New Release ~ Julie Lence

 It's my pleasure to share with you my latest release, The Pop Star Loves Her Cowboy! This is book #2 in my Bennett Family Series; is a western contemporary series set in Reno, Nevada. 

Pop star Barbie Bennett is certain her future is with Zach, until a photograph suggests their relationship might be nothing more than a lie. 

Pop-music superstar and CEO of Bella Cosmetics Barbie Bennett is ditching her tour bus for her hometown of Reno, Nevada. Her sweetheart works the family ranch and long summers of separation from him are finally over. When photographs of Zach cozying up to another woman find their way to her desk, Barbie is almost certain he’s the victim of tabloid fodder. But what if she’s wrong and he’s just another man who broke her heart?      

After a knee injury forced him to retire from the rodeo circuit, ranch hand Zach Maldonado is finally in a position to propose to Barbie. He’s gained her father’s approval and has put in motion a romantic evening to pop the question, only Barbie accuses him of stepping out on her. Zach vows to find the culprit behind the comprising photographs and expose the lie. But will that be before or after her anxiety convinces her to cut ties with him?

The Pop Star Loves Her Cowboy is available in both E-book and print on Amazon and can be found here:  www.amazon.com/dp/B0FG48TFYH 

  

   

Willow Tree Tears ~ Guest Author Mandy Eve-Barnett

Happy Thursday, Readers! Please welcome guest author Mandy Eve- Barnett, who is sharing her new release with us. 

Blurb:  For Madison the quarter horse ranch life with her widowed father and the rodeo circuit are all she needs, apart from this year’s barrel racing championship. Romance is not on her radar, her hurt heart needs protecting. She only sees Colton as her high school protector and good friend nothing more. Colton has other plans. A chance encounter with a handsome Italian ignites her long buried passion and Madison finds herself in a love triangle where the choice of tradition, or adventure clash with unexpected rivalry.  

Excerpt: At last, Madison was at the front of the line, and she ordered two hot dogs, the long wait and tempting aroma of frying onions and burgers had heightened her hunger. After squirting generous helpings of mustard and ketchup over the heaped onions on her dogs, Madison turned to leave. Her elbow caught the next customer’s arm, smearing a yellow and red mess across a white tailored shirtfront. One plump hot dog hit the dust. As Madison bent to recover it, apologies flowing toward the shirt wearer, she noticed the most stunning leather boots on his feet.

They must have cost a fortune. If I had money I would get customized boots, I know just what I'd want too, a willow tree design to reflect our ranch's name.

The startling whiteness of the shirt flustered her; it was that white shirt. The one she glimpsed prior to her race.  A rich Italian accent answered her apologies, as the scent of spiced cologne tantalized her nostrils. “Ummm... oops... I'm so sorry, damn it. Clumsy me. Let me get you a hotdog in apology and give you my info to send me the cleaning bill for that shirt.”

“No matter, I’m sure the stain will come out, it is not the first one today. As you can see, sticky cotton candy fingers caught me earlier. However, if you are offering a free hotdog I feel it is a good enough apology.”

When he said 'good', he rolled out the 'o's in the word, sending a shiver down Madison's back. She stood up and raised her chin. Deep chocolate brown eyes met her gaze, a feeling of vulnerability washed over her, an unaccustomed and disconcerting feeling, but it felt great at the same time. Your front is most certainly worth a look, white shirt man.

She stuttered, “Um... all right. How do you like it? Your hotdog, I mean.” Why am I so uncomfortable, I must look like a right idiot? He grinned at her, clearly amused by her embarrassment.

“By the looks of it, the same as you, with everything piled on top. You can never have enough... toppings.”

Madison turned and discarded the spoiled hotdog into the trash to hide her face. Is it his accent that makes everything he says sound suggestive? Or those gorgeous eyes undressing me? He is mesmerizing. She ordered a replacement hotdog for herself and another for the tall dark-haired man, who stood beside her with mustard and ketchup covering the front of his rather classy looking shirt. His eyes penetrated into her very soul, Madison felt drawn to him like no other man. She tried to quash the feeling, disturbed at her susceptibility to a stranger. “Are you sure I can’t pay for your shirt to be cleaned, it looks expensive. I just won the barrel race championship today so take the offer while I'm in the money.” She passed him the hot dog, their fingers touched; an electrical tingle pulsed through her. A connection washed over her, deep down in her soul. Again warmth growing in her heart, it was thrilling and frightening at the same time. Someone brushed past her arm, breaking their gaze and he spoke.

