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Archive for 'Western'



Little Update, Minimal Whining, and Giveaway Reminder!
Tuesday, February 21st, 2023

This is just a quick flyby like all my posts lately. I’ll be so happy to be rid of this stupid hand splint thingy. Tapping keys with three fingers is a pain. Doing shift key things is an even bigger pain because it slows me down while I use my right thumb them hunt and peck to find the keys with my left hand. My left-hand doesn’t know where the keys I hit with the right are, so I have to look down at the keyboard. Again, *whine*whine*whine*

I’m such a baby. And how I hate to call a kid or my daughter to pick things up for me or carry things downstairs for me. It’s endless, and then they get mad at me if I attempt it on my own. Gah

How are you doing today?

This is just a quick reminder that this freebie will go away soon,
so download your copy now!
The Runaway Bride

*whine-whine-whine* (FREE Story)
Wednesday, February 15th, 2023

I think every day until my splint comes off, I’m going to gripe. Today, I have a bumpy rash between my fingers. After I shower, I’m going to leave off the splint and let my hand dry with some anti-yeast cream to see if that helps. My fingers being forced together all day is likely making it humid there. *whine-whine-whine*

I pushed around a vacuum cleaner with my hip and left hand yesterday. Tried to dust, but it took too long, so I decided I’d live with the dust until I can bribe a grandkid to do it for me. I directed the cleaning of Loki’s fish tank, but my daughter was horrified by the smell of fishy water and the poop. Again, I’ll bribe another kid to help with that, too. *whine-whine-whine*

I wish I’d broken my left hand because I can’t write with my left, so I’m abandoning my planner for the time being. *whine-whine-whine*

Tonight, after I do some real work today (editing), I’ll clear my desktop which has been a gathering place for coffee mugs and mail I can’t open without ripping it to shreds. All my scissors are naturally right-handed. I’ll give the 9-year-old my letter opener and have her go to town opening all my mail and laying it on my newly cleared desktop. *whine-whine-whine*

EVERYTHING IS A FUCKING PROCESS THAT HAS TO BE PLANNED. I’ll shower today and maybe forgo underwear to make my life a little easier. Wish I had a muumuu to throw over my head so I wouldn’t have to deal with pulling up my pants. *whine-whine-whine*

You folks have been wonderfully patient reading through my whine-fest. Here’s your reward:

The Runaway Bride

Download now!

New Year Promises and Your Input! (Contest)
Friday, December 30th, 2022

UPDATE: The winner is…Shirley Long!
*~*~*

I’m still working on the big plan, but I’m pretty sure about the stories I’m aiming to release this next year.

A few you already know about:

From Montana Bounty Hunters, Mica, which is set to release on February 28 and Jackson on June 16.

Mica Jackson
 

Then there are also a couple I’ll write for a new connected series, We are Dead Horse, MT: Hard Knox, which I hope to release in March, and Cold Hard Cash, set to release April 25.

Hard Knox Cold, Hard Cash
 

Then there are some I don’t have covers or titles for yet, but I know you’ll be there when I do get them up, two new group-related projects in my sister’s Brotherhood Protectors world to join my previous efforts:

Defending Evangeline Victoria's Six Guarding Hannah
 

Beyond these? I’m not sure. I have a romantic comedy I started years ago that I’d like to finish called Little Green Dreams, and it’s about, you guessed it, aliens. Maybe another Cowboys on the Edge series story. We’ll see how ambitious I get. This year I slowed way down so far as the number of titles I released. I may not have published a ton of stories, but I’m very happy with the ones I did, so there’s that.

I need to light a fire under my butt. Or have someone give it swift kick every now and then to “motivate” me.

