Rosanne Bittner's Blog, page 39

Outlaw Hearts, Do Not Forsake Me, Thunder on the Plains & Wildest Dreams Goodreads Giveaways!

I'm offering signed copies of OUTLAW HEARTS, DO NOT FORSAKE ME, WILDEST DREAMS and THUNDER ON THE PLAINS as a Goodreads Giveaway!

Outlaw Hearts
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Genre: Historical Western Romance
Release June 2, 2015
Published by: Sourcebooks
Length: 576 Pages 

A decades long love story of two people, united by chance, that proves love's lasting power and its ability to overcome all odds.
Miranda Hayes has lost everything-her family, her husband, her home. Orphaned and then widowed, desperate to find a safe haven, she sets out to cross a savage land alone...until chance brings her face-to-face with notorious gunslinger Jake Harkner.

Hunted by the law and haunted by a brutal past, Jake has spent a lifetime fighting for everything he has. He's never known a moment's kindness...until fate brings him to the one woman willing to reach past his harsh exterior to the man inside. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He will do whatever it takes to keep her his.

Spanning the dazzling West with its blazing deserts and booming gold towns, Jake and Miranda must struggle to endure every hardship that threatens to tear them apart. But the love of an outlaw comes with a price...and even their passion may not burn bright enough to conquer the coming darkness.
Do Not Forsake Me
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBook | Kobo Books | All RomanceGenre: Historical Western Romance Release Date: July 7, 2015 Published by: SourcebooksLength: 480 Pages
Chance brought Miranda and Jake together. Now, the strength of true love is tested against a past that he can't leave behind.
Miranda Hayes' life was changed the day she faced down infamous gunslinger Jake Harkner...and walked away with his heart. Their fates have been intertwined ever since. Hunted by the law, fleeing across a savage land, their desperate love flourished despite countless sorrows. Now, twenty-six years later, their family has finally found some measure of peace...balanced on the knife's edge of danger.

Jake has spent his years as a U.S. Marshal atoning for sins, bringing law to the land he once terrorized. But no matter how hard he fights the demons of his brutal past, the old darkness still threatens to consume him. Only Miranda keeps the shadows at bay. But when outlaws looking for revenge strike a fatal blow, Jake risks losing the one woman who saw past his hard exterior and to the man inside.

He always knew there'd be the devil to pay. He just never realized he might not be the one to bear the ultimate price.
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Goodreads Book Giveaway Outlaw Hearts by Rosanne Bittner Giveaway ends February 14, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
Wildest Dreams
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Genre: Historical Western Romance Release Date: January 5, 2016 Published by: SourcebooksLength: 640 Pages
"A sweeping saga of passion, excitement, and danger...as a beautiful young woman and a rugged ex-soldier struggle against all odds to carve out an empire-and to forge a magnificent love."

Lettie McBride knows that joining a wagon train heading West is her chance to begin anew, far from the devastating memories of the night that changed her forever. She doesn't believe she can escape the pain of innocence lost, or feel desire for any man...until she meets Luke Fontaine.

Haunted by his own secrets, Luke would never blame Lettie for what happened in the past. One glance at the pretty redhead is enough to fill the handsome, hard-driving pioneer with a savage hunger.

Against relentless snows, murderous desperadoes, and raiding Sioux, Luke and Lettie will face a heartrending choice: abandon a lawless land before it destroys them, or fight for their Wildest Dreams.


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Goodreads Book Giveaway Wildest Dreams by Rosanne Bittner Giveaway ends February 14, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
Thunder on the Plains
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Genre: Historical Western Romance Release Date: October 6, 2015 Published by: SourcebooksLength: 608 Pages
IN A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY Sunny Landers wants a big life-as big and free as the untamed land that stretches before her. Land she will help her father conquer to achieve his dream of a transcontinental railroad. She won't let a cold, creaky wagon, murderous bandits or stampeding buffalo stand in her way. She wants it all-including Colt Travis.

ALL THE ODDS WERE AGAINST THEM
Like the land of his birth, half–Cherokee Colt Travis is wild, hard, and dangerous. He is a drifter, a wilderness scout with no land and no prospects hired by the Landers family to guide their wagon train. He knows Sunny is out of his league and her father would never approve, but beneath the endless starlit sky, anything seems possible...
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Goodreads Book Giveaway Thunder on the Plains by Rosanne Bittner Giveaway ends February 14, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

Best of the Best Facebook Party!

I'm participating in the "Best of the Best" Facebook Party as part of the Get Lost in a Story 5th Anniversary Celebration on December 2nd starting at 9:00 am. It's a readers' party for every genre!!! Come celebrate 5 years of Getting Lost in a Story and with guest authors!! Giveaways and lots of fun.

What's your BEST OF THE BEST? On Wednesday Dec 2nd join hosts E.E. Elisabeth Burke and Regan Walker, along with me and historical romance authors Linda Broday, Kathleen Bittner Roth, Kathleen Rice Adams, Beth Williamson, Kaki Warner, Jacquie Rogers, MK McClintock,Beppie Harrison, Màiri Norris, Donna Hatch who've been guests on GLIAS. We'll be sharing, among other things, our "best of the best" -- be it books, movies, birthdays, you name it! Special guest Kimberly Rocha (Book Obsessed Chicks) will have her annual Top 10 BEST OF THE WEST so you'll pick up some recommendations for some great reads. We'll have a drawing with lots of free books and flash giveaways throughout the day. Pull over if you have to--but don't miss this party!
My Flash Giveaway is the Omnibus Edition of my Brides Series!

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The West is wild, but it’s the people that are untamed in Roseanne Bittner’s smoldering Bride series.

"Time after time, Rosanne Bittner brings a full-blown portrait of the untamed West to readers. Her tapestry is woven with authenticity, colorful characters, intense emotions and love's power over every conceivable obstacle."—RT BOOK REVIEWS

In OREGON BRIDE, the unexplored frontier is where one woman tries to put her past behind her, and discovers that she still may be able to fall in love. In TEXAS BRIDE, the relentless heat is nothing compared to the love of a schoolteacher and a mysterious man.

In TENNESSEE BRIDE, a dangerous passion puts two people in harm’s way, but may their only hope at salvation.

TEXAS BRIDE was named one of ROMANTIC TIMES' All-Time Favorites, but all three books feature the strong heroines and unending passion that have made Roseanne Bittner one of romance’s most beloved authors.

