Brenda Whiteside's Blog, page 21
July 18, 2022
Riding in a Covered Wagon – Not all it’s cracked up to be By Donna Schlachter
MUSE MONDAY
Please enjoy Donna Schlachter's guest post on Muse Monday for Discover... I love western movies and stories! And please read to the end for your chance at a free book. How cool is that?
Who doesn’t love an old western movie? The long rides into the sunset. Horses that do what you ask. People who help you out of a tough spot. The bad guy always gets what’s coming to him. And, of course, travel in a covered wagon is comfortable, convenient, and carefree.
What’s that? Wrong!?
But that’s the way movies show them, isn’t it? Rolling along across the flat prairie. Children skipping alongside. Butter churned by the end of the day. Complete dinners prepared over a campfire. Coffee always available.
As any of the hundreds of thousands of westward emigrants could attest—and often did, in their journals, letters home, and books—covered wagons and their journeys weren’t as easy a way to journey as we think.
In research my recent book, Calli, I discovered the following facts which I found very interesting:n Although most movies show Conestoga wagons, they were rarely used in the west because they were too heavy to pull up and down mountains. Instead, the small and lighter wagon, often a simple farm or cargo wagon, was used.
n Oxen were used even more often than horses. Oxen are stronger, can pull for more hours a day, and are more durable than horses.
n Clambering into a covered wagon involves getting your body up at least five feet above the ground. Step stools were rare, so unless somebody stood on the bed and hauled you up, your path usually involved the wheel hub, the top rim of the wheel, then gripping the side of the wagon and hoisting your leg over. All in a skirt and several layers of petticoats that reached to your ankles, if you’re a woman.
About Calli:
Calli works as a nurse with the US Army at Fort Bridger, Wyoming in 1880. When a wagon train full of discouraged emigrants passes through on its way east, a pregnant widow delivers her baby then dies. Bradley Wilson, leading this train, has few options. He asks Calli to travel with them until they find a relative to take the child in St. Joe, Missouri. Calli, drawn to both this dark and quiet man and the child, resists. But when she disappears, he wonders if she’s run away or been kidnapped. Can these two put their pasts behind them and move into a new future together? Or will Calli insist on having things her own way?
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Calli-Prairie-Roses-Collection-Book-ebook/dp/B09SD6XPRQ
Excerpt:
April 30th, 1870
Twenty miles west of Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory
Bradley Wilson shieldedhis eyes from the burning sun and surveyed the trail ahead, thankful to be out of the wagon and stretching his legs. Eastward. He’d traveled this same trail two years before, heading in the opposite direction. What took him back now? Failure? No, more like disappointment. A cloud of dust as big as Kansas, kicked up by the prairie schooners ahead of him, blotted out whatever lay in that direction. Sweat dribbled down the center of his back. He longed to scratch but knew the action wouldn’t satisfy. Instead, he yanked a wrinkled ball of calico from his shirt pocket and swiped at his face. How a body could sweat so much in a land so empty of water was beyond him.
He wished he could guzzle the rest of his day’s ration. Or pour it over his head to cool his fevered brain. But neither would satisfy more than a second and a half. Wasting the precious commodity would haunt him.
Maybe he wastoo good for his own good.
Isn’t that what those who abandoned the wagon train had said? Right before they broke off on their own, forging ahead instead of waiting for Joe Collins to die? Two weeks it took. Fourteen days of listening to the man keen and holler night and day. And no amount of laudanum eased the pain of his broken back. Of his insides in knots, sewn back into place as best his wife could do.
Who knew a horse could drag a man for more’n three miles, and that person still survive? Even if for only a fortnight.
And Miz Collins, ready to drop her first young’un any minute.
Bradley shook his head and double-stepped ahead of his oxen. No, siree. Joe Collins was too good for this world. Along with his widow, Elspeth.
His oxen followed the team ahead as if he sat in the wagon and held the leads. He patted the muzzle of the one nearest him, Beau. The off-side lead, Bob, snorted.
“I know. You’re jealous. I’ll get you soon.”
The pair, purchased in St. Joseph two years prior, had carried him westward. Away from memories of the war. Hoping to find a better life. Away from his sweet Millicent. And their babe. Both now buried on a hill under a tree in east of the Missouri River. He should never have left them behind. Should have kept them safe. Away from the influenza.
