Perhaps if I wore a latex bikini and waved around an oversized foam finger with one hand while I tapped on the keyboard with the other. . .I could make money as a writer. The first two seem to be working for Miley Cyrus. And she probably doesn’t have a clue that twerking became popular while she was still in diapers.

I seem to have a knack for choosing creative pursuits that aren’t lucrative…like teaching high school, bagel-dipping in Nutella, and writing. Maybe I should have actually read the book Do What You Love, The Money will Follow. But since I’d already discovered outlets that “fulfilled my needs, talents and passions,” I didn’t require direction, just affirmation, so I didn’t read more than the title.

Maybe I could write Fifty Shades of Blue Because I Didn’t Think of Fifty Shades of Gray Before She Did. Or The Sun Before Twilight. Or a prequel to the Harry Potter series. But that would be as successful as me at 60 attempting to twerk on-stage with Robin Thicke.

I’ve experienced the wiggling excitement of being offered representation by agents, book contracts, seeing my name on the cover of a novel, finding myself in a bookstore and on Amazon. Yet I’ve probably spent more in marketing, classes, and conferences than I’ve earned.

So, why do I continue to write?

Because I can’t not write, and that’s never been so clear to me as it has the past five weeks. I’d been officially retired for five months when my husband decided to open his own business. He’s a veterinarian. This is what I do while I’m at work: I smile and say, “Hold on” and/or “I’ll find someone who can help you.” I’m entering inventory and clients in our database, shelving drugs with unpronounceable names, counting pills for prescriptions, mopping the floors every morning so the clinic won’t smell like the population it serves, answering the phone, leaving the house every morning at 6:30 and not returning home until after 7:00, working every Saturday and going in on Sundays to catch up from the week.

My consumption of Blue Bell ice cream is increasing in an inverse proportion to my hours of sleep and direct proportion to my depression. I went to bed at 7:30 last night and woke up at 4:00 to write this post. It’s the first writing I’ve attempted outside of “free exams to new clients” in over thirty days.

When your passion is suddenly taken hostage, you eventually find a way to survive. To entertain it in your mind where it can’t be constrained. I mop and spin ideas of women once wealthy and powerful who assume false identities and hide out in low-end jobs to escape someone or something. I devise stories around clients who own ten dogs and/or cats, I name future characters after some of the clients’ pets. . . I try to not dwell in the land of, “if I’d written a blockbuster before this, I wouldn’t be wiping up unknown glick on the floor.”

I hope to be ransomed one day. In the meantime, I’m following the advice of my writer friends and keeping a journal. Maybe the glick on the floor will lead to a break-out book. Maybe not. But this I’ve learned: you can’t sacrifice your passion on the altar of someone else’s dreams.

Do what you love. If the money doesn’t follow, your sanity will.

A sexy sci-fi new adult series continues with His Human Hellion, that brings us Finn and Marissa. A sexy alien and the human hellion he couldn’t resist, even when she was his intended target. Now she’s someone else’s target and he’s a planet away. Can he get there in time to save her and the baby she’s carrying?

Emotions wreak havoc on an Asazi soldier when he discovers the human he loves is pregnant with the child that could kill her.
Finn has a new mission. Save Marissa. Any way he can. That’s no easy task when Marissa is the most stubborn, headstrong woman—correction—human he’s ever met.
A spitfire Texan finds herself in love with a man who isn’t supposed to have emotions, and isn’t even a man, except, he’s more man than any man she’s ever met before. And now she’s pregnant with his child. A child that could kill her.
Marissa jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire when she fell in love with Finn. Now he says the only way to save her life is to take her to his planet? I don’t think so.

www.ellethorne.com

This book is for 18+.

Excerpt:

Chapter 1

Finn

Finn’s phone vibrated a message. He pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to see an I-love-you text from Marissa. Instead, he found a whole different kind of message.
Marissa: I’m pregnant.
Finn dropped the phone as if it were a live rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes were something he’d become accustomed to in the last few weeks in Arizona on the land the Asazi used as one of their settling areas. The compound was remote and isolated. Snakes were the nearest thing Finn and Marissa had for company. Snakes, rabbits, coyotes, birds of prey, scorpions.