“I have plenty more shirts but thank you for the offer and congratulations on your win. Please, do not worry yourself about the shirt the hotdog is enough. I have come to quite like the taste.” His eyes did not waver as he gazed at her.

Purchase Willow Trees Tears: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9ZVYCC3

About Mandy: Mandy Eve-Barnett is an Edmonton Best Seller, multi-genre author, writing children’s, YA and adult books. With ten books published since 2011, and one more launching in July 2025, and another nine in various stages of completion, her writing life is full. This does not include her writing in numerous anthologies and magazines, and a variety of non-fiction projects through her freelance business, as well as presentations and panelist positions at various writing conferences. Mandy draws on over 10 years’ experience as a multi-genre author, freelance writer and writing community advocate. She is the current Secretary of The Writers Foundation of Strathcona County and Scouting Manager for Relatable Media. She is also past President of the Arts & Culture Council of Strathcona Council and past Secretary of Alberta Authors Co-operative. She hosts the local Writers Circle monthly meeting and creates weekly writing prompts for the WFSC website. Mandy has been blogging since 2010 and has over 3500 subscribers and visitors from 209 countries. 

Mandy's website: www.mandyevebarnett.com

 

 

Family Ties ~ Ruthie L Manier

The older I get, the more I want to know about my family history. Does that sound familiar? I think most of us do. I recently visited my Auntie Darlene, who has researched our family history for years. She gave me some more information that I found interesting. 

 John Harvey Tabor, son of pioneer Elijah Tabor, was raised in Marion County Arkansas, along with the native Americans who lived their first. John’s schooling was hunting and fishing. He was the first white man to start a commercial Apple orchard in Arkansas. John planted 40 to 50 trees for his brother-in-law. This was fifty years before the big apple boom in the rest of Arkansas. At first, they could only sell locally, due to the fact there were no trains near their area. After the trains extended into their county, they were able to expand the business and sell the apples commercially. 

John lived a long life to the age of ninety seven years old. He was a great frontiersman and people loved to listen to his stories of when the country was young and the buffalo still roamed the wild frontier. Wen Arkansas became a state, he witnessed his Indian friends being relocated to a place that is now Oklahoma State. Some of his relatives were murdered in the Mountain Massacre in Utah, as they were on a wagon train migrating to Arkansas. 

 

We have researched my family history on my father’s mother's side back eight generations and I can’t wait to discover more. I might even write a book! 

Speaking of books, I just finished my first draft on “Saving Christine,” This story is dedicated to my sister Martha Christine Moore who recently lost her battle with cancer, a cruel disease. The story is different from my other’s and is part religious, part romance, and part fantasy. I hope you will check it out when it is available! Until then, here is a short summary: 

Susan is grieving the loss of her sister. She's angry at God for taking Christine and is having suicidal thoughts. God (aka boss, or big boss, or boss man) notices and sends Saint Peter on a mission to save Susan. Saint Peter enlists his employee and best friend Gabriel (aka Gabe) to help with the mission. Pete sends Gabe to Middle Realm, the realm between heaven and hell, to speak to Susan and see if he can turn her thinking around, to help her understand that Christine is in a much better place and has no pain. As Gabe starts his mission, he notices right away that the mission's plan needs to be changed and scoops up Susan from the beach. He throws up onto his horse, Midnight, and rides hard to upper ground. Susan fights her grizzly sized kidnapper, but he's much too big to thwart. As the story continues, Susan and Gabe strike up friendship, which leads to love, Gabe takes her up to the Heavenly Realm. I cannot say much more without giving away more of the story.  

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful, safe, Independence Day!

George Story's Interview with Reuben Hayes

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH REUBEN HAYES,

As Written Word for Word by George Story, Independent Reporter

 

So, Mr. Hayes, is it true you’ve killed over a dozen men?

I’ve never killed anyone that didn’t need it, and don’t rightly see as how it’s any of your dadblamed business.

Okay, we’ll table that for now.

We’ll table it period.

About Miss Baylor, the senator’s daughter—

We aren’t discussing Miss Baylor. Not now, not ever.

I hear she’s a guest of yours.

Sonny, unless you want that pretty face rearranged, I suggest you drop it.

Got it.

How about telling me about your ranch. I hear you are starting a new breed of cattle. Care to tell me about that?