As for other promises? I’ll try to figure out some more fun things to do here on this blog. More guests, more contests, more puzzles? More free reads? A serialized story? More behind the scenes of a writer’s life? You tell me what you’d like to see here and be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Open Contests

  1. Things on a Christmas Tree Word Search! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
  2. Tell me a story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
  3. Elizabeth Andrews: Starting the Countdown (Giveaway) — Win a FREE book!
  4. New Year’s Day Word Search! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
Flashback: Texas Cowboys — The Cowboy & the Widow (Contest — 2 Winners!)
Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

UPDATE: The winners are…Beverly and Pamela Reveal!
*~*~*

Maybe you only know me through my bounty hunter books or the Brotherhood Protector stories I sometimes write. I’ve been a full-time author for more years than I care to admit, so there’s more on my backlist if you’re interested in checking out my older titles. Plus, if you love a sexier story than I tend to write now, you’ll really dig these. Hot cowboys? Lava-hot sex? What’s not to love? Read the excerpt below and comment for a chance to win a free download of any one of my six Texas Cowboys stories. They’re available in eBook and gathered together in two print volumes.

Texas Cowboys Volume 1 Texas Cowboys Volume 2

Texas Cowboys: The Cowboy & the Widow

The Cowboy and the Widow

Order Ebook: Kindle | Nook | Kobo | Apple Books | Google Play

Order Print: Amazon

Following her husband’s death, Maggie McDermott faces the onerous task of running the family ranch. She’s through mourning her husband and the children they never had. The problem? She doesn’t know the first thing about running a ranch, so she knows she needs a capable hand. When Daniel Tynan applies for the position, she’s flooded with guilty memories of the time she tempted the younger man.

Daniel is more than willing to show sweet Maggie the ropes. His gentle ways melt her heart, and his sensual passion burns away her inhibitions. He may be younger, but he’s not without the right kind of experience…

An excerpt from The Cowboy & the Widow

Danny Tynan was all grown up.

Maggie had noticed that fact right off. She’d hidden in the house like a coward when he arrived that morning, watching him through the curtains as Reggie greeted him with a handshake and a manly slap to his shoulders.

And such broad shoulders they were, too. Something else she’d noticed. He’d been tall as a teenager, all elbows and knobby knees, but anyone looking at him then would easily guess he’d grow into a handsome man.

He’d far exceeded her expectations.

Dark brown hair curled in careless, spiked waves around his head. Thick eyebrows shadowed blue eyes that could melt a woman’s heart in a single glance. Those features hadn’t changed.

What had changed took her breath away. He turned and stood with his back to her, feet braced apart. She took the opportunity that presented itself, letting her gaze embrace the breadth of his shoulders, the narrow indent of his lean waist, the small round globes of his buttocks, and thighs that looked sturdy and powerful…

If she’d thought him distracting when he was young, he was lethal to her peace of mind now.

Not that she’d ever acted on her attraction when he’d stayed at the ranch all those years ago. Although she’d entertained lurid fantasies where she’d played teacher to his youthful sexual education, she’d studiously ignored his adoring glances. Still, she hadn’t been able to resist deepening their connection, by appealing to a young man’s endless appetite…

For food, that is. She’d always loved to bake. Used it when she needed to work out her problems—a kind of “kitchen” therapy that soothed her restlessness when she hammered a slab of steak or kneaded a loaf of bread.

And she’d needed that release during the years of her marriage to Douglas. For while her husband had been ideal in many ways, he’d left her unfulfilled in two.

The man had never given her an orgasm, had never even realized the need to provide her passion. He’d provided her a roof, a purpose, given her a home to transform into her own haven.

Not a handsome man, he’d still managed to impress her when he’d begun to court her. Promising her comfort, protection—family. Something she’d craved since she’d been left alone in the world.

And although he’d tried to fulfill the promise of giving her a family, that was another hole he’d left in her life. He’d been sterile. When they’d discovered the fact, he no longer thought it necessary to use her body. What was the point?

When Danny Tynan came to the ranch, she’d met a good-looking boy, about to be a man, and a very sexual creature—if the state of his bedding was any indication.

