With
KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAYS
November 28 – December 1
We’re Giving Away Kindles!
One Each Day! https://bookwrapt.com/black-friday/
Who
needs to stand in lines on Black Friday or wait until Cyber Monday to score
bargains? Not you.
Not
when you can score some awesome reads right now in our Black Friday Book Sale.
Karen Michelle Nutt's books: MAGIC OF THE LOCH, TWO WORLDS COLLIDED, and END OF THE ROAD are priced at 99¢!
Contemporary romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, erotic romance,
mystery, NA/YA, science fiction, fantasy, we have it all! EVERY BOOK in our
sale is either discounted or free for the four days of this event ONLY.
And while you’re browsing the sale, be sure to play our
Scavenger Hunt game for your chance to take home a Kindle Fire 7. We’re giving
away a Fire to one lucky winner each day of the sale!
Look for Books from Your Favorite Authors!
Anna Durand • Bethany-Kris • Chloe Flowers • Christine Myers •
DB McNicol • Debbie White • Diane Benefiel • Donna Schlachter • E.B. Black • Em
Petrova • Erica Monroe • Heidi Vanlandingham • Jacki Delecki • Jacqueline
Diamond • Jami Klein • Jamie K. Schmidt • Jana Richards • Jenna Barwin • Jerri
Corgiat • Josie Riviera • Karen Michelle Nutt • Karina Kantas • Kerry Blaisdell
• Kim Hornsby • Laine Watson • Laura Ashwood • Lia Davis • Lucy Lakestone •
Margaret Tanner • Marlow Kelly • Megan Ryder • Melissa McClone • Michelle
Dalton • Mimi Barbour • Nina Beaumont • Penelope Wylde • Quinn • Ravyn Wilde •
Renee Carr • Rhondi Ann • Rose Pearson • Soraya Naomi • Stephanie Queen •
Stormy Legend • Sydney Aaliyah Michelle • Theresa Beachman • Aileen Harkwood
Angela Raines is here today to tell us about her story Duty featured in Hot Western Nights. Let's give her a warm welcome. Readers please feel free to ask questions or leave a comment.
Karen: What inspired your story, Duty?
Angela: I was in a Pen Women meeting and we were writing to music. Miranda showed up and the scene where we meet her was started in that meeting. Later Dan became part of the story from and idea about the past and hunting criminals. (I used to work with Juvenile Delinquents, so that is a natural progression.)
Karen: It's always interesting to find out how a story takes root. What was your all time favorite Western?
Angela: I have to say I don’t have an all time favorite. It’s usually whatever I’m watching at the time, but I love the TV show of “The Magnificent Seven”, “Cheyenne”, “Whispering Smith”- with Audie Murphy, and “Tombstone Territory”.
Karen: Favorite western actor and why? What did he or she star in?
Angela: If I was forced to chose, I would probably go with Joel McCrea. While he was brilliant in ‘Ride the High Country’ with another outstanding Western actor, Randolph Scott, my favorite of his films is ‘Four Faces West’.
Karen: Tell the readers where they can find you.
Angela: You can find me on the website angelaraines.net when construction on the site is finished. You can also contact me at angelarainesauthor at gmail dot com. My books are listed on my Amazon and Goodreads pages, along with additional information. Amazon/ Goodreads
Karen: Thank you so much for sharing today. Readers enjoy a excerpt of Duty below.
Add caption
About the story DUTY:
Dan Loomis is searching for a dangerous deserter when it leads him Miranda Foster. Can Dan leave his search to help Miranda fend off a range war? Or will his devotion to duty keep him from the woman who could mean everything to him? Duty is everything to both Dan and Miranda. Will it hinder or help as these two strive to negotiate events?
EXCERPT:
Not one to run from trouble when escape was impossible, Dan stepped outside, lounging against the door. When the riders failed to see him, Dan grinned. He stepped forward, "Help you folks?"
