This week we continue our journey with the American Mail-Order Bride stories with a stop in Virginia where we meet Katie, courtesy of Sylvia McDaniel. You can refer to the FREE Prequel HERE
Here's how Katie's story came to be:
Last summer at the 2014 RWA (Romance Writers of America)
Conference, one of my goals was to meet Kirsten Osbourne. As a writer I was
impressed with how quickly she had risen as a star in the western historical
genre of romance. I met her there and asked her to be in a box set with me,
Merry Farmer, Callie Hutton and Caroline Clemmons. That was how our box set,
Wild Western Women was created. This year at the 2015 RWA conference, Kirsten came up with the idea for
the American Brides series and sent me a Facebook message asking me if I would
like to participate. It sounded like such a wonderful idea and I immediately
said yes.
The reason I chose Virginia was because I love the scenery and
knew that it was one of the original colonies. Those thirteen colonies are
where our great country was created and I thought it would be fun to write
about a state that I had visited.
Blurb:
A disastrous factory fire ends Katie Maverick’s livelihood and she must find something
quick. Convinced to become a mail-order bride, she receives an offer of
marriage from Daniel O’Malley.
Only Daniel isn’t
the one who put the ad in the Grooms’ Gazette. His business partner, secretly
placed the ad in Daniel's name. When Katie arrives, a surprised Daniel agrees
to marry her with the idea she could help make his life easier and still the
gossip surrounding the death of his wife.
He’s
unprepared for the way the bubbly girl from Massachusetts eases his loneliness.
Not only is she helpful, she’s breaking through the walls he’s erected around
his heart. Troubled by the suspicious vandalizing suddenly occurring in the
vineyard, Daniel wonders if things might not be as good as they seem. Is it
only coincidental that the damage to his winery coincides with Katie’s arrival?
Could this sweet, innocent woman and his dead wife share a
common goal to destroy him?
Excerpt:
Daniel gazed at his friend wondering about his message.
"You said it was urgent."
It is," Frank said. "I may have overstepped
the boundaries of our friendship."
Daniel frowned. Frank had helped him when the vineyard
needed money. They were close friends.
”What did you do?"
"I ordered you a mail-order bride."
For a moment, Daniel sat stunned. "What?"
The memory of his last wife was still too painful to think
about and Frank had found him a mail-order bride. Was he crazy?
"A wife. You're alone and after what happened to
Eloise, I feared you would never even look at a woman again. So I ordered you a
bride."
His fists clenched. "You're right. You did overstep the
boundaries. What makes you think I would even consider marrying again?"
For a moment, Frank didn't say anything. "A woman is
arriving on the noon train today from Lawrence, Massachusetts. She thinks you
ordered her."
"Then I suggest you marry her or you send her back,
because I'm not getting married."
BIO:
Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning
author of western historical romance and contemporary romance novels. Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented
romances, Sylvia is the author of The
Burnett Brides, Lipstick and Lead Series, Scandalous Suffragette Brides, The
Cuvier Widows, and several short contemporary romances.
You can catch up with Sylvia McDaniel by following any of the following links:
Sign up for Sylvia’s Newsletter
You can write to Sylvia at P.O. Box 2542, Coppell, TX
75019 or visit her web site.
Thanks for having me today Angela. This book was so much fun to write and I just hope readers enjoy it as much as I did.
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