But running wasn’t the answer. As he now understood. And so, he returned east, passing wagon trains of the hopeful and the excited and the naïve going the opposite direction every day. Them heading west, toward the new life he’d sought but never found.
~~~
Calliope Jeffers—or Calli, as she preferred—leaned over her patient. “You’re going to be fine.”
The woman, a private’s wife, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, panted. “Don’t feel like it. Hurts a lot.”
Calli propped the woman’s legs up so her feet lay flat on the tick mattress. “It will be over soon.”
The door creaked open, and an anxious face appeared in the space. The husband. “Is it done yet?”
Calli shook her head. “No, it’s hardly started. Go outside and wait.” She sat on a stool at the end of the bed and tugged a sheet over her patient’s legs. Even in this, she’d afford her whatever privacy she could. “Now, when you feel the next contraction, breathe through it like I showed you. Quick breaths. Understood?”
“Until the pain gets so bad, and my brain stops working.”
The mother-to-be did well until, as predicted, she stopped thinking. Her toes curled, and she bore down.
Time to distract her.
Calli’s eyeglasses steamed up from her own effort and the heat that had built during the day. Whoever thought that married couples should live on the second floor of a barn-style barracks, with paper-thin walls and a one-layer roof should be taken out and shot. She cleaned her glasses in her apron, then donned them again. “That was good. Next time, when you want to push, scream instead. Sing. Holler. Whatever works.”
Even two short years of experience taught Calli it was difficult to bear down and scream at the same time.
Two years. Is that all it was since she moved here to Fort Bridger and taken on her dream job? After graduating from nursing college, most of her class sought positions in city hospitals, hoping to find a handsome doctor to marry.
Not her. At twenty-one, she already had the man she wanted. And his assignment to Fort Bridger afforded her the opportunity to work with one of the best doctors in the territory. Such plans she had. Work. Learn. Have babies.
But then it all ended. Snatched away by a supposed accident.
Giveaway: I will gift one lucky randomly-drawn winner with an ebook copy of Calli. Leave your answer to the following question AND include your email address cleverly disguised in this format: donna AT livebytheword DOT com That way the spammers can’t find you, but we can!
Question: What’s the strangest vehicle or method of conveyance you’ve ridden/driven in? For me, the moto-taxis in Lima Peru.
About Donna:A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 50 times in books; is a member of several writers groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both.
www.DonnaSchlachter.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive 2 free ebooks simply for signing up for our free newsletter!
Check out previous blog posts at www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.comand www.AllBettsAreOff.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter
Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-schlachter
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C&query=donna+schlachter
July 15, 2022
How Do You Spell Relief? T-h-e E-n-d!
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... Walking away from a crash that would've killed a normal person... There really is light at the end of the tunnel... Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore...
Unless you write books, it's hard to explain the huge relief that comes when you get the final version of the last novel of a series back from your editor. I am thrilled to announce the third book (eBook version) in The MacKenzie Chronicles is up for pre-order and will release on September 5, 2022. The print version should be available by July 25, 2022.
Curse of Wolf Falls sent me on a wild ride of research. Elidor MacKenzie isn't like any character I've written before. I've loved Joshua, Arizona since the first glimmer of the idea for The MacKenzie Chronicles crossed my mind - an 1800s mining community-turned-ghost-town, reborn hippie haven, and now tourist town clinging to the side of Spirit Mountain.
Reserve your copy now of the third story of The MacKenzie Chronicles, a suspenseful Arizona family saga, and have Curse of Wolf Falls delivered automatically to you on September 5.
And other Amazon sites worldwide.
Secrets can protect what the truth will destroy.
Elidor MacKenzie has a gift she can't return—the ability to absorb the joy, pain, and suffering of others. She's spent her life running from what she considers her curse. Now, her best friend is dead, and she alone holds the key to an archaeological discovery that could destroy a culture. With newfound inner peace, Elidor has returned home to make amends and guard the secret revelation. But greed-driven scavengers have followed her. Once again, the energies of Joshua will stir the hurricane, with her at the deadly center.
Jules never got over Elidor. Twenty years and a famous journalism career later, he's back in Joshua—and so is his first love. If his heart can stand the torture, he'll risk reviving their relationship. But saving Elidor from herself and the secret she won't give up may be the death of them both.
