Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 46

I’m Taking Over The Wild Heart Series

I’m not sure how many of you remember The Stagecoach Bride (Wild Hearts Series: Book 1).  Here’s the cover to help jog your memory:

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This book came out years ago.  It was a co-written book between me and Stephannie Beman.  (Stephannie Beman is one of my dearest friends and a fellow author.  We met way back in 2008–I think.)  She is one of the easiest and nicest people to work with.

Anyway, I had handed over the rights to her to complete this series.  Recently, she has decided she would rather focus on fantasy and other genres.  This series is a historical western romance series, and it doesn’t fit with where her passion for writing is leading her.  (Passion is very important.)  Since my heart is in romance (esp. historicals), I am going to take the series and work on it.

What this means for The Stagecoach Bride:

She has given me permission to rewrite this book.  The basic plot will stay the same.  The heroine will be on her way to marry the villain when the hero and his family intervenes.  From there, I really can’t say what will happen.  I don’t plot things out ahead of time.  Until I get into the story, I don’t know how things will play out.  What I do want to happen is for the family to get the boy who’s with the villain (as currently happened in the original story).  I also plan for the heroine’s past to catch up with her and throw a wrench into the hero and heroine’s romance.  But other than those two elements, I make no promises.  So prepare for this book to be significantly changed.

What this means for Stephannie’s role:

Stephannie will still have a part in the series.  When I finish up the first draft of each book, she will go over it and boost its historical flavor (she really does have a better handle of the time period than I do), and she’ll flesh out anything else I missed.   So she will have a role in the series.

When will this series be relaunched?

This is probably the hardest question to answer to because I want to have both The Stagecoach Bride (Book 1) and The Rancher’s Wife (Book 2) ready at the same time.

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Most of you have already read The Stagecoach Bride.  You will not have to pay for The Stagecoach Bride again.  Stephannie is in the process of removing that book from sale so I can rewrite the book.  Then when The Rancher’s Wife is ready, I will publish The Stagecoach Bride (for free) with The Rancher’s Wife (which I plan to make $2.99 USD).  From there, I’ll work on Book 3 (not titled yet), and I’ll see if there should be a Book 4 or not.

As for when…  I have other series I’m working on right now.  The Marriage by Bargain Series will take until this summer or fall to finish.  I should finish the Pioneer Series by late summer or early fall.  I already have Book 1 (Sep’s story) for the Misled Mail Order Brides Series on pre-order, so that will take priority.   I’ll still be working on the Marriage by Fate Series.  I have started rewriting The Stagecoach Bride, but I’ll be taking it slow since my focus has to be on the other books already in pre-order.

Given the fact that I’m going to combine The Stagecoach Bride with the release of The Rancher’s Wife, next summer (2018) is the very soonest these two books will be ready.  I might release The Stagecoach Bride a month earlier just to get people ready for The Rancher’s Wife, but we’ll see.  If I could write fast enough to have the entire series out at once, I would.  But alas, I can’t.  Even for as fast as I go, I have my limitations.

The Rake’s Vow (Marriage by Bargain: Book 2) is Now Available!

Here are the books in the Marriage by Bargain Series:

Book 1: The Viscount’s Runaway Bride (Anthony and Damara’s story)
Book 2: The Rake’s Vow (Loretta and Tad’s story)
Book 3: Taming The Viscountess (Celia and Sebastian’s story)
Book 4: If It Takes A Scandal (Corin and Candace’s story)

Please Note: Loretta’s brother (Brad) will get his book in the Marriage by Fate Series.  I will have The Reclusive Earl (Book 1) out in May.  Brad’s book will be #2.  So I hope to have his book out later this year.  *fingers crossed*

That aside, here is where you can find The Rake’s Vow.

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Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

Here’s the description:

Thaddeus (Tad) Darkin, the Duke of Lambeth, used to be a rake. In fact, before Lord Edon was scandalizing the Ton, Tad was the one everyone was talking about. Many gentlemen secretly wished they had his charm with the ladies. All reputable ladies were warned to stay as far from him as possible, which only made him all the more attractive. Then, after a tragic event, he took a vow of celibacy, promising he would never be intimate with another lady again. Over the years, this caused him to be the most sought-after single gentleman in all of London. And even though he doesn’t want to marry, his steward left him in financial ruin, so whether he likes it or not, he must take a wife.

