Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 48

Exciting News For Carl Richie (Hero in The Bargain Mail Order Bride): His Book Made the Smashwords Hotlist in the Happy Ever After Blog

Here’s the hotlist I’m referring to in this post: The Happy Ever After blog post featuring the Smaswords Hotlist: Weekly indie romance bestsellers and hot preorders is at this link.

This came as a surprise.  I didn’t expect The Bargain Mail Order Bride to be one of the featured preorders.  The other authors featured are exceptional storytellers, so it’s a humbling honor to see one of my books there.

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Click here to reserve your copy today!

The Chance At Love Series has four books total.  The Convenient Mail Order Bride is Book 1.   The Mistaken Mail Order Bride is Book 2.  The Accidental Mail Order Bride is Book 3.  The Bargain Mail Order Bride is Book 4 and completes the series.  (It’ll be hard to say good-bye to these characters.  I loved all of them, even meddling Ida Conner who couldn’t keep her mouth shut to save her life.)

Anyway…

I contacted Carl Richie to tell him the news since he is the hero of this book, and he agreed to stop by the blog to talk about it.

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Carl: so sure this whole thing is a joke that he isn’t even getting out of bed for the interview

Carl Richie: Is this a joke?

Ruth: A joke?  No.  I wouldn’t go through all the trouble of making this blog post when I should be writing to bring you in here if this was a joke.

Carl: In my experience, nothing has ever gone in my favor.  My father brought me to the Colorado Territory to live in the mountainside when I was a kid.  He then betrayed my mother by taking a mistress which ended up being the reason she killed herself.  Then my father forced me to marry a woman who made me miserable until she was murdered.  All I want to do is find the gold in that stream Abe and I keep fighting over so I can get out of this place.

Ruth: I didn’t bring you in here so you could depress us.  You need to be happy.  Originally in this series, you were supposed to be an unredeemable bad guy, and those tend to end up getting shot.  But then when I was writing the scene where you and Abe were duking it out in the barn, I realized you believed that your father had favored your half-brother, Abe.  It was at that moment, I knew you had a good side to you, and I knew I would be writing your book (The Bargain Mail Order Bride).  This is the book, by the way, that made the list in the Happy Ever After blog post.

Carl: So what you’re saying is that if I hadn’t been such a jerk in Book 1, then you wouldn’t be getting the fame of being in that blog post?

Ruth: Carl, this isn’t about me.  You are the reason people want to read the book.  They’re interested in seeing you get your happy ending.  This is all about you.

Carl: I don’t know.  It just seems like it’s too good to be true.

Ruth: Maybe this happened to show you that good things can happen.  And besides, you will be getting a happy ending.  This is a romance, not a horror novel.

Carl: I heard you plan to kill someone in this book.

Ruth: That person isn’t you.

Carl: Is it Abe?

Ruth: *gasps*  How could you even ask that, Carl?  Abe is the hero of the first book in this series.  I never kill off my heroes.

Carl: But if you got rid of him, I wouldn’t even have to get another wife in hopes I can have a child so I can hold onto that stream.

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Abe, Carl’s half-brother, stops by to pay a visit.

Abe Thomas: You think Carl is redeemable?  Really?  He would be happy if I died.

Carl: And you were hoping I killed my first wife so that I could face the hangman’s noose, thereby allowing you to get the stream.

Ruth: Neither one of you should want the other to die.  You two are half-brothers, and more than that, by the end of this series, you two will be friends.

*Carl and Abe start laughing because they don’t believe me.*

Ruth: I’m serious.  You two are going to finally make amends. It’s the one thing the people who’ve been reading this series want more than anything else.  It’s time for you to bury the hatchet.

Abe: The only hatched that should be buried is the one that goes right into Carl’s back.  Make his book a horror novel.  No one will mind.  His first wife can come back from the dead and get rid of him.  Or the new wife can do us all a favor and continue her life of crime and kill him for the gold once he finds it.