He picked up the phone, pocketed it. He’d been walking the perimeter of the fencing, making sure it was secure, and that there was no chance they’d aroused any suspicions or curiosity among the local humans. He scanned the horizon for witnesses. There was no time to waste and running would take longer. He lifted off, using the powerful Asazi wings which had only gotten stronger since he’d discovered them a few weeks ago. One thing he’d become convinced of, that it wasn’t Earth food that gave him the ability to fly, it was probably the absence of Asazi food. He wondered what could be in it, and wanted to ask Kal, but also did not believe that Kal would know the answer. Kal would not hide this from him. He was certain of that. They’d always been closer than brothers. Kal would not keep secrets from him.

Like you don’t keep them from him? The voice of doubt cast aspersions on his relationship with Kal. He shoved those thoughts aside and brought his mind to his current problem. A most pressing one. Hopefully Marissa was wrong. Very wrong.

It couldn’t be. There was no way she was pregnant. He’d been careful. He’d had her be careful. They’d taken all the precautions necessary for humans not to become pregnant.
He flew at a furious pace, his heart pounding in his chest. When the ranch house they lived in came into view he scanned the yard for Marissa. Nothing. The pickup was parked in the driveway. He landed with a thud, anxious to see if it was true. To see if she was pregnant.

To make sure she was alive.

Kal’s words resonated in his mind, reverberating in his heart. One warning. Do not let her get pregnant. Human women die giving birth to Asazi babies. Your mother did, and every other one before her.

Now Finn had failed. She was pregnant, and she would die giving birth to their child. A child he’d tried to prevent. When could this have happened?

Still in the dirt, one thing crossed his mind. If she miscarried the child, before it became large enough to kill her, then she would live. His love would live.

He catapulted to his feet, slammed through the door, running throughout the house to find her. He burst into the kitchen.

Marissa dropped the pan she was holding, it clattered to the ground. “What the hell! You scared me.” She focused on him, eyes scanning his face, surveying, taking measure. “Finn, what’s wrong? Why are you out of breath?”

Chapter 2

Marissa

Finn ran into the room, a film of sweat glistening on his skin, refracting the purplish-blue color, the tiny scales shifting and glimmering. Considering her news, it was odd, for him to be that color. The color of worry and sadness. His face was a mask of concern. She would have thought he’d be happy, overjoyed.

He paused, leaning against the doorjamb, almost seeming to need the support, his chest heaving with every breath.

She studied his sexiness, still stunned that this man was a part of her life. His eyes glowed in the afternoon sunlight, catching the rays, his face with a few days beard. She warmed at the memory of what that scruff did to her tender flesh between her legs this morning.

She approached him, slipping her hand inside his shirt, running her fingertips along his pecs, then down, slipping them into the waistband of his pants. He sucked a breath in, his shaft instantly responding to her touch, firming with the same hardness he’d had earlier that morning when they’d made love.

Behind him, his wings flared, opening with a whoosh of air and sound, longer than his height, magnificently diaphanous, but oh-so-very-male on his muscled body.

Cynthia, thanks so much for hosting the cover reveal for The Secret Heart. It’s the first book in a series of historical romances I’ll be publishing starting next month, all set in England during the early Victorian period.

I’m calling the series No Better Angels because my characters, and my heroines especially, struggle to be good and rarely take the high road to get what they want.

Here’s the blurb:

Love is bitter. Victory is sweet.

Caroline Small is a young lady of modest means who wants a secure, comfortable life for herself. Which is to say, she’s a fortune-hunter.

She meets her ideal match on a visit to the country: the Earl of Bexley. He’s rich, handsome, and honorable enough to fall right into her trap.

Or he used to be, anyhow. These days, Bexley wants nothing to do with the gentlemanly virtues he was raised to uphold. Instead, he lives for nights of bare-knuckled boxing, for the match when he finally puts a bigger, stronger man down for the count.

Caro’s beauty tempts Bexley. Her scandalous passion for ballet dancing intrigues him. But he sees the naked ambition behind Caro’s charm, and he won’t be captured like prey.

Except that he just can’t resist an opportunity be alone with her….

