Tag: Linda Broday

It’s Yee-Haw Day!

Filly Fun, Filly News
34 Comments

Welcome to Yee-Haw Day, the once-a-month day we’ve reserved to share our news with you – all sorts of fun news!

So check out the post below to get the details on the kinds of things that make us go Yee-Haw!!

Linda Broday

 

I have a new book out on January 28th! The Mail Order Bride’s Secret is #3 of my Outlaw Mail Order Brides series!

What’s an outlaw and wanted man to do when he suddenly finds himself the guardian of his sister’s three small children?

Why, send for a mail order bride to help, of course!

Only she’s not what she claims to be.

“…climactic heart-stopping action…” Publisher’s Weekly

 

 

 

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  APPLE  |  KOBO

Karen Witemeyer

My most recent full-length novel was selected as an
Amazon Kindle Monthly Deal for January.
YeeHaw!

Grab an e-copy for only $2.99!


Cheryl Pierson

The new year is here and…hey, how could it sneak up on me like this? I had to really hustle to get my short story, A CALL TO DUTY, entered in the 2020 Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Awards Competition! I’d been “meaning to do that” for several weeks, but suddenly realized I had not done it — and if it was going to be “in the running” for the Best Western Short Fiction category, I better get a move on–the deadline is January 15!

 

A CALL TO DUTY was a western story I wrote to submit to an anthology, THE LAST COMANCHE, that Scott Harris was putting together. Each author’s story revolved around a “prompt”–every tale in the anthology had to use the same prompt, somewhere in the story.

 

Here’s the prompt: The warrior stood atop the rocky outcropping, blood dripping from his face and his lance. He stared out over the plains and let out a blood-curdling scream that struck fear into the hearts of his enemies.

 

Stories couldn’t be more than 5,000 words in length–that’s hard for me ’cause I’m “wordy” sometimes! 

 

Anyhow, y’all wish me luck. I’m the “Susan Lucci” of the Peacemaker competition–I’ve been a finalist four times in the past for this category, but never won!  I won’t know until this summer if I’m a winner! Keep your fingers crossed!

 

Available for Kindle or in paperback at Amazon:

https://tinyurl.com/uno5byg

Julie Benson

I’m starting off 2020 with a new release! To Tame A Texas Cowboy will be out January 9! This is the third book in my Wishing Texas Series and is Cooper Abbott’s story.

They want different things, but they just might need each other

 

Barrel racer Cheyenne Whitten returns to Wishing, Texas, after an injury, determined to recuperate and return to the rodeo circuit. But living with her over-protective mother only adds to Cheyenne’s problems. Desperate to move out and reclaim her independence, Cheyenne believes a service dog is the answer. That is, until she learns the waiting list for one is up to five years.

Having lost his fiancée two years ago, Cooper Abbott wants to run his veterinarian clinic and rebuild his life. A calm, stable, uneventful life. Then Cheyenne shows up asking for help getting a service dog, and Cooper finds he can’t refuse the feisty redhead.

Cheyenne and Cooper insist a relationship is the last thing they want. Cheyenne is focused on her health and returning to the rodeo. Cooper’s heart is still raw from loss. But it could be they’re exactly what each other needs.

To order To Tame A Texas Cowboy click here.

Pam Crooks

As I write this, it’s my first day back at the computer after a days-long, multi-activity Christmas celebration. We are a BIG family. While we always have lots of family get-togethers over the holidays, after my parents died, my out-of-town brother and sister come back only every other year. And 2019 was the year where we were all together for the first time in two years.

A couple of fun pictures:

Here we are at High Tea. Tea rooms are scarce and there are none in my city, but this was a delightful one in a small town twenty minutes away. Yep, that table goes clear to the back of the room, and every chair is filled with mothers and daughters.  

Remember I said we were a BIG family?  Here we are on our last night together. My brother designed custom Family Feud and Jeopardy games. Oh, my goodness, was it fun!  You can tell how everyone in the room was engrossed.  (And that doesn’t include the half-dozen or so who were behind the photographer in the kitchen!)

