Welcome to the blog, Colleen! Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m a New Englander by birth, but I met and married a Southerner in college. Since we married, I’ve lived more of my life in the South than I did in New England, although I don’t consider myself Southern. Warren is my own real-life hero! I love horses and have been privileged to own several horses from the time I was young. Right now, I’m down to one horse, Monty, who is an affectionate sweetheart. I also love antiques and have filled my house with them. My son tells me I live in a museum.

Can you please share with us what your latest book is about?

Warrior’s Heart is a second chance at love story. Della and Wild Wind meet in Book 2, Wounded Heart, when he captures her in a raid. At that time, her heart is already given to Shane, his Cheyenne half brother. It isn’t until Book 3 that their romance can fully develop, although she’s grieving for her dead husband. Also there was much hostility in those days toward the tribes, which complicates Wild Wind’s life.

What was the catalyst for your interest in writing?

I think my love for writing developed from my love of reading. When I was younger, I fell in love with many fictional characters. I yearned to create my own fictional people and give them adventures, so I did. My mother tells me I wrote my first story in third grade. When I was in grammar school, I’d write a long story in daily installments, and my friends would read the latest installment on the bus on the way home from school. I wrote novels all through high school, and now I’m doing the thing that I love!

Were there any surprises that came up as you wrote your story?

Actually, the entire premise for Warrior’s Heart came as a surprise. I originally didn’t plan to write Wild Wind’s story. I planned for Book 3 in my series to feature another character. However, Wild Wind is such a powerful person, he was in my head demanding that I tell his story. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my other idea, so I scrapped that and gave in to Wild Wind. As I worked on a plot for Wild Wind’s story, I never intended for Della and Wild Wind to marry.

She and Shane Hunter had married, and I planned to give Wild Wind another love interest. Once again, Wild Wind took control and tossed out my ideas for his story. He absolutely refused to love the lady I’d created for him. Wild Wind insisted that he already loved Della and refused to love anyone else. Since Della and Shane were married, I had to make her a widow in Book 3 to allow Wild Wind and her to have a romance. Once I gave in to him on this point, their story came together and flew off the page.

I love it when that happens! Who was your favorite character to create?

Although I love the characters in all my books, Wild Wind was definitely my favorite character. From the very beginning, he became almost larger than life and took control of the plot. Even when he was introduced in the last third of Wounded Heart, he dominated the story. I had to be careful not to let him overshadow Shane, who was the hero in Book 2. By the time he had his own story in Warrior’s Heart, he was a powerful person who dominated the plot and didn’t let circumstances control him. I fell in love with him!

How did you come up with the names of your hero and/or heroine?

I researched popular female Victorian names to get Della’s name. The name “Della” seemed to suit the character that I was creating, so I chose that one for her. As for Wild Wind, I researched male Cheyenne names and found that one for him. Since I wanted his character to be a man who would disregard white society’s law and order and become a fearsome Dog Soldier, “Wild Wind” fit the criteria. Once I gave him that name, he lived up to it!

What does your family think of your writing?

My writing is definitely a family project. I have two daughters-in-law who are trained in art and design. One of my daughters-in-law helps me with my newsletter design and develops the announcements for my book signings. The other one creates my bookmarks and other swag. My sons lend their technical skills where I need them, especially with my newsletter. And my husband listens to my story ideas, sympathizes with my setbacks, takes me on countless research trips, and cheerfully eats sandwiches or leftovers when I don’t have time to cook supper because I’m immersed in one of my manuscripts.

You’re so lucky! Can I borrow your son for my newsletter? Just kidding! What’s next for you as an author?

I’ve sent the manuscript for Book 5 to my editor. Book 5, Valiant Heart, is the final book in my Frontier Hearts Saga. Now I’m developing ideas and doing research for my next series.

You’ve been on quite a journey with this series! Here’s the cover and back blurb for Warrior Heart:

Della Hunter is struggling to adjust to her new life as a widow and be a single parent to her young son. Her world is further complicated when the man she almost married seven years before rides back into her life.

Wild Wind, her late husband’s half-brother, is a Cheyenne chieftain and a Dog Soldier of fearsome reputation. He no longer fights the soldiers, but he can’t tolerate a life on the reservation, so he makes the dangerous trek into the white man’s world. He comes to the Slash L ranch looking for work.