There's also a Drawing Prize: 2 Books (Outlaw Hearts & Do Not Forsake Me)
  
Outlaw HeartsAmazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | iTunes | All Romance Books
Do Not Forsake MeAmazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | iTunes | All Romance Books

The Writing Curse

I have discovered something about writing that I should have known for all these 30(+) years of sitting at the computer for thousands of hours and getting arthritis in my lower back and suffering shoulder and wrist inflammation and having carpal tunnel surgery and going through the incredible highs and lows of writing for a living … having the talent to write can be a curse!

My husband has always commented that I have incredible energy that doesn’t seem to lessen as I age. Well, I’ve had my moments, and recently I was feeling mysteriously worn out and extremely depressed … so much so that I was going to go to the doctor to see if something was wrong with me. I have been very busy with things unrelated to writing lately, so I’d set my writing aside. Two days ago I finally caught up and decided I’d better get back to writing, even though I wasn’t sure I had the energy to do more than a couple of pages.

Well … I wrote two long scenes for my 4th “Outlaw” book because they’d been bugging me and I just had to get it out of my system. Low and behold, I felt more energized. Then I write a whole chapter to my new Indian romance, and by the time I was done, instead of being tired, I felt like someone had given me an “energy shot!”

I have decided that writing is a curse … i.e. “if you don’t write, you die!” or something like that. If I go too long without writing I literally get tired and depressed. I don’t need protein or vitamins to get me going – I need WRITING to get me going. I know this sounds psychotic, but then I’ve decided most writers are a little bit crazy anyway. After all, most of the time we live in a world far removed from realism. It is very seldom that I am talking to someone, or watching TV or a movie, or working in my garden or washing dishes or whatever, that I am not also “writing” in my head. My husband doesn’t allow me to drive on our trips west because he knows my concentration will not be on the writing. I will be looking out into the mountains or the wide-open plains and I will be thinking about my next chapter or my next book. I’ll see a gang of outlaws charging along the side of a moving train I’m watching, or I’ll see Indians lined up on a hilly horizon, or in driving through Denver I’ll be thinking about what that city was like when it was nothing more than a tent city that sprang up along Cherry Creek because of the discovery of gold.

Writing can be emotionally and physically draining. Sometimes I will ball my way through a certain chapter, or laugh, or worry this or that will upset my readers. Sometimes you have to make big choices when it comes to your characters and what they do or what happens to them. You enjoy a lot of power as a writer – the power to literally control the lives of your characters. And sometimes you truly fall in love with them. I have cried over and mourned some characters, and there are many who meant so much to me that I felt depressed for a while after finishing their story because I miss them. To this day I still miss Zeke and Abbie Monroe from my 7 book SAVAGE DESTINY series – the first books I wrote over thirty years ago. In fact, as involved as I get in most of my stories, I could easily continue every single book into more stories, as I have done in several trilogies and am currently doing with my Outlaw books.

Few non-writers understand what goes on inside the mind of writers. Every person we meet or have ever known lend to the development of certain fictitious characters we bring into our stories. I’ve never written one character who didn’t somehow fit someone I’ve actually known, but I’m not going to name names. Of course I’ve never known anyone as bad as some of my “bad guys,” but then the news takes care of that. No character can be too good or too bad, because such people really do exist.

So … I am cursed. It’s a nice curse in most ways, but there are moments when I want to tell that writing bug to leave me alone. It never works. In this case the “bug” isn’t something you go to bed for and sleep it off. If you go to bed and sleep you only get sicker. You have to get back to work in order to get well and keep the “bug” at bay. Such is the life of a writer.

The Vicarious Life of a Writer

I have decided that most of us writers have one thing in common – the desire to “be” like the characters we write … or perhaps we are only writing about ourselves. When you consider that we write in genres that we love, then we must be wishing we could actually live in another realm, or perhaps in old England, or in the WWII era, or maybe experience being a pioneer, or a gunslinger, or an Indian, or a doctor or nurse, a lawyer, an FBI agent, in the Secret Service, a King or Queen, a Duke or Duchess, an astronaut, a werewolf, a reporter, an actress, a vampire, a policeman, a fireman, maybe even someone who is single and wildly sexual, a model, a rock star, a football player. The list is endless.

Whatever the fantasy, we put it into our books, and I’m willing to bet that we choose our genre along the lines of the way we’d really like to live ourselves, or perhaps at least have the characteristics of our heroes or heroines. If you can’t picture yourself as the character you are writing, the story won’t seem as real. And “the characters are so real” is the comment I get more than any other from readers. I think it’s because I “am” the hero and I “am” the heroine.

I have discovered something about myself. Since spending the last two years working on my “outlaw” stories about Jake Harkner, I find myself “feeling” his persona in me … and here’s the weird part … I find I am carrying myself with a little more of an authoritative attitude. Everyone knows that 99% of the time I wear designer jeans and glittery western belts. I find myself wishing I could hang a gun on my belt. I carry a gun now … never used to. I took the training for it and can carry a concealed weapon. I realized recently that’s partly because I “feel” Jake inside of me and he’s got that “don’t mess with me” air about him. I have become more outspoken and more confident and have come to feel the same way.

Writers are a strange breed. I hope I don’t come across as arrogant or too sure of myself. If I do, it’s the “Jake” in me, not the “Rosanne” in me. And if my heroines are strong and brave and totally loyal to the hero (which mine are) it’s because I have been totally loyal to my husband for 50 years – and we’ve been through a lot together, so I like to think I am strong and even brave at times (long story).

If you take a closer look at the books all of us write, you will see one tiny truth in all of them – that the author aspires to be like her hero or heroine. You will pick up on the fact that the heroine’s personality is an awful lot like the personality of the author who created her. Or perhaps when we read someone’s book we are seeing the author’s fantasies come to life. Maybe the author is a bit timid and would rather hide behind a bookcase in a gunfight … but she’s writing about a powerhouse heroine who says it like it is and stands right up to her adversaries and shoots back. Either way, I think we can always get a tiny insight into the mind and heart and personality of the author when we read his or her books.

Truth be told, I would love to be just like Jake Harkner, because I envy the power and sureness men have – their strength – their position as head of the household – the fact that for the most part they are the decision-makers. I mentioned in an e-mail about how to write that I don’t like being told what to do or how to write … and you see that in Jake. No one tells him what to do. He does what he wants and you’d better get out of his way. I’m a “girly-girl,” but there are times when I wish I had the authority and power most men have. It’s not that women can’t be the same way, but there is always that thread (even in today’s “forward-thinking” world) of truth that a woman is a woman and a man is a man and never the twain shall be equal. Too bad, but it’s a fact that will never go away.