Getting together with my family and celebrating the blessed season of Christmas makes me yell YEE-HAW!

Jingle Jangle Spurs — Flavors of the Season

Special Week
42 Comments

We thought it’d be fun to share some of our favorite holiday recipes.

Here is my Granny’s Fresh Apple Cake recipe. It’s exactly as she wrote it and the way I’ve baked it ever since I can remember. It’s a great holiday cake.

Granny’s Fresh Apple Cake

2 eggs, beaten 1 tsp. soda
1 ½ c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
¾ c. oil 2 cups chopped apples (approx. 3 apples)
1 ½ c. flour 1 cup chopped pecans
½ tsp. salt

Flour pans. Turn on oven to 325 degrees.

Cream eggs, sugar and oil. Add flour, salt, soda, vanilla and pecans. Mix well, but do not mash apples. Bake 45 to 60 minutes. Use Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing

1 c. brown sugar 1 stick butter                     ½ c. milk

Cook all ingredients for minutes after bringing to a boil. Add:
1 ¾ c. powdered sugar Vanilla                     Beat till smooth and put all over cake.

Enjoy!

Phyliss

 * * * * *

I hope everyone is planning a wonderful Christmas and you have the gifts all wrapped and ribbons tied. Being with family and eating wonderous treats makes everything so much better. In my family, we have a tradition of making Sausage Cheese Balls — the easy way — and serving them up hot on Christmas morning. 

Ingredients:

3 cups of dry Bisquick

1 pound of grated cheese

1 pound of sausage (any degree of spiciness)

This recipe calls for no liquid. 

Knead everything all together (This will take some time but keep mixing until it’s all integrated into a ball.) Your hand will get very tired.

Roll out the size balls you like and put them on a cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. But check on them so you won’t overcook. Eat and Enjoy!

Do you hear those Jingle, Jangle Spurs? It’s the cowboys filing in to eat their share. Better hurry!

See you all in 2020!

Much Love,

Linda Broday

 

Cover Reveal and a Giveaway

Giveaways, New Releases, western romance, Western Romance Series
67 Comments

 

Sometimes a book creates a life of its own and the author simply goes along for the ride. That’s the case with my January release, The Mail Order Bride’s Secret (Book #3 Outlaw Mail Order Brides.) Outlaw Tait Trinity finds himself the guardian to twin nephews and a four-year-old niece. He doesn’t want the job but it seems he’s the last resort.

What did a wanted man with a price on his head do with three children?

He takes his friend’s advice and sends for a mail order bride and she can’t come soon enough.

Yet, when Melanie Dunbar arrives with a whiskey flask in her pocket and a secret agenda, the woman gambler is anything but childrearing material.

This is the biggest gamble of her life and it’s anyone’s guess how it turns out.

I got the inspiration for this story from the old western series Paradise that starred Lee Horsley. That series was fresh and different. If memory serves, there were four children and they were a bit older. But Ethan Cord shares a lot of similarities with Tait Trinity. Both have a violent past and an unsure future with the law breathing down their necks.

Although married life gets off to a rocky start, Melanie is committed to making it work—at least until she gets the stolen money to save her sister. She just didn’t count on the children worming their way into her heart and falling in love with her handsome husband.

Plans have a way of changing for both Tait and Melanie.

This story has a lot of twists and turns and just when you think you have it all figured out, it takes off in a new direction. I think readers will love this story of love, redemption, and hope.

This book releases on January 28, 2020 and is available for preorder. The fourth and final book of this series will come out later in the year.

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  APPLE  |  INDIEBOUND

 

Question: What do you think about secrets? Are there any good ones?

I’m giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to someone who comments.

