Western Roundup Giveaway Hop

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. 

Please visit all the other Participating blogs for more great books!