Tag Archives: Debut Book

Kat Latham Discusses Sports Romances

YAY SPORTS! 😀 I totally didn’t plan this, but I love sports, and this makes me a happy girl. (Not planned meaning Sierra’s post on Saturday, and now this one. Cuz you know, there actually aren’t that many sports romances out there… And today we’re welcoming back the fabulous Kat Latham! Her debut book was released to the wild just this Monday!

She’s here to talk about romance novels that she loves. That deal with sports Double win.

Kat Latham’s Top Ten Eight Sports Romance Picks

Fit. Committed. Tough. Professional athletes make fantastic characters. No wonder sports romance novels are so popular with readers.

My love of sports romance started with Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series and it was sealed when I discovered Rachel Gibson’s Chinooks hockey team. Oh, the hawtness!

And I’m clearly not the only one who loves those series. I recently went on Goodreads and found a list of sports romances. Readers can vote for their favorite sports romances by putting them in a list.

I started to rank my ten favorites, but when I got to number eight I decided to leave the last two spaces free so I can discover new novels. So here are my top eight.

1. Crazy Thing Called Love by Molly O’Keefe
Dallas TV morning show host Madelyn Cornish is poised, perfect, and unflappable, from her glossy smile to her sleek professionalism. No one knows that her iron will guards a shattered heart and memories of a man she’s determined to lock out. Until that man shows up at a morning meeting like a bad dream: Billy Wilkins, sexy hockey superstar in a tailspin—still skating, still fighting, and still her ex-husband.

Now the producers want this poster child for bad behavior to undergo an on-air makeover, and Billy, who has nothing to lose, agrees to the project. It’s his only chance to get near Maddy again, and to fight for the right things this time around. He believes in the fire in Maddy’s whiskey eyes and the passion that ignites the air between them. This bad-boy heartbreaker wants a last shot to be redeemed by the only thing that matters: Maddy’s love.

2. See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson (Eee the kindle edition is only $3.79!)
THIS IS JANE: A little subdued. A little stubborn. A little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day, she’s a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team—especially their notorious goalie Luc Martineau. By night, she’s a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of “Honey Pie”…the magazine series that has all the men talking.

SEE JANE SPAR: Luc has made his feelings about parasite reporters—and Jane—perfectly clear. But if he thinks he’s going to make her life a misery, he’d better think again.

SEE JANE ATTRACT: For as long as he can remember, Luc has been single minded about his career. The last thing he needs is a smart mouthed, pain in the backside, reporter digging into his past and getting in his way. But once the little reporter shed her black and gray clothes in favor of a sexy red dress, Luc sees that there is more to Jane than originally meets the eye.

Maybe it’s time to take a risk. Maybe it’s time to live out fantasies. Maybe it’s time to…. SEE JANE SCORE!

3. This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (SEP) (Another of my favorites, and the kindle book is $4.99!)
Molly Somerville loves her career as the creator of the Daphne the Bunny children’s book series, but the rest of her life could use some improvement. She has a reputation for trouble that started even before she gave away her fifteen-million-dollar inheritance. Then there’s her long-term crush on the quarterback for the Chicago Stars football team her sister owns—that awful, gorgeous Kevin Tucker, a man who can’t even remember Molly’s name!

One night Kevin barges into Molly’s not-quite-perfect life and turns it upside down. Unfortunately, the Ferrari-driving riving, poodle-hating jock isn’t as shallow as she wishes he were, and she soon finds herself at a place called Wind Lake. Surrounded by paintbox cottages, including a charming old bed-and-breakfast, Molly and Kevin battle their attraction and each other as they face one of life’s most important lessons. Sometimes love hurts, sometimes it makes you mad as hell, and sometimes—if you’re lucky—it can heal in a most unexpected way.

4. Natural Born Charmer by SEP
Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world: a bona-fide sports superstar and the pride of the NFL with a profitable side career as a buff billboard model for End Zone underwear. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a cross-country trip to figure out what’s gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can’t imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.

Blue Bailey is on a mission to murder her ex. Or at least inflict serious damage. As for the beaver suit she’s wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curveballs? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.

