Review: The Dogwood Blossom Bride by Miralee Ferrell

 

The Dogwood Blossom Bride by Miralee Ferrell

This is one of three stories in 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #3, published by Barbour Books, featuring authors Margaret Brownley, Miralee Ferrell, and Pam Hillman.


When Gracie Addison fell into the arms of love, she wasn’t expecting it. In fact, she was on a mission to avoid dinner with Jerold Carnegie, a man her father thought would be perfect for her. It is late May, 1883 in Goldendale, Washington, and nineteen-year-old tomboy Grace is not interested in “growing up and settling down.” She has trees to climb, horses to ride (astride, no less!) and adventures to pursue.

Will Montgomery, relocating to Goldendale with his niece Laura and haunted by his sister’s death, is not looking for romance. Although he’s enjoyed working as a cowboy, he knows Laura needs stability…and he needs a job that will provide a decent living, so he’s rebuilding his life as a woodworking apprentice with Goldendale carpenter Curt Warren.

When Gracie and Will meet, they don’t get off to the best start, and Will is not too thrilled about Laura wanting to emulate Gracie’s tomboy ways…like climbing trees. Besides, fresh off a failed romance, he’s not looking for love either. 

WARNING:  SPOILERS FOLLOW....




Between the challenges of rebellious Laura copying Gracie’s daring ways, further triggering Will’s fears for his niece’s safety, and Gracie and Will misinterpreting the other’s interest in other people, the tension builds until the afternoon Laura almost comes to harm at the swimming pond. Will chastises the guilt-ridden Gracie and asks her to stay away from Laura. Gracie realizes that means she won’t see Will either, but decides she’s done with him, no matter how much the decision hurts. It isn’t long, however, before Will understands blaming Gracie is not fair and comprehends how much it hurts that he won’t see her again.

Will talks to Curt about everything and asks for his advice. Curt explains he can worry obsessively over his children or trust God with them, as Will can do with Laura. He suggests Will’s over-protectiveness stems from guilt about his sister’s accidental death. He also tells Will he thinks Will is falling in love with Gracie.

Meanwhile, Gracie is mourning the loss of Will and Laura, sad she will never see them again, when Will arrives and asks to speak to her. Grace thinks he’s there to reinforce his request to stay away from his niece, but he apologizes instead, explaining his sister’s death, his fears for Laura and how much Gracie reminds him of his sister. He admits his fear that allowing himself to fall in love with her is hard because he’s afraid of the chances she takes and that she might come to harm. As they clear the air, Will asks if he can court her, and she accepts.

Miralee Ferrell skillfully blends human fears and emotions with leaning into God’s will as this couple finds their way to true summer love. Gracie and Will are fully drawn characters with deep faith and trust in God to lead their way. Secondary characters support Will and Gracie’s journey toward one another and their Christian values. And mischievous young Laura is the perfect catalyst to draw the two young lovers together.

This is a fun summer (or any season) read!

 

Welcome Author Miralee Ferrell

Please welcome guest blogger Miralee Ferrell to my page today. Miralee has a fun contest for horse-crazy kids to enter (parent or legal guardian must be the one to submit the entry) for the chance to win a GREAT horse-lover prize pack. Thanks, Miralee, for this fun contest for all those kids who love horses! And now, to author Miralee Ferrell: 

Do your kids love horses? Film a short video telling me why and you could win lots of really cool prizes from Breyer Horses! Follow the link below for more information. Thank you!! 

https://display.engagesciences.com/display/container/d/3e291c68-1458-4a82-9f0b-9c4e1625c858/details

Win a $150 Horse Lovers Prize Pack!

display.engagesciences.com

 

Gold Prize/Horse Lovers Prize Pack includes: Classics Country Stable with Wash Stall, Stable Cleaning Accessories, Stable Feeding Accessories, Grooming Kit, Chelsea Show Jumper, Breyer Show Jumping Classics Toy Horse with Accessories, Black Beauty Classics Toy Horse, and two copies of Miralee Ferrell’s new book, A Horse for Kate (not pictured above).

And don’t forget to check out Miralee’s horse book for kids: A Horse for Kate.

Purchase now: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Books-A-Million | Christianbook.com | DeeperShopping | Parable | Family Christian Stores

Learn more about the entire book series on Miralee Ferrell's website.

Are You a Procrastinator?

Well, I can be. Never with work, of course…well, hardly ever. But sometimes, when the Muse isn’t pounding down my door with ideas for stories, blogs, articles, etc, I do find it easy to be distracted when I’m sitting at my computer. It’s not just a quick game of Mahjong or Free Cell any more. There are many interesting sites on the web – if you’re interested in tennis, skiing, baseball, horses, flying, cooking – you name it, there’s a site you can find with all kinds of info and some have training videos available – fifteen minutes have disappeared in a blink while you learned how to follow through on your golf swing!

