AUTHOR PAULINE BAIRD JONES SHARES CHRISTMAS MEMORIES THAT INSPIRED TWO SCI-FI ROMANCE NOVELLAS

USA Today bestselling author Pauline Baird Jones never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. Learn more about Pauline and her books at her website. 

One of the traditions that I share with the characters of Open With Care is going home, of the need to be home with loved ones for the holidays. I can still remember singing, “Over the river…to grandmother’s house we go” as a child. I was so excited it was painful, and as we’d sing, I’d peer out the car window and wonder if Santa was flying by overhead. Oh yes, I believed.

Now, I grew up close to both my grandmothers, so our “over the river” didn’t take that long. But our Christmas Eve was for my “over the river” grandma. As a child, I remember clambering out of the car, crunching across the snow toward a light square of welcoming warm and being met with loving hugs and a holiday treat—not a big one because my “over the river” Grandma had a lot of grandkids. That’s the other part of the memory. Lots of cousins and chaos. 

And then back in the car and home for the long night’s wait for Santa’s visit. Then my closer Grandma would join us for the unwrapping. She’d settle in a chair and exclaim over our presents and return our thank you hugs for her small gifts so carefully wrapped and so ruthlessly unwrapped.

But wrapped in all the memories, in the heart of them all is the love, so much love and joy at being together.

Going home for Christmas was both harder—and more special—after I married and we moved a long way from home. I remember one Christmas in particular. We lived in New Orleans at the time and had had the trip planned for several months when the weather turned on us.

It was feared that it MIGHT snow in New Orleans—yes you read that right; it didn’t actually snow—but they basically shut the city down and cancelled all the flights. Yeah, on a might. 

Luckily we were able to get out the next day, but it caused problems all along the line. I can still remember the face of the car rental agent when we explained why we were a day late. This was in Salt Lake City where it had snowed. And snowed. And snowed. It had snowed so much, they were hauling the snow out in trucks.

And we were a day late because of a “might” that didn’t happen.

That trip was defined by record-breaking snow (and our no snow beginning) and record breaking cold. The below zero kind that makes your jeans stiff.

And family hugs. Family love. Family time and the chance for our kids to experience an honest-to-goodness white Christmas.

In Open With Care I tried to capture that feeling of anticipation, but anticipation tempered with an adult perspective and with adult problems waiting for my heroine when she gets home. 

Of course, because this is fiction, there are more problems waiting for her than an aging parent to be dealt with. 

Open With Care

A collection of two sci-fi romances inspired by the spirit of giving

Unexpected guests come bearing gifts. This interstellar Christmas will be one for the ages…

Gini won't let her bickering family or the incoming blizzard dampen her holiday spirits. But nothing could prepare her for the uninvited houseguests. She's not sure if she's ready to exchange gifts with the man who broke her heart or the little green aliens on the roof. 

But the intergalactic visitors have a gift for Gini… a taste of the youth and love she left behind…

Jane MacKenzie has never opened a Christmas gift that transformed her world. At least, not until she accidentally opens a box to find a man who was lost in a blizzard over 100 years ago. Jane isn't sure how to handle the strange visitor and his otherworldly agreement…

But the Christmastime encounter may just open her heart to a love that can stand the test of time. 

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GUEST AUTHOR DONNA SCHLACHTER ON THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Donna Schlachter writes historical suspense under her own name and contemporary suspense under her Leeann Betts alter ego. Donna also teaches writing classes and courses and is a ghostwriter and editor of both fiction and nonfiction. Learn more about her and her books at her website where you can receive a free book by signing up for her newsletter. Today Donna joins us to discuss how she came up with the idea for Train Ride to Heartbreak, the novella she contributed to The Mail-Order Brides Collection.

The idea for this story came from a love of a movie and a friend with a great story to share.

The movie was The Fugitive, both the original series pilot and the more recent remake. I loved the idea of a train ride leading to a second chance.

My friend had recently taken a train ride from Denver to San Francisco, and she shared several delightful stories. I wondered if a train ride might be like a cruise in that it would provide an insulated environment where the travelers might do something they’d never done before. If so, this was perfect fodder for a romance, much like the old TV show, The Love Boat.