With Jules by her side, Elidor is determined to outrun the scavengers, guard the secret, and renew their love. But fate is coming after her, and there's nowhere the couple can hide.
July 14, 2022
Reading and #Reviews (Mofina, Tan)
I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. Each month, I'll share with you reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day.
I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, mysteries, and mainstream character driven books.
Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author.
The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina A car crashes in Wyoming: A young mother is thrown clear of the devastating crash. Dazed, she sees a figure pull her son from the flames. Or does she? The police believe it's trauma playing tricks on the mind, until the woman hears a voice on the phone: “Your baby is alive.”
A bomb explodes in Rio de Janeiro: The heinous act kills ten people, including two journalists. Jack Gannon's assignment is to find out whether his colleagues were innocent victims or targets who got too close to a huge story.
A Caribbean cruise ends in horror: Doctors are desperate to identify the cause of a passenger's agonizing death. They turn to the world's top scientists, who fear that someone has resurrected their secret research. Research that is now being used as a deadly weapon.
With millions of lives at stake, experts work frantically against time. And as an anguished mother searches for her child and Jack Gannon pursues the truth, an unstoppable force hurls them all into the panic zone.
Review
This story roped me in from the beginning. I did get irritated with the authorities not believing the young mother, over and over again. I kept thinking that couldn’t happen. But I took the leap of faith that they were convinced she was too traumatized to know what she saw. For a good part of the book, there are three story lines. Then they slowly merge. It’s a nail biter. If you can suspend belief for a while, you’ll enjoy the read.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
Review
I’ve been so busy writing, I've had little time for reading. I had to pull a book from my past to review. I read this book thirteen years ago. I can’t give it enough kudos. It’s a heart-tugger. It’s complex. It’s intriguing. Highly recommend.
July 13, 2022
The Next Stop is Dead by Jan Selbourne
WICKED WEDNESDAY
Please welcome Jan Selbourne for an exciting glimpse into her story. Is it real? You judge...and enjoy!
.jpg)
Alison McLeod had no idea that getting into the train on a dreary Saturday afternoon would change her life and almost kill her. Seated at the end of the otherwise empty carriage are three men and at the next stop another man enters the carriage. A few minutes later this man sits beside her and opens his newspaper. It takes Alison several seconds to absorb what he’s written on the inside page. ‘Don’t look up. Get out at the next stop. The man in the middle is dead.’ Trapped in a carriage with four men, on a train going express through the next four stations. Alison is terrified, but she has no choice but trust this man until she can get out at the next stop.
Doug Stanford hastily introduces himself as they run to a phone to call the police. When the train is stopped and searched there’s no sign of the three men, nor has anyone else seen them. Worse, Alison and Doug are charged with wasting police time and disrupting public transport.
It’s an old newspaper photo and a visit from a security organization that convince Alison and Doug something is very wrong. However, nothing prepares them for their capture at gunpoint and the discovery the three men on the Melbourne train go back to Europe’s dark days of Nazi occupation - and the man known as evil in uniform.
Website: https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanSelbourne
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbo...
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6
Author’s note – I grew up in Melbourne Australia. Years ago, my friend’s cousin was on an almost empty Melbourne train when another passenger wrote on his newspaper to get out at the next stop. A man seated between two others at the other end of the carriage was dead. When the police stopped and searched the train, the three men had vanished. It never made the news, nor did I hear anymore. Was there a body or was it hushed up? It’s a story that begs an ending.
July 8, 2022
#FearlessFriday Trip Across the Ocean by Miriam Newman
FEARLESS FRIDAY
I've had many guests for Fearless Friday on Discover... and a few have surprised me with their fearlessness. But I have to say this piece from Miriam Newman will win favorite in my heart. Not only am I part Irish (my grandpa as opposed to her Nana) but to pick up and take off all by herself and then ending up an author in another phase of her life is magnificent. Enjoy today's fun post and get inspired!
In 2009, I was forty-one years old. I had married a little later in life to a man with five children and pursued a career as a social worker for eighteen years, interspersed with writing poetry in lieu of tackling a 100,000-word novel. I wanted to write one, but life and finances had to take first place. I was a very busy professional woman. All that changed when my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. For four and a half years, I was his wife, his nurse, his chauffeur, his counselor and his business manager. In addition, I encountered health problems of my own and had surgery three times in eighteen months. Between his troubles and mine, sleep was something I got whenever I could and there were many times it didn’t come, which was when I read historical romance novels for some mental respite. I could still name some of those books, but won’t! My own muse, whom I had named Persephone after the Queen of Hell, took a sabbatical during those rough years and I assumed she was gone.