COWBOYS & MISTLETOE – Day Two

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas in the old west, Giveaways, Holiday Fun, western romance
50 Comments

 

Cheryl Pierson

 

Texas Ranger Shiloh Barrett loses his hotheaded older brother to a gunfight over a hand of cards. Now the “winner”—a wealthy landowner who’s coveted the Barrett homestead—finally has what he wants. But could there be something Seamus O’Connor desires more than the Barretts’ land?

O’Connor has not seen his beautiful daughter, Kalli, for thirteen years. He knows that she’s living with her mother’s Cherokee people in northeastern Indian Territory. Determined to have her kidnapped and brought to him, Seamus uses the deed he holds to the Barrett homestead to get what he wants. Even though it goes against everything Shiloh Barrett believes is right, O’Connor’s blackmail cannot be ignored.

But beautiful Kalliroe White Dove O’Connor has some tricks up her sleeve as the handsome ex-ranger spirits her away into the nearby San Bois Mountains. The tables turn when Shiloh is bitten by a rattlesnake their first day on the trail. Though Kalli tells herself she has no other choice but to stay with Shiloh—and she does want to reunite with her father—deep down, she knows there is another reason she can’t leave the handsome lawman. Could it be she’s falling in love with him?

In a final showdown with a cutthroat outlaw gang, Shiloh heads straight into the pit of vipers to buy some time for the man he despises—Kalli’s father. No matter how this all plays out, KIDNAPPING KALLI has been the best thing Shiloh Barrett’s ever done—if he only lives to see it through…

BUY HERE:  AMAZON 

 

A woman with no home… Beautiful Southern belle Julia Jackson has just been informed she and her niece must find a new home immediately—or else. With no family to turn to in Georgia, Julia takes a mighty gamble and answers an advertisement for a nursemaid in wild Indian Territory—for the child of a man she knows nothing about. Together, she and five-year-old Lauralee waste no time as they flee to the safety of the new position Julia has accepted. She can only hope this move will be the start of a bright future for them away from Lauralee’s dangerous much older half-brother.
A rancher with no heart… The death of Devlin Campbell’s young daughter has ripped the light from his life. Though the birth of his son, little Jamie, should have been a source of happiness, the subsequent loss of his wife forces Dev to ignore his emotions and trudge through life’s joyless responsibilities. But all that changes with the arrival of Miss Julia Jackson from Atlanta! Not at all what Dev is expecting in response to his ad, his resentment boils over at her failure to mention her tag-along niece—a painful reminder of the loss of his own little girl just two years earlier. Yet, how can he deny the sunshine Julie brings into his drab existence with her very presence?
Can love find a way? In the depths of Dev’s boundless sorrow and his accompanying anger, is there room in his life for anyone else as Christmas approaches? Can Julie convince him that love is the cure for a broken heart, and hope is the only recipe for a new beginning between THE DEVIL AND MISS JULIA JACKSON…

                       BUY HERE:    AMAZON  

Don’t miss out on the chance to win a $10 GIFT CARD TO AMAZON! 

Scroll down to the form below. Click the link to my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE and FOLLOW ME, then note on the form that you followed. If you like, you can also mention it in the comments here on the blog!

Linda Broday

 

Find your very own cowboy to keep warm these long, wintry nights as you cozy up with six sweeping, epic tales of heroism, passion, family and celebration from bestselling authors Leigh Greenwood, Rosanne Bittner, Linda Broday, Margaret Brownley, Anna Schmidt, and Amy Sandas.

Fall in Love with Christmas

Whether it’s a widower finding an unexpected new start, a former outlaw and his new wife welcoming their very own Christmas miracle, a long-lost lover returning just in time for a special holiday celebration, a second chance at love between two warring hearts given peace at last, an unlikely pair working together to bring joy to a small Texas town, or a cowboy and his dark-eyed beauty snowed in one unforgettable wintry eve…every Christmas with a cowboy is filled with light, laughter, and a forever kind of love.

