Release Day!!

My first book with Carina Press, my first western historical is available today! I'm really nervous and excited, though it's already gotten a good review.

I got the idea while teaching Texas history to my 4th graders. We were reading about Jane Long, the "Mother of Texas." She'd been abandoned at a fort near Galveston, widowed, with only her servant and her child, and to frighten off the Native Americans and pirates in the area, she'd fire the cannon every day. I thought that was so cool. I'd never wanted to write a historical before but this one wouldn't let me go. See if it sounds like something you'd want to read:

Kit Barclay followed her husband into the wilds of Texas only to be widowed. Stranded with her mother- and sister-in-law to care for, with no hope of rescue before winter sets in, Kit has only one goal: survival. So when a lone horseman appears on the horizon, and then falls from his mount in fever, Kit must weigh the safety of her family against offering aid and shelter to the handsome stranger.

Trace Watson has lost everything that ever mattered to him. Trying to forget, he heads to the frontier colony of San Felipe, not caring if he lives or dies. But when he wakes to discover he's being nursed back to health by a brave young widow, he vows to repay her kindness by guiding the three women back to civilization, no matter what the cost.

Soon, Kit and Trace are fighting the elements, Indian attacks and outlaws—as well as feelings they both thought were long buried...