Perhaps the hormones raging in his young body had affected her, for she began to feel those stirrings again. The ones her husband’s neglect had buried. She’d felt shame for her feelings, for the yearnings that tempted her to leave open a button or two at the top of her blouse to tempt him to peer inside her shirt, to wear shorter shorts to feel his glance rake the length of her legs.

That was as far as she’d allowed it to go, because she hadn’t trusted herself to do the right thing.

Now, he was back. More of a temptation than ever.

Rhonda Lee Carver: All Cowboy & a Holiday Bride (Excerpt)
Monday, November 21st, 2022

Do you love Hallmark movies? Do you sometimes wish the movies would be spicier? A little hotter? If so, All Cowboy and a Holiday Bride is a book for you. It’s sweet, emotional with a happily ever after but with a large dose of sexy.

Excerpt from All Cowboy & a Holiday Bride

“Don’t fall in love,” Sadie Locke sashayed out of the bathroom, bringing with her the fresh scent of soap and woman. “Now that we’ve taken our first shower together and all.”

“That’s what you’re worried about? I asked to take a shower with you and now I’m high risk for falling in love?” Channing Dawson chuckled and hauled himself up out of bed, then grabbed his rumpled jeans off the floor. “Ain’t happening. I could never love a water hog.”

She captured him with her pale grey gaze. “I’m not worried about things going off the grid. I’m just listing the rules. We don’t want this to get complicated. Sorry about hogging the water, but that bathroom is as big as a broom closet and I’m claustrophobic. Not to mention, the spider we saw was big enough to wear shoes.”

“This is an old hunting cabin. We’re lucky it has a toilet, let alone a shower. I have an idea though.” He used his thumbnail to scratch his temple thoughtfully.

“You do? Call an exterminator, I hope.”

“We could always start meeting at your house. I bet your bathroom, and bed for that matter, is plenty big enough.” He didn’t expect a response to his question, and she didn’t disappoint. Every time he’d mentioned the subject before, she’d ignored him.

“I’m grateful this place has indoor plumbing. I can also tolerate the pet spiders. The mornings are getting nippy though. We might have to give that wood stove a whirl.” She gave her dog, Waffles, a scratch on the head. He was cuddled up on an old rug in front of the stove.

“Just so we’re clear, you don’t have to recite the ‘rules’ every time we get together like I have a kindergarten education. Sex-only is pretty self-explanatory. We meet up three times a week, have a fun time, and then we go about our own business.”

“Do I sense some sarcasm in your tone?” She flicked an eyebrow as she recapped the whiskey bottle they were passing between them last night. “Are you feeling disrespected?”

“Nope. I’m capable of keeping my heart, and dick, in two different lanes.”

“Good news because I really like what we have here.”

A Marriage of Convenience will turn into a Holiday Romance…with a surprise baby.

Sadie Locke has always been great at giving her friends relationship advice, but when it comes to her own love life not so much. That’s why she’s not looking for forever. She and Channing have been secretly carrying on a fling for months, but everything’s about to change. And boy does Santa have his work cut out for him…

Channing Dawson has life just the way he likes it. His business is thriving. And he and Sadie have a no-strings “friendlationship”. What more could a man want? After his brother passed away, he didn’t dare risk loving and losing again. Yet, his heart is speaking a different holiday tune.

Sadie pulls a fast one and makes him her husband. A marriage of convenience or not, the rules are all blurred. He isn’t sure about having a holiday bride, until he realizes he’s had feelings for her all along. Sometimes the risk is worth it all. He could get used to sharing Christmas with her, but does she feel the same? Her secrets, and she has plenty, might ruin any chance they have for a future.

Then he receives the unexpected gift of a lifetime…

About Rhonda Lee Carver

Rhonda Lee Carver is a bestselling author of contemporary western and romantic suspense, but she loves to write other genres too. She’s known for writing stories that keep readers laughing, crying, gripping the edge of their seats, and screaming all in one book…like riding a virtual roller coaster. Whether she’s creating sexy cowboys or tough guys, or sassy, independent heroines, readers are sure to find strong, powerful, memorable characters that are relatable.