As he takes his brother’s place training horses on the Slash L, he must navigate two cultures and make his way in a society hostile to the tribes. During the years they were separated, his love for Della never wavered. While she grieves for Shane, he determines to woo and win her. Can he bridge the gap between his two worlds, and can he find it in his heart to love Della’s God as she does?

Please share your favourite excerpt from your book!

This is part of the scene at the beginning of Warrior’s Heart, where Della and Wild Wind meet again after a seven-year separation. Della is visiting Shane’s grave, and Wild Wind comes to the Slash L ranch looking for work.

“The rider halted mere yards from her. Recognition punched Della in the chest. She hadn’t seen this man in almost seven years, yet she knew him. Wild Wind. Shane’s half-brother sat his mount almost within touching distance.

For silent moments, Wild Wind stared down at her. An eagle feather fluttered from a lock of his long, dark hair. A fringed buckskin shirt and leather leggings molded his muscular frame. A rifle slung over his shoulder hung from a leather strap.

The years they’d spent apart hadn’t tempered his arrogance. He sat tall and erect upon his mount, head unbowed, his lean features expressionless. At last, he spoke. “Lona.”

Hearing him utter the name he’d given her years ago took her back to the weeks she’d spent in his Cheyenne village. Weeks when she’d thought she’d marry him, if Shane didn’t rescue her first. Remembering the more recent tales she’d heard of Wild Wind and his Dog Soldiers fighting the army in bloody raids during the last six years reminded her that this man had a reputation as a fearsome warrior. “Wild Wind. Do you come in peace?”

©2021 Colleen Hall

Wow! Here’s where people can buy Warriors Heart, and check out the rest of the series:

https://amzn.to/39K1yvF

If you’d like to connect with Colleen you can find her online here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColleenHallRomance

Website: https://www.colleenhallromance.com/

Newsletter: Readers can sign up for my newsletter from my website.

If you’d like to ask Colleen anything about her western series or her writing in general, please leave a comment for her.  Do you read westerns? What is your favourite decade from the 1800’s?

The post Author Interview with Colleen Hall – Frontier Hearts Saga Series reaches 5 books appeared first on Laurie Wood Author.

Welcome back, Shannon! We’re excited to hear about your other passion – outside of writing, of course!

When I was a kid, my mom sewed most of her clothes and mine. They were simple patterns and I loved my clothes. This was before everything had to be in style and name brands weren’t a thing. One year, I got patterns for Barbie clothes for Christmas. There was a pattern for a skirt, dress, top, and pants. I made simple sew by hand clothing for Barbie and Ken out of my mom’s scraps.

I made this shirt for my Mod-Hair Ken. Isn’t he groovy. Yes, I still have my Barbies. They were my favorite toy, so I saved them. I only have a son, but maybe I’ll have a granddaughter someday. She can make fun of Ken’s hair, which looked much better back in his day.

In my tweens, I bought precut quilt squares. My mom taught me how to use the sewing machine, but it intimidated me. I remember being afraid I’d sew my fingers, so I ended up sewing the squares together by hand and my grandmother quilted it for me. I still have and used it for years, but some of the squares need restitched, so I put it away. She’s been gone seventeen years now, so I love it even more. One of these days, I’ll repair it.

In high school, my best friend sewed her own clothes. Really, cute, trendy stuff. When I said I wanted to learn, we went to the store for me to pick out my pattern and fabric. I hated every second of it. Though I managed to use the machine and not sew my fingers, I tore out more stitches than I kept. Every little pucker of getting off the line mattered when it came to clothing. I ended up with a cute top, but I wore it only a few times because it reminded me of the frustration of making it.

Early in my marriage, my grandmother cleaned out her fabric stash and gave it to me. I found really simple easy sew dress, tank top, and short patterns and made some clothes. There really wasn’t anything fashionable about them, but the right fabric made them cute.

And then I saw some beautiful curtain toppers at J.C. Penney for way more than I wanted to pay for them since I’m painfully frugal. The next time I went shopping, I looked through a pattern book and found the curtain toppers. I bought the fabric of my choice and made them for a fraction of the cost.

During the process I learned that with curtain toppers, if you make a pucker or sew a bit crooked, it doesn’t matter. I’d found my sewing love. At one point, I made heavy moire drapes with fancy valances for our living room. But now I have simple toppers with blinds.

Over the years, I expanded to sewing comforters. It matters if you make a pucker more, but I buy fabric with straight lines in the print or square panels and all I have to do is sew along the lines. I sewed every comforter our son had from the time he was born until he was about fourteen. He had Noah’s Ark, Bob the Builder, Spiderman, Camouflage, and Big Buck comforters.