When he passed, my husband left some amount of life insurance, and I stunned myself (and everyone else) by getting on a plane and flying to Ireland. Mind you, though my grandmother had been born there, I didn’t know a soul. She had only told me to go there, and I went.
Soon, I knew a lot of people, especially in the pub nearest where I was staying. It seemed that Persephone wasn’t gone. She was in Ireland. In between drinking Guinness donated because people thought it was great that somebody was writing a novel, I began scratching out my first one on yellow legal pads—no laptop for this girl. I hauled those pads into a sheep pasture with a fantastic view of cliffs, gazing at the ocean my Irish Nana had crossed to America, knowing my heart had come home. I found that despite the cost of a protracted stay in Ireland, I preferred a whole heart to money in the bank. Ah, well, I was a writer after all. “The King’s Daughter” was the first of thirty-two novels. It was first of a series now numbering six and is still my beloved and favorite, as well as my best seller. Being a Lord of the Rings fan, of course I call it “My Precious.”
Born to a dying queen and an ambitious king, Tarabenthia is heir to the crown of Alcinia. Yet when the idyll of her childhood ends she will defy her father, tipping the balance in a world poised on the brink of destruction. In a time of war, what would you surrender in the name of love?
CONNECT WITH MIRIAM:
Website: http://miriamnewman.com
Website: http://thedarkcastlelords.net
Blog: http://miriamnewman.com/blog
Blog: http://thecelticroseblog.blogspot.com
Email: mrmireland@aol.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMiriamNewman
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/miriamnewman
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/miriam-newman-cf7ca8bf-caab-4b7e-a6f2-7db5490d9215
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3146550.Miriam_Newman
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/38ED8hG
July 4, 2022
The Game Authors Play...What If? by Ellen Parker #romance
MUSE MONDAY
Readers, please welcome Ellen Parker to Muse Monday on Discover... It's always fun to hear how an author works at putting that story into book form.
What if…?
I’ve never taken an official poll -- but my guess is this is the most frequent game played by authors. I know I ask myself this question a dozen or more times a day. At least it seems that often when plotting a book, writing the first draft, and changing major items for the second draft.
At the very beginning of Morning Tryst, I had the meet cute between my protagonists, but not much else. Many games of “What if…” later, I wrote a two page, first-person, background for each of them. Lots of this pertained to family of origin and education. This document was paragraphs of little things the author needs to know, but the reader is only interested in portions or hints as the story unfolds.
What if…the state of Missouri hires one photographer to update materials on all the state parks and historic sites?
What if…the bartender is actually a millionaire?
What if…the protagonists hold opposite views of family?
What if…I can visit some of these places, explore the ground, and write the experience?
The BlurbDuring a San Francisco visit, photographer Serena Carter sights arresting potential in the hotel bartender and invites him to model. Later, in San Diego, they meet at a beach, and she discovers his personality as fascinating as the images her camera captures.
Self-made millionaire Zack Sans usually avoids cameras. He prefers the world of scientific laboratories and engineering students. But something intrigues him about the petite photographer.
When realistic Serena accepts an opportunity to photograph Missouri State Parks in all seasons, she expects the budding friendship to die. Will Zack’s ties to Missouri overcome cyberstalking, a wildlife encounter, and opposite views of family?
Excerpt
Gently setting the pitcher on the bar, Serena pressed her hands flat against the smooth, cool surface to conceal their sudden tremble. “Our table…we need…a refill. Drinks and supreme chicken nacho platter.” She lowered her gaze from gray eyes behind wire-framed glasses past a clean-shaven chin to rest on a black-and-gold nametag. An instant later, she shifted her line of sight to his neck and confirmed her earlier glimpses. In the next blink, she widened her view. Lingering her gaze on his face for the next few seconds, she classified the radiating character marks around his eyes as more age than smile. Fifty? If correct, he was near to her own fifty-two years. Hiding a sigh, she broke the silence. “We have a tab.”
He reached for the dirty pitcher and glanced over her shoulder. “Table twenty, the one in the corner— with four thirsty ladies?”
