Fall Christian Facebook Covers for FREE!

 I created these three Christian Autumn Facebook Covers, if you like one, click on it and download for free:

Available for Pre-Order ~ Joy’s Christmas Escape & A Journey for Dorothy

 Hi Everybody!

I’ve got two new releases that are coming up both currently in pre-order. Although I have 3 more potential Christmas books coming out before the end of 2023, and two new boxed sets, those are not yet available for pre-order. For now, make sure you don’t miss either of these two, each a part of an awesome multi-author series.

THE MARSHAL’S MAIL ORDER BRIDE ~ Eight brides each find themselves in a compromising situation – and the only way out is to escape west and become a mail-order bride. But will trouble follow them? Good thing they are heading into the arms of a law man. All the brides have a different, stand alone story ~ Read each one and don’t miss out!

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 Virginia 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲?

Schoolteacher Joy Stewart has never been lucky. Her father died before she was born. Her mother left her in the care of her grandmother so that she could get remarried and move far away. So when her grandmother succumbs to illness, her debtors come to call. And one of them has his eyes set on Joy to be his bride as payment for his debt. That bad luck just seems to be compounding on Joy—what she needs is a Christmas Miracle, and her grandmother has put a plan in the works…

Marshal Jack Bolling has found himself in want of a nanny. With the death of his sister and her husband in a tragic accident, he has now come into possession of his twin niece and nephew of four years old. For over a month he’s had no luck in locating an appropriate nanny for them—at least not on his salary and what a marshal can afford. But then his good friend, Pastor North has the idea that perhaps Jack should be looking for a wife instead? The thought of that sends chills down Jack’s spine, but when he end’s up putting the twins’ lives in danger due to his job, he wonders what choice he has. But can he even dare to hope that he’d be lucky enough to find a wife so close to Christmastime?

The west is too wild for an unwed woman. If you want to ride on my wagon train and make it to Oregon, you’ll need to find yourself a husband.”

THE RELUCTANT WAGON TRAIN BRIDE ~ Twenty brides find themselves in a compromising situation – they have to get married in order to travel to Oregon on their wagon train. Each story in the series is a clean, standalone romance. Will the bride end up falling in love with their reluctant husband? Or will they get an annulment when they reach Oregon? Each bride has a different story ~ Read each one and don’t miss out!

A JOURNEY FOR DOROTHY

Dorothy Mason swore that she’d never marry again when her husband passed away five years ago. She just wasn’t interested in her heart being broken again. But living in her old house in Tennessee kept breaking it by reminding her daily of her times with her husband, and she was having a difficult time letting go. So, her sister convinces her to get a fresh start by traveling west on the wagon train to Oregon. But once she’s given up her life and everything dear to her and arrives in Missouri, Dorothy discovers that she can’t move forward unless she considers getting married again.

Reverend Elias Stone doesn’t quite believe in Manifest Destiny, but does believe in bringing lost souls to the Lord. With so many lost people moving out west in search of gold and riches, Elias feels a calling on his life to make a move in that direction, himself. So, he arranges to join a wagon train heading to Oregon and California. But before the journey even starts, he finds himself in a harrowing situation that could take his life, calling, and ability to travel away from him. Only by considering a marriage to a woman he doesn’t even know can he continue, but is this really God’s plan for him?

Surviving the Unknown: How Life on the Oregon Trail Mirrored Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

 

(All Photos 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐲: 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬)

In the mid-1800s, traveling the Oregon Trail was akin to living in a post-apocalyptic world. The long, arduous journey from the Midwest to the Western frontier shaped a daily existence for pioneers that has many parallels to the imagined life of survivors in a post-apocalyptic landscape. 

The Oregon Trail was fraught with danger and uncertainty. Accidents, storms, disease, starvation, and attacks from bandits and natives were common lethal threats along the trail. Any day could bring disaster or death. This resembles many works of post-apocalyptic fiction, which depict hazardous worlds filled with threats from the environment, illness, violence, and more. Simple mistakes or just plain bad luck could spell doom for those making their way west in covered wagons just as they could for characters navigating a ravaged, dangerous wasteland.

Resource scarcity was a harsh reality along the trail. Food, water, tools, and various supplies had to be rationed and scavenged. Overhunting along the trail severely depleted the numbers of bison and other wildlife. This forced real innovation and improvisation, much like survivors in post-apocalyptic tales who have to learn to make do and repurpose anything they can find in order to survive. Careful maintenance and jury-rigging of equipment and technology is often a necessity both on the trail and in the remnants of civilization.

