Authentic Romantic Historical Fiction
Remember that Gone for a Soldier is on sale for only $.99 until midnight. It’s listed among nearly 40 other ebook in the huge Multi-Author sale here.
Fill up your e-reading device for winter with lots of good stories. And Gone for a Soldier, Book 1 of The Owen Family Saga!
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A friend of mine banded several writer friends together and arranged for a Holiday Sale, featuring a diverse lot of wonderful ebooks to fill your ereaders this Holiday Season. Get ’em while they’re Free or only Ninety-nine cents. Sale runs from Thanksgiving Day through midnight on Cyber Monday (in most cases).
SOME RETAILERS ARE SLOW TO BUILD PRODUCT PAGES WITH NEW PRICES. Always check the retailer’s price before purchase.
Clicking on Kindle links takes you to Amazon.com using Amazon Affiliate links from Marsha Ward.
~~~
Marsha Ward
Gone for a Soldier
$.99
KINDLE | SMASHWORDS | NOOK | KOBO | APPLE iBOOK STORE
Rulon Owen loves two things more than life—his country and Mary Hilbrands.
When Virginia secedes from the Union, Rulon enlists, and finds himself fighting foes both in battle and in his own camp. He struggles to stay alive against all odds, with a knife-wielding tent-mate and a Union army that seems impossible to defeat. It will take every ounce of vigilance he has to survive and, with a little luck, he might make it home to his wife and the son he’s never seen.
Forced to live with her parents for the duration, Mary faces a battle for independence. With a mother whispering that her husband won’t come home to her and a son who needs her to be both father and mother, Mary has to dig deep for strength to overcome her overwhelming loneliness and the unknown future ahead.
Separated by war and circumstance, Rulon and Mary discover that not all enemies wear the Union blue.
~~~
Donna K. Weaver
Torn Canvas
$.99
KINDLE | AUDIBLE
(audiobook is only $1.99 if you own the Kindle ebook)
Modern-day pirates took more than Jori Virtanen’s friends; they stole his face. Not only does the 24-year-old former model have to confront months of reconstructive surgery, he discovers his previous life was as superficial as his looks. Jori struggles to make a new life for himself as an artist while evading the press. They expect a hero, but he knows the truth. His beauty masks a beast.
Olivia Howard’s given up a normal life for her job, and the sacrifices are finally paying off. The 26-year-old talk-show host’s ratings are heading to the top of the charts. Her dream is to make a difference in people’s lives, but the studio wants mind fluff-like interviewing hot model Jori Virtanen. When Olivia learns the guy helped rescue passengers on a cruise excursion from kidnappers, she knows this is the story she needs to make her case. The only problem is the hero was injured, and now he’s disappeared.
The more Olivia learns about the man behind the scar, the more intrigued she becomes. But Jori is no girl’s happily ever after. Once she finds him, Olivia has to free his heart and help heal the beast.
~~~
Wendy Knight
Cauldron Bubble
$.99
“You’ve just always been the powerful one. I’m the smart aleck.”
“We’re the same. I’m night, you’re day. You have to have both to have life.”
“You can hide in the shadows.”
“And you can shine like the sun. This prophesy is about both of us.”
Destiny doesn’t think she’s anything special. The daughter of an outcast witch. Her twin, Fate, is her best friend, so that’s awesome. They’re experts in love potions and selling them to crazy high school kids.
So they can buy more shoes.
But that all changes when their school is attacked by warlocks—warlocks who want her power for their own. The attack launches her onto the path the stars have chosen for Destiny, Fate, and their long-lost father.
Oh, and Quin.
Quin, who’s the son of a witch, only tolerating Destiny’s presence because she can save his mother. Except along the way, that all changes, and he realizes Destiny is everything he never knew he wanted. The only problem is she thinks if love can be made from a potion, it can’t be a real thing.
If they survive this, he’s going to prove her wrong.
~~~
Laura L Walker
Caitlyn’s Christmas Wish
$.99
Just when former model and single mother Caitlyn Drevier Reel has finally put her life on track after a divorce and six-month stint in rehab, she is surprised to receive an invitation from her ex-in-laws to spend Christmas with them. After all, she reasons, her ex-husband Grant is constantly on the road with his band and it’s only fair to allow them to get to know her young son.