“Affirmative. We’re celebrating.” She questioned her use of the word the instant it left her lips. Reminiscing. After a day filled with the memorial service and the commitment ceremony, the four remaining best buddies shared drinks, food, and conversation. During recent minutes, the topics shifted from fond memories to current circumstances with a sprinkle of future plans.
“Anything else?” He tapped the order on a touch screen and lifted a cocktail shaker.
Slipping one hand into a pocket, she fingered a business card and waited for him to face her again. “I want to shoot you, Zack.”
Buy links for Morning Tryst:
BIO Raised in a household filled with books, it was only natural that Ellen Parker grew into an avid reader. She turned to writing as a second career and enjoys spinning the type of story which appeals to multiple generations. She encourages her readers to share her work with mother or daughter – or both.
Ellen currently lives in St. Louis. When not guiding characters to “happily ever after” she’s apt to be reading, walking in the neighborhood, or tending her tiny garden.
Find Ellen on her website: www.ellen-parker-writes.com
Facebook: (20+) Ellen Parker | Facebook
June 27, 2022
Dreaming Up A Book...Really! by HM Thomas #inspiration #romance
MUSE MONDAY
It's special to have a return guest. Today, the talented HM Thomas joins us for Muse Monday on Discover... She's sharing her answer to a question all authors are posed often. Read on and enjoy!
Thank you, Brenda, for having me back on your blog. I’m so glad to be here talking about where I get my ideas for books.
Thankfully, I’m one of those lucky writers who usually doesn’t have to look too hard for story ideas. That’s not to say that I don’t have to beat my head against the desk sometimes to get those ideas to work—it’s just that the initial seeds seem to be everywhere I look. I listen to people’s conversations, I hear songs that don’t tell me enough, I watch strangers, especially other couples, trying to figure them out . . . and I dream.
Many of my stories have come from a kernel of a dream, a flash of memory from sleep that haunts me until I have no other choice but to ask myself what the rest of the story is.
Island of Secrets and Scars was no different. While on vacation with my family at the beach I had a dream about a tidal wave that hovered over me as I stood in the sand. When the wave finally crashed, I was submerged in water, fighting for my life and surrounded by dead bodies. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with water. On the one hand, it feeds my spirit and my creativity. And on the other hand, I’m convinced it will be my downfall. I respect water and its power, but I also fear it. Because of this fear, I have dreamed of tidal waves for years. But this dream was different. The vision of me standing on shore with the wave looming over me followed me through the day. It tapped me on the shoulder while I fed my baby, and whispered my name as I played on the beach with my preschoolers—it demanded my attention. And so I started asking “who was this woman standing on the beach?” “Was she afraid?” “Why did she stand there facing something so much stronger than herself?” “What kind of woman would do that?”
And Dr. Cameron Crawford was born. In Island of Secrets and Scars, Cameron flees her old life after an attack that kills her unborn child and alters her relationship with her fiancée. Although she’s afraid of the ocean, she ends up on an obscure island off the coast of South America. Years later, a plane crashes on her island, and she must call for doctors to help care for her friends and family. Ultimately, the plane crash proves to cause more problems than she anticipated, when it draws people from her past to the island, and with them comes threats to her new life and the secrets she thought she’d buried in the sand beneath her.
Excerpt
Even from the shore, Cameron heard the happiness in Esme’s voice when she replied, “Everyone is well. The others are helping Aimee with the garden this morning. Where’s Arabella?” she called as her husband cast a net into the water with long-practiced efficiency.
Cameron turned back toward the rocks, surprised her daughter hadn’t already appeared to see the Huntes. Esme and Brodie were as close to an aunt and uncle as the girl would ever have. She never missed an opportunity to chat with them or finagle a trip on their fishing boat.
“I don’t know. She—"
The rest of her reply died on her lips as the sound of an engine split the peaceful silence around her. She raised her gaze to the sky, where a plane approached. Aircrafts weren’t unheard of over their small island, but since the modest airstrip on the big island sat on the opposite side, most planes rarely traveled in this direction. And when they did, they were much higher than this one.
From the plane came a haunting click click click—a sound Cameron had hoped to never hear again. Suddenly, a face flashed into her mind. The same face she’d seen in her dream just hours before—that of the young, helpless boy who’d stared at her from across a jungle with regret and fear in his eyes before fire erupted between them.