Isn’t it fun to “live another life” in our writing? Isn’t it fun to live vicariously through our firemen and cops and cowboys and lawyers and strong female heroines? Isn’t it fun to have affairs with these men who don’t really exist while being totally in love with our own husbands? Isn’t it fun to be a pioneer woman for a day, or an astronaut for a day, or even a vampire, a gunslinger, even a prostitute? Most non-writers don’t have a clue what goes on in our heads as we perform our normal daily routines and love our husbands and raise our children and grandchildren and cook supper or go to the office. While we go about our daily business, we can be having a wild time in our heads! And that’s how books are created … from the wonderful fantasies taking place on the inside while on the outside we seem to be “normal” people. I don’t think any writer is “normal.” Do you? If they were, we wouldn’t have all these wonderful books!

Religion In Secular Fiction vs. The Inspirational Romance

Several years ago, after writing at least 50 secular historical romances, I decided I wanted to try writing (historical) inspirational romance. I have always had a desire to write faith-based books and I hinted at faith and Christianity in many of my books up to that point but never wrote straight inspiration. I sold FOLLOW YOUR HEART , WALK BY FAITH and WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS to Harlequin’s Love Inspired line, and they all sold well. WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS even won second place for the prestigious WILLA Award from Women Writing the West … but I was wrong to think I could stick with a genre that didn’t (in my opinion) involve “real life.” In a lawless land where people have to struggle to survive, sometimes what’s right and wrong gets all mixed up in the name of life and death. And in the Old West, which is almost all I write about, there was not much law, and there were few churches, and in many places none at all.
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Devastated by the droughts and plagues that have ravaged her family's homestead on the Nebraska Plains in the 1870s, settler Ingrid Svensson regards wealthy Jude Kingman as her sworn enemy. But Ingrid gradually sees that Jude shares her commitment to seeing justice served, and when personal tragedy strikes at everything she holds most dear, this strong, independent woman must reconsider her previous assumptions and open her heart to forgiveness…and love.



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To provide a better life for her young daughter, Clarissa Graham joins a wagon train headed west. But as the trail turns increasingly dangerous, Clarissa fears her decision could cost them their lives. Help comes in the unlikely form of a jaded ex-soldier—Dawson Clements—who knows nothing of grace, forgiveness or even love. Now Clarissa is about to face an even greater challenge. Can she convince Dawson to remain by her side for a journey that will last a lifetime?




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With rough miners for shipmates, Elizabeth Breckenridge sets sail to search for her brother in Alaska, wild with the 1890s gold rush. When she falls overboard midjourney, she is rescued by a man very unlike her minister brother—Clint Brady, a cynical bounty hunter who shoots to kill.Together, this unlikely couple struggles to survive the rugged dangers of the beautiful Alaskan frontier. Unexpectedly, Clint comes to love her, and proposes. Elizabeth returns his love, but unless she can help Clint see that heaven is no abstraction in the sky, the grip of the past could cost them a future together….

I’ve lived with a dilemma during all my 35 or so years of writing, and that dilemma is to write “reality” (which means not-so-perfect characters and not-so-perfect situations) – while struggling with my own deep Christian faith and how to incorporate some of that faith into my stories, even though they often include war, bar fights, gunfights, prostitutes, smoking, drinking, outlaws, bad language, gambling, murder, brutality, sex . . . you name the problems with an untamed land and I’ve written about it. I am a firm believer in writing reality that includes the faith it took for some people to bear up to the challenges they faced in settling the West. As I re-read many of my backlist titles for reissues, I find that I did weave faith into many of my stories. I am really surprised at how often I hinted at (mostly the heroine’s) Christian faith.

There is, of course, a need and a huge market for inspirational novels, and I know many writers who write beautiful inspirational stories and are very successful at it. My congratulations and respect and admiration go out to them because I know the struggle writing can be in any genre and I am definitely all for spreading the Word of Christ in any avenue that works. It’s just that in writing the three inspirational stories above, I found it very difficult to stick with the rules I was given when writing these stories. I would have written more, but I am not one to follow specific rules or write “formula” books. Not long after I wrote those stories for Harlequin, the rules for writing them began to change to the point that my heroes couldn’t even say “gosh darn,” because it meant something else; and even a kiss was sinful. In the end of WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS the hero carries his wife to their bedroom and (of course) the door closes behind them. Yet even though they are MARRIED, that scene was NIXED when the book was reprinted because it hinted at sex!!! That did it for me. That’s just not reality, and it certainly isn’t very romantic. A man can’t even carry his WIFE to their bed?

If you have read my hard-hitting westerns, you know my heroes are pretty fierce, sometimes ruthless “take no crap” men who are far from angels. It’s difficult for me to write any other kind of hero, and I realized I’m not cut out for straight inspirational stories; HOWEVER, I decided I can keep sneaking inspirational messages into the books I do write. If an inspirational story means only writing about people ALREADY “saved” who only face challenges to the faith they ALREADY have – then to me it’s not inspirational. I believe that “inspirational” should mean saving someone who is lost and alone and who has taken the wrong path in life (like the bounty hunter in WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS ) – someone who has lost whatever faith they might have had because of a tragedy in his or her life that destroyed their faith – or someone who has never had any religious training and knows nothing about God or the Bible – and bringing that person into God’s light – and teaching them about faith and Christ – whatever it takes to change their lives. If a life isn’t being changed, where is the inspiration? And if sinful ways aren’t used in the story, where is the reality? Love Inspired wanted me to write stories wherein the characters were totally devout, practically sinless people. Is there anyone reading this who hasn’t sinned?

I hope to bring new meaning to the “inspirational” story that doesn’t prohibit sex and rough living. With the kind of heroes I write, you can’t leave those things out. My hero in my Outlaw series, Jake Harkner, is just such a man. I have loved writing Jake because he is so tortured and so complicated but so loveable in spite of being an ex-outlaw who even as a lawman is still sometimes ruthless. I have really enjoyed the psychology of this man who inside is just a little boy wanting the love he never knew in his horribly abused childhood. He can be so mean and fast to take revenge and deal his own form of justice, but on the inside he’s such a kid. Jake really struggles with his faith because his mother was Catholic and he got a small taste of going to Mass and prayer before his father murdered his mother and little brother before his eyes and forced Jake (only 8 years old) to help bury them. His father was a brutal alcoholic and Jake never knew love after losing his mother, but he always kept her prayer beads and Crucifix and wore them his whole life. He secretly prayed but would not step foot into a church because he felt unworthy because of his VERY sinful past – and also because for the first fifteen years of his life his father beat it into him that he was no good.

