Welcome to the second annual Western Roundup giveaway hop! I hope you check out all the participating blogs and find some great new western reads!
I am offering a free e-book copy of COME HOME TO ME (Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, Book 1) this year. Please leave a comment with your contact information to be entered in the giveaway.
Jake Owens is tired of life on his parents’ Montana ranch, catering to city folk who want a taste of old-fashioned country living. He enjoys life in the fast lane, with fast cars and even faster women. When he falls in with the wrong crowd and is accused of murder, a stranger’s bizarre offer at a second chance might be his only hope to clear his name.
Rachel Parker is highly devoted to her family. A tragedy prompts a daring move to the Oregon Territory for a fresh start in a new land. After meeting the wagon train’s scout, the meaning of a fresh start may be more than she ever imagined.
Jake can’t believe he’s been sent back in time to act as scout for a wagon train headed for Oregon, and given the added burden of keeping one emigrant woman safe during the journey. He and Rachel are confused by their attraction to each other. Jake’s ill-mannered, unconventional ways are overshadowed only by his notorious reputation. Rachel’s traditional values and quiet, responsible character are the complete opposite of what attracts Jake to a woman. When their forbidden attraction turns to love, what will happen at the end of the trail?
July 2013 Crowned Heart review from InD'Tale Magazine:
Jake Owens is a randy young man raised on a Montana dude
ranch. Certain that adventure lies elsewhere, he follows a blonde bombshell to
the city only to wind up in jail for murder. A stranger posing as a lawyer
could be the devil or Jake’s salvation, but he offers Jake a second chance –
lead a wagon train west as a scout and keep and eye on one Rachel Parker.
Thinking anything is better than bars and a thin mattress, Jake accepts. Some
unknown force in the universe is watching over Rachel Parker, a young woman
whose diligence against hard times sets her eyes on the Oregon Trail determined
to find a new life for her family.
From cholera to chaps, Come Home to Me by Peggy L Henderson
is the definition of excellent storytelling. Henderson spins this yarn with
subtle dialogue and description accurate of the era. So subtle, in fact, the
reader won’t know they’ve been transported, like Jake, back in time until
they’re entrenched in the hardships of the emigrants who left ruts in the
ground in 1848. With the rattle of wooden wheels, and a crack of the whip, the
reader will open their eyes as an omnipotent observer to the slow burning love
between Rachel and Jake as they cross the mighty American frontier. Y’all are
just gonna have to let Ms Henderson wrap her story around ya! There may not be
drool on the pant-o-meter, but it’s not necessary with this tightly woven tale.
Excerpt:
“Dammit all
to hell!” Jake kicked at the dirt on the ground, his foot connecting with the
tin coffee cup he’d dropped when Rachel stumbled and nearly fell on her pretty
face. He rubbed at the stinging sensation in his cheek, and cursed the fate
that had brought him to this time and place. He cursed Thomas Parker, and
finally Reverend Johnson. It was all the old man’s fault. He’d known exactly
what he was doing when he told Jake that he had to look out for Rachel. Was
this his punishment for something?
Jake
scoffed. He hadn’t been sent here for a second chance. He’d come straight to
purgatory. Why else would Johnson have
told him to see to Rachel’s safety? The old man knew things. There was no doubt
in Jake’s mind that the reverend knew that Jake would fall for her, a married
woman, a woman he couldn’t have, a woman who lived in a different time than his
own.
Jake’s head
snapped up from staring at the darkness on the ground, and his jaw dropped. Was
he falling for Rachel? He laughed, a short, pitiful laugh to match the distant
bark of a coyote. Over the years, he thought himself in love with lots of
girls. It never lasted beyond a few dates. He clenched his jaw. The last one
was Sandra. He quickly shook his head. Rachel was nothing like Sandra. These
feelings, these thoughts about Rachel, were different from anything else he
ever experienced. None of the others had ever brought out such strong
protective urges in him. Sandra had set his body on fire, but beyond that, Jake
couldn’t recall a single feeling of tenderness. He didn’t think about her
constantly, or see her smiling in his mind before drifting off to sleep each
night.
Just looking
at Rachel sent his heart galloping in his chest. Standing close to her doubled
that reaction. And now that he’d held her in his arms, and kissed her . . .
there was no describing the sensations her soft feminine body, or the subtle
fragrance of the soap she used to wash her hands, evoked in him. He’d briefly
taken leave of his senses when the urge to kiss her had become more powerful
than any rational thought he possessed. He’d realized his mistake instantly. If
he’d pursued the kiss, intensified it, prolonged it any further than for the
second or two their lips touched, he was sure he would have lost his mind.