I’ll be back next month with an excerpt from The Secret Heart and the cover for book two, The Lover’s Knot. You can find out more about the No Better Angels series at my website, or sign up for my newsletter for periodic updates about new releases.

One of my favorite hobbies is taking pictures of the cowboys I know. Since I am a cowgirl, bred and born, it’s not difficult to find models. One of my favorite subjects is my pop. He is extremely photogenic and was a member of the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) at one time. Although he was never an actor, he has been in commercials and print ads for beer and cigarettes—a natural fit for him because he loves both!
Below are a sample of some of my favorite shots!
I have never had a fancy or expensive camera. Just small, inexpensive cameras, but ones that have taken some really nice shots over the years. Someday I’ll have a big, fancy one like Alannah does in Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born.

Figure 1 Two good cowboys!

Figure 2 Fixing fence

Figure 3 Gathering cattle Cimarron, Colorado

Seven men as tough as the west…

Seven women who know how to…

Cowboy Up

A boxed set of seven romantic novellas by seven award-winning authors experienced with writing about the men of the West.

Always, Cowboy by Allison Merritt

Blurb:
The past is better left behind, unless it offers a brighter future.
Brody Longtree’s first love was bull riding, but he loved beauty queen Libby Dempsey equally as hard. When she turned down his marriage proposal, everything from his rodeo career to his love life went to hell. His love ran too deep for blame, so he made the best of what life threw at him. Things finally get back on track…and then she almost runs over his dog.
When her pageant dreams died in an embarrassing display of nerves, Libby made a new, cowboy-free life for herself. One where she could train other girls who want to be pageant princesses. One that doesn’t give her any reason to dwell on what might have been with Brody until his dog bounds into her heart. And she bounds into Brody’s bed.
Despite the differences in their lives, they mesh together, the way Brody always knew they would. No matter what, he’s waiting until he’s certain Libby is ready to get married before he asks again, but their relationship comes under fire when one of her friends reveals a secret about a little girl Libby is awfully attached to—a girl who’s the right age to be Brody’s daughter.

Excerpt:
Under that snap front western shirt, did he still sport six-pack abs? She couldn’t count the number of times she’d helped him out of a similar shirt and put ice on his bruises after a ride. Or how often they’d parked at the lake and explored one another under the stars.
“Hot?” Brody asked.
“What?”
“You’re flushed. We could go sit in the stands, maybe catch a breeze.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Can I ask you something, Lib?” Brody rose. His dark eyes were serious and a few lines bracketed his mouth. “Why’d you come tonight?”
Libby swallowed hard. “You asked me.”
“Really?”
“I only live an hour away and I didn’t have anything else to do tonight.” Tell him you miss him.
“You used to be more honest.” He slipped his hand around her wrist. “You missed me.”
“I—” Electricity buzzed through her from his touch. “Maybe a little.”
“Maybe a lot.” He pulled her into his arms. “You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

About Allison Merritt:
A love of reading inspired Allison Merritt to pursue her dream of becoming an author who writes historical, paranormal and fantasy romances, often combining the sub-genres. She lives in a small town in the Ozark Mountains with her husband and dogs. When she’s not writing or reading, she hikes in national parks and conservation areas.
Allison graduated from College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri with a B.A. in mass communications that’s gathering dust after it was determined that she’s better at writing fluff than hard news.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Goodreads | Pinterest

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Cowboys Don’t Cry by Vickie Taylor

Blurb:
A broken cowboy with nothing left to lose…except his heart.
Dash Connaway is hell-bent down a highway to nowhere. But he can’t outrun fate. Just a few months ago, he’d had a new album shooting up the country music charts, a luxury tour bus prepped for gigs in 39 cities, and a live-in girl friend he’d been thinking of asking to marry him. Now he’s just another drifter with an old guitar, a beat-up pickup, and a dog named Bill for a bed mate…until he meets Maggie McCain.
Maggie isn’t your ordinary Oregon rancher. She’s more into organic gardening and hand-spinning yarn from the fleece of her prized alpacas than breeding stinky old cattle. She’s a nurturer, a giver, so when Dash steps into her life from nowhere, she’s ready to trade in her solitary existence on the farm in favor of a husband to grow old with and a passel of children to care for.
But when she learns the real reason for Dash’s commitment to life on the road, she’s faced with a difficult choice and a lesson in the fallacy behind the old saying “Cowboys don’t cry.” Only time will tell just how potent the healing power of love can really be.