A Fairy Tale Christmas – Leigh Greenwood

Christmas in Paradise – Rosanne Bittner

A Christmas Wedding – Linda Broday

A Love Letter To Santa – Margaret Brownley

One Snowy Christmas Eve – Anna Schmidt

Through the Storm – Amy Sandas

 

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  APPLE  |  KOBO  |  INDIEBOUND

Don’t miss out on the chance to win a $10 GIFT CARD TO AMAZON! 

Scroll down to the Rafflecopter form below. Click the link to my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE and FOLLOW ME, then note on the form that you followed. If you like, you can also mention it in the comments here on the blog! If you already follow me on Amazon, you can follow me on Bookbub or friend me on Facebook instead. Thank you so much.

Kit Morgan

 

There’s nothing quite like spending Christmas with the Weavers!

 

They’re boisterous, they’re loud, and most of all, they’re full of surprises! But this time the Weavers are the ones surprised by what happens when Clear Creek residents Harrison Cooke and his family along with Irene and Wilfred Dunnigan come for a visit. Cinnamon rolls, budding romance and of course one cantankerous Mrs. Dunnigan make for a hilarious holiday romp in this sweet, clean and wholesome historical western! Enjoy the coming together of two of Kit Morgan’s most iconic families!

Buy Here: Amazon

 

And while Harrison Cooke and his family are visiting the Weavers, his brother Colin and his family back home get a visitor of his own…

Jefferson Cooke, the eldest son of one of the famous Cooke brothers of the Triple-C Ranch wasn’t looking for love. Why bother when there were no young women around to marry? If he wanted a wife, he’d have to send for a mail-order bride and the thought didn’t appeal to him. In his mind, it was far too risky. His situation, therefore, was hopeless. So he’d forced himself to forget about finding a bride and falling in love. What else could he do? Little did he know one was about to show up, and wearing a funny pair of shoes to boot! Enjoy this sweet, clean and wholesome time-travel romance set against the backdrop of the old west!

Buy Here:

Buy Here: Amazon

 

Don’t miss out on the chance to win a $10 GIFT CARD TO AMAZON! 

Scroll down to the form below. Click the link to my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE and FOLLOW ME, then note on the form that you followed. If you like, you can also mention it in the comments here on the blog!

 

Winners will be announced on Sunday, December 8th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Courting Candles

Courting, New Releases, western romance
61 Comments

Courting in your ancestors’ days was entirely different from now. Suitors first called on the girl’s father and got his permission and a time was set. There was no pulling up in front of the house and honking the horn. Nope. There were rules to be obeyed.

At the appointed time of the young man’s arrival, the father would get out a courting candle—a metal contraption that consisted of a heavy coil. He’d set a taper in it and adjust it by turning the candle to whatever height he saw fit. It was purely at his discretion. He’d then place it either in the parlor or on the porch.

If he liked the suitor, he might set the candle high so it would burn for a while.

If he didn’t approve of the boy, he’d set the candle low.

But whether high or low, when the candle burned down to the top of the coil, time was up and the father would show the young man to the door. If the suitor argued about it, the dad might show him the toe of his boot! I’m sure many a one left that way.

On rare occasions when the suitor met with joyous approval, the father might let a second candle burn after the first was all the way down.

These courting candles were used by rich and poor families alike and set boundaries that must be adhered to. They provided a quiet yet firm reminder that the girl’s father was boss and his word was final.

I sort of like this old tradition where no words needed to be said. The candle spoke loud and clear.

The most recent courting scene that I wrote was in Catch a Texas Star when Roan Penny courted Marley Rose McClain. Duel didn’t much want them to see each other because Roan was a drifter. Roan didn’t like it a lot when Duel told him he’d have to prove he’d stick around. Which he did.

Longing for a Cowboy Christmas is out and I’m so happy. My story, The Christmas Wedding, is about Rebel and Travis from the outlaw town of Hope’s Crossing. To take her mind off the fact that Travis has been captured by a bounty hunter and she hasn’t seen him in months, she and the other women decide to celebrate the Advent and make the entire town the calendar.