What Caitlyn isn’t prepared for, however, is the spark of attraction she feels toward Ridge, Grant’s older brother, or the sense of belonging to their wonderful family once again. Ridge, who is recovering from his own personal heartache, seems to feel the same way. As they work together to ensure the success of the Winter Festival his parents have organized for their small Wyoming town, Caitlyn begins to envision a bright future. But will Grant’s unexpected arrival keep her Christmas wish from coming true?
This inspirational romance is sure to put you in the holiday mood!
~~~
Jaleta Clegg
Nexus Point
$.99
Stranded on a primitive world, facing death at the hands of the natives, hunted by drug smugglers, wanted by the Patrol, Captain Dace has one hope of escaping: Convince the Patrol agent trying to kill her that she’s innocent.
Dark Dancer
$.99
Have you ever danced in a fairy ring? Sabrina has, and it opened the door to fairyland. But it’s not the place of legend. The Queen is missing and the lords of the Seligh are hoarding the magic, using it to fuel their devices. With the help of a pixie warrior and a renegade elf, Sabrina must restore magic and solve the mystery of the balmorae, flying monsters that plague the Winterlands beyond the barrier.
~~~
Julie Coulter Bellon
All Fall Down
$.99
Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down . . .
That simple rhyme turns negotiator Claire Michaels’ current hostage situation into an international incident. Claire just wants to help get everyone out safely, but as the crisis escalates she realizes she’s dealing with an al-Qaeda operative who has the means to become another bin Laden—with the potential to attack America. Claire has her own personal reasons for wanting to stop al-Qaeda, but time is slipping away as negotiations break down. Can she overcome her scars of the past in order to get the hostage out alive and possibly stop an assault on U.S. national security?
Navy SEAL Rafe Kelly is on leave to recover from a knee injury he suffered during his tour in Afghanistan and he doesn’t expect to be fighting terrorists on his home turf. But when he is taken hostage and his brother is kidnapped, Rafe teams up with a hostage negotiator in order to stay alive and get his brother back. The terrorist is always one step ahead of them, however, and the situation quickly turns from desperate to deadly. Will Rafe be able to save himself and his country without anyone he loves getting caught in the crossfire?
The Captive
$.99
Former Navy SEAL Jake Williams is the newly appointed head of a task force assigned to rescue a kidnapped American diplomat. Their only hope is Mya Amari, the daughter of a notorious Algerian hostage negotiator, but she is full of secrets and complications-something Jake takes as a personal challenge. As they grow closer, the threat to the mission escalates and time runs out for the hostages. Can Jake unravel the web of deception to save them all without getting caught in the crossfire?
Mya Amari has been in hiding nearly her entire life to escape her father’s enemies. But when her sister is kidnapped along with an American diplomat, she’ll do anything to bring her home-including walking into the enemy’s lair. She doesn’t trust anyone, especially the too-handsome-for-his-own-good Commander Williams, but when all her careful plans explode out of control, he’s the only one she can turn to with the truth about her family. Is it too little, too late?
~~~
Debra Erfert
Changes of the Heart
$.99
Buying the 1920s farmhouse south of Phoenix, where the rumors of John Dillinger’s gang hid out in the 30s, is supposed to be accident-prone Grace Evanheart’s way of escaping an old romance. When she finds an ancient diary with a map under the bedroom’s floorboard, the rumors solidify into fact. She doesn’t know who to trust with the news; Micah Stevens, the handsome deputy and the great grandson of the original landowners with whom she’s attracted, or Jerry, the young historian who seems too intent on learning about her new home?
Micah seems convinced their paths cross exactly at the right time and in the right place for them to fall in love. Now he just has to convince Grace of the same thing before suspicions of his real motive have her running again.
Window of Time
$.99
CIA courier Lucy James never gets used to seeing innocent people killed, but she copes with it—every day. Cursed with the ability to glimpse into the future when a death is about to happen, she has a short window of time to interfere—risking her life in order to change it. No one knows about her curse, until she saves a handsome Los Angeles firefighter trapped between her and foreign operatives hell-bent on intercepting her current assignment.