Carl: You see what I have to deal with, Ruth?

Abe: Don’t tell me you didn’t hope that my wife would go psycho at some point and kill me.

Carl: Ruth, I will never be friends with Abe.  I won’t even go anywhere near his cabin.

Ruth: Sure, you will.

Carl: The only way I’d step foot into his cabin is if I’m dragged there against my will.  And even then, I’d run out of there.

Abe: And you wonder why I picked this for Carl’s picture in the Booklaunch page for my book, The Convenient Mail Order Bride.  All he does is whine.

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The picture that Abe uses to portray Carl, and this bothers Carl to no end.

Carl: Not only are you posting that picture that looks NOTHING like me, but you’re also trying to promote your stupid book.

Abe: See what I mean?  Whine, whine, whine.

Ruth: Both of you are disappointing me.  I started this post in an attempt to celebrate the good news about the Happy Ever After blog post, and you two are going off into this horrible tangent.  How are people supposed to want to read The Bargain Mail Order Bride with all of the mudslinging that’s going on?  Let’s bring in the heroine of this book to see what she thinks of this exciting news.  Juliet, are you happy about this announcement?

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Juliet, the heroine of The Bargain Mail Order Bride

Juliet Gilbert: I was happy about it until I read through this post.  Are Carl and Abe going to act this childish in the book?  Because if so, I might have to reconsider picking Carl’s mail-order bride ad.

Carl: *whistles*  That’s what Juliet looks like?  I had no idea she was such a babe.  Okay, sign me up.  We’re doing this book!

Ruth: If I had any idea it was going to be that easy to make you stop arguing with Abe, I would have had her jump into the post sooner.

Carl: This book does contain sexual content, right?

Ruth: It does, but you’re not exactly the most sexually enthusiastic hero I’ve written.

Carl: Did you make me impotent?

Abe: *laughs* That would be hilarious!  Please say you did this.

Ruth: I didn’t do that to Carl, but he has his reasons for not wanting to be in bed with Juliet right away.

Carl: Right away?  Then I do get to enjoy lovemaking with her at some point, right?

Ruth: It’s a romance, Carl.  There’s a guaranteed happy ending.

 

***

I’ll end the interview on that note.  But I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who’s stuck with me through the years.  It’s because of you I’m still publishing books.  Believe me, that blog post wouldn’t have been possible without you.  :)

***

Photo Credits:

Carl in bed with computer: ID 35032645 © Wavebreak Media Ltd | Dreamstime.com

Abe Thomas: ID 43759300 © Artofphoto | Dreamstime.com

The picture of Carl that Abe picked out: ID 42649795 © Svetlana Dodukh | Dreamstime.com

Juliet having second thoughts about her role in the book: ID 11312418 © Candybox Images | Dreamstime.com

More Information on the Pioneer Series and the Marriage by Bargain Series

Before I go into the post, I want to let everyone know The Bargain Mail Order Bride is now on pre-order on Amazon.

This is due out January 7! 

(This is the final book in the Chance at Love Series. Book 1: The Convenient Mail Order Bride; Book 2: The Mistaken Mail Order Bride; Book 3: The Accidental Mail Order Bride)

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Amazon US

Amazon UK

(If there is an Amazon country you buy from that I didn’t list, please let me know, and I’ll add it.)

If you haven’t pre-ordered it on the other channels yet but want to, here are the links:

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

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That aside, let’s get started on the two series I’m working on…
Pioneer Series

This series contains the following books: Wagon Trail Bride (Book 1), The Marriage Agreement (Book 2), Groom For Hire (Book 3), and Forced Into Marriage (Book 4)

I’m in the last chapter of Groom For Hire

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Yay!  I don’t know if I’ll finish the book this week or next, but I plan to go through my initial edits during the full week my kids are all off for Christmas break.  After that, I’ll send it out to my awesome editing and beta reading team.