His words halted all but one. A wiry, older man continued right to the edge of the overhang. He was dressed in range clothing, but Dan thought he was something more. The man's gruff voice demanded, "What are you doing here? This is private property."
Grabbing hold of his fast rising temper, Dan looked the old man in the eye. One thing he disliked was people who judged others as less than themselves. Usually,they believed they owned the world, that everyone had to march to their orders. At the same time, Dan gave the old man the benefit of the doubt. He might just be obeying the orders of someone else. Dan could wait and see.
He was the stranger. He had a job, and getting killed before he found his man, was pointless. Dantamped down his temper. He grinned, "Looking for a friend was supposed to be living here."
About the Author:
Angela Raines is the pen name for Doris McCraw. Doris is an author, historian, poet and actor/musician. She moved from the historically rich region of West Central Illinois to the equally history rich Colorado. Many of her works focus on the history that has surrounded her all her life.
Let's offer a big hello to J. Arlene Culiner who pens engaging tales with quirky characters. She's here today to tell us about her story The Lady Piano Player,featured inHot Western Nights.
Karen: The readers are curious to know what you are working on now?
Arlene Culiner:I’m continuing to write about Blake’s Folly, and at the moment I’m working on a story that takes place in the late 1940s. The heroine is Polina, a Russian woman, a war refugee who has ended up as a hat-check girl in Reno. The man who falls in love with her, Cal Hardy, owns one of the last saloons in Blake’s Folly. In 1944, Cal was in Europe as part of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and because of this experience, he can well imagine what Polina went through before coming to America.
Karen:Have you ever been to a Ghost Town? If so tell the readers your experience there. If not, where would you like to visit and why?
J. Arlene Culiner: I thrive on ghost towns and I’ve seen many. One I often visited was an abandoned Hungarian manor lost in weedy fields. It was surrounded by the very many empty buildings where once overseers, servants, farm workers, serfs all formed a whole village. Now nothing was left but gaping windows and destroyed walls. Most of the destruction took place under the communists, just after WWI, and again after WWII.
Other ghostly places were long abandoned Turkish caravanserai, once important stops for merchants of the silk trade; and the destroyed towns in the West Sahara, abandoned by the Saharawi inhabitants during the Moroccan war.
Strongest in my mind is the ghostly community in Pickering, Ontario, Canada where my grandparents once lived. In the early 1900s, this was a Socialist/Anarchist community, and incredibly lively. However, when the original inhabitants died off, no one took their place.
I had no idea what I would find when I went back out there in 2001 — the last time I had seen it was in around 1960. The red brick farmhouse at the entry was now derelict; the gravel lane leading into the colony was overgrown; vandals had burnt down some of the cottages, destroyed the interiors of the others, and decorated all with bullet holes and obscenities.
However, my grandparent’s cottage was still standing. After finding a few old tools in the shed, I managed to pry back the wooden boards covering one window, and I climbed inside. So much had been left behind — crocks, cloths, a copper oiling can, beds with rusty springs, mattresses, the big round table where my grandfather played endless games of cards with his cronies.
Afterward, I managed to enter other cottages, and there, too, I found pictures hanging on walls, clothes on hangers in the closets, curtains in the windows, plates, cutlery, and furniture.
Karen: Wow, that is so interesting. What an intersting experience to find your grandparent's cottage still there. Did the people who once lived there think they would come back one day, pick up where they left off?
J. Arlene Culiner: Perhaps the word “forever” was too frightening. After that, I returned to this abandoned village each time I was in Canada. It wasn’t really a comforting place: I was always alone out there (at least, I hoped I was) and the only noises I could hear were bare stalks rustling, branches scratching, pines hissing, and loose boards tapping — but ghost towns always do come equipped with thrills and chills.
Sadly, the colony was destroyed two years ago. A developer bought the land, ripped out all the trees, flattened the hills, smashed down the cottages, dug up the lanes, and built ticky-tacky rows of identical houses.