Then comes Miranda, the woman Jake unwittingly falls in love with and who changes his life. She cures him of his outlaw ways, but dealing his own form of justice is in Jake’s blood and he can still be ruthless when it comes to going after the “bad guys,” especially where criminal acts against innocent people are involved, so that ruthless element about him keeps showing itself because he was raised by a ruthless man and things he experienced leave him unable to tolerate brutality toward innocent people, especially women. Jake can kill at the drop of a hat, yet he’s a very devoted, loving man toward his family. He’d rather shoot himself than raise a hand or even his voice to his wife and children. He loves Miranda with every fiber of his being and is true to her – and their lovemaking is hot but beautiful and so fulfilling. Jake takes strength from Miranda and being a part of this woman physically and emotionally helps keep him on the right track. He is fiercely defensive of everyone in his family because that’s where he finds the love he always yearned for as a child. That love is all-important to him, and it’s his family, especially his wife and daughter, who slowly teach Jake about faith and that it’s okay to forgive himself for his worst crime … killing his own brutal father.

DO NOT FORSAKE ME is sometimes hard to read and has everything you’d never find in the “inspirational” section on the book shelves. Yet in reading it you will find the story is truly “inspirational.” Jake longs to be forgiven, longs to love and be loved, longs to know Christ and know how to pray. In one scene he sits outside of a church listening to the hymns, but he won’t go inside. It’s a scene that highlights the pitiful loneliness this man suffers in spite of having a loving family. He’s still that unloved, unwelcome little boy. As his own son once states in the story – “There is a war going on inside my father.” And it’s a war between good and evil, right and wrong. Jake is a man who walks on the thin edge of light and darkness. In another scene he even asks for help from a preacher. Jake’s sanity relies on the strength he gets from Miranda – and deep inside he knows her own strength comes from her faith. If Jake lived today, he would need counseling; but he lived in a time when such things were not available. His tortured childhood would have been enough to send anyone over the edge. His “counselor” is his wife, and the love of his family, who refuse to see anything but the good in their husband and father.

I very subtly weave Christianity into DO NOT FORSAKE ME , a very gritty, realistic western, showing how even the worst of mankind sometimes wants a relationship with Christ. In the end Jake loses a bet with his wife and has to keep a promise to her – to GO TO CHURCH! Of all the dangers Jake has faced in his life, stepping foot into a church is the most difficult, even frightening thing he’s ever done. A few amusing things happen leading up to this and – well – you just have to read that last chapter. It’s both funny and yet touchingly poignant and really tugs the heartstrings.

That’s my idea of an inspirational story. I find no satisfaction in writing about people already “saved” and supposedly “perfect” who might stray or face some challenge to the faith they already possess. I much prefer writing about someone who desperately needs to learn about love and forgiveness and redemption, and there is plenty of all of that in DO NOT FORSAKE ME and again in my third “Jake” book coming in September, 2016, LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE .

In my very popular SAVAGE DESTINY series, written 32 years ago, I again weave Christianity into a story about a wild half-breed who lives torn between two worlds, white and Indian – and how the love of his very Christian white wife, Abbie, keeps him strong and helps him make very serious choices in life. These books are filled with “real life” situations – and there are hot and fairly explicit sex scenes between these two, but they are beautiful and fulfilling and they remain that way even as the main characters age throughout the series. In the end of this very long family saga (7 books) Abbie dies in a rocking chair in the little cabin she shared with Zeke most of their lives … and she dies with a Bible in her lap.

I have had many comments from readers about how refreshing it is to read about an older couple, two people who still have good sex. Hey – older doesn’t mean out of commission. I beg to differ! Some people age very well and still are healthy and look good. Jake Harkner in my Outlaw series is one hell of a man in all ways, and he absolutely adores women and adores his wife and he knows exactly how to handle her sexually, which makes for some very provocative love scenes. He senses her every emotion and desire and respects her body as something owned only by Jake Harkner. He considers himself unworthy of this good, good woman, and so he practically worships her – but he’s a man in every sense of the word and he truly enjoys sex. Here again, I see nothing wrong with having sex in an inspirational story. Sex is natural between two people in love and why God made us with all the right body parts. I enjoy writing “between the lines” religion and faith into my stories, right along with “real life” sex and the rugged living and the gunfights and lawlessness and all kinds of “wild west” action. Such things only make a story more memorable and more real. And I can “inspire” my readers without them realizing I’m actually writing my own form of an inspirational story.

Don’t be afraid to “mix it up” in your writing. Just because you write a particular genre doesn’t mean you can’t sneak in something that is normally never used in that genre. That’s what makes for a more memorable story. So let your imagination … and your heart … guide you in your writing.

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Miranda Hayes has lost everything-her family, her husband, her home. Orphaned and then widowed, desperate to find a safe haven, she sets out to cross a savage land alone...until chance brings her face-to-face with notorious gunslinger Jake Harkner.Hunted by the law and haunted by a brutal past, Jake has spent a lifetime fighting for everything he has. He's never known a moment's kindness...until fate brings him to the one woman willing to reach past his harsh exterior to the man inside. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He will do whatever it takes to keep her his.Spanning the dazzling West with its blazing deserts and booming gold towns, Jake and Miranda must struggle to endure every hardship that threatens to tear them apart. But the love of an outlaw comes with a price...and even their passion may not burn bright enough to conquer the coming darkness.

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBook / Kobo BooksMiranda Hayes' life was changed the day she faced down infamous gunslinger Jake Harkner...and walked away with his heart. Their fates have been intertwined ever since. Hunted by the law, fleeing across a savage land, their desperate love flourished despite countless sorrows. Now, twenty-six years later, their family has finally found some measure of peace...balanced on the knife's edge of danger.Jake has spent his years as a U.S. Marshal atoning for sins, bringing law to the land he once terrorized. But no matter how hard he fights the demons of his brutal past, the old darkness still threatens to consume him. Only Miranda keeps the shadows at bay. But when outlaws looking for revenge strike a fatal blow, Jake risks losing the one woman who saw past his hard exterior and to the man inside.He always knew there'd be the devil to pay. He just never realized he might not be the one to bear the ultimate price.