And, of course, those sites often have links to their Facebook page, Twitter, YahooGroups discussion groups. Before you know it, a quick little glance at how to make angel food cake has you signed up for online cooking lessons and you’re fifteen posts into a discussion on the merits of butter cream versus cream cheese frosting.

It’s fine to say, just apply willpower and get to work on that review you’ve promised, the blog that’s waiting to be posted, the first three chapters you told your crit partner you’d have to her last week. Then that email alarm sounds and you see someone has said the only real frosting for a cake is their grandmother’s seven-minute frosting. How can you not look at that recipe?

Like sands through an hourglass.....

Here are a couple of suggestions on how to work through the procrastination.

1 – I can write whatever I want on the assignment hanging over my head. I can write the love scene I know is coming up in my WIP, even if my characters aren’t there yet, or the beginning of an article on squirrels or the first paragraph of my column. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it doesn’t even have to be something I’ll end up sending out, but it does get me writing.

2 – I can online browse at a specific time, but not before. That can be tough because you can find yourself watching the time.

3 – This one is a bit of an oddity, but it can work. Tell yourself you’re NOT allowed to write until a specific time. By the time the designated hour arrives, say 7:37 pm, you could be chomping at the bit to get those ideas onto your hard drive.

So…what gets your fingers moving when you’re procrastinating?


Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com
Also on Facebook, Twitter & Good Reads

Making Sure My Main Characters aren’t “Too Good to Be True”

 I want to welcome Marilyn Meredith as a guest blogger to my Musings today. For those of you, like me, who love a good mystery series, Marilyn has created an interesting "family" of characters in her Rocky Bluff P.D. series. I was curious how she balances her hero/heroine so they're like real people...with all the foibles needed to make them fascinating! Let's see how Marilyn does this so well....

Libby asked me to tell how I avoid making the hero or heroine too good a person to be believed. Honestly, I’ve never quite thought about in this way.

In the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, I have a group of characters who appear in each book—at times in the forefront; at others with smaller parts.

 

Detective Doug Milligan appeared first in Fringe Benefits as a police officer with family problems that exploded after the murder of his babysitter.  He was plagued by depression when his wife left him. He’s had other problems through the series, but at the moment, life is pretty good.

Stacey Milligan appeared a few books later as Stacey Wilbur.  A relationship develops between her and Doug, culminating in marriage. She is far from perfect, and doesn’t always keep her mind on her job. Though she’d like him to, her son Davey doesn’t always come first because her work interferes.

Officer Felix Zachary has had some difficult times in earlier books relating to a shooting, his family being unhappy because he didn’t marry an African American woman, and now frustration with his wife in Dangerous Impulses.

Wendy Zachary has been a good wife up 'til now; the arrival of her and Felix’s first child has caused much self-doubt.

Family problems have distracted Sergeant Abel Navarro in the past and he had a bout of guilt when he made sergeant instead of Zachary, who seemed the most likely candidate until the fateful shooting of an unarmed suspect.

Officer Vaughn Aragon ruined his marriage and nearly his career because of an unresolved problem.

Self-centered Ryan Strickland has kept a huge secret, which, if confessed, might ruin his marriage. He also is confronted with a new family crisis that he isn’t sure he’s man enough to handle.

His wife Barbara has been through a lot beginning with the first book. Though revered by many, she loves to talk. She’s now facing another big crisis, one that she might have to face alone.

And then there’s Officer Gordon Butler, much loved by fans of the series, who has more than his share of troubles, though seldom are they his fault. He longs for someone to fall in love with and often picks the wrong girl.

I’ve come to know these people quite well since I’ve written about them over a period of years. I really do know their strengths and weaknesses, and something these attributes, or lack of, help in planning the plots.

Now a bit about Dangerous Impulses:

An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

 Dangerous Impulses Available Now!

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blog posts on this tour may have a character named after him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel or choose a book from the previous titles in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series in either paper or for Kindle.

Rocky Bluff P.D. Series:

Though each book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is written as a stand-alone, I know there are people who like to read a series in order. From the beginning to the end:

Final Respects

Bad Tidings

Fringe Benefits

Smell of Death

No Sanctuary

An Axe to Grind

Angel Lost

No Bells

Dangerous Impulses

F. M. Meredith’s Bio:

F.M. is also known as Marilyn Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies. She’s also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

And I’m on Facebook and Twitter as MarilynMeredith

Tomorrow I’m visiting http://rickreedblog.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting, Marilyn!