Excerpt:
“It’s a girl,” he pronounced cradling the newborn alpaca in his arms.
The woman wiped her grimy chin with the back of her grimier hand. Tears tracked through the dirt on her cheeks. “You did it.” She pushed to her feet, but her legs looked none too steady. She picked up the rifle and leaned on it like a crutch.
Dash went to her, ready to catch her if she fell. “We did it,” he corrected.
“Yes, we did.”
He smiled and reached out to her free arm. It was meant to be a celebratory brush, a comfort…but it lingered a moment too long. The air changed.
Without warning, she swung her rifle up and rested the barrel against his chest. “Now who the hell are you, and what are you doing on my land?”

About Vickie Taylor:
Vickie Taylor published her first book in 1999 and quickly rose to the ranks of national best-selling and award-winning author. She enjoys all types of books, but especially paranormal, suspense, and western contemporary with the unifying theme being romance. Vickie always enjoys a good love story. She is the author of sixteen published novels and is a four-time nominee for the Oscar of the romance world, the Romance Writers of America Rita award. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s usually out riding horses, training search and rescue dogs, or volunteering with her local humane society. She is an avid supporter of the campaign to preserve America’s wild horses, and her latest release, Cowboys Don’t Cry is the first book in a new series featuring her beloved mustangs. Sign up for her newsletter to be notified when the next book in the series, The Horseman’s Widow, coming October, 2014, is available. Vickie loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via the methods below:

Website (where you can also sign up for her newsletter announcing new releases.) | Facebook | Twitter

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A Cowboy’s Heart by Leslie Garcia

Blurb
:
Teenage lovers torn apart by betrayal. Have seventeen years changed everything—or nothing?
Star-crossed lovers in their south Texas hill country high school, torn apart by a best friend’s lie, a mother’s cold hatred, and a father’s lack of trust…
High school junior Illy Kingston turns to varsity football star and cowboy in training Gil Salas when her father, a Border Patrol agent, is killed under suspicious circumstances.
Their hormone-fueled, all or nothing affair ends when betrayal tears them apart.
Years, later, Illy returns home, at loose ends after her disastrous marriage to a reality show rock star ends with an embarrassing photo gone viral and a divorce.
When Gil and his mounted Border Patrol make an unannounced civic call at a local elementary school, Gil is shocked to see Illy lurking in the shadows, threatening to upend his existence once again.
The old passion still burns—but neither can go back to the innocence of their high school affair. Illy swore never to love a man wearing a uniform that didn’t involve jeans, a western hat, and boots. Gil has a price on his head.
And star-crossed love doesn’t usually work for cowboys, either.

Excerpt:

He stopped abruptly. Illy had told him to stop, and he hadn’t thought she meant it. The memory of her reacting to him, caressing him, wanting him, stormed back. And then, when Emma called, she’d turned off and fled in a fury.
Did she think he’d seen the picture? He’d seen it online, like the entire world had, according to all the social media. What if she thought he was just acting out what he’d seen? No matter how much the photo enraged and sickened him, he could only imagine her horror that her marriage was over, but that episode never would be.
Did she feel strange at all, being in his arms after that very public display with her ex-husband? His heart thudded dully. She must know he’d seen the picture, but what would it do to her if she knew the truth?
He closed his eyes. She was out of his life, and that was best for him. Because truth be told, he didn’t know if he could take her again and not remember the second most painful night of his life. The night he’d happened on Illy making love to her rock-star husband in public.