Blue’s career as a portrait painter is the perfect job for someone who refuses to stay in one place for very long. She needs a ride, and America’s most famous football player has an imposing set of wheels. Now, all she has to do is keep him entertained, off guard, and fully clothed before he figures out exactly how desperate she is.

But Dean isn’t the brainless jock she imagines, and Blue—despite her petite stature—is just about the toughest woman Dean has ever met. They’re soon heading for his summer home where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.

As the summer progresses, the wandering portrait artist and the charming football star play a high-stakes game, fighting themselves and each other for a chance to have it all.

5. Heaven, Texas by SEP (One of my most favorite romances of all time!)
Come heck or high water, Gracie Snow is determined to drag the legendary ex-jock Bobby Tom Denton back home to Heaven, Texas, to begin shooting his first motion picture. Despite his dazzling good looks and killer charm, Bobby Tom has reservations about being a movie star — and no plans to cooperate with a prim and bossy Ohio wallflower whom he can’t get off his mind or out of his life. Instead, the hell-raising playboy decides to make her over from plain Jane to Texas wildcat.

But nothing’s more dangerous than a wildcat with an angel’s heart in a town too small for a bad boy to hide. And all hell breaks loose when two unforgettable people discover love, laughter, passion — and a match that can only be made in Heaven.

6. Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox
When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger—a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she’s spent years planning.

Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn’t want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn’t want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.

Even Tom’s stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can’t stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next?

7. Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis
Baseball player Wade O’Riley’s bad-boy image is about to be cleaned up by publicist Samantha McNead. But the sexual tension between them is about to drive Wade to his knees.

(Seriously I tried looking everywhere for a back cover copy, and was absolutely unable to find it. 2010 when the book was released is about the time I hardlined only buying books in e-format, so I can’t even check. Like I did with See Jane Score.)

 

8. The Winning Season by Alison Packard
Kelly Maxwell has finally landed her dream job as publicist for the San Francisco Blaze. But the team’s newest member, handsome bad boy catcher Matt Scanlon, is refusing every interview. She’s got to get him to open up before the season ends, or she may not be back next year. And after everything she overcame to achieve her dream, Kelly’s not about to let that happen.

Matt Scanlon just wants to be left alone to rebuild his life and his career. After a year of masking the pain of a recent loss with hard partying and fast women, he finally hit rock bottom and was traded to a team he’s loathed his entire life—a team with little to no chance at the post-season.

Butting heads is getting Kelly and Matt nowhere but annoyed, and with the team’s schedule on the road, they can’t avoid close quarters—or their surprising attraction to one another. As the season winds down, Matt finds his growing feelings for Kelly have brought his numbed emotions back to life. But when betrayal shatters their fragile trust, winning it all seems more impossible than ever.

~*~*~*~*~*~

On Monday my debut novel Knowing the Score was released into the digital world, and I’m really hoping that readers love the rugby team I created, the London Legends, as much as I’ve loved SEP’s Chicago Stars and Rachel Gibson’s Chinooks hockey team.

This week on my blog I’m giving away London Legends T-shirts, bags and other cool stuff, as well as the latest contemporary romances by my fellow Carina Press authors. Visit my blog to enter the daily giveaways!

Knowing the Score by Kat Latham
Publication date: August 5, 2013

Knowing the ScoreBook one of the London Legends
Rugby player Spencer Bailey is determined to win a spot on England’s World Cup team. But with a month break before the selectors start watching him, he’s eager to have fun with a woman who knows the score: the relationship will end when rugby season begins. The lovely American Caitlyn Sweeney seems perfect for the role of temporary lover, since her visa will run out soon anyway.

Caitlyn works for an international disaster relief organization and can handle the world’s worst crises, but she flinches from her own. Her past has left her with a fear of intimacy so deep that she has trouble getting close to anyone—until she meets sexy Spencer. His hot body and easygoing nature are too much for even her to resist.

Neither Caitlyn nor Spencer expects to fall hard for each other. But with their relationship deadline approaching, the old rules of the game seem less important than before…until past secrets surface, challenging everything they thought they knew about each other.

Read chapter one

Follow Kat at Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Blog | Newsletter

What are your favorite sports romances? What books do you suggest I read and maybe add to my list?

And remember to congratulate Kat on her book release! Whee!

Guest Selena Laurence: What’s In It For Me?