This turned into a cute romance where the battle of the sexes was at play.  It took some rewriting to keep things light and fun.  The main characters had a tendency to go off into tangents that led to dead ends, so I had to go back and redo key conversations to keep them on track.  I had to do the same with Sue and Jake in An Inconvenient Marriage.  Some characters need more of a nudge than others.  Looking back, however, the banter between the hero and heroine makes me chuckle and is the strength of this particular book.  (Not every book I write is meant to be serious.  This one isn’t necessarily a comedy, but it is definitely light and fun.)

This is not currently on pre-order but will be soon.  I’m estimating this will be out in mid-February, but it’s up to my publisher to set the real date.  I need to work around their publishing time table.

I’m going to write Book 4 in the Pioneer Series.  It’ll be called Forced Into Marriage.

I don’t have a cover for this yet

I was thinking over this story early this morning, and I pretty much mentally mapped out most of the storyline.  Maybe this will be the one book in this series that isn’t going to be difficult to write.  Basically, the plot this: a divorced man is forced to marry a pregnant woman because the group of men who’d been abusing her don’t want to deal with the child she’s going to have.  The man is divorced because the wife he loved committed adultery and left him.  The woman is a Native American who’s the sole survivor after her tribe was raided, and the men had been using her as a sex slave.  To get rid of her (because they don’t want to deal with the child she’s about to have), they shove her off on our hero who wants nothing more than to curl up and die somewhere.  Needless to say, these two very wounded characters will find a new purpose to live in each other.

I’ll try to work on a better description, but descriptions are the hardest part of the story for me to write.

The Marriage by Bargain Series

This series contains the following books: The Viscount’s Runaway Bride (Book 1), The Rake’s Vow (Book 2)…and the other two are what I’ll discuss below.

I just hit 20,000 words in The Rake’s Vow today

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Click here to reserve your copy today!

I’m very happy with the progress this book is taking. Loretta’s showing considerable growth.  Celia, however, still has a long way to go, and I suspect that by the end of this book Celia and Loretta are going to have a falling out.  I don’t often do that to characters who are friends, but in this case, I can’t see how it can go any other way, especially since this falling out will impact where the series leads.

Which I shall now discuss…

I received some feedback where several people have assumed that Corin would end up with Candace, and Celia would end up with the Captain.  My original plan was to actually do the opposite.  Pair up Corin with Celia and Candace with the Captain.  I then considered the fact that since the people I got feedback from were all seeing a connection I was missing.  I discussed this at length with someone because I wanted to see what everyone else was seeing that I wasn’t.  I really don’t want to pair up a couple who will turn out to be unpopular with you guys.  I want these books to be something you’ll want to read.

So this is where I see the rest of the series going…

Corin will end up with Candace.  Neither will want to be married.  Candace is a widow who was married to Lord Hedwrett.  Now, if you’ll remember Lord Hedwrett was a horrible husband.  She hated him because he controlled every aspect of her life.  Because of this, all she wants to do is be a widow with freedoms she never had before.  Corin has his own reasons not to want to marry (at least not yet), though I have to figure those out.  I’m not sure how I’m going to get the two together, but I will.

Celia will end up with the Captain.  I know this is a mean thing to do to one of my characters, esp. a captain, but I’m going to injure him so that he’s confined to London.  It’s the only way I can get him off the ship and married.  Anthony is going to arrange for Celia to marry him.  I don’t know the details of how, but the captain will be forced to accept it.  Neither the captain nor Celia will be happy with this match.  Celia will still be pining for Corin.  The captain will see her as a spoiled brat (which she is).  This is the book where she will be forced to mature.

 

***

I’m looking forward to where these series are heading.  It’s times like this I wish I could write more than three books at a time because I’d love to get to all of these today.

 

 

Updates on What I’m Doing

I am way behind in making a post.  Between some stuff going on in my personal life and having issues pop up around the house, I’ve had little time for anything that isn’t related to actually writing.  Blog posts are the extras I do.

