Hi everyone!
I wanted to thank each and every one of you who came over today and read and commented on my LOVE UNDER FIRE release post! You made my release day AMAZING!
The prizes go to….(DRUMROLL PLEASE)…
1 FREE DIGITAL COPY OF LOVE UNDER FIRE–LAINI
$25 Amazon gift card–KAREN JENNINGS
PLEASE CONTACT ME AT: fabkat_edit@yahoo.com and I’ll get your prizes sent to you ASAP!
Thanks again for a wonderful day today!
Sophie Dawson has been making up stories in her head ever since she was a child. She has written fiction and non-fiction, contemporary and historical romance, and has also ventured into the increasingly popular arena of audio books.
She lives with her husband on the family farm in Illinois.
Two grown sons, a daughter-in-law and granddaughter round out her immediate family.
Sophie is giving away a copy of each book she talks about today,
one to each of two commenters.
Women were scarce in the West in the 1800’s. We all know that. Mail Order Brides were, maybe not as common as in romance novels of today, but one way men could find wives. How scary would it be to leave all you knew, whether it was a good situation or terrible, travel the arduous hundreds of miles of empty land, then marry a man you only knew from a few letters? In our novels, every couple has a happily ever after ending. We know this wasn’t the case. Common sense and human nature tells us that.
But, what if you lived in a mining and logging town in Oregon, having moved there or been born and raised there and suddenly all the men, or those who were marriageable or husbands already, died in a disaster leaving the women to pick up the pieces of the town and their lives? That’s the premise of the Silverpines Series.
Many women in the West were widowed and left with children they needed to support and raise. Men were widowed too in the same situation. It wasn’t unusual for these grieving people to rapidly marry, sometimes the same day they buried their spouse. She needed a protector, a supporter, a father for her children. He needed someone to take care of his children, be their mother, and to do the work in the home so they could all eat, stay healthy, and teach the children as there might not be a school nearby.
In Silverpines, Oregon in 1899 there weren’t men in town to marry. And there were many women left as widows or young women who wanted to marry someday. The solution… Send for Mail Order Grooms. I’ve written two books in the series so far; Wanted: Shopkeeper and Wanted: Bookkeeper.
Millie Messer is the widow of the mercantile owner with four young children to raise. One still in diapers. She needs to run the store, do her regular work tending the children, help those in need, and be wary of the con men who’ve come to town in the wake of the disasters.
Clay Cutler answers her advertisement. He’s experienced in running a store. His family owned on and he’d been raised in it. He seems the answer to her prayers. There’s just one detail he forgot to mention; he has five children. Millie finds out when they get off the train. Needless to say, she is not pleased.
Do they get their HEA? What antics do nine children come up with as they blend the two families? What danger lies ahead for all of them? What secret is Clay keeping from Millie?
Find out in Wanted: Shopkeeper.
Poor Tilde Lasek, she’s lost her father and brother in the disaster. her mother is overwhelmed with her grief. She’s left to run the bank they own by her herself and is in way over her head. Then there’s the attempted bank robbery. Thankfully, it was foiled and she wasn’t kidnapped or injured. BUT, it was the last straw. Not telling her mother, who is against the idea, Tilde advertises for a husband. She’s smart enough not to mention the job he’ll do is in a bank.
Joel Richards is her choice. They marry hours after he arrives in Silverpines, without informing her mother who isn’t happy with the marriage. Then there are the changes Joel hopes to make at the bank. Tilde’s not happy with those.
Can Joel convince Tilde to bring Silverpines bank into the 20th century? Will Tilde be able to be the wife he wants without letting him bring even more change to her life? Will Mabel Lasek ever accept her daughter’s marriage? Will there be a Happily Ever After with all three living in the same house?
Read to find out. Wanted: Bookkeeper.
Get these and the other great Silverpines Series books on Amazon Kindle, print and KU.
Sophie Dawson is an award winning author of sweet historical romance set after the Civil War, as well as Contemporary romances. She’s participated in several Multi-Author Projects with her newest one being The Pinkerton Matchmaker. Her novel, An Agent for Mina debuts November 9. Check her Amazon author page for details. http://amazon.com/author/sophiedawson
Sophie Dawson Reader Friends group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/139425236751751/
Website: http://sophie-dawson.com
All of a sudden, I realized that Harlequin is releasing my Christmas novella TODAY!