After being rejected by the gentleman she was hoping to marry, Miss Loretta Bachman is on a mission to save her reputation. She needs to marry someone who will impress the prestigious ladies in her social circle. So when she catches the leader of the group talking about the very handsome and hard-to-get Duke of Lambeth, she’s determined to get him to marry her. All she needs is a little bargaining power, and fortunately for her, she happens to have the money he needs to save his estate.

When she learns of his vow to remain celibate, she agrees to keep away from his bed. After all, her only reason for marrying him is to secure her social standing in London, not to have a love match. All she asks is that he pretends to be deeply in love with her when they’re in public. That way she will succeed in impressing the Ton. But before long, the lines between what is pretend and what is real starts to blur, and it’s hard to decide how far to push the limits of their agreement.

Women Are Different, So Heroines Should Be, Too

This post is a semi-rant.  From time to time, it irks me that people think there is a one-size-fits-all heroine.  (Actually, there is no one-size-fits-all hero or villain or secondary character or kid, either, but I’m going to speak specifically about heroines.)

How Women Are Different

Just like fingerprints, no two women are exactly alike.

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ID 67013990 © Andrey Arkusha | Dreamstime.com

This entire post is based off a comment I recently received after someone read one of my books with a heroine who wasn’t in major pain after her first time of having sex.  I don’t know why we have to assume every single woman on this planet will have a horrific first time.  I didn’t.  In fact, my first time didn’t hurt at all.  But then, my husband and I took our time and I was able to get ready for him.  I had no tearing, no bleeding, not even a sting of pain.  Now, I have a friend who bled and was in pain for the first three times.  Upon further questioning, I learned her husband didn’t take the time to get her ready for him.  She and I are on polar opposites of the spectrum here in regards for a woman losing her virginity.  There are definitely women that fall in-between our experiences.

Another example of how different women can be is in regards to the menstrual cycle.  I am very regular, and I get cramps.  Before I had kids my cramps would be at an 8 in pain on a 1-10 scale.  After I had kids, the pain (thankfully) went to a 3.   The same friend I mentioned above had no cramps at all.  Ever.  But then, she was not regular, so she didn’t know when she’d get her period and had times where she bled without a pad on, which proved to be embarrassing.  Other women will fall somewhere between the spectrum.   My friend and I are opposites on just about everything.  And yet, we share a lot of common interests, which is why we get along as well as we do.

Another example is childbirth.  My mom labored for 25 hours with me, and she let me know that every time I gave her a hard time when I was a kid.  (That woman had the patience of a saint.  I might have her body type and look like her, but I got my dad’s personality.  The older I get, the more patient I am, but it has been a process.)    Anyway, my mom said her labor pains were so bad that she took an epidural.  (The woman had minor cramps before I was born.)  I know women who went through natural childbirth and said, “It wasn’t that bad.” Now, I had scheduled c-sections with all of mine, so I’ve never been in labor.  I can’t offer a comparison there.  What I can say is that since having kids, my body was never same again.  My skin is loose.  It never did spring right back, and I have seen women who (without the need of a tummy tuck) looking like a model after having kids.  (Which is sad when I give into the vain side of my personality, but as they say, “healthy mom, healthy baby is the most important thing”–and they’re right.)  But, my point is that even in giving birth, women go through different experiences.

And if we go a step further in comparison between women, not all women have the same body types.  Some are thin.  Some are not.  Some have small breasts.  Some have large.  Some are tall.  Some are short.  Some have thick, beautiful hair.  Some have thinner hair that is hard to style because the hair has a mind of its own.

Go further than that, and you also see that women have different personality types.  Some are more nurturing and would rather tend to the home life (think Mary Larson from Eye of the Beholder).  I am nothing like Mary (except for her body type).  I’m not that great of a cook, and don’t even ask me to make clothes because I don’t have the gift.  I’m not really sure which heroine I best resemble out of the books I’ve written.  There’s probably a piece of me in all of them in varying degrees, either through a part of the personality or the body type or the monthly cycle or in my first time, etc.  Authors (and sometimes the people they know) do end up slipping in somewhere into the characters they write about, but no one character is 100% author.

But the point is, women are not all the same in their personalities.  Some are outgoing.  Some are shy.  Some have a great sense of humor.  Some are more serious.  Some are optimistic.  Some are pessimistic.  Some tend to be leaders.  Some tend to be followers.  Etc.  And there will be varying degrees of these personality traits in the spectrum.  Not everyone is a total A personality type or a total B personality type.  Most people fall somewhere in-between.