Her heart lurched into her throat, keeping the scream bubbling inside her from escaping. As she swung her gaze from the plane to her friends’ boat, fear grabbed hold of her with talon-like fingers.
“Esme,” she screamed fruitlessly. Her voice couldn’t compete with the sudden explosion overhead.
The plane blew apart, sending metal and flames shooting through the air. Cameron stood, frozen, as a tire flew past her. Pieces of the plane’s body dropped into the sea. A small wave swelled, coming toward where she stood rooted in the sand.
“Move,” her brain screamed. But she couldn’t stop watching.
Finally, her body responded, and she turned and sprinted toward the rocks. Water licked at her heels, then rose to her calves. Fear gripped her, trying to keep her immobile as the water splashed against her legs. Until she’d moved to this island, she’d avoided the ocean at all costs. She didn’t trust any of the elements. How could anyone trust anything so powerful and unpredictable? But, as she’d learned in Africa, avoidance didn’t equal safety. Her back still bore the scars of the fire that had ravaged her body and left her womb empty. Shaking away the fear clawing at her, she pushed forward. Above her, the tops of palm trees burned. Their limbs crackled with flames. Once she reached the rocks, she climbed atop the nearest one and looked over her shoulder. Debris filled the water that only moments before had been tranquil. Now, fire burned on the surface as gas and oil leaked from the plane. She recognized the sinking and burning pieces of wood amongst the plane’s remains as Brodie’s boat, Kè Mwen. My Heart.
Blurb
Betrayed by her fiancée and reeling from an attack that killed their unborn child and left her injured and scarred, obstetrician Cameron Crawford flees to a remote island in search of the healing and peace that elude her. Six years later, she thinks she’s found both serving as the island doctor and raising her young daughter.
Dr. Ian Gauthier has never stopped searching for the fiancée who disappeared six years ago. He’s all but given up hope of ever actually finding her, until a plane crashes on a remote island, and he and his team of doctors are called in to assist the island’s doctor—the woman he’s mourned for half a decade.
Cameron thought the plane crash would be her biggest obstacle, but the accident draws two men from her past to the island. While one man threatens the fragility of her still healing heart, the other threatens the safety of the family she’d die to protect. In order to save one, she may have to sacrifice the other.
Buy Link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VQ4XYJM
Contact Links:Newsletter signup- https://hmthomaswrites.eo.page/3v24z
Website – www.hmthomaswrites.com
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hmthomas_author/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/hmthomaswrites
Twitter – https://twitter.com/AuthorHMThomas
TikTok – @hmthomaswrites
June 24, 2022
Lessons I Learned Kayaking the Grand Canyon, and How They’ll Impact My Adventure Romance Novels by Stacy Gold
FEARLESS FRIDAY
Wow! Kayaking the Grand Canyon. Sounds like fun! Welcom Stacy to tell us about her fearless adventure.
.jpeg)
Many years ago, I realized that ninety-nine percent of the time I should do the thing I fear the most. Do the hard thing, not despite it being hard, but because it’s hard. Recently, I achieved one of my biggest, hairiest, most audacious goals…
I paddled the entire 226 miles of the Grand Canyon from Lee’s Ferry to Diamond Creek—in 12.5 days, while carrying all my gear in my extra-large expedition kayak. On top of all that, I did it at age 51, after having two rotator cuffs reattached to the bone and assorted other injuries and surgeries. It’s a goal that’s taken me thirty years to achieve.
My first invitation to paddle the Grand Canyon came way back in 1990, when I was a raft guide and college student. But it was a fall trip, and I was due back in school. A few other invites to kayak along with raft trips came my way over the years but the timing was never right. And seven years ago, I was supposed to do almost this exact same trip, but I blew out my shoulder mountain biking.
I’d started to think maybe it was never going to happen. Or, at least not under my own steam and I’d have to ride in a raft as a passenger. While there are worse fates, it’s not how I prefer to run rivers.
So, When I got invited on this trip, I jumped on it despite dealing with a host of injuries. I mean, my body isn’t likely to be any stronger or healthier next year. Or the year after. It might be, but at my age especially, there are no guarantees.
While I wasn’t 100 percent sure I could physically do it, I did everything possible to get in as a good a shape as I could. Then hoped it would be enough.
And it was. Just barely. But it was. That’s what matters most.
