Grass Valley Brides

 by Shanna Hatfield

I'm excited and honored to be part of a new historical collection of romances called Regional Romance Series written by Kari Trumbo, Kit Morgan, Peggy L. Henderson, and me. 

There are four books in the series and they all release September 14!

What's really neat about the series is that each book is a collection of three stories. So, if you buy all four books, you actually get twelve stories. 

My contribution to the series is Grass Valley Brides. The idea for this book came from a contemporary series I've written called Grass Valley Cowboys.  The stories are about the Thompson family and their friends in modern day Grass Valley, Oregon. As I wrote those books, I pondered what life might have been like when the town first started.

So, when the opportunity to participate in the Regional Romance Series  popped up, it seemed like a great time to dive into the town's history and write this story.

The town was established in 1878, and all three of my stories take place in 1884. By then, the town was starting to grow and there was daily stagecoach service through the area. 

Here's a little about Grass Valley Brides.

What’s a matchmaker to do when the husband-to-be rejects the bride?

Again . . .

Widowed as a young wife, Cara Cargill turned her head for business and love of romance into a successful mail-order bride enterprise. She’s never had a problem matching couples until one mule-headed man continues to refuse to wed the women she sends to meet him in Grass Valley, Oregon. In an effort to make a match he’ll keep and uphold her sterling reputation, Cara is desperate to find the perfect bride.

Daisy – When her fiancé leaves her at the altar, Daisy Bancroft knows it is far past time for a change. Her dearest friend, Cara, offers to send her to a newly established town in Oregon, where possibilities abound and the grass is rumored to be as tall as a man’s head. Daisy arrives with plans to wed Tagg Thompson, only to find the obstinate rancher has foisted her off on his best friend.

Birdie – Tired of waiting for her Mister Right to magically appear and whisk her away to a happily-ever-after, Bridget “Birdie” Byrne convinces her sister, a renowned matchmaker, to send her as the bride to Tagg Thompson. The man who greets her upon her arrival isn’t Tagg, but Birdie is certain she’s finally discovered the man she is meant to marry.

Cara – Fed up with Tagg Thompson and his refusals of every bride she’s sent to Grass Valley for him to wed, Cara decides to meet the exasperating man in person. Her feet are barely on the ground in the rustic town before she’s nearly bowled over by a herd of stampeding cattle and swept into the brawny arms of a cowboy with the bluest eyes she’s ever seen.

Will true love find its home in the hearts of these Grass Valley Brides?

Here's an excerpt:

My dear Mrs. Cargill,

Happy spring greetings to you. Are the flowers blooming there now? We don’t have a lot of flowers here, beyond the ones that grow wild, but they are starting to bloom. In fact, there’s quite a field of them behind the church and another a few miles north of town.

I’ve got a hundred and three new calves and a few left to arrive, but it’s a good healthy crop of them this year. We’ve also got little baby chicks, and several colts. There are piglets, and, because I had a hankering for lamb stew, there are now a dozen sheep on the place, too. I’ve recently acquired the piece of land that borders mine to the east, giving me another section of ground. I’m not going to do a thing with it this year because the grass is perfect for my cattle to graze.

I’ve been talking to a fellow up north of us who wants to move to a warmer winter climate. He’s got thirty good head of cattle I’m thinking about buying, but we’ll see if he really does decide to move. Poor man lost his wife and daughter two years ago, and just hasn’t had his heart in the place since then.

Speaking of hearts, I still find myself in need of a bride. Maybe you should just send half a dozen at a time and I can start weeding them out faster. I’m not getting any younger, you know. I still plan on having youngsters someday, but I’d sure prefer to do it before I’m too old to pick them up or to chase after them on arthritic-plagued knees.

If you still haven’t sent a proper bride by the time the snow flies, I think I’ll come to Philadelphia and help you out. What would you think of that?

Until next time, your devoted and yet-to-be-satisfied client,

T. Thompson

Available on Amazon for only $2.99

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.


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JOINING FORCES By Kathleen Lawless @kathleenlawless

MAP was an expression I hadn’t heard until recently.  It stands for Multi Author Project, and once I grasped the concept I was intrigued.  The organizer comes up with a series idea, sets up a release schedule, and invites other authors who write in that genre to join in and pick a date.  Each author comes up with her own characters; their names, their backstory, their baggage, their HEA, within the loose confines of the series.  In this case, a mail-order bride gets off the train with a baby under the age of two that the hero/groom is not expecting.  
Mail Order Bride!  Secret Baby!  Say no more!    

Writing is very solitary, so it’s wonderful to be part of things with other authors like getting together for a launch party.  Widows, Brides, and Secret Babies launched in March to much fanfare and lots of orange flags on Amazon.  You can check the titles out here.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084WYL1QX

This sweet historical series’ popularity shows no sign of waning as I get ready to launch Mail Order Olivia on June 25^th. 

Here’s a teaser from my second-chance, mail-order bride, secret baby book.

          Robert Fulsom paced the train platform in Yuma, practicing what he would say to his mail-order bride when she arrived.  Sorry for dragging her across the country didn’t seem adequate.  He had to make sure she realized it had nothing to do with her—it was him.  He simply wasn’t ready to take on a wife.

          He glanced again at the telegram in his hand.  Olive Brown.  He had no idea what she looked like, but even her name sounded drab, poor thing.  He’d heard many of these mail-order brides were either homely or plump, forced to marry a stranger sight-unseen because they had no suitors back east.  He had to tactfully ensure she didn’t think he was rejecting her because of her appearance. 

          In the cramped train seat, Olivia cradled her sleeping daughter to her chest, grateful for the respite after more than a week of trying to keep Chloe entertained, when all the little bundle of energy wanted to do was crawl around and try to walk.  At thirteen months, Olivia expected Chloe would be taking her first step any day. 

          She deliberately hadn’t used her real name in her telegram to Robert.    At first, she’d been overjoyed to learn he wasn’t dead as she’d been led to believe.  Then doubt set in.  Why had he not returned for her as promised?  And why was his ad for a bride tucked into a coat pocket of her deceased husband?  

MAIL ORDER OLIVIA is available for pre-order.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086JFJ6YC        

As always, I have a couple of free Sweet Western Historicals for my VIP Readers on my email list.  Get yours here. http://eepurl.com/bV0sb1