So what is the point to all of this?

The same heroine for every story will get boring over time, even if you vary the plot.

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ID 46169091 © Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com

I’m assuming most of the people reading this are writers, so I’m gearing this toward writers.  Heroines should not all be the same.  Unless your particular niche is geared directly for people who only want to read “one type of heroine”, I suggest you vary your heroines.  They should look different.  They should have different body types.  They should have different personalities.  They should have different experiences.  They should have different interests.  I don’t think each heroine should be a cookie-cutter character.

Will this mean you might end up with some people who like one heroine more than another?  Of course, it will.  Mary Larson is one of my most popular heroines, but there were people wished she had stood up for herself more.  (Which she did in To Have and To Hold.  The amnesia was the catalyst needed to get there, and she needed to do that with her mother.)   A lot of people do not like Rose Larson (heroine in Catching Kent) because she’s “obnoxious, won’t leave Kent alone, and is selfish”.  There are people who don’t like Harriett Larson (heroine in His Convenient Wife) because she’s “too pessimistic, won’t let anyone in, and is mean”.  I have noticed that people how hate Rose love Harriett.  And people who love Harriett hate Rose.  So really, this is about the people reading the books and the type of heroine they are naturally attracted to.

When you write a book, you’re probably writing for a wide audience.  You will never please everyone.  You can’t write the one heroine who will please every single person who picks up your book.   It’s impossible.  My advice (for what it’s worth) is to write the heroine that is right for your particular story.  You might have a plot that requires a strong female lead.  You might have a plot that requires the hero to take more of a lead (for his own personal growth) that means the heroine has to rely more on him to solve the problem.  You might need a heroine who needs a sense of humor about things (esp. if the book is going to have humor in it).  The heroine, the other characters, and the plot needs to complement each other.  Otherwise, you’re going to be trying to force a square peg into a round hole, and if you do that, the story will feel forced.

Right now you might be wondering, “What the heck does all of this have to do with the ranting you did above?” When writing your heroine, you might have opportunities to cover a wide variety of issues that impact women.  We do have menstrual cycles to deal with.  Some can have children and some can’t.  (Speaking of which, not all women have morning sickness, which I know is something that is expected.  Some women even end up on bedrest while others–like me–was mowing lawns and carrying heavy boxes during pregnancy without any problems.)  Just take into consideration the complexity of women when you’re writing heroines.  We do not all look the same.  We don’t all think the same.  We don’t all have the same experiences.  Granted, not all books will need you to get that “personal” with your heroine, but in romance, personal issues often come up and can be used to create a more complete character.

So the bottom line is this: dare to make your heroines different.

Giveaway Winners Announcement

I used random.org to come up with the winners for the paperback giveaway, and here they are:

Patricia Schuette

Ann Whisenhunt

Jeanie Vicente

I’ll be sending you three an email today.

The Marriage by Bargain Series is Back to Four Books (I’m moving Brad’s book to the Marriage by Fate Series)

Just a quick reminder, I have a paperback giveaway going on right now.  I’ll announce winners on the 12th, which is Sunday.  You can go here to enter it.

But now on to the post…

For some reason, early in the morning between 5-6am (right before I’m due to wake up), I get my best moments of clarity.  This morning an idea for Brad’s story finally came to me.  After writing The Rake’s Vow, I wanted to do a story on her brother because I really like him.  (His story was going to be Book 5 in this series.)  This morning, I realized that Brad would be best paired up with Ava Baynes.

So the complete set of books in the Marriage by Bargain Series will be this:

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I’m halfway through Taming The Viscountess right now, and I have just started If It Takes A Scandal.  I hope to have both out in the June-September timeframe.

So what does this have to do with Ava or Brad?

I’m also working on the Marriage by Fate Series.

Ava is Opal’s friend, and Opal is Lord Steinbeck’s sister.  Lord Steinbeck (aka. Warren) was the hero in The Earl’s Wallflower Bride.  If you read that book, you’ll remember that Warren’s sister was at the country estate and pretended she was crazy because her mother was cruel to her.

Opal has the first book in the Marriage by Fate Series, which is The Reclusive Earl.

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Other books are coming in this series soon.