Karen: How heartbreaking that the place is gone, but it is wonderful you have photos of this place in history. Thank you, J. Arlene Culiner, for sharing with us today.
Readers, please feel free to ask questions or just say hello. Enjoy a snippet below of The Lady Piano Player, too.
About The Lady Piano Player
Essie Delevaux left Baltimore dreaming of freedom and romance in the Far West, but an arranged marriage to a violent drunk shattered her hopes. Tired and worn out when her marriage ends, she still has determination. How do single women survive in rough Western boomtowns? Some become laundresses, or cooks; others go begging or turn to prostitution. The chance to become a piano player in a saloon-cum-bordello seems like the perfect solution for Essie, even though it puts her in constant contact with the dangerously attractive Matt Curley. Still, she is wise enough to keep her emotions in check, isn’t she?
Journalist Matt Curley is a man of the world, and adventure takes him from Philadelphia to steamboats on the Colorado River, and from Canadian snows to boomtowns. He’s every woman’s dream, too, but all know he’s not here to stay. Matt needs all the excitement new horizons can bring. Before he does leave Blake’s Folly, though, he wants to make certain Essie Delevaux is settled in and happy. How he enjoys their mornings together in the empty saloon, drinking coffee, sharing secrets. And what if he wants more than just innocent friendship?
Available at:
Enjoy an Excerpt:
“You a widow?”
“No.” She could hear the tightness in her voice, feel the tension in her shoulders.
His eyes glinted. “A runaway wife.”
“Not that either.” Did she have to say more? Of course she didn’t. But people were bound to be asking her that same question over and over, so she might as well get used to it. “I left of my own accord, but with my husband’s full agreement. He’ll be looking into getting a divorce.”
“And your children?”
“No children. I’ve never had any.”
He nodded, but said nothing. Had he heard the note of anger in her voice? She’d done her best to sound neutral, but neutrality wasn’t an easy note to hit when thinking of Sam Graham.
Matt Curley stood slowly, walked in her direction — no, walk wasn’t the word she could use. He sauntered, a slow, elegant, certain saunter. A man sure of himself, of his power to seduce. Yes, that was why she’d been so wary of him yesterday. Be careful, her mind warned her.
He stopped when he was standing beside her. Smiled. No, there was nothing seductive in his smile. She’d been wrong. What had she been imagining? That she was still the young attractive woman she had been years ago? Attractive enough to interest a man like this? What a fool she was.
About the Author:
Photographer, social critical artist, musician, actress, and writer, J. Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest where, much to local dismay, she protects all creatures, particularly spiders and snakes. She enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with very strange characters.
Let's go behind the scenes and find out more about Kaye Spencer and what she's working on after writing Give My Love To Rose.
Karen: What hidden talent do you possess outside of writing…something you do for fun, but are good at?
Kaye: Other than I occasionally play the harmonica for the entertainment and amusement of my
grandchildren, I have no hidden talents. I don’t have hobbies. I’m not artistic. I don’t know if I call it ‘fun’, as it’s more of an obsession/necessity, but I feed and provide shelter for feral cats and kittens in my neighborhood. When I’m able to tame them just enough to trap them (live trap or entice them into a pet carrier), I have them neutered, give them rabies vaccinations, and turn them loose. It’s a good day when I find a home for a kitten or a mama and her babies.
Karen: A hero for feral cats. I love it. I call that a hidden special talent.
What are you working on now?
Kaye: I’m nearly finished with a historical romantic suspense novel that begins with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre—February 14, 1929. The title is ‘Chicago Lightning’.
Karen: I recently went to the Mob Museum in Las Vegas and they had the actual brick wall from that horrible day. I'm curious to know more about your tale.
Have you ever been to a Ghost Town? If so, tell the readers your experience there. If not, where would you like to visit and why?
Kaye: I’ve been to several ghost towns. I must have chosen ho-hum ghost towns to visit, because reading the history of the town was the most interesting part. However, my favorite place to visit, which I don’t get to do as often as I’d like because of the distance, is the open-air museum in Fairplay, Colorado. This museum is a ghost town visitor’s dream come true.