The Lost Summer

(or) How Writing And Our Characters Can Take Over Our Lives …

It’s been a while since I blogged about anything other than contests I ran for the publication of my 60th book, DO NOT FORSAKE ME ; and for the reissue of all seven of my SAVAGE DESTINY books by Amazon. I just finished the third book about gunfighter Jake Harkner, LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE , and the manuscript is over 600 pages!

I am worn out! I call this The Lost Summer, because I spent most of it sitting at the kitchen table writing, or traveling to give talks and sign books and went to Dallas in May for the Romantic Times Convention. I haven’t stopped to take a breath because I had some hang-ups with LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE and had to scratch some of it and re-write several chapters and had to be done by the end of August for my deadline and before we left on a 3-week trip out West. As I write this blog, I am sitting in our condo in Las Vegas wondering what happened and how I managed to pump out 600 (+) pages in 4 months – especially considering I had to come up with new story with no clue what was going to happen in #3! I just start writing and let the story tell itself.

I am overwhelmed with guilt over the fact that my grandsons are already heading back to school and I didn’t do much with them this summer. I had my nose in my computer and one Sunday I wrote for 18 hours straight. When I get deep into a book it just takes over everything in my life and it takes me a while to “come down” from being away from reality for so long. My husband lives like a widower and house cleaning suffers. I didn’t even spend as much time in my garden this year as I usually do. I think my family understands, but I still feel so guilty. The build-up to the release of DO NOT FORSAKE ME went on for so long, with teasers and blogs and ads and – oh, my – I truly need a personal secretary! And in the midst of it all my husband had back surgery and I had a spot of cancer removed from my cheek. I still have to go home and proofread those 600(+) pages before I send the book off to my editor – and eventually I will get it back with her edits and I’ll have to read it again and make whatever changes and “fixes” she thinks it needs.

But that part is fun for me. I get to BE WITH JAKE AGAIN! I usually dread the editing, but any time I can read Jake all over again is exciting for me. There was so much I wanted to put into #3. It could have been 800 pages long! I had to pick and choose some of the events, and now I already see where I could write a fourth book. I am pretty sure it’s going to happen! I am torn between the titles THE LAST OUTLAW and BLAZE OF GLORY (do you know that song by Bon Jovi?). So fitting for Jake. It’s from THE YOUNG RIDERS . But I fear that title will sound like a book about war and not a western, so it will probably be THE LAST OUTLAW . But no, that doesn’t mean Jake will die. He really has to “go down” in a “blaze of glory,” but I can’t bring myself to go through Jake’s death. I will probably have to leave how and when he dies to the reader’s imagination … unless you guys want me to tell you my version.

This whole Jake series had overtaken my life the last couple of years. I wrote OUTLAW HEARTS 22 years ago and Jake has lived in my heart ever since. I was so happy to be able to write the sequel, and I wrote most of DO NOT FORSAKE ME while we were at our condo the winter of 2014, so my husband went through a very lonely vacation. I didn’t watch any TV (almost never do when I’m writing) and seldom even went to the casinos. I was absolutely consumed by Jake’s story. Last winter, while here, I was doing a lot of proofreading for that book, and that led right into this summer of writing again as I worked on Jake #3 – and now I’ll spend the winter on edits and proofreading and will probably even work on a new Indian romance or on Jake #4. Haven’t decided yet because I haven’t contracted for either book … yet.

I will start sending more blogs now that things have slowed down … a little. Fall is close by, which means our Coloma Lioness Fashion Show – a huge project that I have a lot to do with. The Lioness Club is a charity organization, and I am an officer and I also model and write all the descriptions for our big fashion show every fall. Then of course comes Thanksgiving and Christmas and we’ll be heading out here to Vegas again for the winter. Life can get pretty crazy, but staying busy keeps me healthy and active. I just pray God continues to bless me with good health so I can keep this up! Bringing new books to my readers is my biggest joy in life. Now, if I can manage to get a movie out of one of these stories, I will have fulfilled my biggest dream of all!

Do you want to be a writer? You’d better be ready to give some things up. If you are meant to write, you will be consumed by your characters and their story. It will come before everything else. You will write until your back hurts and your feet and legs swell and you hardly know what day it is. It’s not always a glorious occupation. It’s a lot of hard work, and if you are meant to write you will enjoy every minute of it, pain and headaches and all.

Thanks to all my readers! Next time I will blog about how religion sneaks into my books, and also about using psychology in the books we write. My best to all!
The Outlaw Hearts Series
    
Outlaw Hearts Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | All Romance
Do Not Forsake MeAmazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | All Romance

What’s In A Hero?

I have recently needed to re-read several of my older titles for conversion to e-books. After 60 titles and 32 years of writing, I can’t always remember exactly what happened in every book I wrote or who the hero and heroine were. So far I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the stories are and how “hot” the heroes and the love scenes are. Somehow I had the idea that “way back then” I was hesitant to get too racy with my love scenes, but gosh, they ain’t bad!

Through all of this, I am noticing something about my heroes – they tend to be a lot alike – i.e. rugged, take no sh--, well built, extremely able with fists, guns or in the case of the Native Americans, sometimes knife, tomahawk or lance. They are survivors. I am falling in love all over again with each one of them as I read these older books and am re-discovering some great characters – both the heroes and the heroines. Even the heroines are, for the most part, very strong women who “match” the men they’ve chosen to love and can stand right up to them (and often wrap them right around their little fingers)! I was afraid I would find some “fainting flowers” in some of those older books, but so far I haven’t.

Let’s face it. Women love to read about the bad-ass who’s vulnerable in some way when it comes to his woman – a man who would die for her, who loves her unconditionally (actually he adores her) – who always has her back and who is true to her. He might be hard to live with, but what woman wants to live without him!

I am noticing with great relief that it’s only the bad-ass aspect that is very similar in most of my heroes. Each one so far is turning out to be unique in his background and his reasons for turning out as he has. I never want to be accused of writing the same man over and over. Each hero has to be his own man with his own special story – and not all of them are tall and dark and have 6-pack abs, although that seems to be the preferred description. My hero Mitch Brady in DESPERATE HEARTS (September 2014) has sandy hair and very blue eyes, but he is, of course, tall and has those abs!