LA firefighter Johnny Cartwright’s life changes the moment he meets Lucy. His uncomplicated days flip to dangerously unpredictable after he’s drawn deeper into her secretive world of premonitions. His attraction to Lucy grows as he helps her stop a terroristic plot against the U.S., putting his life between her and certain death.
~~~
Rebecca Rode
Numbers Ignite
$.99
Treena and Vance think they’ve escaped the numbers game forever. They’re wrong.
After Treena’s disastrous attempt to unite the nation, she has the deaths of hundreds haunting her dreams. Now, with hatred and accusations following her past the border, she’s determined to leave that horrible day behind and find a peaceful, uneventful life with Vance and the settlers. But when she starts seeing mysterious figures hiding in the abandoned cities at night and uncovers a strange desert population, she realizes there’s a danger much greater than NORA to worry about—and she just abandoned her people to their fate.
Vance is a prisoner. Being rejected by the girl he loves and put on trial for betraying his clan are bad enough, but now he’s been framed for a crime he never committed. Their less-than-perfect refuge has become the political game of a madman, and Vance is the only one who can stop it—if he can keep from being executed first.
Treena and Vance are still very much in the game, and this time it will take everything they have to save those they love.
~~~
Tifani Clark
All is Merri and Bright
$.99
Merri Wilcox has finally achieved her greatest dream and opened her own hair salon. Life is bliss until Brighton Stansbury walks through her door. Growing up, Brighton was behind every bad thing that happened to Merri. She hasn’t seen him since high school graduation and could have happily continued like that forever.
When a winter storm traps Merri and Brighton together, will the pair finally learn to get along, or will the Christmas holiday become their new war zone?
Losing Independence
$.99
Five years ago, Lauren Walker ditched everything—and everyone—she knew and headed for Nashville with her bags packed and violin case in tow, ready to conquer her dreams. With the perfect boyfriend, a great roommate, and a job she’s good at, she believes it’s only a matter of time before her talents as a musician will finally be discovered and appreciated.
But, just as quickly as they begin, all the good things in her life come crashing down.
Out of options and money, Lauren returns to the small town in Utah where she grew up. Living with her parents and working at the same job she had in high school is hard enough on her ego, but seeing the successes of people she once considered good friends is even worse. Especially when one of those friends is her former best friend, Scott McAllister.
Will Lauren completely lose her independence and her mind, or will she find a way to manage rekindled feelings and still conquer her dreams?
Connect with Tifani Clark:
Blog | Facebook | Twitter (@TifaniClark)
~~~
Liz Adair
A Kane County Christmas.
Free
Spider Latham’s first Christmas Eve in Kane County is complicated by a fouled-up septic system. Then his foster daughter, Amy, decides to recreate the Bethlehem Star in the sky above his barn. As Spider’s holiday spirit unravels with each snag in his plumbing solution, Amy’s star works a special Christmas magic.
~~~
Carolyn Twede Frank
Remembrance
(Book 3 in the Quantum Faith Effect Series)
$.99
When the Hallelujah Chorus is banned from his school’s Holiday Gala, Josh doesn’t want to get involved and fight the injustice like he usually does. But after book-traveling through the life of George Frideric Handel in the Literary Loom, Josh has second thoughts. Those second thoughts grow into a passion as Josh discovers the mystery behind the quirky new kid at Claremont High, and learns the value of remembering Christ as he travels through the New Testament. Everywhere he looks, Christmas seems to be about everything but Christ. He can’t change the world but he can at least bring back the Hallelujah Chorus and help people remember what Christmas is all about.
~~~
Lucinda Whitney
The Secret Life of Daydreams
$.99
He planned for everything except her. She’s too busy to follow her dreams. But sometimes the dream you never expected is the one you can’t live without.
Six years after a painful divorce, Josh Conrad is happy traveling the world as a photographer. When he arrives in Portugal, he plans to complete the assignment as quickly as possible. What he doesn’t plan for is Sofia, the girl he baptized eleven years earlier on an LDS mission, and soon he’s making excuses to prolong his trip.
Sofia Monteiro leads a structured life in Braga, Portugal, teaching high school by day and caring for her mother by night. After she reconnects with Josh through mutual friends, the memory of a failed relationship and her new graduate program are enough reasons to stay away from him.