Do you have a courting story to share or maybe one in a scene from a book? I’ll give away a copy of Longing for a Cowboy Christmas and will draw the winner on Saturday.

 

Mary Porter, Queen of the Fort Worth Madams

Fort Worth, Wild West Research
47 Comments

 

In almost every town in the old West lonely cowboys could find entertainment in a red light district. Fort Worth’s seedy part was bigger and a lot rowdier than most. Due to the notoriety, it became known as Hell’s Half Acre and it comprised Tenth to Fifteenth Streets while Houston, Main, and Rusk (now Commerce) crossed. Boarding houses (wink, wink,) gambling parlors, hotels and saloons lined the avenues and it became a hideout for outlaws and violent criminals. The murder rate was high on a nightly basis. But if a woman had enough guts and could stomach the hard life, she could make a good living.

One woman was Mary Porter. She was born in Ireland in 1844 and came to Fort Worth about 1885 where she operated a high-end brothel. She employed four girls: Kittie Wilson, Etta Daniels, Mabel Thomason, and May Keller.

From 1893 to 1897, Mary was arrested 130 times but never spent a night in jail. Her clients were the wealthy and powerful and they made sure they kept her in business. Her fines usually ran around $100 but she viewed that as the price of doing business.

She operated within the laws—didn’t advertise, kept fighting to a minimum, got regular medical checkups for her girls, and kept a clean house. She was well-respected as someone in that business, and her girls sang her praises. Still, depression, suicide, and murder were things they all faced.

In 1887 following the famous shootout between Jim Courtright and Luke Short, a prostitute named Miss Sally was discovered nailed to an outhouse door. The murderer was never caught.

As the years passed, Madame Mary Porter’s fame and coffers grew. But somewhere before the turn of the century, a committee made up of ladies of the Union Bethel Mission and accompanied by two officers paid her a visit. They demanded that she vacate the premises by Monday, that her house was needed for other purposes. If she refused to leave, she would be the subject of a grand jury investigation.

Mary thought long and hard, then told her girls to start packing. She moved out all right—into one just a few doors down. The committee didn’t bother her again. On the 1900 census, she listed her occupation as “boardinghouse keeper.”

She once entertained the Wild Bunch led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid plus other notable outlaws.

June 10, 1905, Mary suddenly died leaving an estate valued at $20,000 ($500,000 in today’s currency.) They buried her in an unmarked grave in Oakwood Cemetery. Then in 2009, over 100 years of her death, a group of citizens got together and bought her a gravestone engraved with the simple words, “Call me madam.”

I love stories that give colorful accounts of what life must’ve been like before we became “modernized.” I can close my eyes and picture this seedy part of Fort Worth and the rough and tumble daily existence. I wish I knew more of Mary’s story and what led her to prostitution. Maybe she got trapped in it as so many other women were who found themselves alone. Occupations for women were very limited.

Can you imagine how scary it was for a woman alone back then? Especially if she had no one to turn to. What do you think of Mary Porter?

It’s almost time! Longing for a Cowboy Christmas releases on September 24th! Six heartwarming stories sure to put the Christmas spirit in your heart by Leigh Greenwood, Rosanne Bittner, Margaret Brownley, Anna Schmidt, Amy Sandas, and me.

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  APPLE  |  KOBO

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETTICOATS AND PISTOLS!

P&P Birthday, Personal Glimpses
102 Comments

 

WOW! Twelve years! We’re almost a teenager. Exciting! 2007 seems like such a long time ago and yet, for me, it feels like it was only yesterday that I received an email from Pam Crooks one day in June. She asked me to embark on this wonderful journey with her and nine other authors.

My memory is a little fuzzy but if I recall in the email Pam outlined her vision of a website designed solely for western romance – both historical and contemporary—and devoted to promoting and talking about this genre. There were no sites out there like this.