Here Are Four Life Lessons I Learned Kayaking the Grand Canyon
I am tiny. Miniscule. And the world keeps turning and people keep doing things and it all continues whether I’m there to witness or experience or not. It’s very freeing to remember that the modern world is something of our own creation, but there’s a whole other world out there that’s far older, and to me, more real. So why not take a risk and do something like write and publish romance novels. That’s way less scary than running remote rivers. It’s gotten harder to find ways to step outside my comfort zone, but the Grand Canyon pushed me to new limits physically, mentally, and emotionally. I realized I’m still capable of so much more than I ever would’ve thought. Journal—especially about the big, hairy goals and the process of achieving them. I hadn’t been in the habit in a while, but I bought a pretty new one, and on night three forced myself to sit down and catch up (despite the exhaustion and overwhelm). I wrote down the day’s events and emotions pretty much every evening from there on out. The first few days were such an overwhelming blur I’ve had to piece them together from my notes and photos. It’s amazing how much my brain scrambled and squished moments and places and experiences but this way I have somewhere to look to make sense of it all. Push through the fear and do the hard thing anyway. Go for the big, hairy, audacious goal even if you aren’t 100 percent ready. When I first shoved off shore at the start of the Grand Canyon I worried I’d gotten in over my head. By night two, when my entire body was in excruciating pain, I thought I’d made a huge mistake—but it got better and easier every day from there. I learned all I have to be is ready enough. Strong enough. Good enough. Not perfect.How will kayaking the Grand Canyon influence my future outdoor adventure romance novels?
You can trust that pieces of my Grand Canyon trip, and all I learned along the way, will make it into my book. Much the same way all my years as a backcountry ranger and guide went into my latest, steamy backpacking romance, Wild at Heart.
I’m already working on both a rafting romance and a whitewater kayaking romance. With a whole lot of forced proximity and tons of things that can go wrong—and really, really right—on a multi-day river trip in the middle of nowhere, it’s a no-brainer.
.jpg)
Stacy Gold Bio Award-winning adventure romance author Stacy Gold would rather be in the middle of nowhere than almost anywhere else. To that end, she’s run more than 50 rivers in three countries, been heli-dropped into remote ski huts multiple times (and made it into even more under her own steam), worked for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service as a backcountry ranger, river ranger, and naturalist, and spent fourteen years as a commercial river guide and kayak instructor. Her last “real job” was serving as Communications Director for a state-wide mountain biking non-profit.
When she’s not busy kayaking, skiing, mountain biking, or hiking, with her husband and happy dogs, Ms. Gold writes about independent, capable women finding love and adventure in the great outdoors. Her newest release, Wild at Heart, came out May 2nd, 2022. https://www.stacygold.com
Short Book Blurb Overworked entrepreneur Jules Martinez can't be one more guy’s rebound girl. Evan Davenport lost his job, dumped his fiancé, and hates his life. Each hit the trail solo in search of themselves, but Mother Nature has other plans and keeps shoving them in each other’s paths. Usually naked.
When sparks fly, can they find what they’re looking for together instead of apart?
Buy Links
https://stacygold.com/wildatheart
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-at-Heart-Stacy-Gold-ebook/dp/B09R6P93GP/
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wild-at-heart-stacy-gold/1141114368
Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wild-at-heart-51
Apple Books
https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1612975812
Google Play
June 21, 2022
Reading and #Reviews (Valpy, Culiner)
I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. Each month, I'll share with you reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day.
I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, mysteries, and mainstream character driven books.
Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author.
The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.
Two generations later, Claire’s English granddaughter Harriet arrives in Paris, rootless and adrift, desperate to find a connection with her past. Living and working in the same building on the Rue Cardinale, she learns the truth about her grandmother—and herself—and unravels a family history that is darker and more painful than she ever imagined.
In wartime, the three seamstresses face impossible choices when their secret activities put them in grave danger. Brought together by loyalty, threatened by betrayal, can they survive history’s darkest era without being torn apart?
Review
I’m a sucker for 1940 era fiction if the story is character driven and full of conflict. The Dressmaker’s Gift satisfies in that way. I don’t want to tell you much beyond what the blurb above states. Ms. Valpy’s synopsis is clear, and you know what the story is by her summation. The only part of the story that bumped me a bit was Harriet’s outlook on her life in comparison to her grandmother’s story. She seems to be searching for something, and expects to find answers to her life through her grandmother’s experiences in Paris. Or maybe I’m dense and missed the point. Regardless of that, the wartime story of the three seamstresses was highly entertaining. There is romance, danger, mystery, and historical accounts I found enjoyable.
