper children — Colleen, Matthew, and Brian — after their mother dies. It’s a major part of the show: a woman who didn’t plan on becoming a mother, doing it anyway, imperfectly, because nobody else would.

In Love’s Healing Path, Maddie makes a deathbed promise to a dying woman on the wagon train and ends up raising three — two boys and a baby girl. Maddie has good instincts, but with two ornery boys around, of course things go wrong. It takes her awhile to find her feet, but she gets there by the end of the book.

There are some other parallels in my book, there’s the caregiver who has to earn the right to be taken seriously (Dr. Mike fighting a town that didn’t believe a woman could doctor, Maddie fighting a physician who didn’t believe an untrained healer’s knowledge was worth anything). There’s real frontier danger. And there’s that particular feeling the show always gave me: safe. Good. The kind of story you could watch with your whole family and not worry about what came next.

That last part matters most to me, honestly. Because a few years ago, I introduced my own kids to Dr. Quinn. I wasn’t sure it would hold up — but they love it. They ask for “one more episode” the same way I used to beg my parents.

If you loved that show, I think you’ll feel right at home in Love’s Healing Path. And if you’ve never seen it — well, maybe start there too. I promise the couch spot is worth fighting for.

Maddie Fairfax may be young, but on this Oregon-bound wagon train, the pioneers welcome help from the self-trained nurse. Until Dr. Jason Goodwin joins up with their company. The doctor portrays a frosty exterior, but Maddie may be the only one who sees the profound loneliness that haunts him.

After losing his wife and children in a terrible accident, Jason has vowed not to open his heart again. But when Maddie takes on the care of three young orphans, Jason finds himself entangled in the lives of the makeshift family. And as their journey west continues, Maddie’s radiant compassion begins to light up the darkest corners of his heart.

Until the unthinkable happens. Will Jason’s guarded heart and Maddie’s untamed spirit pull them apart? 

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About the Author

With multiple hits on the USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestseller lists and more than 1 million copies sold, Lacy Williams has won the hearts of readers worldwide with her heartwarming romances set in the rugged beauty of the American West. A proud Oklahoman, she balances writing with the joyful chaos of raising four children and snuggling her fur babies. Find bonus content at https://www.lacywilliams.net.

 

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Today I’m giving away a paperback copy of Love’s Healing Path and a $25 Amazon gift card to one winner. Leave a comment to be entered. Tell me if you had a favorite show from your childhood and what you loved about it. Thanks for chatting with me today!

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