Blogging itself was in the early stages and few were doing it. Hard to believe huh? It seems like the internet has always burst at the seams with these posts yet social media was just taking off.

Pam had to explain what a blog was. I felt like such a dummy! Totally clueless. I had never even seen a blog, even the word was foreign, but I did want to be in on this exciting adventure. We never expected to last long. Not one of us thought we’d be here TWELVE YEARS later.

I always wondered who gave Pam my name because I was an unknown back then. Hmmm.

Pam talks about forming in her own words: Long about May, 2007, Cheryl St.John and I got together over lunch and brainstormed the possibility of launching a site dedicated to western romance. Blogging was relatively new back then, and there wasn’t a site like we envisioned anywhere in the blogging world. We came up with a ton of ideas, more than we could even implement. We brainstormed names to call ourselves, discussed pages on the site, authors who might want to join us, possible guests to invite. Later, after a gazillion emails back and forth with our fellow western romance authors, the idea not only took off, but has proudly endured.

Here are the original group of Fillies:

  • Pam Crooks
  • Karen Kay
  • Charlene Sands
  • Cheryl St. John
  • Elizabeth Lane
  • Stacey Kane
  • Pat Potter
  • Geralyn Dawson
  • Lorraine Heath
  • Linda Broday

We became a family of sorts and a group of Fillies. 

We blogged twice a month back then which was pretty grueling. We were all so busy.

Charlene Sands kicked us off with her blog – Love Westerns? Welcome to the Club! I remember how scared I was. My fingers were shaking so bad that I kept hitting all the wrong keys in my comment and had to keep correcting the typos. I think it took about 45 minutes to type a three or four sentence comment! I kept erasing and starting over because there was that fear of sounding ignorant sitting in the back of my mind. So funny.

I didn’t know what I’d gotten into. It was terrifying. The thought hit me that if I couldn’t write a simple comment how was I going to write a blog post. Oh man!! Lots of sweating in those days. My main goal was not to look totally stupid. If I could manage that, I was happy.

My first post was Love Those Cowboys! It only consisted of two paragraphs. HaHaHa! But, I didn’t look back and eventually got the hang of it and they didn’t kick me out.

Now, here we are still going strong. How long will our run last? You, dear followers, will decide that. As long as you keep coming, we’ll keep writing blogs.

I know what they are now!!!!

What do we have planned next? Who knows. You’ll just have to stay tuned.

Tell me what you enjoy, what keeps you coming back, or tell me when you first learned of blogs and began following some, and I’ll put you in a drawing for one of three $10 Amazon gift cards.

It’s Yee-Haw Day!

Filly Fun, Filly News
23 Comments

Welcome to Yee-Haw Day, the once-a-month day we’ve reserved to share our news with you – all sorts of fun news!

So check out the post below to get the details on the kinds of things that make us go Yee-Haw!!

Karen Witemeyer

My brand new release is on an incredible sale until July 31.
Grab an e-copy of Zach and Abigail’s story for only $1.99 today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook

“Fans of Karen Witemeyer know that she excels at writing sweet, subtly sexy Western romances which are full of charm and joy. Her genuine, heartwarming stories never fail to bring a smile to my face and her latest book, More Than Words Can Say, completely met that expectation. . . fans of Inspirational romance will find a lot to love here, and I urge them to rush out and pick up a copy as soon as possible.”  ~All About Romance

Cheryl Pierson

Guess what, y’all! I just had a birthday yesterday! I know most people aren’t excited about getting older, but I am–even with all the aches and pains that come along with it. This is a big birthday for me–I’m 62! How many of us, when we were 16 years old and learning to drive a car, ever imagined that we would live to be as old as our grandparents were right then? LOL I sure didn’t. I couldn’t even THINK that far in the future–but now that I’m here, it doesn’t seem so old at all. 