I like to write a hero (and often a heroine) who has some kind of tragedy in his past that has caused him to turn out the way he has, either some traumatic childhood experience, or the horrors of the Civil War or Indian wars, or he’s been robbed of everything he called his own or his inheritance – or has lost a wife or child tragically – something that makes the heroine’s (and the reader’s) heart ache for the poor guy and want to just hug him and tell him everything will be all right – but of course he’s rugged and stoic and refuses (at first) to admit that he needs that hug. After all, in the “old days” a man just didn’t cry. When they do in my books, it tears your heart out because he’s such a macho man that it is a real surprise when he even gets tears in his eyes, let alone actually weeping. No cry-babies here. Just men who have suffered and have finally met a woman who understands that at least once he has to “let it all out.”

I think another required “ingredient” for a hero is that he doesn’t just love and want the heroine – he NEEDS the heroine. He should feel he couldn’t go on without her – feelings he of course fights at first, but feelings he can’t ignore forever. In my books the hero often feels he is unworthy of the heroine’s love, or feels he could never be the kind of man he “thinks” she wants or needs. I usually always find a way for hero and heroine to finally be together without either of them having to give up his and her own dreams. That’s the way most romances turn out, but I refuse to do it the “soft, flowery” way. Hero and heroine have to fight together to realize their dreams and to be able to spend their lives together.

It’s really fun reading these older books. But for now, you can read about one of the best heroes I’ve ever written – Jake Harkner – in OUTLAW HEARTS (June 2015) and DO NOT FORSAKE ME (July 2015). I am currently working on the third book of this trilogy, LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE (scheduled for September 2016). All three books comprise a great love story you will never forget. Jake was horribly abused as a child, which led him into an outlaw life, but along comes Miranda, a woman fate brings into his path and who won’t get out of the way. Miranda understands the “little boy” inside the macho man who is Jake Harkner … ruthless … lawless … a real bad-ass … a wanted man, which means life with Jake means life on the run (in OUTLAW HEARTS ) but things work out and in Book #2 ( DO NOT FORSAKE ME ) Jake is a U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma – and still as bad-ass as they come!!

   
As explained in a great spread I had in Romantic Times Magazine ( DO NOT FORSAKE ME was a “top pick”), these books are packed with powerful emotions, which make them tear-jerker stories you won’t soon forget. Much like my SAVAGE DESTINY books, the Harkner books will be keepers!! I can’t wait for you to read them and am anxious to hear back from my readers!

And by the way, for those of you who need fresh, new copies of all 7 of my SAVAGE DESTINY books – or for my new readers who have never read those first books I wrote 30 years ago – you can NOW GET ALL 7 SAVAGE DESTINY BOOKS IN PRINT WITH NEW COVERS!! Just check them out on Amazon’s “print-on-demand” offers. The new covers are beautiful (by Hot Dam Designs). These were my first books and are still out-selling everything else … although sales for my “Jake” books are looking smashing!! I have to say that Zeke from SAVAGE DESTINY and Jake from my OUTLAW TRILOGY are my favorite heroes of all time!

Amazon.com Widgets
Thanks for your support!

Savage Destiny Series - New Covers and Now Available in Kindle and Print! {with #Giveaway}

After over thirty years of being in print, my SAVAGE DESTINY books are still selling. I consider this such a blessing, because I poured so much research and hard work into those books, and the hero and heroine will live forever in my heart – and from the feedback I get from my readers, they live in a special place in their hearts too. The seven books in this classic series cover about 45 years in the lives of Zeke and Abigail Monroe, beginning when they meet on a wagon train west when Abbie is only 16 and Zeke, half Cheyenne, is 25. From this union comes seven children and a herd of grandchildren, stories about many of them wound into the main story about the hero and heroine - all the tragedies and triumphs any family faces over the years. In this case the challenges are especially difficult because of Zeke’s Indian blood. He has three full-blood Cheyenne brothers in Colorado and three full-blood white brothers (in Tennessee), and Zeke lives torn between two worlds, as do his children, some of whom deny their Indian blood.

SAVAGE DESTINY closely follows the real history of the settling of Colorado (much like James Michener’s CENTENNIAL). I did a lot of meticulous research for these books, especially on how settling the West affected our Native Americans. There are some heart-wrenching events, and some joyous ones, and through it all Zeke and Abbie’s incredible love and devotion for each other hold them together through all the challenges that come with settling an untamed land. One of the stories even involves the Civil War, in which Zeke becomes involved because of his white brothers in Tennessee. He is also very close to his Cheyenne brothers, and in spirit Zeke is more Indian than white.

Now, after all these years, those of you who have old, worn copies of these 7 books – SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION, RIDE THE FREE WIND, RIVER OF LOVE, EMBRACE THE WILD LAND, CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, MEET THE NEW DAWN and EAGLE’S SONG – can get fresh new trade paperback copies with new covers from Amazon.com. You can also get all 7 books as eBooks. For those of you new to my writing and who have been asking what else I’ve written, you will definitely want to buy this series of books. I promise that you absolutely will NOT be disappointed!

Thank you to all my long-time fans who still talk about  SAVAGE DESTINY  and how they were the best books they have ever read. I even get letters and e-mails from fans who have read this series up to fifteen times! That’s how good these books are, and as far as I am concerned, Zeke and Abbie did really live and I will meet them when I leave this world.

All you new readers – get the SAVAGE DESTINY books and enjoy!!!
The Savage Destiny Series

Sweet Prairie Passion - Book 1
Amazon
Length: 463 Pages

This first book in Rosanne Bittner’s popular Savage Destiny series tells the powerful love story of 15-year-old Abigail Trent, who is traveling west with her family; and a very rugged plainsman, Zeke Monroe, the half-Cheyenne guide who wins Abbie’s heart as they journey through an untamed land beset with Indians, outlaws and nature’s harsh challenges. Although Zeke and Abbie come from very different worlds, violence and personal loss bring them together in unexpected ways, including a very poignant situation that involves Abbie’s little brother. By journey’s end, Abbie has changed from an innocent young girl to a strong woman whose courage and determination to survive make her the perfect woman for the sometimes violent Zeke, whose past and upbringing make him a challenge only Abbie’s love and personal faith can overcome. Sweet Prairie Passion is the beginning of many more stories about this unforgettable couple and their life together as they face the perils of settling America’s Old West and learn that love can conquer anything.