This museum in Fairplay is called ‘South Park City’. It was started in 1959 as a way to preserve the memories of the boom towns and camps of the gold rush years in the South Park valley (8900 square miles). Gold was discovered in South Park in 1859. When the rush was over, the people moved on and all that remained were remnants of what had been.
South Park City is a collection of buildings and artifacts from those early mining towns. Other than the seven buildings that stand where they were built on the street of the museum, all of the other buildings were brought in from the ghost towns and abandoned camps in the valley and restored to their original form.
There are exhibits and buildings with the historic contents displayed inside: doctor’s office, stage stop, livery, blacksmith, a homestead, depot with narrow gauge train, court house, cabin, brewery, laundry, newspaper office, bank, saloon, residential home, morgue and carpenter building, transportation shed, a trapper’s cabin, general store, ranger station, barber shop, assay office, and a school house.
It is an amazing place to spend a day. I make it there every few years, and I’m never disappointed. There is always something new (old?) to experience.
Thank you, Kaye, for being here today and sharing a little bit about yourself. Readers, feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. Kaye would love to hear from you. Have you ever been to a ghost town?
About GIVE MY LOVE TO ROSE:
A deputy U. S. marshal comes upon a dying man and finds unexpected love when he carries out the man’s last request.
Enjoy a Snippet:
“I’m going east to Dodge City to pick up documents, and then I’ll head to Colorado. I’ll take the train when I can and ride my horse otherwise.”
“That would be good for Jason. He needs to see life beyond the boundaries of this ranch and Wickers. He can’t want what he can’t imagine, and I want him to imagine endless possibilities.”
“Is that the only reason you want him to go with me?”
“No. If you take Jason with you that means you’ll come back when you bring him home.” Slowly, she shifted her gaze to look at him. “Jason going with you is my gift to him. You returning is my gift to me.”
Rose’s dark eyes shined with emotion he was sure he’d never see in a woman’s eyes after Sadie died. It was the unguarded wish of a shared future all tied up with a pretty love-colored bow. Hastily, she dropped her gaze which, he decided, was the best thing for both of them. He didn’t believe in love at first sight. Hell. He didn’t even know if he had the capacity to love again. What he did know, though, was he suddenly didn’t want to leave in the morning.
Native Coloradoan Kaye Spencer lives in a small, rural town located in the heart of the infamous Dust Bowl area of the 1930s. While drawn to cowboys and the Old West, all genres and time periods are within her story-creating realm. Reading Louis L’Amour’s westerns, listening to Marty Robbins’ gunfighter ballads, watching the classic television westerns, and growing up on a cattle ranch all inspired her love of the American Old West—truths and myths alike. Kaye retired from a career in education, which allows her the time to write full-time and as well as spend time with her grandchildren.
Let's welcome Julie Lence, who is a multi-published author of western romances and her story, A Summer to Remember is featured in Hot Western Nights.
Karen: What hidden talent do I possess outside of writing?
Julie:Absolutely nothing, unless you count being a mom. I don’t sew, paint, bake, but I do enjoy taking care of kiddo and he’s now 20.
Karen: Being a mom is a bit like being a superhero in my book. Why don't you tell the readers what you're working on now.
Julie:I working on the Landry, the 2nd book in my Jackson Creek series.
Karen: Have your ever been to a ghost town? If you haven't, which one would you like to visit?
Julie:A real ghost town—no. But here in Colorado Springs, we have a Ghost Town Museum for tourists, which I really like. It's a good-sized building that has a mock town inside, complete with buggies and and a stagecoach. The buggies folks can climb aboard, but the stagecoach is roped off to preserve the seats. The nice thing about the town is the old artifacts on display. From shoes to iron. There is a lot to see.
Where would I like to visit? Tombstone. Loved the movie, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. It's just a place I always wanted to visit.