About Leslie Garcia:

Leslie P. García grew up lost among a crowd of six siblings and a menagerie that included more than twenty horses and ponies, uncounted dogs and cats, possums, raccoons—even a lion and monkeys. Then she moved to Texas, fell in love, was disowned—and embarked on her real adventures, raising 4 children, teaching hundreds, and loving 9 grandkids through forty years of marriage. The fabric of that colorful life has always been writing. In A Cowboy Heart, Leslie celebrates two of her passions—cowboys and the ever present chance at redemption in spite of past mistakes. Leslie loves hearing from readers and can be found all over cyber space, including these places:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | E-mail: lesliegarcia2000-author@yahoo.com

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The Heartsong Cowboy by Melissa Keir

Blurb:
Can two people, one horse and the power of love cure a little girl?
Angela French blames herself for her daughter’s lack of voice. Determined to do anything to correct the situation, she seeks out Jake Kyncade, the owner of The Heartsong Ranch.
Jake Kyncade hides his own sorrows behind his no-nonsense demeanor. Helping children becomes one way to correct his past. Using equine therapy, he sets out to make a difference.
Can Jake help Angela’s dreams come true or will Jake’s past bring more heartache? Will love save them all?

Excerpt:

With Taylor asleep on the couch, Angela snuck the magazine out of her daughter’s sleeping hands before carrying her to her bed. After making sure her baby was tucked in, she turned out the lights and went to the kitchen. She sat down at the table to study the article about the horse whisperer. The photos gave off a peaceful feeling—so much so, she longed to jump into the images. Along with the horses, there were shots of children laughing and petting the animals. The article mentioned a little boy with Down’s Syndrome whose language increased after a week of animal therapy. The Heartsong Ranch. Even the name sounds encouraging. Dare I get my hopes up?
One photo in particular captured her attention. The owner, Jake Kyncade, wore jeans and a cowboy hat as he stood next to the ranch sign. She took a deep breath as butterflies circled in her abdomen. He’s sexy. Very different from Mike. Mr. Kyncade has this wounded look in his eyes. I wonder what his trauma was. I’ve gotten better at noticing it in others. Still, he’s good looking. Probably married with his own children.

About Melissa Keir:
Melissa Keir has always wanted to be an author when she wasn’t hoping for a career as a race car driver. Her love of books was instilled by her mother and grandparents who were avid readers. She’d often sneak books away from them so that she could fantasize about those strong alpha males and plucky heroines. In middle school and high school, Melissa used to write sappy love poems and shared them with her friends and still has those poems today! In college her writing changed to sarcastic musings on life as well as poems with a modern twist on fairy tales and won awards for her writing. You can find many of these musings along with her latest releases on her website and blog.
As a writer, Melissa likes to keep current on topics of interest in the world of writing. She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America, Mid-Michigan RWA Chapter, and EPIC. She is always interested in improving her writing through classes and seminars.
Melissa doesn’t believe in down time. She’s always keeping busy. Melissa is a wife and mother, an elementary school teacher, a movie reviewer, an owner of a publishing company as well as an author. Her home blends two families and is a lot like the Brady Bunch, without Alice- a large grocery bill, tons of dirty dishes and a mound of laundry. She loves to write stories that feature happy endings and is often seen plotting her next story.
Website | Blog | Facebook | Facebook Page | Twitter | Goodreads

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Cowboy Trouble by Autumn Piper

Blurb:
She’s decided to make some bad choices this weekend.
Susie Howell has always done what her family expects of her, but they don’t know about the divorce papers she’s just signed, or the secret torch she carries for sexy ranch hand Cash. When keeping the secret gets to her, she flees her brother’s wedding reception. Determined to live a little, she swipes the nearest truck from the ranch and heads to Sin City.
Cash Acosta has worked hard for everything he has, and nobody is taking off with his truck. When he sees it driving away, he jumps in—and becomes the unwilling passenger of a ready and willing woman he’s forbidden to touch. Hell-bent for trouble, the boss’s sister has already earmarked him as one of her “bad choices”.
And Susie intends to get what she wants.