When he was fourteen, he crushed my soul and asked if he could have a store-bought comforter like all his friends. I still have all the ones I made him in a tub for future grandchildren though. There’s no hurry since he’s only nineteen now. But I do have fabric I’ve bought with future grandchildren in mind.

I also sew items for friends and family. When anyone has a baby, they get a comforter and curtain toppers to compliment their nursery. My cousin just became a grandmother. Her daughter did the nursery in a national parks theme since she and her husband love to hike. I made a twin size quilt, so they’re new baby boy will be able to use it past infancy.

Even though minimalist décor is all the rage now and most people just have blinds or shades on their windows these days, I still have curtain toppers. And I made them all. My office has pastel, seashell toppers. I bought this fabric fifteen years before I had a use for it. My family room is decorated cabin rustic, so I have burlap with woodland animal trim in there.

My new laundry room has my favorite toppers. There are pictures of wicker furniture, wood rocking chairs, glass tea pitchers, and geraniums. They say, Sweet Tea Sippin, Screen Porch Views, Front Porch Sittin, Neighborhood News. My kitchen curtains blend with the family room since it’s all open. They’re burlap with coffee label trim since my kitchen is all about coffee.

I currently have a fabric stash way bigger than my grandmother did. Since we just converted our tiny spare bedroom/junk room into a laundry room, I’ll soon have a sewing nook in there. No more dragging my sewing machine and supplies to the kitchen table. As soon as the sewing table I ordered arrives, my machine will be at the ready whenever I want. Oh the curtain toppers and comforters I shall make.

Question: Do you sew? If so, clothes, home décor, or both? If not, what’s your craft love?

We’re part of Shannon’s Blog Tour for A TEXAS BOND. Leave a comment to be entered in her Grand Draw. She’ll be doing the draw March 10, 2021 and winners will be notified by email.

Here’s the beautiful cover and back cover blurb for A TEXAS BOND:

A Texas Bond by Shannon Taylor Vannatter

(Book 3: Texas Hill Country series)

Finding his family is only the beginning…

He came to find the children…

Will he stay to win her heart?

Learning he’s an uncle shocks Ross Lyles—but after years of handling his brother’s bombshells, at least this surprise is a blessing. A pair of five-year-old blessings Ross is determined to meet, if he can convince their aunt to give him a chance. Fiercely protective, Stacia Keyes is worried he’ll try to take the children…and lassoing her trust is harder than he ever imagined.

Available at Walmart from mid-Feb to mid-March. Or online:

A Texas Bond – ChristianBook       A Texas Bond – Amazon         A Texas Bond – BarnesandNoble

Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does.

She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.

Connect with her: Shannon’s Website, Shannon’s Blog, Shannon’s Facebook, Shannon’s Goodreads, Shannon’s Pinterest, Shannon’s Twitter, Newsletter Archives, Shannon’s Amazon Author Page and Shannon’s Bookbub. Sign up for her Newsletter to get a free e-book, recipes, behind the scenes info, & enter exclusive giveaways: Shannon’s Newsletter

Recently, Shannon joined Scrivenings Press as co-owner/acquisitions/content editor.

The post On Blog Tour with Shannon Vannatter for her new book A TEXAS BOND appeared first on Laurie Wood Author.

Hi! I’m a grandma to four living in south Texas with my husband. I’m originally a science teacher, but my passion for education has morphed into bringing history to life through historical fiction. I hope that if you learn something along the way, it will be painless!

But my main passion is for the gospel. I craft my stories around core gospel truths, not in a “preachy” way, but in a way that it suitable to the time and place. My first historical fiction novel answers the question, what would it have been like to live during the great revival of the 1740s?

My new release, The Heart of Courage, is a sequel to this first book, a stand-alone set during the French and Indian War. Three individuals, one a Shawnee Indian, face the conflict of war. They also face internal battles, spiritual and emotional. There’s romance in the story, too, but it’s low-level and clean—appropriate for the time period.

When I wrote the first book, The Shenandoah Road, I had the idea that it would be the first in a trilogy, tied together by a single family in the Shenandoah Valley. Courage takes that second spot, and I hope to write a book set during the Revolutionary War time period.