As they collaborate on a project, Josh is wary of repeating his old mistakes and Sofia hesitates to spend time with an American who’s only passing through.
Can two people with wounded hearts bring themselves to trust their dreams to each other?
The Secret Life of Daydreams is a standalone full-length novel set in Braga, Portugal. It’s a clean and wholesome contemporary LDS romance in the A Love Story From Portugal series.
One Small Chance
$.99
One city of two million people and only three months to find her. What are his chances?
Isabel Antunes is content with her life as director of the British Academy in Lisbon. Then she’s hit by a man on a bike—a man her boss just hired to be her assistant. Despite Simon Ackerley’s repeated assurances to the contrary, Isabel believes he’s after her position, but she won’t hand it over without a fight. As if dealing with him all week is not enough, he shows up at church as well. Her only solace is in writing to the pen pal she knows as “Elliot”.
Simon Ackerley told his father that he was moving to Lisbon for the job. But that isn’t the only reason. Simon is looking for Amélie, the pen pal he’s written for fifteen years. A woman he knows everything about—except her real name and address.
When the biking accident reveals that Simon’s prickly co-worker Isabel is the elusive Amélie, he knows he has to win her trust before he can confess his true identity. If only he could tell her the actual reason why he’s come, he’s sure Isabel would treat him differently. But she’s not ready for the truth.
One Small Chance is a standalone novella set in Lisbon. It’s a clean and wholesome contemporary LDS romance in the A Love Story From Portugal series.
~~~
Tristi Pinkston / Amelia C. Adams
Sea of Strangers
by Amelia C. Adams
free
Jeanette Peterson left behind the man who loves her to go to nursing school in New York, promising to come back in six months and marry him. His love is the only thing that sees her through the trials ahead. When the time comes to make the toughest decision of all, will she choose justice or mercy out of many shades of gray?
Take My Advice
by Tristi Pinkston
$.99
What if the answers to life aren’t always black and white?
Jill Reed thinks she knows it all, and as the advice columnist for her high school newspaper, she gets to share her wisdom on a weekly basis. She handles questions about everything from dating to choosing the right nail polish, and with the exception of a few bullies, everyone respects her opinion.
But when life throws her some curves she can’t handle, she realizes she knows a whole less than she thought she did, and she’ll need to ask others for their advice so she can make it through.
~~~
Lindzee Armstrong
First Love, Second Choice
Free
KINDLE | AUDIBLE | NOOK | iTUNES | iBooks | KOBO | SMASHWORDS
(audiobook is only $1.99 if you own the Kindle ebook)
What happens when you impersonate your identical twin sister to score a date with your long-lost high school crush? Enjoy this delightfully sweet case of mistaken identity today!o:p>
Mistletoe Match
$.99
A kiss shouldn’t be this complicated. When animal rights activist Michelle kisses a mystery man underneath the mistletoe at a holiday party, she’s horrified to realize he’s the new marketing director of the pharmaceutical company she’s trying to destroy due to their nasty habit of animal testing. Can one impulsive kiss be the foundation for a happily ever after? Curl up with this delicious holiday romance today!
~~~
Terry Deighton
Tweaks: The Beginning
Free
Henry Johnson has a best friend, a crush, a life-long enemy, and no idea his life is a science project.
In sixth-grade, average may mean boring, but at least it also means avoiding freakdom. Henry is all kinds of average—that is before other people’s thoughts start popping into his head. He thinks he’s going crazy until he discovers he’s one of several kids with genetically modified abilities, including the school bully. How did they get tweaked? To unravel the mystery, Henry must face family betrayal, his parent’s abduction by a greedy scientist, and even becoming frenemies with the bully. Can the Tweaks use their new abilities to avoid being used as demo models for the corrupt Dr. Grey’s foreign military buyers?
Just Say No-el
$.99
Kelly Yeager can never seem to say no.
With five children to Christmas shop for, a Sunday School class to teach, and a cub scout den to lead, she has no time to volunteer at the Seattle Crèche Festival. Reluctantly, she agrees to help her friend arrange the nativity displays for one afternoon. Somehow, she ends up working for weeks under Marilynn, a stern woman who organizes the volunteers like an invading army and relegates Kelly to the Children’s Room where she can’t break anything.