Hello my friends! ALBTALBS world is all off kilter. Let’s ignore that, shall we? As you see, Selena Laurence is visiting, and I’d love to hear what you have to say in response. Get a discussion going! And guess what? Her debut romance came out on April 22! Isn’t that fantastic? So let’s give this debut author a warm welcome!

What’s In It For Me?

I read a book recently (you’re shocked, I know) and in it the hero is a professional chef whose family doesn’t approve of his career. At one point, his father who is a lawyer, and his brother who is a doctor, ask him something to the effect of, “Who do you help by being a chef? What do you contribute?”

I thought to myself that the same question could be asked of writers. When you write Romance novels, what do you contribute? Who do you help? Why do I write these often denigrated books about people falling in love and doing other assorted ridiculous things?

The answers weren’t hard to come up with. All I needed to do was think about why I read Romance novels. And ultimately, the tagline on my website says it all: Escape the Everyday.

For me, Romance novels are the ultimate therapy. If I’m lonely I can read about people who I’d love to know, and I can feel like I’m part of their lives for a brief period of time. If I’m stressed after a day of wrangling kids and pets and editors, I can get involved in someone else’s problems and have mine seem minor in comparison.

As a Romance writer, my goal is really to give my readers the same things I get from reading Romance novels. If I can make someone laugh, help them feel that blush of first love again, give them a distraction from their own stresses and problems, make them feel a little less alone in the world, then I’ve done my job. It’s simple in concept, harder in practice, and maybe most people don’t consider it important, but to me it’s a highly worthwhile endeavor.

Human beings have always needed entertainers, therapists, mentors, lovers, and friends. A great Romance novel can fulfill all of these functions for a short period of time, and if I can write something that does even one of those things for someone, I consider it a job well done.

Bio: Selena Laurence loves to write romantic stuff that helps you get away. Life can be a grind, and things like jobs and kids and dirty dishes make Jill a dull girl – and Selena too. So, she writes about hot guys and smart girls and exotic locales to give us all an Escape from the Everyday.

Seems like the question is up to me. 😀 You know I love asking stuff. 😉 So – what do romance novels “mean” to you? How do you view, or treat them? Inquiring minds want to know.

Teaser Tuesday: Exclusive Excerpt of A Basic Renovation by Sandra Antonelli

Internet is a wonderful, beautiful thing! And it means that I can introduce you all to debut author Sandra Antonelli today! And can you believe it’s the fourth Tuesday of the month already?! *collapses* (I’ll add links etc when I can for you to buy it! Whee!)

Lesley’s a pro at property redevelopment and making over the old Witteveen place is pretty basic—until rats in the oven send her scrambling to Dominic’s hardware store for d-Con. Poison is exactly what Dominic thinks cute little smart-assed Lesley is. And the reason the one-time quantum physicist’s animosity runs so deep? History. The woman ruined his brother’s life. Now that she’s back in the town, Dominic’s afraid she’ll dredge up a little secret that will demolish his life too. Lesley isn’t beyond baiting too handsome, pompous Dominic, especially since he’s under the impression she’s a lesbian, but when his teenage son is injured she doesn’t hesitate to come to the boy’s aid. Overnight, the single father feels obliged to her. Whether Lesley likes it or not, Dominic steps in to work on the house flip beside her. What starts as a battle to be the last one standing transforms cold fury into a nuclear attraction. This little basic renovation becomes a major life refurbishment for them both.

Beyond nail guns and hammers, the smell of milled timber, caulking and tile grout, there was something earthy, primal about manual labour that made sweating under a coating of cement dust appealing to Dominic. Getting his hands dirty was something he always loved, and brother, had he been thinking about how he could get his hands dirty with the strawberry-blonde examining the rainbow rack of paint sample cards. She’d looked attractive bent over the front counter, but the way she stood now showed off exactly what was wrapped in the pretty package.

Dominic felt his blood flow change direction.