Libby
Libby McKinmer
www.libbymckinmer.com
Romance with an edge
Find me on Facebook, Twitter & Goodreads

Authors spend a lot of time constructing our mysteries, laying in the clues and red herrings, characterizing our hero/heroine and villain, plotting meticulously and creating a satisfying conclusion for our readers. But there are many, many unexplained mysteries out there. Here are a few intriguing ones:

Loch Ness Monster
Nessie has fascinated us for hundreds of years. First reported in 565 AD in the large, freshwater loch, interest renewed in the 1930s and has continued to today. This legendary water monster has had dedicated searchers hoping to find him or her, to no result – yet – despite photos, sonar and even a video.

The Great Pyramids
Who built the great pyramids? How were they constructed using the tools and knowledge available at the time? Man has spent a great deal of time since the mid-19th century exploring the pyramids, without coming up with definitive answers.

Atlantis
Plato teased us with stories of a great seafaring civilization whose island world sank into the sea, leaving no trace. There have been stories, movies and endless discussions about the mysterious world of Atlantis since.

Jimmy Hoffa
Head of the influential Teamsters union, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared one day in Detroit, Michigan, in July, 1975. No trace has ever been found of Hoffa, but there are plenty of theories and rumors about what happened to him.

Bermuda Triangle
How many aircraft, ships and people have simply vanished in the famed Bermuda Triangle? Is it a wormhole, piracy, weather phenomenon or something else entirely?

Just a few of the many mysteries that intrigue and puzzle us – do you have a different favorite mystery -- solved or unsolved?

Libby

A Mysterious Setting

There is a real talent to getting the setting right in a mystery. And really, there’s no single “right” way. But a setting can help define your characters and how they relate to what’s going on around them. It helps your reader “see” where the story is taking place.

I love Stephanie Plum, out and about in Trenton, NJ, having messy adventures, solving the whodunit as she goes along, and losing a car most times around. I’ve been known to laugh out loud, even as my brain cells are trying to process the clues laid down by Ms. Evanovich.

But I’m just as intrigued by the stripped-down lifestyle of Jack Reacher in a Lee Child’s novel. A stark farmhouse set in the midst of fields, a NYC apartment – it’s gritty, it’s tough, and the laughs are few and far between. But it suits Reacher to a tee – Mr. Child knows his hero understands the underbelly of man’s (and woman’s) motivations, and his settings reflect that.

However, I also love to wander the early twenty-century English villages and countryside of Agatha Christie mysteries – as great on a re-read as they were the first time around years ago. The details of life, the struggles, the joys and the search for the truth – for me, all surround the central mystery and add to the enjoyment of trying to figure it out. And it doesn’t matter if it’s Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple or Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, the mysteries are fun to try to unravel.

Like horses? Carolyn Banks’ novels with Robin and Jeet Vaughan are surrounded by equines as Robin solves the mysteries of who did the killing…and there’s always a smile or two as you canter along on the wonderful rhythm of Ms. Banks’ writing.

Want more horses? Tami Hoag gives readers some ugly crimes in the “beautiful people” and moneyed set of the Wellington winter horse circuit. From lonely canals with predatory alligators to private clubs with predatory men.

So…what’s your favorite mystery setting – the big city, a lonely farm setting, a Victorian mansion, a dressage barn or a childhood neighborhood? Whatever it is, enjoy the mysterious mood set by your favorite mystery author.


Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

All writers have a different style – some are plotters, some write by the seats of their pants, some work with a combo of the above or their very own construct. It doesn’t matter how the author creates, but what the author creates – and what the writer creates is a story filled with characters we root for and against.

There is a great deal of information available about heroes – alpha or beta, romantic or hard-boiled. Is he tall, athletic and handsome, or do the ladies adore his geekiness?

Our favorite heroines are generally smart, funny, and accomplished. But then again, there are the Stephanie Plums of the world, too! She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s klutzy!

But villains – where do the villains come from? Are they archetypes, constructs from our days of hearing fairy tales and myths? Are they the product of nightmares or do we pick our boss’ least appealing characteristics and make them bigger than life? Do we build him or her from people we read or hear about in the news? In documentaries? Or are they only a product of the writer's fertile imagination?

As far back as man has created, the villain has been a crucial component of the storyteller’s craft. The villain – or villainess, as the case may be – creates a great deal of stress and angst for our lovely hero and heroine. The villain will thwart them at every turn for a while, and then their brilliance, bravery and moxie will shine as the villain is conquered.

What was our bad guy’s fatal flaw – hubris, stupidity, inexperience? Whatever it is, it brings him down in the end.

And isn’t that what we all want – to see justice done, the villain stopped and our hero or heroine win the day?

Who is your favorite fictional villain and why?

Libby
Libby McKinmer
www.libbymckinmer.com
Romance with an edge
Find me on Facebook, Twitter & Goodreads