The McIntyre Series

An Odd Custom in the 19th Century and Earlier

by

One of the strangest customs that was pretty common in the 19th century and earlier was a married woman referring to her husband as Mister and whatever their last name was. I just think it’s so odd and kind of funny in a way. It makes it sound like they’re not even married and maybe complete strangers.

My grandmother used to call her husband Mr. Smith like they weren’t even acquainted.

But my grandpa always called my grandmother by her first name which was Becky and didn’t say Mrs. Smith. It seems it was only the women who did this.

Another thing had to do with sending any mail to my grandmother. It had to be addressed as Mrs. Robert Smith, not by her name. It almost seemed like an ownership thing and she wasn’t her own person, not like today.

I still have an elderly cousin who always wants Mrs. Ed Langley on every piece of mail I send her even though he’s been dead for over ten years. Somehow, she’s still unable to claim her own identity. I think that’s really sad.

Yet, when I try to write this into one of my stories, it makes it seem they’re strangers, so I give up and change it so the reader will know who I’m talking about.

These days, we have a fast-paced, very casual lifestyle and wives always use their husband’s first names when they speak to them and it seems more natural.

One of my pet peeves is that I do not like is a man referring to his wife as his “old lady or old broad.” And the wife saying, “My old man.” Just sounds awful disrespectful, but maybe that’s just me. Or when they call each other Ma and Pa.

My parents always used their first names when speaking to each other.

Now for book news. The McIntyre complete series is out now, and I think doing pretty well as far as I can tell. It has its own series page on Amazon.

CLICK here for the link.

The McIntyre siblings are on a quest to reunite their fractured family no matter the cost. As they search, each also finds a love that cannot be denied.

 

How about you? Have you ever heard women of the older generations calling their husbands Mr. so and so? I’ll give a copy of Book 1 in this series – Cade’s Quest – to one commenter. (Either ebook or print)

Angel Crowns and Other Superstitions

by

It’s really interesting how new information comes when I’m not looking for it. I was reading The Mountains We Call Home by Kim Michele Richardson (Book 3 of The Book Woman series) and how these people in the Appalachians were really superstitious. The main character in this book found an angel crown in her pillow and saw it as an omen that death was near.

So let me explain what an angel crown is. This phenomenon only occurs in feather pillows when the feathers swirl in a circle to form what appears to resemble a crown.

The character in this book found one of these dark omens and refused to sleep on the pillow. She threw it on the floor and slept without. To clarify, she does not die.

Angel crowns were also found in the pillow of a deceased and that was supposed to be a sign that the person went to heaven.

The main character in this particular book by Richardson is Cussy Mary and she has blue skin which is a real affliction by a select group way back in the hills and has been studied by a lot of scientists. Everyone believes if they touch her, they’ll die so they hunt her like she’s a wild animal. I really loved this story.

Anyway, I grew up with a lot of superstitions. A bird in the house is a sign that someone will die. Finding a hat on the bed meant bad luck, illness, or death. To break its curse, you were supposed to spit in the hat, throw it on the floor, and stomp on it. There were a million others. I think these people had way too much time on their hands.

In my new book, Jess’s Reckoning, they’re trapped in an outlaw town with a madman. He’s very superstitious so Abigail, the newspaper owner, plays on his fears by appearing at his bedside in white face paint, wearing a nun’s habit. She tells him he has to pay for his crimes and will face death. Scares him out of his wits. She and Jess McIntyre do finally wear him down and they’re able to get free.

This is a sweet romance. For an excerpt, CLICK Here.

I once had an uncle who was terrified to walk past a cemetery for fear a ghost would get him. He took a night watchman job but never got out of his car. Another time our family was in a flood and found a dead body. They left my uncle to stay there and went for the sheriff. As the water began to seep out of the person, the muscles began to contract in his arms and legs. My uncle took off running and never looked back.

Who still throws salt over their shoulder when they spill it? Or refuse to walk under a ladder? Or how about not crossing a black cat’s path or step on a crack? I don’t think I’m very superstitious but how about you? I’m giving away two copies (ebook or print) of Jess’s Reckoning so leave a comment.

Sisters Who Write by Linda Broday and Jan Sikes

by
Jan and I in the little photo taken in the early 1950s. I was probably 6 and she was 3.

Hi everyone, I’m so excited to share my little sister, Jan Sikes, with you today. That’s right, I have a sister who writes. She first wrote a four-book series about her life with country singer, Rick Sikes, and now she has just finished her second fictional series. The opportunity arose and we released our new books together — A Bold Bargain and Cade’s Quest. To the left is a recent picture of us.

But a little about our background. We grew up in a very poor neighborhood of a town in New Mexico that sits on the Texas state line. Few opportunities were available but that didn’t stop us from dreaming of doing amazing things. We had no TV to entertain us, so we turned to books. We were both very avid readers, and each Saturday would find us at the local library where we’d check out the maximum number then rush home to read. Books were our life and still are.

As Jan says, “In elementary school, I checked the Grimm’s Book of Fairy Tales out of the library so many times they had to create a new card for it. That’s a true story. I loved getting lost in the world of ‘what if’ and fantasy as it was so vastly different from my reality. As a child, I lived in my head, often not paying attention to what was going on around me, so that book fed the part of me that longed for something magical. Another book I remember reading multiple times when I was a bit older was The Grapes of Wrath. I related to it so much because our parents lived through that difficult time in history, so there was a personal connection.”

Throughout our lives, we’ve always been each other’s best friend. We talk books and writing almost every Sunday and we critique each other’s work. I love and respect her so much. She’s a great one to bounce ideas off of or get me unstuck when I write myself into a corner.

I was writing and publishing long before Jan did, but I’m just amazed at how far she’s come since her first book in 2013. At times, I think she knows more than I do and I’m really so proud of her.

Fast forward to now and our co-launch.

A Bold Bargain is Book 3 of The Bargainer Series. What if a bargain struck has the power to change a young man’s direction? Jack Blaine has had a rocky start in life and suffered at the hands of his moonshiner father. However, he yearns for a higher education and learning a skill that will give him the life he dreams of. By chance, he happens upon an elderly woman in need and strikes a bargain with her. The greatest acts of kindness are the ones that demand the most from us—and every decision can unlock destiny’s doors. This takes place in 1950 and is classified as historical literary fiction.

In Cade’s Quest, Cade McIntyre vows to find and bring home his five siblings after the town split them all up and sent them to the four winds. The search leads him on a different path and he discovers a Comanche woman needing a place to hide out. As they share a dugout, Cade finds himself falling for her and unable to walk away. A powerful enemy is hunting them both. With danger closing in and the past refusing to stay buried, their chance at love may be as fleeting as dust in the wind. This is Book 1 of the McIntyre series and is a sweet romance.

Both released August 11, 2025.

Here’s our question to you. Have you ever made a bargain (large or small) with someone? Maybe you’ve bargained with God. I sure have. If so, we’d like to hear it. Or if you have a sister, are you close like Jan and me? We’re doing a giveaway. One commenter will get A Bold Bargain (ebook) and two others will get Cade’s Quest (winner’s choice of ebook or print.)

Petticoats & Pistols