Reminder To Two of the Winners Of The Turkey Trot Blog Hop Giveaway on This Blog

I sent out an email on Friday to the three winners of my giveaway, and so far only one person replied.  So this is a reminder post.  Please check your inbox or your spam folder.  The email I sent out wasn’t returned to me, so I know it made it through.

sherry1969 – You won a signed paperback copy of His Wicked Lady.

cissie150 – You won a signed paperback copy of The Accidental Mail Order Bride.

As I said earlier, please check your inbox or spam folder.  If I don’t hear back from you in a week, I will assume you’re no longer interested in the book you won and will put the books back on my shelf.

Winners of the Turkey Trot Blog Hop!

First off, the winner of the Amazon $50 Gift Card is Laurie whose comment on Zina Abbot’s Bridgeport Holiday Brides’ post was drawn at random.

But I do have three winners over here for the giveaway I was doing.  (I only put people in who left their email address, just as I said I would in the other post.)  I’ll be emailing the winners as soon as this post is up, so please check your inbox if you won!

Here they are:

1. sherry1969 – You will get a signed paperback copy of His Wicked Lady.

2. parisfanca – You will get a signed paperback copy of Wagon Trail Bride

3. cissie150 – You will get a signed paperback copy of The Accidental Mail Order Bride

Thank you to everyone who entered.  Rose Gordon is planning to run another giveaway blog hop, which I believe will be in January.  By then, I should have a new book out to offer.

Turkey Trot Blog Hop

In addition to other wonderful authors, I’m participating in a Turkey Trot Blog Hop this year.

First, I have to say what I’m thankful for.

What I’m thankful for is really pretty simple, so I’m going to leave it to one sentence: I’m thankful for everyone who has stuck with me through the years.

What I’m Working On For 2017

For this post, I thought I’d separate out the historical westerns from the Regencies.

Historical Westerns

1.  The Bargain Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love Series: Book 4) 

(Book 1: The Convenient Mail Order Bride; Book 2: The Mistaken Mail Order Bride; Book 3: The Accidental Mail Order Bride)

This is with my awesome editing team.

I was going to publish it at the end of December, but the Christmas through New Year time frame is such a busy one that I decided to keep the original release date of January 7.   I should have it up for pre-order on Amazon by mid-December.  It’s already on pre-order on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks.

2. I’m thinking of writing Caleb’s story, which would be Book 5 in the Chance At Love Series.

I haven’t decided for sure on this or not.  I have a good, solid idea for this book, but parts of it will have darker elements in it that will be similar to Brave Beginnings, which is in the Native American Series.  I hesitate to write dark material because I worry that I won’t do justice to the subject matter.

What I decided to do for the time being is to start the story since it’s been pressing on my mind to write, and I’ll see how things go.

3. Groom For Hire (Pioneer Series: Book 3)

(Book 1: Wagon Trail Bride; Book 2: The Marriage Agreement)

This will complete the Pioneer Series, and I am over halfway into the book.  The expected release date is February 12.

4. His Auctioned Bride (Misled Mail Order Brides Series: Book 1)

(Other books in this series are currently not titled.)

This will come out later in 2017.  I have a soft release date set for the summer.  This is Sep’s story.  Sep, as you’ll recall, was Joel Larson’s brother-in-law in Shotgun Groom.  I don’t think I ever gave this character a last name.  April’s last name was Edwards, but that was her first husband’s last name.  I’ll go back over the book to make sure before I attach a last name to Sep.

***

I expect another historical western or two in 2017, but right now it’s too soon to tell.  All I know is that we’ll be seeing Amanda and Richard Larson’s twin sons, Mark and Anthony in the Misled Mail Order Bride Series.

Regencies

1. The Rake’s Vow (Marriage by Bargain Series: Book 2)

(Book 1: The Viscount’s Runaway Bride; Book 3: To Snare An Earl; Book 4: The Viscount’s Convenient Wife)

This will be the first Regency I’ll publish in 2017, and I’m estimating to have it out in May.

