Category Archives: book giveaway

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

It was a cold night in the Texas Panhandle, and I was a little girl going to the rodeo with my family. This was not a slicked up rodeo but a nitty-gritty rodeo out in the country with real cowboys, some of which were my older cousins. I remember sitting on one of my cousins’ laps. She already had children of her own but she helped warm me up on that chilly night as we watched the cowboys rope steers and ride bulls.

strongsilentcowboyMaybe that’s where my love of cowboys began. Because most of my cousins were many years older than me, I didn’t know them well and simply watched and admired them. My dad also raised me on John Wayne movies. My favorite movie growing up was True Grit. Just the opening song could get my blood pulsing.

As I grew up, I fell in love with country music. One day, I was driving around Dallas, to and from work, listening to Rodeo by Garth Brooks when a character came to me. He was wearing chaps and boots and he had a slight stutter. I immediately fell in love with Kirk and had to write his story, Strong, Silent Cowboy, which became my very first published book.

So began my writing career, which started with writing about cowboys. I love cowboys’ strength, ingenuity, traditions, and love for nature. I love that they are real men, with a bit of swagger, but also a touch of humility. They know God created the land and bow their heads to pray. I’m proud that I know real cowboys, and I’m blessed to have been able to write about them.

christmasinjulyChristmas in July was my second published book and a sequel to my first. This book features not only a cowboy but also a cowgirl–a barrel racer. These girls have courage and big hearts. Geena, a young widow, has more than her share but she also has a wall around her heart that the right cowboy is going to have to jump.

fortheloveofcody

Finally, my latest release, For the Love of Cody, is actually a re-release of my 5th book. It garnered the National Readers’ Choice Award when it was published. Since then, it went out of print but I gained the rights back to it and recently brought it out as a Kindle ebook. But now, it’s also available in paperback! You can click on the titles of my books to find out more about them.

So for a long while, my heroes have always been cowboys. Next year, I’m publishing a brand new cowboy story! Hope you’ll hang around until it’s ready.

So what about you? Do you love cowboys? Country music? Western movies?

Contest: For a copy of the paperback For the Love of Cody. At the end of this week, I’ll draw a name from those who leave a comment below for a winner.

Exciting News for FORGIVEN!

This week, I was informed that PLAIN FEAR: FORGIVEN had been chosen for a special promotion by Barnes and Noble. It goes on sale today as a NOOK book.

Samuel Fisher committed a sin of biblical proportions—he killed his own brother, Jacob. Samuel’s guilt overwhelms him as he struggles to understand the choices Jacob made which led to his death. Haunted by doubts and questions, Samuel starts down the same dark path of destruction. In the gripping final battle between hunters and vampires, Samuel must choose where his loyalties lie. The decisions he makes not only threaten the lives of those he loves, but determine if he will ultimately be forgiven.

You can read a preview here.

Reviews:

“An unlikely, yet fresh idea that completely works, thanks to her ability to blend the genres in a tasteful manner.” – RT Book Reviews –

“A richly detailed and atmospheric tale of suspense.” – Library Journal –

I hope you’ll help me make PLAIN FEAR: FORGIVEN a big success during this special promotion! Thanks for all your support!

Giveaway: To celebrate this promotion, leave a comment below and I’ll draw a name of a winner to receive the paperback copy of PLAIN FEAR: FORSAKEN and PLAIN FEAR: FORBIDDEN, the first two books in the series. I’ll draw a name on Monday, April 7th.

Kittens…kittens!




The kittens are very rambunctious! They are much more comfortable with us now. Since they haven’t been handled much in the past, we are very pleased to how they have become accustomed to us, getting in our laps, purring for us, playing with us. They are very sweet. Our other animals are not too happy by all of this. Miracle, our 7 year old cat, growls at them. We let her stay in the bathroom with them, supervised of course, and she watched them playing for a long time. She’s curious but very mad. Our sweet lab, Liberty, was curious about them but she scared them and they hissed and spit at her. So she lost interest. Hilo, our labradoodle, is very curious about them but she is too rambunctious to be near them. So we continue to introduce them. Don’t forget to toss out a couple of suggestions for names, and you will be entered to win one or more of my books. If we choose the name you suggested then you’ll win 5 books! But if we choose a name of our own, then I will draw 5 winners and give each a book.

Last chance!!!


Last chance to enter the name the kitten contest! If you suggest the name that is chosen by us to name our new kitten, then you will win 5 of my books. If no one suggests the name we pick, then I will choose 5 winners to get a copy of one of my books! So make some suggestions. I will make the drawing on Monday! If you’ve already entered, you can suggest some other names to be entered more than once. That sweet little face needs a name!

Kitten contest!


It’s been a rough couple of weeks around here as many of you know from the posts on my FB page. For those that don’t know, my father-in-law passed away last week. Obviously, it’s been very difficult. One thing about my father-in-law is that he LOVED animals. He had a dog and several cats. He had a new cat that he believed was a boy but that ‘boy’ turned out to be a girl when she delivered 5 kittens on April 1st. When we went up to Kansas City last week for the funeral, we decided to adopt one of the kittens. She is too young to leave her momma yet, so she’ll be coming to our house in the next few weeks. The problem is: trying to find her a name! We have four very independent thinkers around here and we cannot seem to agree. At first, we thought we would name her Annie, because my daughter was in the musical last fall. However, not everyone likes that name. So we have come up with: Hula (as in Rock-a-hula baby because we love all things Hawaiian!), Beatrix (as in Beatrix Potter), and Harper (for Harper Lee). Alas, we have not yet agreed. So I’m appealing to you for help!

Here’s the contest, offer as many suggestions as you would like. If we choose the name that you have suggested, I will give you a set of my books: Elvis Takes a Back Seat, Lookin’ Back, Texas, Ruby’s Slippers, Once in a Blue Moon and Facelift. If we do not choose a name that is suggested here, then I will still giveaway 5 books, one to each that I draw from those who offered suggestions here.

In the above picture, the kitten we will be bringing home is the one on the left. So go ahead: make a kitty name suggestion!