By day, she taps into her creative, fictional world but at some point, she transitions back into reality where she’s a volleyball-stands cheerleader, homework virtuoso (at least she thinks so), amateur nurse to skinned knees, mediocre chef with some awesome microwave skills, pet-guru (all the strays show up at her house), and a Jackie of all trades for her kids who are the loves of her life. Yoga and chocolate keep her sane. Hallmark movies require cuddling up with tissues because she can be emotional. She adds a sprinkle of her own real-life adventures in each story she spins because a little truth never hurt anyone. She wouldn’t give up one thing in her crazy, chaotic, ever-amusing life, except, she might do magic tricks for the bungalow on the beach she’s had her eye on (GOALS).

Writing, for Rhonda, is like falling in love and finding a new best friend over and over again. Her characters will find a place inside your heart, too.

Susan Arden: Passion or Obsession?
Thursday, September 29th, 2022

I appreciate the opportunity to talk about romance and jumped on Delilah Devin’s invitation to guest post.

As an author, I love to toy with dark ideas in the realm of romance. It’s rooted in the characters I create. Their wounds. Their goals. Their desires. The black hole in their soul that will either be a wasteland or the road to salvation. In writing fiction, it’s fun to translate those into symbols scattered throughout the story. Touchstones. Images we give readers. There’s no better visual than Darth Vader. And the words of Yoda: Anger, fear, aggression. The dark are they.

In romance, our main characters obviously are in love or soon will be. In erotic romance, sex is a powerful vehicle and lust is the driver. How far do we take-send-deliver the character with the most at stake?

That’s a gray area.

Tapping into our emotions ~ How dark can dark go?

It depends. When it involves fictional love and not just sex, we have to start with someone in need. I write alpha male characters and they’re hungry. They have a zest and zeal for life, starting in childhood, then it explodes in adulthood, usually in a skillset and a career. Someone we’d peg as passion-infused… or obsessed?

But to feel what a character feels, we need a common language to go deep. And sometimes, we aren’t sure why some terms are a turn-on… or a turnoff.

Passion and obsession by definition:

passion (n.) In Middle English “…an ailment, disease, affliction…” also “an emotion, desire, inclination, feeling; desire to sin considered as an affliction…” (mid-13c.). The specific meaning “…intense or vehement emotion or desire…”

obsession (n.) 1510s, “…action of besieging…” (Later (c. 1600), “…hostile action of an evil spirit…” …(like possession but without the spirit actually inhabiting the body). Psychological sense “idea or image that intrudes on the mind of a person against his will” is from 1901.

[From] obsess: Of evil spirits, “to haunt,” from 1530s.

—Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/

We use ‘passion’ to describe extreme emotions, while ‘obsession’ was once equated to being haunted, or nearly possessed.

Between passion and obsession lies the demarcation of what is acceptable. Who doesn’t want to feel passionate about something? What about obsessed?

If by obsessed, do we mean they’ve gone over the edge? But have they?

Crossing the line~

While writing romance, a fictional mirror of reality, I’ve played with taking a character to the very edge of obsession. In Her Forever Cowboy, Stephen McLemore, an explosives engineer, walked away from crossing the line with Jillian. Eight years prior, he was in college and she was in high school. In the backyard of her parents’ home, which was about to be sold, they shared a stolen kiss. Jillian’s parents recently died. In a moment of offering Jillian consolation and comfort, Stephen crossed the line. At that moment he realized he wanted more, much more. A taste of Jillian left this man with an open wound. An ache. A consuming hunger.

Instead of consummating a budding romance, the hero walked away. But did he? This is a story about a man who refused to cross the ultimate line into darkness, but remained rooted in the heroine’s life in ways that clearly bordered on obsessive. And it isn’t until the very end of the story that the reader and Jillian become aware of how much. For some, the story could be taken as too much. What the hero did was unacceptable. For others, it’s the sign of unrequited love. A chance to be the wind beneath another person’s wings by giving them opportunities they might not have had. And that question plagues the hero. Did he alter the heroine’s life for the better and will she forgive him?