I have just started this one.  I’m nearing the end of Chapter 2.  Anyway, last night as I was working in it, it occurred to me that I needed to make a minor adjustment to the description (which I already did).  The hero and heroine will agree ahead of time to keep their marriage celibate.  It wasn’t what I originally intended.  I had thought to have the heroine be unaware of the hero’s vow to remain celibate for the rest of this life after his years of being a rake.  But then I realized the setup won’t work.

2. The Reclusive Earl (Marriage by Fate Series: Book 1)

The other books in this series haven’t been titled yet.

I plan to modify the book cover in a couple of weeks.  But for the time being, this works.  This is going to be Miss Opal Beaufort’s story.  Opal originally appeared in The Earl’s Wallflower Bride, and she’s Lord Steinbeck’s sister.  If you’ll recall, she was emotionally abused by her mother and put on the pretense of being crazy so her mother would stop being mean to her.  She’ll end up with a gentleman who needs someone with her background to make him feel like a whole person.

3. To Snare An Earl (Marriage by Bargain Series: Book 3)

This is Celia’s book.  I know a lot of you hated Celia from the way she acted in The Viscount’s Runaway Bride, but that is exactly why the hero won’t want to be with her.  So I need her to be petty, annoying, and selfish in the beginning of this book.  Otherwise, there would be no conflict and no room for growth.

I currently plan to set her up with the gentleman who hates her most, and that is Lord Durrant (aka Corin who is her brother’s good friend).  I know some of you just cringed because he is such a nice guy, but like I said, there would be no conflict if he actually wanted to be with her.

4. The Viscount’s Convenient Wife (Marriage by Bargain Series: Book 4)

This will be Candace’s story.  Candace first made her appearance in Her Counterfeit Husband.  She doesn’t want to be married.  The hero, the captain I introduced in The Viscount’s Runaway Bride, also doesn’t want to get married.  But I’ll have to find a set of circumstances that pairs these two up.

***

I do have other Regencies planned for 2017, but it’s too soon to tell who will be in those books and what the titles of those will be.  What I can say is that they will be in the Marriage by Fate Series.

Updates

Link I found about Popular Romance Tropes

So I’ve been brainstorming all kinds of posts I could use about popular romance tropes over the last few months, but my mind keeps coming up blank.  I’ve started a couple of posts and just couldn’t figure out where to go without the first two or three sentences.  I found this blog post Mindy Klasky wrote which sums up a variety of tropes (some I didn’t even think about).  I’m going to link to her post so you can read it.  I’m sorry, guys, but my head just wasn’t in this particular topic.  It’s an excellent post, and I can tell she took a lot of time and thought into writing it.

I finished The Bargain Mail Order Bride!

Book 4 in the Chance At Love Series

(Book 1: The Convenient Mail Order Bride, Book 2: The Mistaken Mail Order Bride, Book 3: The Accidental Mail Order Bride)

Click here to reserve your copy today!

And I’m starting the initial edits today.   This one turned out to be 10,000 words longer than what I usually write, but since this is the last book in the Chance At Love Series, I had to tie up the loose ends in the series.  I’m extremely happy with this series, and I think it’s one of my best.  Previous characters did make appearances in this one, so you’ll see familiar faces.

I’m hoping to have this out December 3o or 31.  I’d like to get this out a week earlier than expected.

I’ll Be Getting Back to Groom For Hire

Book 3 in the Pioneer Series

(Book 1: Wagon Trail Bride, Book 2: The Marriage Agreement)

I’m well into halfway in this book, but I had to stop writing in it to finish The Bargain Mail Order Bride.

This is not on pre-order yet.

I’ll Be Getting Back to The Rake’s Vow, Too

Book 2 in the Marriage By Bargain Series

(Book 1: The Viscount’s Runaway Bride, Book 3: To Snare An Earl, Book 4: The Duke’s Convenient Wife)

Click here to reserve your copy today!