PRAISE:
“Power, passion, tragedy, and triumph are Rosanne Bittner’s hallmarks. Again and again, she brings readers to tears.” ~Romantic Times

“Extraordinary…Bittner’s characters spring to life.” ~Publishers Weekly

Ride the Free Wind - Book 2 AmazonLength: 445 Pages
The second book in Rosanne Bittner’s bold Savage Destiny series continues the love story of Zeke and Abbie Monroe. For the first five years of her marriage Abbie lives among the Cheyenne, learning their customs and beliefs and giving birth to a son who is as wild and free as his Native American family, and a daughter who will one day be forced to choose between her Indian and white blood. Through real historical events involving the government and Native Americans, Zeke and Abbie cling to one another through danger and torn loyalties. This story vividly depicts the “right” and “wrong” of both sides in the bloody conflicts that arose as the West was settled. Through it all Zeke strives to reach the point where he can provide his Abbie with a real “white woman’s “ home, where she can set a prized family heirloom, a mantle clock, over a fireplace in a house with real wood floors and a cooking hearth. Though his heart is as wild as his Cheyenne blood, Zeke will give up that life for his beloved Abbie.
River of Love - Book 3 AmazonLength: 413 Pages
The third installment of Rosanne Bittner’s memorable Savage Destiny series finds Zeke and Abbie Monroe settled into a cabin along the Arkansas River in southern Colorado, where they build a horse ranch amid challenges to their love and their contrasting worlds. As Abbie bears more children carrying their mixed blood, finding a peaceful family life is something that does not come easily. Zeke’s Cheyenne relatives face broken treaties, and the building of the Union Pacific cuts a swath of violence and change through the lives of white and Cheyenne alike, forcing the Monroe children to face deeply torn loyalties. New and powerful enemies enter this spellbinding story, and Zeke’s love for his Abbie is tested in a totally unexpected way that would devastate the love of most couples with even the strongest relationship. No two people demonstrate the power of love more vividly and with more poignancy than Zeke and Abbie Monroe in River of Love .

Embrace the Wild Land - Book 4 AmazonLength: 446 Pages

The American Civil War plunges Zeke and Abbie Monroe into violence and separation, danger and torn loyalties. Their first-born son, Wolf’s Blood, takes part in the Sun Dance, a tortuous ritual that initiates him into life with the Cheyenne. Then war forces Zeke to leave his family to join his white brother, Danny, in the conflict. Abbie is left to face a horrible fate at the hands of Zeke’s worst enemy while he is gone. For the first time in their beloved marriage her strong, brave, warrior husband is not there to protect her. When Zeke returns to learn her fate, the worst violence in his savage soul rages forth to seek sweet revenge. Zeke and Abbie’s love transcends loss and tragedy thrown at them by savage people in a savage land that can be tamed by only the bravest souls. Embrace the Wild Landis the fourth book in Bittner’s Savage Destiny series, and one that has been out of print and unavailable for many years. Now you can own it through a download to your eReader! 
Climb the Highest Mountain - Book 5 AmazonLength: 441 Pages

In this fifth book of Bittner’s unforgettable Savage Destiny series Zeke and Abbie are forced to defend their children against challenges faced because of their mixed blood. More settlers come west under the Homestead Act, causing the gradual and final demise of the Cheyenne way of life. The surge of new settlers brings with it a wealthy Englishman, Edward Tynes, who builds a cattle ranch near the Monroe homestead and falls in love with Abbie, admiring her strength and bravery, and jealous of her undying love for a man who cannot give her the pampered life Tynes feels she deserves. Zeke leaves to join his warrior son, Wolf’s Blood, in new Indian wars, and for the first time Abbie’s loyalty to her husband is tested. But no man can replace the fiercely brave, strong, handsome Zeke Monroe in Abbie’s life. Climb the Highest Mountain is an action-packed, powerful love story you will never forget, the fifth in a series still in demand years after its first publication.
Meet the New Dawn - Book 6
AmazonLength: 480 Pages

In this totally unforgettable sixth book in the Savage Destiny series, a relentless wave of frontier progress forces itself into the lives of Zeke and Abbie Monroe, threatening their many years of abiding love and forcing a separation unlike any other they have experienced. Zeke joins the Cheyenne in their last effort to hold on to the freedom they knew until the white man invaded their pristine domain and destroyed their game, their hunting grounds, their beautiful innocence. Meet the New Dawn is a keenly powerful and poignant story about the last years of Zeke and Abbie Monroe’s life together, and how their love and their passion for each other lingers on into their twilight years as proof that age and the challenges of life cannot dim the love these two share, a love that causes a man and woman to see each other only as the fifteen-year-old girl who once touched a savage older man’s hand over a campfire, a touch that changed both their lives forever. Get out the Kleenex for this powerful read you will never, ever forget!
Eagle's Song - Book 7 AmazonLength: 448 Pages

Eagle's Song is the final book in the Savage Destiny series, taking readers into the lives of Zeke and Abbie's children and grandchildren. This very moving story depicts the emotional end of an era for a once wild and free People, America's Native Americans, and the sometimes traumatic changes in the American West as civilization moves in to tame a lawless land. With this progress and the discovery of gold, the Monroe descendants find amazing success and happiness. But through it all Abigail Monroe lives with precious memories and a deep faith that carry her into old age and eventually back into the arms of her beloved Zeke as they walk into the past and leave the future to their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Their love will live on forever in the hearts of the family members ... and in the hearts of all those who read this series.


The Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: The Outlaw Hearts Series - This is the Last Week!

The Giveaway
Grand Prize - One (1) Set of Autographed 11.7 x 16.5 Framed Prints & $50 Amazon Gift CardTwo (2) Sets of Autographed 8.5 x 11 Framed Prints & Two (2) $25 Amazon Gift Card3 Signed Copies (US Only) - Outlaw Hearts & Do Not Forsake Me3 e-Book (International) - Outlaw Hearts & Do Not Forsake Me
  

The Tour Schedule
Follow Along and Enter at each Stop for a Chance to Win!