I am not ready for Christmas. NOT. ONE. BIT. Autumn hasn’t even officially arrived here!
So…at the end of this post I will share a blurb about A Western Christmas Homecoming,
which is the last book in the Oak Grove Series that I have been writing with Lauri Robinson.
Recently, I had to research different types of cattle here in America for my story, Wedding at Rocking S Ranch that takes place on a ranch. Oak Grove was a railroad town that blossomed as a result of its location and the cattle drives from Texas. Sure, Longhorns came from Texas, but was that the kind of cattle that would be found on a ranch in Kansas? My grandfather and uncle raised Black Angus cattle here in the Midwest their entire lives and I have yet to see a Texas Longhorn this far north. So when, and where, did the switch occur? I also had to check the history of barbed wire.
1870 marked the start of the big cattle drives into Kansas. 300,00 arrived that year. The next year that amount doubled. Three-fifths of the cattle were “stock cattle” which means they were yearlings, heifers, cows and steers younger than four years old. Abilene, Kansas, Wichita and Dodge City became the towns (and later cities) that truly boomed with the transporting of cattle to market.
Many of the Longhorns didn’t immediately board the train and head to points farther east, but wintered in Kansas, existing on the buffalo-grass prairie. Although barbed wire had been invented and was in use, the sectioning off of large parcels of land hadn’t happened yet in Kansas in 1879 at the time my story takes place. Cattle still roamed free and had to be watched over by cowboys. At the Rocking S Ranch, the ranch-house and the crops had fences around them to keep the cattle out of the corn and alfalfa and off the porch. This was known as “fenced out.” Further east, a farmer would use wood and barbed wire to enclose a pasture, which was known as “fenced in.”
In my story, I have the owner of the ranch looking into crossbreeding his longhorns with another breed of cattle to make a healthier, more profitable herd. He has brought in Black Angus to give this a try. Black Angus first came to Kansas in 1873 when George Grant transported them from Scotland. Where the longhorns were hardy, they were a tougher meat and had a wild-streak and could be difficult to manage. Angus had a gentle nature but were more susceptible to extremes in weather. Their meat is more tender and has a better flavor that the longhorns. Angus weigh between 850 and 1000 pounds when mature.
When Grant took his four Angus bulls to the fair at the Kansas City Livestock Exposition that year, the local people didn’t know what to think of them. These cattle had no horns! (Called polled, which means naturally hornless.) But Grant had the last laugh when he successfully crossed his bulls with native Texas longhorns. The calves were hardier, hornless, and weighed more. They were also a bit more docile. Between 1878 and 1883, twelve hundred Angus cattle were imported to the Midwest. Cross-breeding has steadily improved the hardiness of the Angus here in America.
And there are Red Angus! Red Angus occur as the result of a recessive gene. They are the same as their black relatives except they are actually more tolerant of the hot weather. At one time, The Angus Association barred the registration of Red Angus in an attempt to promote a solid black breed. Likely that is one of the reasons they are fewer in number. Eventually, The Red Angus Association of America formed when breeders searched out and collected the Red Angus from the black herds.
Although I used a lot of this information in Wedding at Rocking S Ranch, it was sprinkled in with a light touch. After all, in historical romance it is the relationship between the two protagonists that carry the story!
* * * * * * * * * * *
And now for my New Release!
Three festive stories ~ Christmas in the Wild West!
CHRISTMAS WITH THE OUTLAW by Kathryn Albright
SNOWBOUND IN BIG SPRINGS by Lauri Robinson
CHRISTMAS DAY WEDDING BELLS by Lynna Banning
In Christmas Day Wedding Bells by Lynna Banning, buttoned-up librarian Alice is swept away by US marshal Rand Logan on a new adventure.
Then, Welles is Snowbound in Big Springs in this novella by Lauri Robinson, where he must confront Sophie and their undeclared feelings…
Finally, rugged outlaw Russ rescues Abigail from spending the festive season alone in Christmas with the Outlaw by Kathryn Albright!
Available at Harlequin | Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Visit my website for excerpts and more information on all my books!