I haven’t figured out the other titles of books in this series yet, but I know Brad and Ava will be the couple in book 2.  (Miss Tumilson, who I introduce in The Reclusive Earl, is a spinster who will end up getting married, and I think I have the right hero in mind for her, but I need to think on it a while before I’m sure.  I’m not sure if there will be a book 4 or not.)

I introduce Ava in this book, and she has a bubbly and fun personality.  I think she would be the best match for Brad.  Brad has a minor OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and is particular about certain things.  That is why he is best paired up with her.  She’s opposite him enough to help balance him out.  The characters that are different usually end up being the best balance.  I was originally going to pair Brad up with one of the members from Lady Eloise’s elite group, but none of them matched up with him.  This morning, I had an “ah-ha” moment.  I realized Ava would be perfect for him.  An uptight hero needs a heroine who isn’t going to feed into that tendency.

I already know how I’m going to pair Brad and Ava up, and it’s going to involve some mischief from Brad and Loretta’s brother (Stephen).  I go into what a troublemaker Stephen is in The Rake’s Vow and Taming The Viscount.  I honestly don’t know if I can ever do a book for Stephen.  He doesn’t seem like the kind of character who can change, but I will get a better view of him when I write Brad’s book.  So we shall see.

 

Signed Paperback Giveaway (Three People Will Win)

I just found out that The Rake’s Vow has made it on the Smashwords Hotlist: Weekly indie romance bestsellers and hot preorders blog post!

The Rake’s Vow is due out March 18!

Quick Description: Miss Loretta Bachman convinces a reformed rake, who has vowed to never sleep with another lady, to marry her and pretend he’s deeply in love with her so she can impress the Ton.

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Click here to reserve your copy today!

For quick reference, here are the books in the Marriage by Bargain Series.

The Viscount’s Runaway Bride (Book 1) – Anthony and Damara ‘s romance
The Rake’s Vow (Book 2) – Loretta and Tad’s romance
Taming The Viscountess (Book 3) – Celia and Sebastian’s romance
If It Takes A Scandal (Book 4) – Corin and Candace’s romance
Book 5 –   I don’t have a title for this at the moment.  This will be Brad’s romance (Loretta is Brad’s sister and makes some key appearances in The Rake’s Vow)

To celebrate the fact that The Rake’s Vow is on the Smashwords Hotlist at the Happy Ever After blog, I am running a giveaway!

Who will win:

There will be three winners.  I’ll draw names at random to determine the winners.

This is open to international winners.  (I live in the United States.)

What you win:

Each winner will win the paperbacks in a series that is already complete.  (Series that are not completed are Marriage by Bargain Series, Marriage by Fate Series, and Pioneer Series.)  If you do not want an entire series but have 3-4 books that are your top favorites that you’d like me to send your way, I can do that instead.

Here is a list of my series/books for easy reference.

Each book will be signed.

When I’ll announce the winners:

March 12.

How to enter:

Fill out the form below.  I will never share your email, and I will not use this email to sign you up for my email list.  I value the privacy of everyone’s email.  When this giveaway is done, I will delete all the email addresses.

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The Reclusive Earl is set for May 7

The good news is that The Rake’s Vow is done and uploaded, so that will go out March 18.

However, I need to push back the release date for The Reclusive Earl.  The new date will be May 7.

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I was planning to finish it this week and get it to my editing team, but I have a kid who threw up tonight, and I made the mistake of eating some of his pretzels earlier today.  (Something I greatly regret at the moment because it probably means I’ll be throwing up in a couple of days.)  I have another kid who also feels sick.  I have four kids total, and these things usually run the course through the whole house.  Needless to say I’m not going to get much of anything done for a couple of weeks.

Then in mid-March, I might have jury duty.  I need to make sure the schedule is clear for that.  I’ve never been on a jury before.  I wasn’t called in last time I got the letter, but you never know if this will be the time you are.

All of this together puts me in a very tight position.  The good news is I’m about two chapters and an epilogue away from finishing the book.  I want to make sure I give my editing team enough time to go over the book, so I really need to push back when I plan to have the first draft done.

I’m sorry for doing this, but it was either push the date back or rush the ending.  The last thing I want to do is rush the ending because that won’t be fair to you guys.  I want to make the book the best story it can be.

The Rake’s Vow is Coming out March 18 (Now Available on Pre-order)

I’m happy to announce that this is coming out earlier than I expected!