I only made it to chapter 2 before I had to focus on The Bargain Mail Order Bride.  :)

So that leaves us with what series I’m starting next…

It will be another historical western romance series, and it will focus on Sep (Joel Larson’s young brother-in-law in Shotgun Groom.

His Auctioned Bride (The Misled Mail Order Brides: Book 1)

Books 2-4 are currently untitled.

I don’t know what the plot of this will be until I write it, but I can tell you the set-up for it.

Four women arrive in Omaha, Nebraska. All are mail-order brides. The problem? They answered the same ad to a shady character who plans to auction them all off.

His Auctioned Bride starts off this series when Sep becomes aware of this and bids on the heroine.  From there, I’ll have to write the book and see what happens.

The Viscount’s Runaway Bride is Now Available!

It’s now here!

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Bargain Series.

I’m going to start this post with a description of the book and where you can get it.  Then, I am going to give an overall view of the series, who features in this book, and I make a special offer that I rarely do.  So be sure to read to the end of this post.

Description:

What Lord Worsley really wants is a wife who can excite him, but what he ended up with was an engagement borne of necessity to his sister’s friend. So when Miss Damara Onslow intercepts his carriage on his way to his country estate, he’s immediately drawn to both her bold spirit and her beauty. Even more exciting is the offer she makes: money in exchange for marriage.

More than happy to get out of the marriage he was dreading, he agrees, and soon they are husband and wife. From the moment they exchange vows, it appears as if he’s found the perfect lady, and his marriage is the love match he’s always wanted. But not everyone is happy about it. To make matters worse, he never thought to ask Damara why she was so eager to get married, and the truth might be the undoing of them both.

Where you can find this book:

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

A quick view of the series:

I am currently working on Book 2, which is The Rake’s Vow.  Book 2 is going to be Loretta’s story.  Book 3, which is To Snare An Earl, is going to be Celia’s story.  (Yes, I do know that I have a lot of work to do on Loretta and Celia, especially Celia.)  Book 4, which is not titled yet, will be Candace’s story.  I’ll be working on each book back to back.  So as soon as I finish Book 2, I’ll go into Book 3, etc.  I won’t leave you hanging for a long time on what happens next.  This series of books are surprisingly woven together, so what happens in one book impacts the next.  Most series I write aren’t quite so “tightly” related to each other.  At the moment, I’m almost in Chapter 3 in The Rake’s Vow.

Who is in this book that you’ll recognize from past Regency books?

That all being said, this book follows the events that took place in The Earl’s Wallflower Bride.  You’ll be seeing Warren and Iris again.  You’ll also be seeing the two ladies Iris hated (Celia and Loretta).  You’ll also be seeing an old face from the Regency book I wrote called Her Counterfeit Husband.  Candace (who was the heroine’s friend) will finally get her happy ending.

Coupon for a Free Download of Her Counterfeit Husband.  (Offer good until November 28, 2016)

I don’t often make an offer of a free download at Smashwords, but in this case, I am offering a free copy of Her Counterfeit Husband.  So if you haven’t read it yet, you can meet Candace (who is a secondary character).  That way you can get the background into Candace’s story.   It’s only available on Smashwords though.

Here’s the link to the book’s page.   And here’s the coupon you can use to download it for free: HA84F.

New Release On Oct 29 and Wattpad

On October 29, The Viscount’s Runaway Bride will be out

(This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Bargain Series)

Click here to reserve your copy!

For those of you who read The Earl’s Wallflower Bride, you’ll recall that Warren Beaufort (aka. Lord Steinbeck) had a friend Anthony Worsley (aka Viscount Worsley), and this friend had a wicked sister (Celia) who gave Lady Iris a hard time.  Both Anthony and Celia are featured in The Viscount’s Runaway Bride.  I do bring back Warren and Iris into this book, so you’ll be seeing some familiar faces again.