Unable to say no, Kelly stays on and on. With each new assignment, she wants to get done and get out of there, but then nativity pieces start to go missing. Before long, Kelly wants, more than anything, to solve the mystery and make sure the festival succeeds, but how will she ever get Christmas ready for her family?
~~~
Vicki Hunt Budge
Renewal: Kayla’s Story
$.99
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage.
–Lao Tzu
Kayla Morrison, an LDS young single adult, grew up in an unloving, verbally abusive home. It’s no wonder she’s skeptical when charming, successful Chris Christensen brings up love on their first date. Making things worse, her former fiancé shows up later and claims Chris doesn’t love her.
Meanwhile Kayla’s father drops the bomb that he’s not her real father. And then he dies, setting Kayla on an arduous quest to discover who she really is, and if she’s worthy of anyone’s love.
Along the way she establishes new friendships and treasures current friends. But will the drama of her friends and family strengthen her, or will it cause her to withdraw back to her destructive beginnings?
Renewal is the continuing story of love and friendship in the Hope and Healing Series. It is a story of redemption and faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
~~~
Kate Palmer
Storm
$.99
A stubborn rancher struggles to save her ranch, but it’s her heart she’s most in danger of losing.
Storm’s ranch is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy after cattle rustlers strike. When her part-time ranch hand dies under suspicious circumstances, she concocts a plan to save her ranch. Now she just needs to convince her reclusive neighbor to be her business partner.
Dak Hunsaker moved home after he lost everything when his wife died from cancer. He has finally saved enough money for a down payment on a house in the city so he can raise his girls in the cultured environment he promised his wife. When Storm proposes a business partnership, he refuses. But when she ends up in the hospital and is on the verge of losing her ranch, Dak steps in to help. And so does Storm’s old cowboy flame, Taggert.
In jeopardy of losing the only place that’s ever felt like home, who can Storm trust with her heart?
Snowed Inn
Free
A woman rancher hitches the community’s dreams to her sleigh ride business and ropes in a heap of trouble for them and her heart.
Jayne Gardner turned her family’s ranch into the successful Snowed Inn Lodge and Restaurant. After she learns the community has one month to earn funds needed for a grant, she donates her company’s sleigh rides for a community fundraiser.
When Jayne’s new volunteer sleigh driver turns out to be Forrest Hunsaker, the man who left her three years ago, Jayne sets up three rules to maintain a professional distance and protect her heart.
When vandals strike Snowed Inn, Jayne must team up with Forrest to prevent a fundraiser fail. Now Jayne must decide if breaking all her rules will break her heart. Again.
~~~
Jewel Allen
Ghost Moon Night
$.99
KINDLE
also available in audiobook
AUDIBLE
It was whispered years ago that when a pirate cursed a Philippine village with langbuan, or flying undead, a boy received a secret that would protect him from certain death. But even armed with a secret, can anyone survive the undead for long?
Seventeen-year-old Antonio Pulido has never known a time when the langbuan didn’t roam the streets every Ghost Moon Night, killing anyone in their path. He works hard to protect his family and the girl he loves from the deadly attacks, but he wants them stopped once and for all. Can Antonio uncover the decades-old secret and will it help him defeat the langbuan? Or will Ghost Moon Night come again and take someone he truly cares about? It falls on Antonio to save his village, but time is running out. The next Ghost Moon Night is nearly here and Antonio knows this is his last chance to destroy the undead and end their reign of terror — or die trying.
Soapbox
$.99
Nonfiction/Political Memoir
When a medical waste company tries to relocate to her county, columnist Jewel Allen never would have guessed it would be the end of one life, and the beginning of another. Wanting to protect her community, she starts a social media campaign against the giant incinerator which not only costs her her writing job, but gives birth to the activist inside. She rallies her neighbors against the company and the State Legislature bent on invading their land.
As the dust settles from that battle, she faces an even greater dilemma: The Speaker of the House and his allies, armed with a million-dollar public relations budget, want to build a new, water-hogging state prison ten minutes from her home. Equipped with only her media know-how, Jewel helps her neighbors wage a creative grassroots campaign to save their town.
