Authentic Romantic Historical Fiction

Category: Indie Publishing (Page 2 of 6)

Cover Reveal: Lies & Secrets

Cover Reveal for Marsha Ward’s new collection of short stories, Lies & Secrets, due to release March 29.

Lies & Secrets: Three Historical Short Stories

Here’s the content description:

Scandalous: An Owen Family Story

Young Julianna Owen didn’t think flirting with Parley Morgan at the barn raising would lead him to put his hands where they ought not to be. But even worse, her sister discovers them, and Parley abandons her, running off into the woods.

Julianna’s strict father has found where she is hiding, and her world on the Colorado frontier is crashing down around her ears. She thought love and romance was only about going on picnics and holding hands, not rough kisses and hurtful pawing.

Now the consequences of her actions might be beyond what she can bear.

In the 1866 Owen Family universe, Scandalous shines a light on teen hormones run amok during a trying time in the family’s story, as it ties up a loose thread from the novel Spinster’s Folly.

Broken: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story

Rida Owen didn’t know married life on the Colorado frontier could be so difficult. Nothing in her Catholic upbringing prepared her for long, lonely nights when her husband, Bert, goes drinking. And womanizing. And then comes home to beat her.

Her mother-in-law thinks she’s stuck up when she doesn’t participate in homestead washday. Rida only wants to hide her bruises and preserve her marriage.

Then a neighbor from her past stops to say hello and reveals a secret of his own.

Broken is a Shenandoah Neighbors story that reveals a dark corner of the Owen Family universe in 1875.

Bloodied Leather: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story

Isabelle Gilbert chafes against the restrictions that Victorian life puts on a young lady.

Forced to accept a betrothal to Percival Egmont, an English ex-patriot like her father, she is disturbed by his passion for prize-fighting—and other pursuits. And what if Mama spots the bruise on her cheek?

Then shared secrets perplex Isabelle even more.

A Shenandoah Neighbor story, Bloodied Leather extends the Owen Family universe into 1886.

Lies & Secrets: Three Historical Short Stories will be available exclusively on Kindle for a period of three months.

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Fresh Book Friday – Ned’s Choice: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story

Eek! I neglected to make a Fresh Book Friday post about this new story.

Ned's ChoiceTitle: Ned’s Choice: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story
Author: Marsha Ward
Genre: Historical Romance
Published: February 14, 2018
Price: $0.99 for a limited time

Purchase Links: Kindle | NOOK | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore | Smashwords (all formats available)

Description:
Ned Heizer has just released his betrothed from her promise to marry him. He knows she’s in good hands that are not his own.

But if he carries out his intention to backtrack their trail, to ride toward Raton Pass where he last saw the Mormon wagon party, he’ll be leaving behind his brother and his friends to go in search of an unknown future.

Is he mistaken in his belief that Maggie Julander is the girl for him? If the feeling like lightning that passed between them is any indication, he’s on the right road, unless she didn’t have the same experience.

A Shenandoah Neighbors Story that puts Ned in a situation where he must make an informed choice and take risks for his hope of happiness.

*Mormon religious beliefs play a large part in this story.*

(Ned’s Choice is best enjoyed if read following the Owen Family Saga novel Trail of Storms.)

~~~

If you’re new to the Owen Family Saga and its related series, Shenandoah Neighbors, here’s the perfect starting place: the origin story, That Tender Light.

cover, That Tender LightHow did the Owen Family Saga begin?

With a love story, of course, the most romantic love story of all: when Rod and Julia met.

God must have conspired with the angels to put Roderick Owen of Shenandoah County, Virginia, and Julia Helm, of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the same place on one magical day in Spring, 1840. All nature paused, as though holding its breath, waiting to see what would happen.

In this short novella, Marsha Ward tells the story of the Owen Family origins, describing in her delicate language the tender feelings of two people who need to find each other in a very small window of time.

Purchase Links: Kindle | NOOK | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore | Smashwords (all formats available)

 

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What’s the Difference . . .

Between the Owen Family Saga and an Owen Family Story?

Good question!

Once I finished writing the novels that make up the Saga, and put them into the best reading order, I decided to call a halt to that series. I knew I was going to write further stories about the family members, either to fill in gaps, give more information, or tell new stories about this rambunctious lot. However, but they would most likely be written out-of-order.

Therefore, anything else I write about members of the Owen family will be labeled An Owen Family–whatever (novel, novella, or story). These new projects will be part of The Owen Family Universe.

You can see that one new Owen Family novella–the Origin Story called That Tender Light–occupies first place in the graphic above. I intend it to be read first, even though it’s not designated as part of the Saga.

Why am I using the “Owen Family” designation going forward?

Here’s the thing: There is no point in trying to formally shoehorn the new stories in between the novels of the Saga (it’s just too difficult to change things around in an existing series). Until after I finish writing new pieces of work, I don’t know where on the Saga timeline they will fall. I surely will not number the new stories on the covers. Imagine changing the numbers on multiple covers when each new story is released! Therein lies, if not madness, at the least a great deal of work, worry, and confusion.

To keep everything simple, I will continue to write stories about the family and label them as such, then update my Best Reading Order page.

So what is this “Shenandoah Neighbors” thing?

The Owen Family Universe includes a great many characters and their stories. The neighbors who came west with the Owen family from the Shenandoah Valley have their own stories, and most of them are linked in some degree to the Owen family. However, I didn’t want them to be classified as Owen Family Stories or Novels or Novellas, so I came up with the Shenandoah Neighbors tag.

There are currently four works in the Shenandoah Neighbors list: the novella Mended by Moonlight, and the stories Ned’s Choice, Broken, and Bloodied Leather.

There could be those who would argue–with good reason, given my parameters–that Trail of Storms is not an Owen family novel, and should fall under the classification of a Shenandoah Neighbors Novel. Well, it’s firmly stuck in the Saga. In this imperfect world, those of us afflicted with OCD will just have to live with that.

For more information about the placement, year, and locations of all the published stories in The Owen Family Universe, refer to the best reading order page on my website.

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New Cover on The Man from Shenandoah

It’s hard to believe that The Man from Shenandoah was first published 15 years ago. Yes, that’s FIFTEEN years.

It’s time for a bit of a sprucing-up, so I’ve put a new cover on the novel:

Here’s what the novel is about.

Carl Owen doesn’t intend to lose anything—not his land, not his cattle, and certainly not his girl—ever again!

The young cavalryman returns from the Civil War to find the family farm destroyed, his favorite brother dead, food scarce, and his father determined to leave the Shenandoah Valley to build a cattle empire in Colorado Territory. Crossing the continent, Carl falls in love with his brother’s fiancée while set to wed another girl, but he might lose everything if the murderous thug Berto Acosta has his way. Carl battles a band of outlaws, a prairie fire, blizzards, a trackless waterless desert, and his own brother—all for the hand of feisty Ellen Bates.
~~~~~

The new cover is on the e-book right now at the major online retailers, and will appear on the print book soon. Here’s where you can buy it, if you don’t have it in your digital library yet.

E-Books: Smashwords (all formats) | Kindle | NOOK | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore

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