Excerpt:
“So that’s why you’re runnin’.” Under the parking lot lights, his eyes were pitch black. He thumbed a tear from her cheek.
She tried for a more ladylike sniffle, blinked away her tears. Nodded, for lack of a better reply.
“When I hear a beautiful woman wants to make some mistakes, my gut instinct is to help her out with that.” His thumb brushed her lower lip. “Hearin’ she’s single…that’s another checkmark in the pros column.” Hypnotized, she barely breathed as he cupped her jaw in his fingers and that gaze riveted on hers. “Seein’ her cry? What choice do I have?” He bent to her, his lips hot and strong, skilled as they teased hers apart, his tongue waking feelings she’d forgotten. And Lord, it may be too soon, it may be wrong, but she wanted. Wanted Cash, his hands, his mouth, his… She grabbed onto his hard shoulders, slipped her hands up his neck, buried her fingers in that thatch of hair. And kissed him like there was no tomorrow. Of course there was. Sexy, brooding, womanizing Cash wanted her, and he’d be hers, at least for this trip.

About Autumn Piper:
Born and raised in itty-bitty Rifle, Colorado, Autumn Piper studiously avoided trouble…but is now inclined toward it, particularly in her novels. She thinks the best things in life are funny, and the runners-up, romantic.
An admitted carb addict, Autumn writes, edits, manages two teenagers, two cats, a box turtle with a huge personality, one husband and many supersize houseplants, and does the cooking and cleaning when forced to.
To sign up for Autumn’s occasional newsletter: http://mad.ly/signups/105424/join
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon Page

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Chasing a Cowboy by Sara Walter Ellwood

Blurb:
He’s running from heartbreak. She’s chasing after love… Their hearts will never be the same.
Paige Morgan has lived her entire life in the glare of her fraternal twin sister’s star. Although the sisters are as different as sun is from the moon, Paige fell in love with the same man as her famous swimsuit model sister. When country superstar Chase Jordan is dumped at the altar by her twin, Paige sees an opportunity to go after the one thing of her sister’s she’s always wanted. She finds Chase in Cabo San Lucas nursing his broken heart in the true country song fashion—with a bottle of Jose Cuervo—and reminds him of the desire he once felt for her. Will this singing cowboy change his tune as they set the tropical nights on fire? Or will Paige be the one singing the blues when her sister shows up wanting her man back?

Excerpt:
All of his hopes and dreams shattered on what should have been the happiest day of his life. Today, instead of settling in for their two-week vacation and only getting out of bed to eat, he was nursing a bottle of Jose Cuervo. Why had he come here? His brother was right; he could have easily eaten the cost of the trip. Chase had insisted that he had to escape for a little while, lick his wounds and come up with a plan before he had to go back on tour in a few weeks. Jack accused him of wanting to punish himself. Why else would he go to the place he and Kayla were to have their honeymoon? Had he come here to remind himself of what should have been? He shook his head, hoping to dislodge the thoughts, and turned to gaze out the other side of the bar.
A woman stood on the walkway staring at him through a pair of Aviators. Her long blonde ponytail shimmered in the sun like spun gold. He narrowed his eyes. Was he now hallucinating?
She entered the bar and headed toward him. Sitting on the stool beside him, she removed her sunglasses to reveal a pair of expressive hazel eyes. “Surprise.”
“Paige? What the hell are you doing here?”

About Sara Walter Ellwood:
Although Sara Walter Ellwood has long ago left the farm for the glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her contemporary westerns. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for over 20 years, and they have two teenagers and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she writes about and jokes she’s a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia. Sara Walter Ellwood is a multi-published author and publishes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name Cera duBois.
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Newsletter Signup

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Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born by D’Ann Lindun

Blurb:
Freedom or family? Only love can make the choice.
Photographer Alannah Murphy refuses to be tied down. She watched her parents struggle to hold onto their dairy farm until it killed them. The mere thought of the same fate makes her shudder. When she meets rancher Sterling Gentry she has to face her fears, or lose him.
Sterling Gentry longs for someone to hand his ranch down to. Like his father before him, he has sacrificed everything to hold onto the land his ancestors settled. But finding Ms. Right proves harder than he imagined. Then he meets Alannah Murphy with her big city ways. How he can ever take a chance with a woman exactly like his mother, who abandoned him when he was a child?
Despite their determination to stay the course they’ve each chosen, attraction pulls them together as steadily as a nail to a magnet. Can these two find a way to mesh Alannah’s need for freedom and Gentry’s desire to hold onto his land?