And then I saw Murder on the Orient Express, and as a lover of anything Agatha Christie, decided to incorporate a few of the details in my story.

The result? A chance meeting, two characters with integrity, and a way for God to reach both of them.

The Mail-Order Brides Collection

What kind of woman would answer an advertisement and marry a stranger?

Escape into the history of the American West along with nine couples whose relationships begin with advertisements for mail-order brides. Placing their dreams for new beginnings in the hands of a stranger, will each bride be disappointed, or will some find true love?

Train Ride to Heartbreak

1895, Train to California

John Stewart needs a wife. Mary Johannson needs a home. On her way west, Mary falls in love with another. Now both must choose between commitment and true love.

October 1895

Mary Johannson has scars on her body that can’t compare with the scars on her heart. She is alone in the world, with no family, no prospects, and no home.

John Stewart is at his wit’s end. His wife of three years died in childbirth, leaving him with a toddler and an infant, both girls. Theirs was the love of fairy tales, and while he has no illusions about finding another like her, his children need a mother.

Though separated by thousands of miles, John and Mary commit to a mail-order marriage. But on their journey to Heartbreak, they meet another and realize the life they’d planned would be a lie. Can they find their way back from the precipice and into the love of God and each other, or are they destined to keep their word and deny their heart?

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A COWGIRL'S FRUSTRATIONS

Donna Schlachter writes historical suspense under her own name and contemporary suspense under her Leeann Betts alter ego. Donna also teaches writing classes and courses and is a ghostwriter and editor of both fiction and nonfiction. Learn more about her and her books at her website where you can receive a free book by signing up for her newsletter. Today her heroine, “Cactus” Lil Duncan, from A Prickly Affair, one of the seven stories in the A Bouquet of Brides Collection, joins us for a bit of insight into her life.

At the time my story begins, I would say my biggest frustration was the fact that I was penning love stories but had never been in love. Not even once. Not a kiss behind the schoolhouse. Not a pitter-patter of my heart when dancing at the local barn dance, not even a dreamy thought in my head about a handsome cowboy glimpsed on a shopping trip to town.

Which might surprise you, but wasn’t really so strange at the time.

Love was a scarce commodity in a land as harsh as Arizona Territory of the time. Hot days, desiccating winds, piercing sand storms, droughts as deep and black as the devil’s heart—at least, if I believed what my mother said—none of this encouraged tears of joy or gasps of delight.

So with none in my real life, I set about to create a world I could escape into. And I didn’t need a fancy dress, or a parasol, or button-up boots. All I needed was a pen, paper, and a few minutes in the evening between eating dinner and collapsing into my bed. Alone.

But looking back on the entire situation now, I can see the hand of God in all of this. If my head was filled with useless notions of how love should be, I might have missed the real thing when it came along.

Just another example of how He had it all under control the whole time.

A Bouquet of Brides Collection

A Collection of Seven Novellas by Seven Different Authors

Meet seven American women who were named for various flowers but struggle to bloom where God planted them. Can love help them grow to their full potential?

A Prickly Affair

A rough-and-tumble cowgirl, “Cactus” Lil Duncan longs for true love, but is afraid to let down her prickly exterior when a city slicker from New York City, with less-than-honorable intentions, tries to win her heart and her hand.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR DANITA CAHILL AND LONDON BROIL

photo by Jeremy Keith

Danita Cahill is an award-winning writer and photographer. Besides running children to and fro and caring for her gardens, critters and family, Danita stays busy working on magazine assignments and dreaming up love stories for her next books. Learn more about Danita and her books here.

Danita is sponsoring a Kindle Fire 6" HD giveaway January 1-7, 2015. Click here to enter for a chance to win!

Why Cowboys?

I didn’t start out intending to write about cowboy heroes and the cowgirls who steal their hearts. I started out publishing nonfiction pieces in community newspapers. Freelancing for 11 different northwest newspapers, I wrote and published more than 2,100 stories over the years. After a couple of decades of newspaper writing and photography assignments, I expanded into magazine work, falling neatly into a niche of writing about all things rural.

