A Montana Christmas

When I wrote From Here to There, I had thought some of the characters might lend themselves to a future book, but hadn't thought of a Christmas novella. It was basically on my way to spend Christmas in Tucson, driving across miles of western landscape, that the idea for a Christmas novella began to develop.

Helene and Phillip have been married a few years, are working out the problems of having two homes, one in Boston and one on the Montana ranch, but Helene has a goal for more. She knows Phillip's memories of Christmas have been so unpleasant that he wants to avoid spending it any traditional way. She wants him to have a real family Christmas and that will take uniting him with his estranged family and bringing them to Montana to spend it on the ranch. 

Celebrating how Christmas can be a time of such healing is what A Montana Christmas is about-- as well as continuing Helene and Phillip's own love story.
Holidays on ranches are busy times as there are no breaks from the work. So while Helene works to make this a wonderful Christmas, the ranch work continues. This novella of 25,400 words is a slice of life with characters from the earlier book but it stands alone.

From Here to There

Helene is in her beautiful gown, ready to be married, when she realizes what a terrible mistake this will be. She does not want the life her groom does. She goes through with the wedding and tells Phillip on their way to the reception that she wants an annulment. Not surprisingly, he doesn't take this well. Helene doesn't care. She is going to live on her uncle's ranch in Montana and find her dream life.

Following the shock that Helene doesn't see him as tough enough comes another.  Her Uncle Amos arrives at his penthouse to suggest Phillip put aside his business dealings and come west, work on the ranch,and give Helene a chance to see he's more of a man than she thinks. 

At first Phillip laughs at the ridiculous notion, but the idea that he's not tough enough has really irked him. Will that be enough to send him to Montana?

From Here to There is the story of a woman with a dream and a man without one. It takes place mostly in Montana where the life on a ranch is part of the story as is an old journal that Helene finds which her aunt had kept when she first came to Montana so many years before. It is the story of two couples but more the story of the west today. 92,157 words and trailer below:

Luck of the Draw

When I began putting together my books to ePublish them, I had one which was not on a hard drive. I'd written it in the 1970s. I dug its box out and looked at the rough draft. Something about one of my manuscripts not being out there bothered me and when I finished editing the others, I set out to type it onto the computer, reworking the story as I went to see if it had the value that I believed the others had.

Because this rodeo story was set in 1974, where I had researched it to be, I decided it would be my only contemporary romance that would not be fully contemporary. I kept it when it had been written. Rodeo has changed a lot since then and I kind of like it being set when it was undergoing a transition from the wild and woolly cowboy kind of event it had been to an athletic event.

My hero, Billy, is one of a new breed of cowboy. He's on his way to becoming one at the top in the ratings. Billy has a goal to get enough money to buy the ranch he's always wanted. He has to keep winning to do that. What he doesn't want is to find the right woman at the wrong time. 

Sarah doesn't have the direction to her life that Billy does. She's young, drifting, still living with her parents. This cowboy excites her but he also means she'd have no chance for a nice, safe, secure life. And so the adventure begins. How it will turn out is the Luck of the Draw. 85,321 words and trailer:

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Sky Daughter

Setting Sky Daughter, a story of metaphysics and the militia movement, into the tall mountains of Idaho was a no brainer. This is one of the first areas where, when driving through, I heard radio talk shows that expressed worry over the United Nations invading our country and the damage being done by liberals to the nation. It also is an area that sits away from much of the country, can feel isolated and hence susceptible to such fear tactics.

Maggie had come back to these mountains where her grandfather lived to find healing after her folk music career deteriorated and both her parents were killed in a small plane crash. She didn't expect to find a family mystery nor did she imagine Reuben who had come into the area for some healing of his own and instead was kidnapped only to escape and run into Maggie. Together they face an unknown enemy as they try to unravel the mystery of what is happening in this mountain community.

Writing, about the supernatural, Wicca, the natural beauty of Idaho, and a slowly developing love between two very different people, made this a very enjoyable story to write. To add to my enjoyment there were some senior citizens who were a lot more capable than some might expect when it came to fighting back against those wanting to take over their community. 

122,225 word adult romance. Trailer below:

Second Chance

Every now and again I find a secondary character that I want to explore further. Second Chance involves two of those.

Barrett Schaeffer was working as a psychologist in Evening Star and best friend of the heroine in Moon Dust. It is now over eight years later and she's a single mom dealing with an ex husband who has remarried but likes interfering in Barrett's life and micromanaging how their daughter is being raised. The last thing Barrett wants is to add a man to an already complicated life-- especially not one almost ten years younger than she.

For her lover to be, it was going to take someone special and I realized he also had been in Moon Dust. He was then a troubled teen who had come to recognize his mistakes before it was too late. He saw Barrett back then and she became a talisman to him but someone he could never hope to actually have in his life. He also is a busy man running a wildlife rehabilitation center and working as a truck driver to support the work. Still when he sees Barrett again, he would have moved ahead to try and win her-- except, someone is trying to destroy Judd's life and all he values. 

So it's a love story and about wildlife rehabilitation because I have been to some of these places and was very inspired by their work. The 90,660 word story is set in Portland Oregon with danger, mystery, and a pair of unconventional lovers due to their age difference but will that stop them? 

Most of all, it's about second chances.

Moon Dust

What I particularly like about writing romances is you take a story of a man and woman and can set them into whatever situation interests you as a writer. This is the plus also of reading these books. You get basically a two-fer as the love story always has something more to it.

Moon Dust might be one of those something else's that is a little difficult for people to handle as it's about abuse of children and the adult ramifications. One of the characters in the book was abused as a child and has the resultant emotional problems as an adult which is damaging the couple's marriage. So the story begins with the wife asking for a divorce from her high school principal husband.

I read several books on the problems adults face who have been abused as a child. What most people need to understand is such abuse is as much about control as sex. I tried in writing this story to not only create an emotionally rewarding love story but also provide information that readers might profit from knowing. That can be done in a romance without lecturing.

The story of a marriage on the brink, a high school with a vicious militia leader determined to force teaching of his own ideas, three teens who are facing abuse, and a woman determined to hold onto her marriage but not at any cost.

So some danger, some sexuality, Portland, and questions of our culture are all explored in this 89.430 word eBook, as well as-- how can we make a difference?

Evening Star

Most of us have guiding principles or even someone in our life who has been a marker for us as to how life should be lived. We have higher aspirations where we are reaching out toward something more than we currently have. It's a bit of human nature.

Marla Jamison doesn't think that way. She works hard as an assistant DA in Portland, Oregon. She has goals but they relate to her latest case, not her personal life. The one thing she definitely knows is she does not want to get involved with a cop. Before she studied law, she had worked as a paramedic and she saw what life on the street can be like. She wants no part of it. 

Best laid plans and all that when she meets Randy O'Brian who has come to Portland, Oregon to be part of the thin blue line that protects citizens. He is carrying a secret with him. Raised on a ranch, he's as much cowboy as cop. For Randy, when you want something, you go after it. He wants Marla.

Evening Star  is a story of love between two very different people. It's set in Oregon moving between two worlds-- the big city to the ranching community. It involves the investigation and hopeful arrest of a major crime boss. Marla's problem is deciding if Randy is who she wants to believe he is, her own evening star, or the most dangerous distraction of her life.

At 88,386 words, some of these characters are also in Bannister's Way. Its trailer is