Monday, June 22, 2015M.J. Schiller, Romance Author - Guest Post
3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! - Review of Outlaw Hearts

Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Nancy's Novels - Guest Post

Thursday, June 25, 2015
Night Owl Reviews - Spotlight

Monday, June 29, 2015
Margo Hoornstra - Writing Inside & Out - Spotlight
Authors' Cafe - Review of Outlaw Hearts

Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Cathie Dunn writes... - Guest Post

Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Romance Me - Spotlight

Monday, July 6, 2015
Kimberly's Bookshelf - Review of Outlaw Hearts

Tuesday, July 7, 2015
What Readers Want - Spotlight
Authors' Cafe - Review of Do Not Forsake Me

Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Kimberly's Bookshelf - Review of Do Not Forsake Me

Thursday, July 9, 2015
Finding Fantastical Books - Spotlight

Friday, July 10, 2015
Kimberly's Bookshelf - Guest Post

Saturday, July 11, 2015
Kristy Centeno - Guest Post
Christine's Words - Guest Post

Outlaw Hearts by Rosanne Bittner
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBook | Kobo Books | All Romance
Genre: Historical Western Romance
Release June 2, 2015
Published by: Sourcebooks
Length: 576 Pages

Fall in love with the epic, sweeping romance of Bittner's beloved Outlaw Hearts, called by New York Times bestseller, Heather Graham, "a wonderful, absorbing read, with characters to capture the heart and the imagination."

United by chance, bound by fate, consumed by passion.

Miranda Hayes has lost everything-her family, her husband, her home. Orphaned and then widowed, desperate to find a safe haven, she sets out to cross a savage land alone...until chance brings her face-to-face with notorious gunslinger Jake Harkner.

Hunted by the law and haunted by a brutal past, Jake has spent a lifetime fighting for everything he has. He's never known a moment's kindness...until fate brings him to the one woman willing to reach past his harsh exterior to the man inside. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He will do whatever it takes to keep her his.

Spanning the dazzling West with its blazing deserts and booming gold towns, Jake and Miranda must struggle to endure every hardship that threatens to tear them apart. But the love of an outlaw comes with a price...and even their passion may not burn bright enough to conquer the coming darkness.

The Book Excerpt


He closed his eyes and stretched out beside her, kissing her hair. "I’m no good, Randy. There’s no future with a man like me."
She ran a hand inside his shirt and leaned closer to kiss his chest. "We don’t know that, yet. And you are good, Jake."
He wrapped his fingers into her hair and rolled on top of her. "If I was really good, I would never have let things go this far with you. You mean too much to me, and if you stay with me you’re going to suffer, Randy. You’ll always be running, always wondering when someone might find out who I am and come gunning for me. Life is hell with me, believe me –"
She touched his lips again. "Tell me you can take me to Nevada now and just leave me there and ride off without me. Can you do that, Jake?" His only reply was to meet her mouth in a savage kiss.

Do Not Forsake Me by Rosanne Bittner
Pre-Order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBook | Kobo Books | All Romance
Genre: Historical Western Romance
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Published by: Sourcebooks
Length: 480 Pages

"Veteran romance author Bittner revisits the characters of Outlaw Hearts as a much older couple in this captivating romance...a refreshing view of enduring love that survives the dangers of the Old West." - Publishers Weekly

"More than two decades in the making, Bittner's sequel to Outlaw Hearts is an emotional powerhouse! The strong flavor of the Wild West combines with a beautiful love story, creating a true saga of the era. This epic tale of an outlaw lawman and the woman who tamed him has everything Bittner fans expect and more. This classic historical western is destined for the "keeper" shelf. 4 1/2 Stars, Top Pick!" - RT Book Reviews

Fate brought them together. His past may tear them apart.

Miranda Hayes' life was changed the day she faced down infamous gunslinger Jake Harkner...and walked away with his heart. Their fates have been intertwined ever since. Hunted by the law, fleeing across a savage land, their desperate love flourished despite countless sorrows. Now, twenty-six years later, their family has finally found some measure of peace...balanced on the knife's edge of danger.

Jake has spent his years as a U.S. Marshal atoning for sins, bringing law to the land he once terrorized. But no matter how hard he fights the demons of his brutal past, the old darkness still threatens to consume him. Only Miranda keeps the shadows at bay. But when outlaws looking for revenge strike a fatal blow, Jake risks losing the one woman who saw past his hard exterior and to the man inside.

He always knew there'd be the devil to pay. He just never realized he might not be the one to bear the ultimate price.

The Book Excerpt


Randy’s stomach fell a little watching him strap on the guns. She never quite got over the dread of what each new day could bring. … He tied the holsters to his thighs … and pulled on his leather vest, his badge already pinned to it.
Randy sighed. "I can already see a dark mood setting in, Jake."
"And I don’t like having to look at Marty Bryant. I want to kill him and I can’t. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll give me an excuse." He opened the bedroom door and started out.
"Jake, don’t you want breakfast?"
"No. I’ll just grab a hunk of bread on the way out and get a cup of coffee down at the jail."
"Wait,.” Randy walked closer and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “I’m telling you, I don’t have a good feeling about this. Lloyd would understand if you want to get him."
"No. I’ll be all right on my own. And Sparky will be at the jail."
Their gazes held.
"Jake, don’t lie to me."
He turned away. "Just stay in the house today, will you? … That means even if you hear shooting. Don’t you dare go running out into the street, you hear me? If you’re needed, someone will come and get you."
"Jake -"
"Promise me!"
She felt the tears wanting to come. "I promise." She watched him leave, then closed her eyes and turned away, praying the same prayer she prayed every single morning. "God, be with him."

My Outlaw Hearts Series is featured in the July 2015 Issue of the RT Book Reviews Magazine!

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Goodreads Book Giveaway Do Not Forsake Me by Rosanne Bittner Giveaway ends July 06, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

Do Not Forsake Me - Teaser #12

Available July 7, 2015Pre-Order!Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks
Jake has been in a fight and has a bad cut on his face. He and Lloyd are hunting outlaws and have stopped at a saloon for information. Jake is talking to men at a card table. I love this because it shows Jake’s subtle sense of humor, which comes through in several places in this book.

“Just a game of cards,” Jake answered. “I’ve been on the trail a while and need some down time. I’m tired of all the bullshit of this job. Had to come through Hell’s Nest on my way to my next stop, so figured we’d get in a little card game.”

“Is that your name for this place?” another asked.

“Can you think of a better one?”

“Guess not. It’s just as good as any.” He looked Jake over. “What happened to your face?”

Jake lit a cigarette. “A little run-in with a shovel.”

“Did you fight back?”

“Beat it near to death,” Jake joked.

“More like whoever owned the shovel, I expect.”

“Something like that.”

All the while Jake is very alert to every single man in the room and who might have the information he needs. Something happens next that shakes up everybody in the saloon and reminds all of them that, joking or not, nobody crosses Jake Harkner!