Excerpt:
Still snapping photos, the woman approached him. When she came within speaking distance, she waved. “Hello.”
“Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in the middle of the road? Don’t you know better than to stand in the way when somebody’s herding stock?”
Her mouth opened and closed a couple times. “I didn’t think—”
“Hell no, you didn’t think,” Gentry shouted. “Damn it anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “The shot was just so good…”
The shot? She’d ruined hours upon hours of exhausting work because she’d wanted a picture? Who the hell would do something so stupid?
Only a damn greenhorn.
For the first time he noticed her get-up. A straw hat only a city girl would wear, floaty pink top with tiny straps that left her bare shoulders exposed to the unforgiving Arizona sun, cut-off jean shorts and red cowboy boots. Daisy Duke personified. He shook his head in disgust.
Reality crashed over him.
The New York photographer his mother had enticed out here, hoping an article in The Cowboy magazine would bring attention to the Santa Gertrudis cattle they raised.
Damn.

About D’Ann Lindun:
Falling in love with romance novels the summer before sixth grade, D’Ann Lindun never thought about writing one until many years later when she took a how-to class at her local college. She was hooked! She began writing and never looked back. Romance appeals to her because there’s just something so satisfying about writing a book guaranteed to have a happy ending. D’Ann’s particular favorites usually feature cowboys and the women who love them. This is probably because she draws inspiration from the area where she lives, Western Colorado, her husband of twenty-nine years and their daughter. Composites of their small farm, herd of horses, five Australian shepherds, a Queensland heeler, two ducks and cats of every shape and color often show up in her stories!
D’Ann loves to hear from readers! Please contact her at:
Website | Facebook Page | Twitter | Amazon Page | Email: dldauthor@frontier.net
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If you’re a lover of regency romance be sure to check out Keepsake, Book 5 of the Distinguished Rogues which releases this month. The Marquess of Taverham married young and fast with his eye firmly on his bride’s dowry as the means to repair the family fortunes for the next generation. Too late he discovered his new wife wasn’t going to make achieving all of his dreams that easy. It’s wicked regency fun when the runaway bride comes back. Let the war begin…

An Excerpt from Keepsake:

Crisis averted. Husband prevented from an act of utter foolishness. Miranda Reed, reluctant Marchioness of Taverham, hurried to the back entrance of the Theater Royal and collected her cloak from the waiting theater maid. Her heart beat a wild rhythm, which she knew would take a quiet room and considerable time to calm, perhaps even requiring a dose of the potion her physician had insisted was necessary to calm her heart and maintain her proper health. She grimaced and snapped open her fan to beat a cooling breeze across her hot cheeks and neck.

The distasteful business of proving she was very much alive was behind her, and now all she had to do was collect her son from the tutor she’d chosen for his instruction during her long illness. Then they would take up a suitable residence in Town and be together once more. She had no intention of living with her husband even a single day, though it was high time he became acquainted with Christopher.

To her regret, the theater’s production of The Beggar’s Opera resumed with no thought to her heart, a cacophony of sound that stirred Miranda’s happiest memories to the front of her mind and turned those remembrances to ashes.

And yet Miranda was pleased with her return to society tonight. She’d succeeded in seeing her husband on her terms without losing control of the situation. How nice to have had the upper hand. It was a rare day when one could control a situation that involved the Marquess of Taverham and his simpering lover, Lady Brighthurst.

She wasn’t unduly surprised they were as close now as the day Miranda had married Taverham. Society might speculate on the true state of that friendship, but Miranda had seen the truth with her own eyes. Being betrayed on her wedding day was not something Miranda was ever likely to forget.

Her only servant, a burly man with a face scarred enough to frighten the masses, stepped from the shadows to reveal himself. “The carriage will be but a moment, my lady,” Peter Landry informed her in his deep, rumbling voice that had once sent a chill through her soul.

As a child visiting her grandfather’s warehouse on the docks of the London shipping yards, Landry’s large body and voice had terrified her. As an adult no longer prone to hysterics, she’d learned to place her faith in him when she wanted something done. He’d dogged her shadow ever since their paths had crossed by chance during the first year she’d left Taverham’s home, and a more faithful and protective servant a lady in hiding could never find.

She smiled. “Excellent.”