A Room in Blake’s Folly by J. Arlene Culiner If only the walls could speak…
In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor's end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.
Review
What an intriguing way to tell a story that spans generations. Blake’s Folly and the Mizpah Saloon are characters unto themselves. They live and breathe with the lives that passed through the space they occupied and still occupy in time. As each story within the novel is told, I could feel the story before still echoing off the walls of the saloon. Ms. Culiner is talented at painting a scene and bringing characters to life while weaving a story you can’t put down.
June 20, 2022
Magical, #Fantasy, and #Dragons by Helen Henderson
MUSE MONDAY
Happy Muse Monday. Please help me welcome Helen Henderson to Discover...
Thank you for letting me Muse on Monday. Over the years, I’ve worn many hats. From the logical side of my brain came the skills for technical writer, computer programmer, and systems analyst. In contrast is my experience as museum director and historian. And of course, author.
One of the most interesting items in some historical collections are the diaries. These hand-penned missives capture a specific point in time in one person’s perspective. The data captured can be as simple as the amount of money spent on groceries that day, discussions held at a civic group’s meeting or who gathered for dinner and what they ate. In his diary, Charles Wardell of Matawan, a small town in Monmouth County, New Jersey, recorded the 1884 earthquake. Inspired by the diaries I read while in the museum field, I incorporated the concept into my latest release.
Deneas is a slayer as was her mother, and her mother’s mother. In Fire and Amulet, the slayers keep a journal of lands explored, people met, and trades made. However, not all of their entries were meant for public viewing. To keep her thoughts and experiences private, Deneas’ mother used a double encryption to ensure the information did not fall into the wrong hands. Not only did she write her entries in a personal code, but used a language that no one in in the village knew except her friend Trelleir. As an added level of privacy, she hid her journal amidst the reeds of the thatched roof of the home she built. When commanded to leave her home village and slay a mythical dragon, Deneas decided to use her mother’s journal as a guide. To see the results of Deneas quest, you’ll have to read Fire and Amulet.
Fire and Amulet
Blurb: Trelleir is a true dragon whose magic allows him to take on human form. The last of his kind, he longs for companionship. However, his only friend is not only a human female, but a slayer. Sworn to kill all dragons, including him.
Summoned by the village council, Deneas is sent on a quest to kill any and all dragons, and cannot return without proof of her success. Finding the mythical creature and avoiding its deadly talons and fire are not her only problems. Another slayer follows with orders to kill her. As she retraces her slain mother's footsteps, she learns the world is not what it seems.
Excerpt:
The pull of someone seeking him tore Trelleir from his somber reflections. Only one person could be the source of the summoning, Deneas. He had protected her since her birth when the non-verbal thoughts of the babe registered as little more than faint cries. Now that she had reached adulthood the mental connection between them increased to the point where he swore he could hear her thoughts.
He pictured her in his mind’s eye, sitting on the rock wall he and Adais had built as a border around her private garden. Deneas’ face was turned towards the heavens. He knew she searched for a dragon. The urge to leap into the darkness, to fly to her, tore at his control.
“Go to her,” whispered the wind.
.jpg)
About Helen Henderson: Although the author of several local histories, and numerous articles on the topics of American and military history, antiques and collectibles, Henderson’s first love is fiction. Her work in the museum and history fields enables a special insight into creating fantasy worlds. The descendent of a coal-miner's daughter and an aviation flight engineer, her writing reflects the contrasts of her heritage as well as that of her Gemini sign. Her stories cross genres from historical westerns to science fiction and fantasy. In the world of romantic fantasy, she is the author of the Dragshi Chronicles and The Windmaster Novels. Stand-alone novels include the dragon magic fantasy, Fire and Amulet, and the dark fantasy, Imprisoned in Stone. In her books, she invites you to join her on travels through the stars, or among fantasy worlds of the imagination. Find her on the web at her blog http://helenhenderson-author.blogspot.com, Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/777491.Helen_Henderson. Follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HelenHenderson.author and Twitter https://twitter.com/history2write.