He moved up the aisle to the back of the store, walking towards her. The closer he got, the better she looked, the more ideas he started to have. Cobwebs and crunchy brown pine needles stuck to the back of her sleeveless blue blouse. Most of her sun-kissed ponytail had come undone, but what was secure bounced when she reached out for a booklet of Laura Ashley colour samples. Worn, red cowboy boots accentuated the delectable back curve of her knees. Her olive green cargo shorts were too big for her and sat low over her hips. He got a nice glimpse of creamy, pinkish-white waist when she stretched up on tiptoe for the booklet. She tugged hard at the tightly-packed paper display, jerking so forcefully the entire contents of the rack dislodged and spilled over her in a shower of flapping cardstock.

He heard her swear under her breath as she crouched to pick up the mess she’d made. Another zesty rush of desire hit him low. Glory days, she looked soft, just like a woman ought to. He hated females with sculpted, hard bodies of sinew and bone. God intended women to have curvy bodies and, as far as he was concerned, this woman had everything exactly as nature designed. Lord, he would love to have pulled the band from that messy hair and started something else nature designed.

Mouth twitching over a wolfish smile, he pulled on his sheep’s skin and paused in the aisle behind her. ‘Can I give you a hand with that?’ he asked, all sweet and nice.

She turned slightly, head down, eyes on the Laura Ashley booklets in her hand, hair in her face, just the tip of her nose poking out.

Something about her perfume was familiar. It was light, subtly floral, and tickled his memory in a far off, hazy manner. In the scant millisecond it took his brain to process the scent, to go through a catalogue of females he’d known: Willa, old girlfriends, aunts, ladies he’d worked with at the Sandia Lab in Albuquerque, the woman lifted her chin and turned to look at him. His rakish thoughts deflated.

So did his dick.

Dominic couldn’t believe he’d just had a hard-on for his youngest brother’s ex-whatever one called the female party from an annulled marriage. Were there words for former spouses of an invalidated union? ‘Lesley,’ he said, when his tongue started working again.

‘Hello, Dominic.’ She gave him a small, wavering smile. ‘It’s been a while.’

He looked her up and down, hands on his hips. ‘It’s been what, thirteen years?’

‘More like sixteen,’ she said.

‘Thirteen, sixteen, not much difference there.’ Dominic’s fingertips smoothed over an eyebrow. He was still coming to terms with finding her attractive. He stared at her, trying to figure out why his body had responded so exuberantly.

Lesley stared back and wondered if Dominic was about to spit on her like his mother had. She’d given up feeling awkward and unattractive shortly after leaving Terry and this town, but the scowl on Dominic’s face brought those feelings back. His gaze bore into her as if she were still a naïve twenty-something—with two heads, a mono-brow, buckteeth and horns.

That momentary reminder of ugliness had been enough. Instinct said to avoid him, and she had tried, but he’d sniffed her out and now he blocked her access to the aisle. Lesley was not the type to back down from confrontation and, quite clearly, the way he’d cornered her, confrontation was his intention.

He stood too close, towering over her, which wasn’t hard; at five-one most people did. However, Dominic loomed, in more ways than one. Aloof, and barely twenty-two when he’d received his PhD in Quantum Physics, his intellectual ego was even more imposing than his stature.

Big brains or big bodies, a lot of men used intimidation to their advantage, but that sort of thing never worked on Lesley. That tactic simply ignited her inner Napoleon. Initially, she’d wanted to be civil because she felt that was the right thing to do. She had nothing against him and she’d even tried to smile, but since civil wasn’t going to happen, she could play it his way too.

Sun-burnished threads of gold, red and more than a little silver in his hair made his tanned complexion seem warmer, as hotly intense as his blue-flame gaze. He was, and always had been, intense. Everything about him was just a little too extreme; as if a sculptor trying to copy a piece of Greek artwork had gone a bit overboard. Long, beautiful fingers seemed out of place on hands so huge. He was too tall. His face was a bit wider than it should have been, while his eyebrows were slim, delicate and perfectly arched. Startling aquamarine eyes were too close-set for his broad face and the effect made his crooked nose seem longer than it actually was. The angle of his granite jaw was too severe, too comic book-like, and his smile was a dentist’s dream of perfect whiteness and oral hygiene. His brothers were smaller, classically handsome, but at six-three, forty-six-year-old Dominic was the Mt Everest of the Brennan clan.

Again she smelled cypress, cedar and sweat, and that funny little flutter, the one she’d had up at the counter near the popcorn, was more pronounced than the rumbling of her empty stomach. In fact, it sort of made her aware that something else was and had been empty a lot longer.