Karen: Julie, thank you for stopping by today. Readers sit back and enjoy a snippet of A Summer to Remember featured in Hot Summer Nights.
About A Summer to Remember featured in Hot Western Nights:
Amy Jansen is known for her high-brow ways and her infatuation with Creel Weston. Truth be told she loves Ryan Jansen and realizes her dream of becoming Ryan’s wife after Creel moves away. But words misspoken during an argument cause a rift between her and Ryan that she’s hard-pressed to mend. Apologies fall on deaf ears, and when Creel returns, even jealousy doesn’t provoke a response from Ryan. She’s finally deduced the best way to prove her love and loyalty to him, only he sends her away, vowing he doesn’t love her.
Though he loves his wife, Ryan Jansen has come to realize he never should’ve married her. Amy has loved Creel Weston since childhood and there’s nothing he can say or do to change that. To keep his sanity, it’s best he and Amy divorce, until a preacher shows up on his doorstep with a startling truth—Amy does love him. But he sent her away, and now he must find her and convince her they’re meant for each other, that this really is A Summer to Remember.
Available at:
Enjoy the Snippet:
Ryan thundered down the stairs and onto the boardwalk, urgency to find his wife propelling him to run. He dodged men and women, rounded a corner and dashed up the next street, skidded to a halt at the ticket counter. “H-h-has my wife b-b-been here?” he panted to the bespectacled man on the other side of the glass.
He shrugged. “What does she look like?”
“Blonde, wearing a blue dress.” Crying. Because of me.
“She’s been here. She bought her ticket and boarded the train.”
“Obliged.” Ryan took off for the cars headed to Coyote. Rushing past the caboose, he slowed his steps and searched the windows for Amy’s blonde hair. Didn’t see her and shoved off to the next car.
“All aboard!” a conductor called from somewhere behind him.
A train whistle blew as he searched this car and came up empty again. He returned to ticket agent as a train heading east chugged away from the station.
“I can’t find her. Are you sure she got on the train?”
“Yep.”
“Was she sitting by the window?”
“Probably. Not many folks headed to St. Louis.”
“St. Louis?! Not Coyote?”
“No, sir. She went to St. Louis.”
About the Author:
Julie was born and raised in upstate New York. She married her high school sweetheart and accompanied him on his twenty-year career with the United States Air Force. Presently, she resides in the Pikes Peak region, where she’s a stay-at-home mom enjoying a career writing western historical romance.
Throughout her school years, Julie enjoyed reading and writing. A friend introduced her to the romance genre in the late 80’s and she was instantly hooked, crediting Judith McNaught and Johanna Lindsey as her inspirations to pen her own novels. As she puts it, Ms. McNaught’s voice is flawless and Ms. Lindsey’s Malory family is endearing and addictive. Combining her fondness for horses, John Wayne and the television series, Dallas, Julie settled into writing about cowboys, outlaws and the ‘old west’ early in her career.
Julie self-publishes her work through Amazon. She also designs her covers. When she’s away from her computer, she enjoys taking care of her family and home, exploring the Rocky Mountains and meeting fans of the romance genre.
Karen: Elizabeth Clements tale in the Hot Western Nights anthology is Diamond Jack's Angel. We're here today to go behind the scenes and find out a bit more about the author. Elizabeth, share with us a talent that most don't know about you.
Elizabeth: I would say gardening. I’m not a great gardener like my mom was, but I love flowers and love to see the bees and butterflies flitting from blossom to blossom and the birds fly to the fountain for a sip or a dip.
Karen: What are you working on now?
Elizabeth: Thank you for asking. I’m doing the final proofread of the third book of my trilogy, Beneath A Desperado Moon. All three books are set in the area of the Cypress Hills, but this one moves south into northern Montana to an outlaw hideout in the Porcupine Hills.
Karen:Have you ever been to a Ghost Town? If so, tell the readers your experience there. If not, where would you like to visit and why?