The picture above left is me when I was 17, the end of my junior year of highschool–never dreaming I’d one day be old enough to collect my Social Security. Above right is a recent picture of me with my daughter, Jessica. She’ll be 33 this year, and she can’t imagine ever being 62, either. Growing older “ain’t” for sissies, but I’m glad to still be here, alive and kickin’! 

As a way to celebrate, I want to offer a digital giveaway of the Prairie Rose Publications boxed set UNDER A WESTERN SKY to two commenters who are interested in reading some excellent WHR stories!

I love this collection because it’s six books–full-length novels–by six different authors, all western historical romance! Just let me know if you’re interested and leave your e-mail info in your comment–I’ll be drawing two names! My story, FIRE EYES, is included, along with 5 other stories by Celia Yeary, Tracy Garrett, Kaye Spencer, Agnes Alexander, and Patti Sherry-Crews.

 

Y’all wish me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Linda Broday

I have a book trailer for LONGING FOR A COWBOY CHRISTMAS!

It comes out Sept. 24, 2019!

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  APPLE  |  Indiebound

 

Jeannie Watt

I just got the cover to my August Tule Publishing release, Her Cowboy Boss. Brodie and McKenna had last seen each other in high school when she was part of the social elite and he was the quiet ranch kid who liked to draw. Now she’s a single mom building a new life and he’s her boss on a cattle ranch. He’s interested in building a relationship, but McKenna is fighting ghosts from her past.

Her Cowboy Boss will be available for pre-order soon.

Ruth Logan Herne

Ruthy is celebrating being a finalist in the Maggie Awards for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers! Winners are announced at GRW’s wonderful Moonlight & Magnolias conference in October, but Ruthy is thrilled to be a finalist with her Amazon bestseller “At Home in Wishing Bridge”! Thank you, GRW!

Pam Crooks

Coming VERY soon!

Book 2 in the C Bar C Ranch Series

Kidnapped by the Cowboy

 

Callie Mae Lockett is betrayed by the man who claims he’s responsible for her young brother’s tragic death. She chooses another to help carry on her precious legacy, the C Bar C Ranch , and he’s the farthest thing from a cowboy she’s ever met.

TJ Grier has always been one of the C Bar C’s best cowboys, but one horrible night destroys all he’s ever known.

Desperate to prove his innocence, he steals Callie Mae away, and together they plunge into danger to solve the secret that has torn them apart.

Watch for it!

The Ghosts of Old Tascosa

Cattle Drives, Cattle Rustling and Rustlers, Cemeteries, Ghost Town, Ghost Towns, Outlaws, Texas History
29 Comments

 

I hope you’re doing some fun things this summer. A few weeks ago, I drove thirty miles from where I live to what used to be only one of three towns in the entire Texas Panhandle. Tascosa used to be a thriving, but very dangerous, town that at its peak boasted 350 people. It was settled in 1876 by an ex-soldier and blacksmith named Henry Kimball and it became the assembling point for the Tascosa/Dodge City Cattle Trail. Surrounded by large ranches, the town quickly became known as the Cowboy Capital of the Plains and was an economic rival of Dodge City, Kansas.

It also became a place where outlaws and bad men outnumbered the law-abiding sort.

Here’s an adobe schoolhouse (built 1911). It’s the oldest one of adobe in Texas.

Due to the town being only thirty -five miles from the New Mexico line, Billy the Kid used to rustle cattle and bring them to Tascosa to sell. He made the trip many times. His campground is still marked today in a shady spot near a creek.

Pat Garrett was another regular to frequent Tascosa that in 1879 had a population of 150 with only 8 English speaking women who were not employed in the considerable brothels and saloons.

Inside of two years, there were twenty-eight deaths caused by shootings and Boot Hill saw much activity. Here’s the picture I took and the restored markers. I think it’s the first Boot Hill cemetery I’ve ever been in.

A post office opened in 1878 and in 1880 the county of Oldham (only the second county in the entire Texas Panhandle) was formed and a stone courthouse was built. That courthouse is still there and they’ve turned it into a museum. Here’s the picture I took during my visit.

Despite the lawlessness, romance was alive and well. A mysterious saloon girl and gambler named Frenchy fell deeply in love with Mickey McCormick who owned one of the saloons. They married and from then on, the two became inseparable. This huge, deformed tree and marker is all that remains of the spot where their adobe house sat.

         

Mickey died in 1912 and Frenchy walked to visit his grave every day—even after the town died and everyone moved away, she remained. She lived alone in the ghost town by herself with no running water or electricity for twenty-seven years, grieving for Mickey. Finally, in poor health and her house falling around her, the woman whose real name they never knew or where she was from let them move her to the nearby town of Channing where she stayed a little over a year before dying in 1941. As per her wishes, they brought her back and laid her to rest next to her beloved Mickey.

Other ghosts reside there also—like Ed King, Frank Valley, Fred Chilton, and Jesse Sheets who were killed in a gunfight in the wee hours of March 20, 1886.

The ghost town was bought by Julian Bivins who turned around and donated it to the Cal Farley Boy’s Ranch in 1939. The town sits on this private land and I believe the thousands of boys(and now girls also) who’ve lived there have purged the voices of the ghosts. I didn’t feel any restless spirits. Although it is on private land, they welcome visitors.

If you’ve read any of my Outlaw Mail Order Brides, you’ve seen the town of Tascosa in the stories. Here’s one segment in Tally Shannon’s point of view from Book 1 – The Outlaw’s Mail Order Bride:

Life was full of ups and downs, and this wasn’t the worst that they would face. She’d heard the men talk about a bounty hunter Ridge had seen in Tascosa and the reward poster the man had been showing around. Foreboding told her the worst still lay in front of them.

Have you ever been to or read about a ghost town? I’m curious what you thought. I would love to have seen Tascosa at its peak but I wouldn’t have wanted to live there. Too rough for me!

 

Marriage Advice in 1894

19th Century Marriage, Historical Romance Series
38 Comments

 

“Give little, give seldom, and give grudgingly.”

This was what Ruth Smythers, wife of Reverend L.D. Smythers, wrote in 1894 in her advice book for husbands and wives. She went on to tell women that unbridled passion in bed even within marriage was seen as a dangerous pastime and should be avoided at all costs.

Here’s more:

“Finding joy in the act and overindulgence can lead to cancer and other illnesses.”

“Refrain from having careers because working is vulgar and demeaning to husbands, declaring him incompetent and unable to provide.”

Furthermore, she instructed the wife to turn a blind eye if a husband strayed because that lifted her marriage burden.

These archaic ideas are too funny and definitely not what any of my characters adhere to. Nor did I.

Jack and Nora in Saving the Mail Order Bride (#2 of Outlaw Mail Order Brides) share a healthy marriage and view each other as equals even down to taking care of the children. Jack loves kids and sees Sawyer and Willow as his own and he adores Nora—even when she dyes his hair blonde.

In The Outlaw’s Mail Order Bride (#1 of the series), Clay and Tally struggle to learn how to trust. Both had been betrayed so the lesson didn’t come easy. However, they have no trouble in bed. 🙂

In my years of living, which have been considerable, I have a little advice of my own. However, I don’t claim to be an expert. No, no.

But maybe I’ll do better than Ruth Smythers. Here we go:

  • Develop mutual respect and make it the cornerstone of your marriage.
  • Marriage is a partnership.
  • Share all aspects of your lives. Never keep secrets.
  • Share the chores and the care of the children.
  • Talk
  • Share the finances equally.
  • Never go to bed angry.
  • Find joy in being together and make time every day.
  • Have a date night each week or several times a month.

 

These are just a few things I’ve learned after two marriages. Okay, it’s your turn. What is your advice? I’ll give both books of my Outlaw Mail Order Brides series to one commenter.