The air around them thickened with awkward tension that was compounded by an even more awkward silence.

‘Yeah,’ he said finally, clearing his throat, ‘something’s…different.’

‘I wear contacts now. My hair’s longer.’

She watched the muscle along his sculpted jaw pulse. With his superhero looks, khakis and work shirt, he looked like a guide for an African safari. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing the warm, glowing skin of a man who frequently worked outdoors without a shirt. Lesley had a flash of how he’d look shirtless, as a pin-up boy for a Men of Mensa calendar. It wasn’t fair that time had made him even more attractive. She had another four or five years left of being decent-looking, but as he aged he’d become rugged or distinguished.

She’d just be old.

Dominic had never known what colour her eyes were before. He’d never bothered to take notice, but he did now; his mother collected fancy Wedgwood plates that were the same jasper green. Thick, brown lashes accented that springtime colour, and he thought it was funny that a pair of bookish, wire-framed glasses had once disguised something so vibrant. Her scent was pretty vibrant too and another whiff of it was enough to stir things up. God Almighty, that annoyed him and peevishness flooded into him. He crossed his arms. ‘Oh. Is that what it is? You changed your hair?’

‘Is this where I say you look well, too?’

‘I don’t remember saying you looked well. I said you looked different. Are you different?’

‘I guess you’ll have to tell me.’

‘Here’s what I’ll tell you; in a second, you’re going to leave.’

‘Really?’

‘Isn’t that what you do? Walk out?’

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’

‘Terry.’

‘Oh, Terry. Am I supposed to ask?’

‘Ask what?’

‘How your brother is.’

There was something so wrong with the picture besides the fact he’d found her so tempting. While he was usually quite ambivalent about his youngest brother, Dominic responded like an older brother on the defensive. This woman had started Terry on his road to perdition, but there was something more to it. Lesley reminded him of the one thing in life he intentionally forgot, the one thing he never believed he’d ever have to confront.

The reason Stefanie had left.

Protectively, his hackles went up and he barked, ‘Don’t pretend to fucking care.’

‘I wasn’t pretending anything. I don’t care.’

Dominic glared. His mouth opened, but then snapped shut.

‘I think the word you’re searching for is bitch.’

‘No, Lesley, the word that wanted to roll off my tongue was c—’

‘Uh, Boss?’

Dominic swung around.

Kyle stood behind him. ‘I, um…I…sorry, um,’ he began, fumbling with the band that held back his hair, his eyes darting over Lesley, ‘I’ve got to get out to DP Road for some wood.’

‘OK, go,’ Dominic grunted, jerking his chin toward the store front.

‘You’ve got the keys.’

It only took a second to yank the truck keys from a pocket and toss them over. ‘Go.’

‘One more thing: Mrs Urbanik is waiting for you up front, and I don’t think she’s real happy about your, uh, language.’

Lesley laughed. She slapped Laura Ashley paint books against Dominic’s chest, shoving them into his hands as she shoved him out of the way, and speed-walked to the front of the store.

‘OK boots, start walkin’,’ Dominic taunted, following her. She hurried out the door to the parking lot. He watched her, pull on a helmet, slip on a leather jacket and pair of gloves, and climb on a red motorcycle. She looked directly at him, raising one gloved hand, and gave him the finger.

The bike snarled the way he wanted to. Instead, he turned to bee-hived, bespectacled Mrs Urbanik, and smiled.

Bio: I write quirky romance novels for grown ups & smart asses. By grown up I mean romance fiction about heroines and heroes with more life experience and the associated emotional baggage. This is romance, not “Women’s Fiction’ or the ‘relationship novel.’ I like things with a patina, things and faces that have a history and tell a story.

And Sandra has a question for you: Would you like to see more hawt older women represented as heroines in the romance genre? 

Guest: Sarah M. Anderson

Hi everyone! As you can see we’ve got author Sarah M. Anderson visiting with us today! She just had her very first book come out, so congratulations and happy new release to her! You might also “know” her from the lovely charity drive for the Pine Ridge Reservation she started here – remember that? Um also, if you read her bio, it says “I got … a Master’s of Arts in English from The Ohio State University.” Which basically means she’s awesome. Because she’s a Buckeye. (And if she doesn’t love being a Buckeye and/or Buckeye football *she’s not welcome here anymore.)