Oh, I’m not starting it. Brandon Wade of Silverhills’ Ranch has started the new herehorn breed. I just plan on using his cattle to improve my herd.

Herehorn?

Yeah, it’s a cross between a Hereford and a longhorn.

And what makes them so special?

They taste better than longhorn beef and they’re stronger and more resilient than Herefords.

Now, Mr. Hayes, I don’t want my face rearranged but I hear Miss Baylor has a way with horses.

That she does. Took after her ma in that respect.

And that would be—

That’s enough about Miss Baylor and her ma.

Alright, what about this Hawk character, that’s working for you?

What about him?

I hear he’s a gunslinger.

I don’t set much store by rumor and innuendo. He’s saved Sage—er Miss Baylor —on more than one occasion from grievous harm. That’s good enough for me.

And what grievous harm was that?

I suggest you worry about your own grievous harm instead of Miss Baylor’s.

Okay. Okay. I’d appreciate it if you’d remove your fist from my shirt collar. Thank you. I just have one more question about your house guest.

You don’t listen very well, do you?

It’s a hazard of being a reporter. What is the daughter of a famous senator doing at your ranch?

This interview is over.

And that gentle reader was the end of my interview. Mr. Hayes jumped up so fast, he knocked over his chair. When he made a fist, I was seriously concerned about my face getting rearranged, but he just shook it at me and strode through the door. There’s a mystery here and I have every intention of getting to the bottom of it. Watch for my next column.

 

 

 

The crusty, middle-aged rancher had only ever loved one woman. And now her daughter stood on his doorstep.

 Available at Amazon

 

 

New Release ~ Julie Lence

 Hello Everyone! I'm excited to share with you my new release, The Singer Ropes A Cowboy.  Available exclusively at Amazon, (www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1J88PH), in both e-book and paperback format, this is my 1st contemporary western romance, and the 1st book in the Bennett Family Series. 

Country music superstar Bailey Bennett wasn’t looking for love, until Chip Colucci flashed her a glare she couldn’t resist.  

Blurb:

Country music sensation Bailey Bennett is in New York City to assist her twin sister in the buying of Bella Cosmetics and to look over a Thoroughbred who loathes racing, but while at the track, Bailey encounters an irksome stable hand looking after an abused pinto. Something about the glare in his pretty dark eyes suggests he’s believed too many of the lies printed about her. Something else suggests his sinew is exactly what she needs to overcome the past. Either way, the horses are a package deal, and she reluctantly hires Chip to acclimate them to Bennett Ranch. Has she just made a deal with the Devil? Or has she made the decision of a lifetime?

 A New Yorker his entire life, Chip Colucci values family and honesty above everything else. When his father is seriously injured, he quits night school to take a part-time job bouncing at a strip club. When combined with his salary from the race track, the money’s enough to pay the never-ending doctor bills and keep food on the table. But then, Belmont cuts his hours and he’s forced to hire on with Bailey Bennett. Acclimating the horses to her family’s ranch in Reno isn’t a hardship. Working alongside her is. Lurking behind a brilliant smile is a she-devil who only cares about herself. Trouble is, he wants that she-devil to favor him, for a lifetime and more. 

Excerpt:

“Chip!” Bailey’s hand froze mid-air, as she jerked around his direction. “You startled me.”

“Sorry.” He halted just out of her reach. “Thought you’d be buried beneath your blankets dreaming whatever girls dream.”

“Nope. Too many thoughts running through my mind.” 

“The horses?” He nodded toward Misty and Polly.

“Them, the Christmas show, Bella, Barbie…” Her fingers glided into the pinto’s mane. “You can’t sleep, either?”

“Nope. Miss the sound of the subway rattling by.”

Liar.

“I can understand that. When I’m home, I get used to the quiet of the ranch. When the tour starts, it takes me a few days to get used to Paulie and the others on the bus.”

“You live on the ranch?” He stepped closer, kept his gaze on her and her makeup free complexion.

“I had a condo close to the recording studio, but I moved back here after I hired Paulie. I…” she ran her palm down the side of her jeans, “like being near the horses.”

“Nice,” he absently replied. She has brown flecks in her eyes. Never knew that.

“Barbie has the room next to mine. When we’re home, Mom spoils us. And the ranch hands watch over us. Who can resist that?”

“Not a clue.” She’s got a tiny indent on her cheekbone. Makeup must cover it.

“You must feel the same sense of security living in your childhood home.”