Since I’m a small-town country girl at heart, the rural niche fit well.

I grew up on a farm where we raised pigs, chickens and beef cattle. We milked a couple of dairy cows and made our own cheese, butter and delicious homemade ice cream. We planted an immense organic vegetable garden every year.

From a young age I’ve had a burning love for horses, and dozens of horses and ponies have galloped in and out of my life. From 2001-2007, I was a volunteer deputy with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Posse. One of our primary missions was wilderness search and rescue on horseback. We also rode in parades with the sheriff, and we did armed security on foot and on horseback at local events. I still keep a mare named Koko.

But there was even more than my background pointing me towards writing about cowboys – chiefly my daughter and her husband. They met through their mutual love of rodeo when they were both learning to ride bulls. Yes, my beautiful daughter rode bucking bulls. And yes, I bit my nails to the quick during those two summers. Yet, I have to admit, my heart swelled with pride when I watched her make her first eight-second ride, her blonde ponytail bouncing in the dust-filled sunshine. My daughter and son-in-law now ride in a northwest rodeo circuit – she’s a barrel racer, he’s a bareback bronc rider. 

When I began writing fiction I always set my stories in small towns. After all, they are what I know and love best – not only from experiencing small-town living, but also from my years of covering neighborhood community life for newspapers. My first published novel, Mist, is set in a small, fictional Oregon Coastal town. Next, I wrote the first book in my Bellham Romance Series, Love at First Click. It is set in both that same little coastal town, and in Bellham – a quaint, fictional town in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Bellham is a quirky, close-knit farming and ranching community.  

Farming and ranching equals cowboys, right?

Right!

So, I added the Valley River Rodeo to Bellham’s list of annual events, and cowboys make a strong appearance in my latest release, First Cowboy Kiss.

Cowboy characters were so much fun to write that cowboys will continue to play leading roles in future Bellham Romances. After all, what romance reader, or writer, can resist a hot, kind-hearted, yet rough-around-the-edges cowboy? I know I can’t.

“The best way to cook any part of a rangy ol’ longhorn is to toss it in a pot with a horseshoe, and when the horseshoe is soft and tender, you can eat the beef.”– Texas Bix Bender  

Or you could skip the horseshoe and marinate the beef before cooking for a tender and tasty main dish: 

London Broil

2 ½ lbs. beef – flank steak, top-round steak or roast

Marinade:

4 large garlic cloves, minced

4 T. balsamic vinegar

4 T. fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. soy sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flakes

2/3 cup olive oil

In a bowl, whisk together marinade ingredients until well combined. Place beef in a plastic, gallon-size freezer bag and pour marinade over it. Press out excess air and seal bag. Refrigerate for eight hours, turning bag once or twice. Remove beef. Discard marinade. Grill meat, or sear under broiler, 7-8 minutes on one side. Flip meat over and grill or broil for 7-8 minutes more. Do not overcook. Transfer beef to a cutting board and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Eat hot. Refrigerate leftovers and use later cold for sandwiches.

First Cowboy Kiss

Nothing is Sweeter than Love’s First Kiss…

First Cowboy Kiss is a sweet, tender novella of young love.

Bellham Romances all interconnect through characters and location, but each can easily be read as a stand-alone book. 

Meet the Cowboy…

Mia Donovan is lonely. So, her best friend sets her up to meet a cowboy at the local Rodeo. But Mia is shy, and it takes all her courage to approach a good-looking cowboy that may, or may not, be the right one.

Watch the Cowboy Ride…

Bareback bronc rider, Tanner Michaels, is definitely interested in Mia. But first he has a bucking horse to ride. He can’t afford to let thoughts of Mia fill his head until those eight seconds are over.  

Mia watches Tanner ride. Her nerves twist in knots when he’s bucked off. How badly is he hurt?

Get Rescued by the Cowboy…

Later that day, it’s Tanner’s turn to worry when Mia, who can’t swim, is knocked into the deep end of a pool. Tanner jumps in and rescues her. But why isn’t she coming to?

First Cowboy Kiss is available at Amazon as a Kindle Countdown Deal – only $0.99 January 3-9! Or enjoy it for free through Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners Lending Library.

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