So, my debut novel, A Man of His Word, came out last week. Chances are, you can find it just about anywhere you look (unless you’re looking in a town where my grandmother shops, because she keeps buying them en masse and then telling me she doesn’t know what she’ll do with all these extra books). I had two signings in two days, which felt like a lot.

My very first book is out! And people bought it! This meant I needed to have a party!

Except there’s a problem: I don’t ‘have’ parties. I’m not even a huge fan of going to parties, because parties usually mean pressure—pressure to be witty and charming and look good in my clothes while being witty and charming and not getting the spinach dip stuck in my teeth. Especially not that.

In other words, I usually freeze up any social gathering that’s anything other than casual.

But this was different! This is my debut! I had to have a party! Or else!

Oh, that ‘or else.’ A lot of people wanted to celebrate with me. I had mom friends come with their kids because my kid was at this party and I wanted other people there to entertain him. I had family come, some from over five hours away. Retired neighbors, one of my bosses, and don’t forget my 96 ž year old Gram. I had local friends come, and I had one of my oldest friends come—all the way from Texas. She brought me a quilt—that had my book cover on it! Isn’t that the most cool thing ever?

In other words, I had a fairly schizophrenic guest list. Which lead to an immediate problem: what do you feed this wide swath of humanity?

The answer? Dessert.  God blessed me with a husband who views baking as a form of relaxation, so he made cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. We had gift cards to TCBY, so we got an ice cream cake. And, because this was my party, I decided to go big (because the party was already in my home): I ordered a book cake. A cake that looked like my book.

Cake made by Cakes by Kimberly

Oh, yeah! You know how ‘they’ say everyone has a book inside of them? Even more true when you party with me!

Totally awesome. And even better? It was a tasty cake. I got a layer of strawberry cake between two layers of French vanilla. My son insisted he get to eat the part with the horse’s head on it. I tried not to think about how weird that could be. He’s never even seen The Godfather, after all.

Of course, I ordered a cake that would have fed a small village, so we’re going to be eating this cake for most of the rest of the winter. But that’s okay.

Each bite of publishing tastiness will be just as sweet.

I’m giving away one signed copy of A Man of His Word to a commenter who tells me what the neatest/weirdest/ugliest cake they ever ate was. I want all of your cake glory and heartbreak!

This post is brought to you as part of the A Man of His Word Blog Tour. U.S. residents only. For a complete tour schedule and rules, visit www.sarahmanderson.com. Comments on this blog will be entered to win a signed copy of A Man of His Word. All blog comments are added to the Jewelry Grand Prize list. Jewelry Grand Prize announced on January 1st, 2012 to one randomly drawn name on the list.

Attorney Rosebud Donnelly has a case to win. And she never lets anyone see her sweat. But her first meeting with Dan Armstrong doesn’t go according to script. No one warned her that the COO of the company she’s fighting would be so…manly. From his storm-colored eyes to his well-worn boots, Dan is an honest-to-goodness cowboy. But is he honest? Her yearning for the Texas tycoon goes against reason, against family loyalty, against everything she thought she believed in. And yet, in Dan’s strong arms, Rosebud feels she might be ready to risk everything for one more kiss….

Bio: Award-winning author Sarah M. Anderson may live east of the Mississippi River, but her heart lies out west on the Great Plains. With a lifelong love of horses and two history teachers for parents, it wasn’t long before her characters found themselves out in South Dakota among the Lakota Sioux. She loves to put people from two different worlds into new situations and to see how their backgrounds and cultures take them someplace they never thought they’d go.

When not helping out at school or walking her rescue dog, Sarah spends her days having conversations with imaginary cowboys and American Indians, all of which is surprisingly well-tolerated by her wonderful husband and son.

*I was just joking about the her not being welcome bit. Maybe. >.> (And yes, I know some of you are fans of other schools, even M*ch*g*n … and you’re welcome here too. Remember when I even [let] someone say “Go Bl*e” in the comments? 😉 But Sarah went to The Ohio State University. So that changes things.