When I began my research for Courage, I was slapped in the face by a problem. The Indian raids against the settlers were sometimes horrific. There was a particular event that bothered me for days. Have you ever read a news account that stuck in your mind? It was like that. I couldn’t gloss over this stuff—but if I were truthful, the Native Americans would look like savages.

So I created a Shawnee point-of-view character, and he became my favorite character to write. I had to dive into Shawnee history and culture. And just use my imagination, because we don’t have Shawnee diaries or journals. Not from that time period. All is second-hand, from captives’ stories and so forth. A challenge! I enjoy reading fiction with Native American characters myself. I hope my readers enjoy Red Hawk and Grandmother as much as I did.

Here’s a short excerpt from The Heart of Courage:

James Paxton is studying for the ministry, but when war breaks out, he joins Washington and Braddock’s army. He is injured in the battle now known as “Braddock’s defeat.”

James was falling. He slammed into something hard and searing pain jolted him awake. The rattle of tongue and axle, clop-clop of hooves surrounded him. A wagon—he was in a moving wagon. A groan issued from a man next to him.

Above him stars circled. Or maybe they weren’t circling. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, and slowly the dizziness subsided. The darkness was profound. He raised his left arm, strangely heavy, and touched the side of the wagon, the familiar texture of wood rough under his hand. His right hand felt instinctively for his rifle. No rifle, only fabric. Someone’s coat.

He drifted off again. Tomahawks flashed, and flies landed on Halkett’s face. Where was Red? Where was Russell? He needed to cover Russell.

Someone sobbed near his feet. James blinked, trying to emerge from the fog. There was no moon, that’s why it was so dark. A miasma of sulfuric gunpowder, metallic blood, and stale sweat filled his nose. Rustling, moans, and curses marked the presence of soldiers not far away. The army was on the march—at night? The trail was difficult even during the day.

Where was Russell? The last thing he remembered was McKee’s dead face. James’s stomach cramped just thinking of it. Losing Mac was one thing; he was convinced the man had peace with God. But McKee? It didn’t bear thinking about.

And all the others … no, he couldn’t think about them either.

James sensed the presence of several men clinging to the end of the wagon as if for support or guidance. He didn’t blame them. How anyone could find the way in this hellish darkness he could not fathom.

The sobbing intensified.

“Shut up,” someone growled near the source of the cries. “You will bring the savages down upon us.” A thin thread of panic suffused the voice.

The wagon halted. The harness jingled and an animal gave a familiar grunt. A mule was pulling the cart. James seized on the thought. Mules were canny, sure-footed creatures. A good thing.

Where was his own mule? Had she survived?

Muttering broke out into an argument somewhere.

“Come this way.” Washington’s voice rose above the rest.

His back screamed in pain as the wagon jolted into motion. A new smell choked him, the smell of the outhouse. James thrust down his nausea.

Eerie sounds swelled and ebbed away, the sounds of wounded soldiers. James heard one distinctive cry for water. Moans and grunts, and once, the scream of a horse. A pistol shot. An injured beast put out of its misery.

Help … Lord.

James couldn’t seem to pray. Panic and despair chased the army, and all he could do was strain for glimpses of the stars. But even they seemed cold and hard.

A strange sound floated over the groaning. A melody? A meetinghouse tune.

“God is our refuge and our strength, in straits a present aid …”

The familiar psalter tune diminished, then surged in strength.

“Though hills amidst the seas be cast …”

It was Russell’s voice. James mouthed the words, his lips stiff and cracked.

“God is in the midst of her …” No one shushed the man.

James clung to the words, a slender thread of truth and sanity in the horror-filled night.

The sobbing ceased at his feet.

When my book launch is behind me I think I will find my neglected duster. My house suffers when things get crazy, but my husband supports me. I’m also a member of a group under the aegis of ACFW and belong to a local chapter. When I run across someone with an itch to write, I tell them to join a critique group of some sort. Of course when I write something it sounds great to me. But my choice of words is only half of the communication process. Did I actually deposit my story into your head?

I love feedback from readers, even if it’s not all positive. I also have a newsletter in which I give my readers updates and alert them to special deals. To sign up or to get in touch you can go to https://www.lynnetagawa.com/

Buy links:

The Heart of Courage (the Russells book 2): https://amzn.to/3ajxMKs

The Shenandoah Road (the Russells book 1): https://amzn.to/2XVm0kA

Do you enjoy reading about this period of American history? What do you enjoy most about reading historical novels with diverse characters?

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