Elizabeth: I’ve never been to a ghost town. They’re hard to find in my area, but I would love to travel down through the western states and visit a few in Utah and Colorado and Wyoming., which was part of Butch Cassidy’s Outlaw Trail that spanned from Canada down to New Mexico.
Karen: That would be really interesting. Maybe one day you'll tell us all about it. Now, let's find out where the readers can find you on the internet.
Elizabeth: I am on Facebook and have author pages on Amazon and Goodreads where my books have been reviewed. I’d love for you to visit my website that my son designed for me. All the beautiful photographs (with the exception of the covers) were taken by Nick Clements when we took a day trip to the Cypress Hills and Fort Walsh. Only a fraction of the 600-plus photos are featured on my website.
Karen: Elizabeth, thank you so much for stopping by today. Readers, feel free to leave a comment or ask Elizabeth a question. She'd love to hear from you.
About Diamond Jack's Angel
Angela Summers has cared for her grandfather in the mining camp for several years. But when danger strikes, saloon owner Jack Williams vows to protect the woman he loves in DIAMOND JACK’S ANGEL.
Enjoy a Snippet:
Jack Williams rode up the mountain trail to pick up his shirts. He could have had them done at the laundry in town, but he liked to give Angela a little help. He snorted. Who am I kidding? I just like seeing her. Too bad she doesn’t feel the same. Angela had made it quite clear she disapproved of him when, more than once, she had come into town to look for her grandfather in the saloons.
Coming up through the trees, Jack saw a woman and a dog standing at the edge of the clearing. No other women lived here, but he’d recognize Angela’s shape anywhere. She was the only female in Brookstown who wore her golden hair in a braided crown on her head, just like a princess would wear a tiara. Just once, he’d love to see her hair flowing around her shoulders.
“It’s me—Jack,” he called, so she would know it was a friend approaching. At least he hoped she saw him as a friend. Jack dismounted and came to her. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder. She chewed at her lower lip, her blue eyes dark with worry.
He touched her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Hot Western Nights is available at:
About the Author:
Elizabeth Clements resides deep in cowboy country in western Canada with her husband who is her real-life hero. She admits she’s an incurable romantic and thus her sensual stories always focus on romance, whether her heroines drive a buggy or a convertible. Elizabeth is often inspired by her surroundings, or a photograph, or a song and the thought—what if— begins a delicious new journey into romance.
Who hasn’t dreamt of a summer romance? Enter our giveaway and you could win a Kindle Fire to load up with a dozen new summer flings, Amazon gift card, ebook prize pack, or a sweet Kate Spade book tote!
Then, shop our book fair and you’ll definitely find that next summer crush. All ebooks priced at 2.99 or less, some FREE. We even have a bonus scavenger hunt giveaway! And don't forget to download the FREE shortie story I'm offering for a quick summer read.
(This giveaway is sponsored by the authors listed below)
A.K. Shelley • Amanda Uhl • Bernadette Rowley • CB Samet • Clarissa Lake • Debbie White • E.B. Black • Eichin Chang-Lim • Eliza Watson • Elizabeth Rose • Em Petrova • Emberly Hart • Grace Roberts • J. L. Campbell • Jacqueline Diamond • Jacquie Biggar • Jami Denise • JC Andrijeski • Jina Bacarr • Joan Reeves • Karen D. Bradley • Karen Michelle Nutt • Koko Brown • Lane Hart • Laura A. Barnes • Leslie Scott • Linda Mooney • M.C. Cerny • Mary Morgan • Michelle Dalton • Mimi Barbour • Naleighna Kai • Penelope Wylde • Regan Walker • Rhondi Ann • River Ames • S.L. Sterling • Samantha Holt • Shaylin Gandhi • Soraya Naomi • Stella Marie Alden • Stephanie Queen • Suzanne Jenkins • Tamara Ferguson • Theresa Paolo • Tracey Cramer-Kelly • Vivien Jackson