Shelter along the Oregon Trail was makeshift and temporary. Travelers camped in tents or barebones structures along the way, moving from place to place. Even when settlements began to form in the West, buildings were often simple cabins or ramshackle affairs built from available natural materials. Much post-apocalyptic fiction also commonly depicts the need for nomadic lifestyles or otherwise improvised, transient housing options in the dangerous ruins of the world.

Despite all of these challenges and deprivations, those undertaking the Oregon Trail persevered in hopes of better lives ahead. They banded together for mutual aid and protection and helped encourage each other onwards. Even when things looked bleak, hope drove them forward. This dogged determination and maintenance of hope features prominently in a great deal of post-apocalyptic media. Even under the direst of circumstances, protagonists cling to the promise of the future.

The parallels between the Oregon Trail and imagined post-apocalyptic scenarios are clear. From the unpredictable threats to the scraped-together supplies and shelters, the experience of making a life in an unfamiliar land was not so different from what writers and creators have envisioned for life after a world-changing disaster. The human spirit persevered on the trail just as it does in even the grimmest fictional dystopias. Life was 10 percent what happened and 90 percent how people responded to it. That has remained true from the journey of the pioneers to the pages of post-apocalyptic novels and films all these years later.

This is what makes the Reluctant Wagon Train Bride Series a form of Romantic Suspense. The couples in each story are overcoming nature and other obstacles as they continue the trip to a place of hope and safety. If you’re interested in reading, I wrote the first book in the series, A Journey for Lily. You can find out more about my story and the rest of the series here:

Available for FREE for Subscribers

 

For the next three months, I’m giving away Susannah’s Choice to subscribers to my newsletter! It’s available only through Bookfunnel here: https://bookhip.com/DXRRWKA

It’s going to ask for your email, but if you’re already subscribed, you won’t be subscribed again, so no worries there!

Here’s the story:

Two proposals in less than a week? Has Susannah’s red-headed curse come to an end?

Susannah Carver is a cursed redhead. Although she was engaged to be married once, her fiancé broke their engagement, and now she’s certain she’ll end up like the red headed librarian in town, a spinster. No matter, with looking for a suitor out of the way, she can just concentrate on herself and study to become a nurse. When she hears of the need for nurses and doctors out west, she heeds the call.

But when she arrives in the mining town of Silver Hills, she’s warned that she should never go out after dark unaccompanied. And the doctor she’s gone to work for has hopes that she might become his bride as well. When the circuit judge also makes a proposal to her, Susannah feels she might just go insane. She’s only been in Colorado for four days, and she’s already had two proposals. Maybe her curse has come to an end?

New Release for a New Series

 

The Oregon trail has long been a place of curiosity and adventure for me. To travel for five or six months along open trail through plains, desert, and mountains. Spending each day working toward the common goal with the other families on the wagon train, and braving the weather, elements, and fighting nature just to survive and move toward the goal of greener pastures on the other side of the journey. There’s romance and adventure in the possibilities.

Denver Public Library Special Collections, X-11929

Several great authors have joined me in writing about this romantic adventure, and the first book in the series has just released today on Amazon!

The west is too wild for an unwed woman. If you want to ride on my wagon train and make it to Oregon, you’ll need to find yourself a husband.”

THE RELUCTANT WAGON TRAIN BRIDE ~ Twenty brides find themselves in a compromising situation. They have to get married in order to travel to Oregon on their wagon train. Each story in the series is a clean, standalone romance. Will the bride end up falling in love with her reluctant husband? Or will she get an annulment when they reach Oregon? Each bride has a different story ~ Read each one and don’t miss out!

A JOURNEY FOR LILY

When Lily Browne’s father loses his job at the bank, he decides to make the journey out west, to claim land for cheap in Oregon. And when Lily hears of the need for school teachers out there, she decides that she must go too. There’s only one problem. Even though Lily is barely nineteen, the wagon master demands that she cannot accompany the train without being wed. But she can’t be a school teacher if she’s married…

Wayne Cody became a felon by accident when he was fifteen. After serving his time, he was released to find out that he has no family, and no more than five dollars to his name. He doesn’t know much about anything other than guns, horses, and cattle, so he attempts to get hired by a wagon train to help several families make it to Oregon to claim land. If he can somehow earn enough money, he can claim land for himself, too. Then, Mr. Browne makes him an offer he can’t refuse.

Be sure to get your copy today! ~ 

Also, don’t miss out on this great fall giveaway if you love Historical Western Romance:

Fall 2023 Historical Western Romance Readers Giveaway!

 Hi Everyone! 

I know it’s been a little while since I’ve written y’all a note, but I’m starting off this one with a bang! I’m partnering up with a group of awesome and bestselling authors to do a giveaway of 6 great reads and a $25 Amazon Gift Card ~

You can win your choice of 6 these great books:

Be sure to Enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway