Louise M. Gouge

Welcome Guest Author Louise M. Gouge

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Thank you for inviting me back to Pistols and Petticoats. Seems like it was just yesterday when I visited to promote my first contemporary Love Inspired book, Safe Haven Ranch. Actually that was all the way back to last June, and I’m delighted to visit with you again. It’s always a treat to talk to you about our favorite genre: western romances. As I said last time, we love to cheer for our heroes and heroines as they work through adversities and earn their happily-ever-after. Today I want to talk about my brand new release, A Faithful Guardian, a sequel to Safe Haven Ranch.

Just a reminder: My first book in my New Mexico series was a novella, Yuletide Reunion (LIH 2010). Inspired by the little ranch where my late sister retired, I set my story beside the Rio Grande in New Mexico Territory and created the Mattson family of five brothers, each of whom deserved his own story. In the end, each brother found his happily-ever-after with the perfect heroine for his personality. I’m honored to say Finding Her Frontier Family and Finding Her Frontier Home were both finalists for the prestigious Selah Award. These stories were so much fun write, and I was sad to leave this family behind. With the Love Inspired Historical line coming to an end, I was doubly sad, because I love to write historicals. By the way, you can find my complete Booklist and more info about my writing at my website: https://louisemgougeauthor.blogspot.com/ 

Loving all my heroes in any of the genres in which I’ve written, I couldn’t forget about those Mattson brothers. So I began to write about their many descendants, each with a story worth telling! My editor at Love Inspired loved the idea, and now I’m excited to announce that I signed a three-book contract for more Mattson descendant stories. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My newest release, A Faithful Guardian, is my first book to feature a dog. As a cat mama, I don’t really know that much about dogs, but I had plenty of help from friends who are experts and who kept me on the right track. Specifically, Lady, my border collie is supposed to herd cattle, but this little gal has a mind of her own. She’d much rather be with her brand new friend, Zoey, a fifteen-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who needs a canine companion. That doesn’t sit too well with the dog’s owner, who’s convinced Zoey’s mom, Lauren, stole Lady. Of course, conflict ensues as the hero and heroine wend their way toward their happily-ever-after. Here’s the back cover blurb:

An unexpected canine friendship could bring their families together. After her teen daughter, Zoey, bonds with a stray dog, the last thing Lauren Parker anticipates is the owner accusing her of stealing it. The prominent rancher and widowed father, Robert Mattson, doesn’t believe Lauren’s innocence, but even he can see the special understanding his dog, Lady, has for Zoey’s medical needs. When Robert’s twins become fast friends with Zoey, his prickly interactions with Lauren soon give way to something more. As Lady brings them all closer together, Robert can’t harden his heart any longer…but is he too late to win Lauren’s love?

I’m delighted to give away one print copy of A Faithful Guardian to a U. S. resident. Please leave a comment below and answer one of these questions: Do you prefer cats or dogs, and why? Do you have or know of a K-9 companion dog, and how do they help their human friend? Full sentences, please.

My personal photo of my sister’s adobe house that inspired my stories.

South Carolina author Louise M. Gouge writes contemporary and historical romance fiction, winning the prestigious IRCA in 2006 and placing as a finalist in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2017. She was also a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Awards in 2005, 2007, and 2008, and placed in the Laurel Wreath contest in 2012. Most recently, she was a finalist in the 2023 Selah Awards and is a current finalist for the 2024 Selah Awards. A former college English and humanities professor, Louise is a member of the Christian PEN and has been copyediting for well-known authors for fifteen years. Married for fifty-four happy years to her beloved husband, David, Louise is now widowed and spends her days researching and writing her next novel.

Web site at https://louisemgougeauthor.blogspot.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouiseMGougeAuthor

Follow me on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/louise-m-gouge

Christmas Cowboy Style

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We’re very happy to have Louise Gouge come visit. She always has something interesting to say. And she has a new book–a Christmas one! Yippee! Leave a comment to enter the drawing for one print copy of COWBOY LAWMAN’S CHRISTMAS REUNION!

 

Many romance authors will tell you that writing the last page of a novel can be a bittersweet experience. We feel relief over satisfactorily tying up our story’s loose ends and, we hope, meeting a deadline. But we also will miss beloved characters as they ride off into their happily-ever-after fairy tale sunset. Even more poignant is completing a beloved series of novels with its many compelling characters whose lives are intertwined.

COWBOY LAWMAN’S CHRISTMAS REUNION is the sixth and final installment in my Four Stones Ranch series set in my fictional town of Esperanza, Colorado. Based on Monte Vista, Colorado, an actual town where my husband and I lived and where our children were born, Esperanza became a character in these books. Completing the series is like moving away from Monte Vista all over again. Oddly enough, we moved right after Christmas 1971, and is a Christmas story. I love little synchronicities like that.

Not being an actual cowgirl and not having lived on an actual ranch, I couldn’t have written these books without some serious research. (Does it count that I used to watch Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, and long before those, Roy Rogers and John Wayne movies?) My daughter and granddaughter are western-style horsewomen, so they provided the essentials for anything horsey. And I was blessed to find a book about Monte Vista, A Bridge to Yesterday, by Emma M. Riggenbach, whose pioneer family settled in the area. The information she provided in the book gave me everything I needed to create my own version of this small town. While historical errors sometimes slip past the most diligent writer, this book kept my stories close to the way it was in the 1880s. My fictional Four Stones Ranch is loosely based on a ranch/farm owned and operated by some folks our family knew way back when.

 

As it turns out, COWBOY LAWMAN’S CHRISTMAS REUNION,  is my fifteenth and final book for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical Imprint. (The line is closing next year.) So I write this blog with a sense of nostalgia hanging over me. I’ll miss writing for LIH, and I’ll miss the fictional people who populated this last series. If you’ve read any of my Four Stones Ranch books, you’ll understand why. But I’m kind of hooked on writing westerns, so you may see me here again in the future.

Here’s the story of the final installment:

Sheriff Justice Gareau can make outlaws quake in their boots…yet coming face-to-face with Evangeline Benoit once again takes away all his composure. She broke their engagement, and his heart, to marry a wealthy older man. Despite his reluctance, Justice can’t avoid the widowed single mother of two when they’re collaborating on a Christmas village for the town’s children.

The loving boy Evangeline once knew has become an unyielding lawman. Forced to flee New Orleans over false allegations, Evie doubts Justice will take her side when the past follows her to Colorado. Especially when he and her troublesome son butt heads. But perhaps the spirit of Christmas will soften his heart and give them a second chance at love.

Copyright © 2017 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited, Cover art and cover copy text used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises.

® and ™ Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

 

Other books in the series:

Cowboy to the Rescue

Cowboy Seeks a Bride

Cowgirl for Keeps

Cowgirl Under the Mistletoe

Cowboy Homecoming

 

Florida author Louise M. Gouge writes historical fiction for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical Romances. She received the prestigious Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in 2005 and was a finalist in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2017; and placed in the Laurel Wreath in 2012.

Please visit her Web site at http://Louisemgougeauthor.blogspot.com, http://www.facebook.com/LouiseMGougeAuthor/, Twitter: @Louisemgouge

 

Please tell me what it is you like about western stories and you’ll be in the drawing for a print copy of Cowboy Lawman’s Christmas Reunion! (U.S. residents only please)