Why do we love to hate our obsessions?

So, in writing this type of hyped existence, I skate a fine line in Her Forever Cowboy. In order to give Stephen McLemore the opportunity to heal, he has to admit he has a problem. He does, up to a point. It’s up to the reader to decide from the get-go. Is Stephen wrong in doing the things he does, given the circumstances? Wrong because all obsessive behavior is too much? Or can a human being actually circumvent free will?

We connect with romance heroes and heroines because they’re flawed. They come to terms with their complex nature and are willing to change for the sake of love. In Her Forever Cowboy, I pushed boundaries to the max. Subplots involve family dynamics, drug and alcohol addiction, money and the things people do to maintain face, how far over the edge will friends and family go to preserve the status quo, loyalty, compassion and forgiveness.

In writing dark romance, it’s always a dance of weaving love, lust, shining moments, darkness in the soul, sickness, obsessions, addictions, redemption, pain, and selflessness. Both as reader and writer, it’s like boarding the ultimate emotional roller coaster. To love dark romance, we adore the steep rise and sharp drop.

Whether it’s life and fictional romance, it’s why we do what we do again, and again, and again.

Hope to see you on the dark side. It’s so much fun to be bad!

Do you agree? What’s something you’re passionate or obsessed about, or straddle the line? What would it be like to not have this deep feeling?

*~*~*

Thank you so much for allowing me to stir the pot on dark romance and give you a taste to the backstory of Stephen McLemore. Take care and happy romance trails.

About the Writer

Susan Arden is a best-selling author of romance novels. She lives just south of Nashville and when she isn’t writing, she owns and runs a cut flower farm. Susan is releasing four new novels in 2023. Stay tuned! www.susanardenauthor.com

Her Forever Cowboy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I48M19C

Brand New Release! MBH: Dead Horse, MT — GABRIEL is out today!
Tuesday, July 26th, 2022

Gabriel is available now! Book #7 of my Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT is here! At least, it’s out on Amazon in both print and ebook. In a couple of months, I’ll take it wide, meaning: I’ll publish it in all the usual places. For now, if you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s FREE.

I’m seven books into this series, and I’m still having a blast writing about bounty hunters, but, as I’ve said before, the secret has been making sure I have unique characters every time who face unique adventures/challenges. No cookie cutters. When you read a story in the series, you see the previous heroes and heroines, and I love giving them their unique voices to make them distinct. I have two more books planned already. Check out the covers for Mica and Jackson!

This story is about two former military members of the Montana Bounty Hunters, who have an initial attraction that suffers a setback, but who learn through their experiences that they have more in common than either could’ve expected.

I hope you pick up a copy. And if you have time after you’ve read it, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a review. Reviews aren’t for me, they’re for other readers who need to know about your experience with the story. I can say it’s sexy, fun, and exciting, but readers believe other readers.

Happy Reading!
~DD

Gabriel

Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: DEAD HORSE, MT

Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

An ex-Special Forces bounty hunter has to find a way to repair his friendship with the agency’s prickly tech guru while not falling in love with her…

Gabriel Pelletier can’t read women. Hell, he didn’t know his ex-wife had been seeing another man until she cleaned out the apartment while he was deployed. Somehow, he’s managed to offend the Montana Bounty Hunters’ tech guru, and everyone around him is telling him to fix it!

Ex-Army Fredericka “Fig” Newton has always navigated working with men by repelling them before she attracts unwanted attention. She temporarily lost her mind trying to befriend Gabriel when he joined the agency. Sure, he’s cute, and while everyone around her has found their happy-ever-after, she thought, just maybe, she could find hers with him. But nope. All her friendly overtures blew up in her face. So, it’s back to prickly Fig. Besides, they have a bad guy to take down and no time for romance.

Order your copy here!
Also available in print!
FREE in KU for a limited time!