There was not much that distressed Miranda now. She’d seen the best of life and the worst. She’d even recovered from an illness that might have claimed her life, although that convalescence had taken over two years. Time wasted and time stolen from her son. She would make it up to Christopher somehow.

Author Bio:
Bestselling historical author Heather Boyd believes every character she creates deserves their own happily-ever-after, no matter how much trouble she puts them through. With that goal in mind, she writes sizzling regency romance stories that skirt the boundaries of propriety to keep readers enthralled until the wee hours of the morning. Heather has published over twenty novels and shorter works. Catch her latest news www.heather-boyd.com. She lives north of Sydney, Australia, and does her best to wrangle her testosterone-fuelled family (including cat Morpheus) into submission.

Three fun facts about Heather:

1. I have 8 rules I live by – ‘Choose a dentist that isn’t stingy with painkillers’ is right at the top.

2. I have a cuddly large cat but I need Teflon grade lap rugs to avoid being clawed to death. He’s adorable but very restless.

3. I consider dessert an essential part of every great meal. Pavlova, Tim Tam Cheesecake, Trifle (nicely embellished by port on the cake). I blame/thank my parents for my sweet tooth. 

Connect with Heather about this book: http://goo.gl/FDy7N6

“Poems About Life, Love, and Everything in Between” is a poetry collection that provides a glimpse into the heart, mind and soul, of its author JoAnne Myers. It is a heartwarming read, written with love and respect for others. Some poems were written in times of sorrow, other poems were written in times of joyous celebration. Life if like that.

SELFISH WANT

Looking out the window,
the cool air rushes by.
No time for me it has,
the leaves of summer on its mind.
Hard is my life,
like the callous hands of a tenacious man.
Longing for much, dreaming of more.
The passing of time is now my friend.
My carefree days of youth has soared.
Nothing left but dreams and memories to contend.
Living with the indulgence of my selfish want.
* * * *
THAT SHALLOW STREAM
That shallow stream we once knew.
Is now the victim of late unused.
Its once glimmering waters held,
childhood joys and life abound.
The bottom full of sand and mud,
became victim to the sun-dried dust.
Once gleaming sprouting green,
surrounded its banks as high as knees.
Then Mother Nature swallowed her whole,
leaving nothing behind to serve or please.
Now one’s feet shall wade no more.
Where once sweet water ran swift and clean.
No longer quenches thirsty deer and boar.
So when one comes back to see,
the place where fish swam and jumped,
finds only sorrow instead of glee.
In joyous thoughts of yesteryear,
memories hold tight to what was dear.
Like gazing in an ageless mirror,
a withered stream can be no more.
* * * *

This collection of personal poems is available at http://outskirtspress.com/bookstore/1478734760.html.

These poems were inspired by JoAnne’s love for nature, God, veterans, family and friendships, it is a heartwarming read written with love and respect for others.

JoAnne will be awarding two winners a print copy of this unique and page turning read for commenting.

Soon available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other book distributors

Author Bio:

I have been a long-time resident of southeastern Ohio, and worked in the blue-collar industry most of my life. Besides having several novels under my belt, I canvas paint.
When not busy with hobbies or working outside the home, I spend time with relatives, my dog Jasmine, and volunteer my time within the community. I am a member of the International Women’s Writing Guild, Savvy Authors, Coffee Time Romance, Paranormal Romance Guild, True Romance Studios, National Writers Association, the Hocking Hill’s Arts and Craftsmen Association, The Hocking County Historical Society and Museum, and the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center. I believe in family values and following your dreams. My original canvas paintings, can be found at: http://www.booksandpaintingsbyjoanne.com

Other books by Jo Anne:

“TWISTED LOVE,” a true-crime anthology
“MURDER MOST FOUL” a detective/mystery anthology
“LOVES’, MYTHS’ AND MONSTERS’,” a fantasy anthology
“THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY,” a biography true-crime
“WICKED INTENTIONS” a paranormal anthology

Other books soon available:

“FLAGITIOUS,” a detective/mystery anthology available in September

Email: joannemyers@frontier.com

http://amazon.com/author/joannemyers

Website: Books and Paintings by JoAnne