Here are the books in the Marriage by Bargain Series:

The Viscount’s Runaway Bride (Book 1) – Damara and Anthony’s romance
The Rake’s Vow (Book 2) – Loretta and Tad’s romance
Taming The Viscountess (Book 3) – Celia and Sebastian’s romance
If It Takes A Scandal (Book 4) – Candace and Corin’s romance
Loretta’s brother will be the hero of Book 5 (I have no title yet, and I haven’t picked out the heroine)

Will there be more?  I don’t know yet.  I’ll find out as I continue writing these books.  (I’m not a plotter like some authors.)

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This is where you can find it:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

(If there is an Amazon country I didn’t add on the list, let me know, and I’ll do so.)

This is Loretta’s book.  I should mention here that since it is only Book 2, it serves as a bridge from Book 1 to Book 5 (or whatever the last book will be).  I did leave a couple of things in the air.  These are all very minor things that don’t impact the main storyline.  The main storyline is Loretta and Tad’s romance.  I focus on that during the course of the book.

But Lady Eloise’s group (Ladies of Grace) is going to be an ongoing theme through this series.  Usually, my ongoing theme has been the gentlemen at White’s and the book that keeps going from one to another.  This time around, I wanted to do something different.  Instead of an elite gentlemen’s club, I chose to deal with an elite ladies’ group.  (Why should the gentlemen be the only ones with the drama?)

His Auctioned Bride Has Been Changed To The Bride Price

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on the title change to a book I have scheduled to write this year.  Remember Sep from Shotgun Groom?  He was Joel Larson’s brother-in-law.  Last year, I ran a question in the private Facebook group I have with my author friend Janet Syas Nitsick.  In the question, I asked, “Would you rather read about Sep,  Adam/Jacob Larson, or Vivian and Hugh?”

If you want to be a part of the Facebook group, here’s the link.  Just ask to join, and Janet or I will let you in.  Whenever I make most of my decisions about what to right, I will present the question to this group.  It’s a great group of people over there.  Very nice and supportive.

So anyway, Sep won, and that is why I’m doing his book.  Right now, I have the release month set for November.  (I want to finish up the Pioneer Series with Forced Into Marriage, so I had to shift this book from August to November.)

Okay, so I’m in the process of working on the description for Sep’s story.  In the process of thinking up the storyline and who the heroine is going to be, I had to modify the title of the book.  In modifying the title, I also changed the cover.  I also changed the cover because I used this couple on the Forced Into Marriage cover.

Some of you might have already pre-ordered this on iBooks, so I want to assure you that this is the same story.

Here’s the old cover and title:

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Here’s the new cover and title:

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I won’t say more about this story right now.  It’s so far out from being released.  But I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that the title and cover has been changed so you don’t wonder what happened to Sep’s story.  It is still going to be done.

Groom For Hire is Now Available!

The books in the Pioneer Series are as follows:

Wagon Trail Bride (Book 1)
The Marriage Agreement (Book 2)
Groom For Hire (Book 3)
Forced Into Marriage (Book 4)  – I’m not sure if there will be more than 4 books.  I’ll have to see how Book 4 plays out.

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Here’s the description:

When Joe Otto accepted the job to lead a wagon train to California, the last thing he expected was to be asked to marry Mr. Heller’s daughter. Still pining over the one that got away, he’s not sure he has it in him to open his heart to another woman. Mr. Heller assures him the arrangement will only be temporary. Once Joe delivers her to her aunt and uncle in California, he can annul the marriage. Joe can use the money, and besides, it’s only a temporary arrangement. She won’t be his wife for the rest of his life. Reassured by this logic, he agrees to the marriage contract.

Michelle Heller knows the only way she’s going on the wagon train is if she has a husband, so she readily accepts the deal her father makes with Joe. What she doesn’t expect, however, is that her new husband is the most attractive young man she’s ever seen. Over and over, she has to remind herself their marriage isn’t real. It’s only borne of necessity. But as the days pass on the trail, it’s harder to remember their marriage is only on paper, and it seems the two are at odds as to what they want this marriage to be.

After Joe watched the woman of his dreams start a life with someone else, he vowed he would never open himself up to being hurt again. Can Michelle break through his wall, or will she have to annul the marriage once she reaches California?

If interested, this is where you can find it:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Google Play

Smashwords

(It is on iBooks, but I don’t know the direct link)

If you are in an Amazon country I did not list, let me know, and I’ll add it to future posts when I have a new release out.