“Sure.” He considered her hair. Long, thick, silky; What did she just say? Something about security and the ranch hands. He met her gaze, noted the tiredness staring back at him. But past that lurked something else. Unease? Could be. “I live at home by choice. Before Pops’ accident, I was going to school at night. Lot easier paying for books when I don’t have to pay rent.” Does she fear being alone with me? She didn’t seem to mind those times at Belmont.

“What are you studying?”

“Veterinary medicine.”

“Really?!” Her entire being brightened.

Maybe not me. “Got the urge when I worked my cousin’s ranch, but with Pops laid up, I had to quit school. Don’t know if I’ll ever go back.”

“Oh, don’t say that.” She grasped his arm.

Definitely not me. He gazed down at her hand. Slender fingers… long, manicured fingernails…

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. When Barbie and I started in this business, we sang backup for our brothers. It was fun, but in my heart, I knew rock-n-roll wasn’t for me. I wanted a career in country music and caused a rift  when I left for Nashville.”

“You talking about Barbie?” He kept his gaze on her hand. “People leave gossip magazines at the track. A lot of articles talked about a feud between her and you.”

“I didn’t want for her and me to go our separate ways. I wanted her to come with me.” She sighed heavily. “The worst was when our managers scheduled us to appear together. We’d smile and sing for the fans, but backstage, she barely spoke to me. It broke my heart.”

“If Dominic barely spoke to me, I wouldn’t cry. I’d celebrate.”

“You say that now, but you wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, pretty sure I would. He talks more than a girl.”

“When she has something to say, Barbie won’t come up for air. But she’s sweet, and she’s been…” She swallowed hard. “I’ve been…” Tears welled in her eyes and she looked away.

“Awe, hey, look, don’t cry.” He touched her cheek and heat ricocheted up his arm. Sonofa… “You love your sister. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

“I do.” She sniffled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I actually enjoy joshing with people.”

“Good.” He ran the pad of his thumb beneath her eye, dried the wetness from her skin. She’s soft, and too damn vulnerable when she cries.

Hold her, that flutter urged. Comfort her.

Hell, no! He dropped his hand, stepped back. “I should get back to the bunkhouse.”

“And me to my room.” She lowered her lashes, but not before he glimpsed her eyes glistening again.

Awe, hell. He gently pulled her to him, held her close and felt her tremble. Or was that him?

 

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoy Bailey and Chip's story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hugs! 

New Release: SHERIFF TYREE, second in the Keeper series

 

Blurb:

Keeper Tyree has a reputation of being the toughest, most fearsome bounty hunter in Kansas. Now he’s sheriff of El Dorado.

 

Description:

There’s a new sheriff in town.

Instead of chasing bounties all over the state, Keeper Tyree has taken the job of sheriff of El Dorado.

Everything is going well. He’s tamed the town and now he doesn’t have to knock more than a few heads together a day, and has no more than one or two occupants in the calaboose at a time. Then a stranger comes to town. A stranger bent on vengeance and the man he wants to bring down is Keeper.

Mitchell Jordan holds Keeper personally responsible for his daddy being hung. He believes in an eye for an eye and he’s out to even the score. A family member for a family member.

Keeper is fearless, except where his loved ones are concerned. They’re his one weakness and there’s nothing he won’t do to keep them safe. No matter which side of the law he has to come down on. There’s no right or wrong, there’s just taking care of his own. And now they’ve been threatened.

Jordan leads Keeper out of El Dorado down a winding trail of danger and deceit, and that trail won’t end till one of them is lying boots up six feet under.

Keeper surely does enjoy a good cup of coffee.

 

Dora, one of Maybell’s girls, is always flirting with him, but he only has eyes for his new bride.

 

When Keeper married Cathleen, he had the exact same ring he gave her made for her young daughter so Aislinn would know there was room in his heart for her too.

 

Bio:

Sandra, who writes as both Sandra Cox and S. Cox, is an animal lover and avid gardener. She spent a number of years in the Midwest chasing down good Southern BBQ. By the time she moved to North Carolina where Southern BBQ is practically a staple, she’d become a vegetarian.

She and her husband are ruled by a dog and several cats. An award-winning author, her stories consist of all things Western and more.

Sandra can be found at http://www.sandracoxwriter.com

OR http://www.cowboytrivia.blogspot.com

OR https://sandracox.blogspot.com 

 

Buy Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Sheriff-Tyree-Keeper-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0CN3S271W