In this more-than-a-memoir, Jewel Allen not only tells her David and Goliath stories, but shares effective and invaluable secrets and insights to running and winning a political / grassroots campaign. It answers the questions: What can I do? and How can I do it? A must-read for anyone looking for motivation, upliftment, and guidance.
~~~
Miranda D Nelson
Healing Hearts
$.99
Joanna Leighton has never desired a husband. She’s seen what love can do to a person and she refuses to subject herself to that pain. She’s satisfied to help her uncle, the physician of Roselund Heights, tend to his patients. When the quiet and secretive Colin Aldridge moves to town her resolve softens, and she begins to wonder if love is perhaps worth the pain it inevitably brings. Joanna’s wounds run deep and when secrets and sorrows arise, she’s tempted to close off her heart forever. Can she trust Mr. Aldridge enough to risk the pain and give him her heart? Or will she decide she’s better off spending her life alone?
~~~
Charlie Pulsipher
The Crystal Bridge
$.99
A novel that spans worlds and genres, breaking rules at every turn. Imagine Lord of the Rings meets Stargate.
Kaden’s Egg, a shell of light only he can see, transports him to dangerous distant worlds, but he’s afraid to use it. It may have saved his life once or twice, but it’s also failed him just as often. Aren’s sight reaches deep into the souls and memories of others, exposing more than she ever wanted to see.
When Aren turns her gift on Kaden, his Egg responds, sending them spiraling across the space between universes to a world where dragons, mythic creatures, and peculiar gods dwell. Separated, lost, and alone, these teens must come to grips with their unique gifts if they ever want to see Earth again.
Back home, a biotechnology company tinkers with the science of reality, hoping to cure death itself, but they will awaken something shadowy and powerful, imprisoned in the void for millennia. This dark being longs to break free and devour everything. Infinite universes would be consumed, and Kaden and Aren must decide if they can save more than themselves.
Can they save us all?
~~~
Jo Noelle
Newbie
$.99
The housing market is crashing, and Sophie’s life is crashing with it. At twenty-four, her successful real estate career evaporates. She’s broke, can’t find a job, or pay her bills. At the urging of her roommate, Sophie accepts a job in her fallback career—teaching six-year-olds. She hopes it’s temporary. After all, how long can a tanking economy last anyway? The best part of the new job is Liam, another employee at Rio Grande Elementary. The worst part of the new job is, well, teaching.
Sophie has a surprise real estate closing from a contract she wrote months ago, leading her to a niche in the real estate market and to a new partner, Kevin. Sophie must choose between Liam or Kevin and between a lucrative career or recess duty.
This new adult, chick lit novel is a sweet romance filled with humor as Sophie navigates her life as a teacher, trying to balance lesson plans and love in the workplace.
All By My Selfie
Free
While on vacation at McLeod Castle in Scotland, Gwen Mackenzie has nightly dreams of an ancient warrior bound by a curse. During the day, she sees Niall, nicknamed #ScottishBoyfriend. Oh, and can that man rock a kilt! As she gets to know him, she realizes that Niall is the warrior from her dreams, cursed to live as a ghost for the past five hundred years, to see life around him but never see, taste, or feel any of it—except Gwen.
This is a 100 page novella in the clean and wholesome category.
~~~
Janette Rallison
Son of War – Daughter of Chao
$.99
on sale from November 25 – 30
Aislynn is accustomed to watching for the enemy. Her parents have instructed her from the time she was young to look for people with the signs: greater than normal strength, eyes that sometimes glow green, and the ability to jump long distances. Over the years, Aislynn has come to view her parents’ fears as quirks and unfounded paranoia.
When Aislynn’s mother dies under suspicious conditions, her father doubles his restrictions. But all his precautions can’t stop the boy with glowing green eyes from finding Aislynn. She realizes too late she’s been drafted into an ancient Egyptian war, one where Horus and Set still struggle for control and people aren’t who or what they seem to be. Danger will find her, whether she’s prepared or not.
This urban fantasy takes you around the world: from Arizona to Oxford, England, with stops on the snowy peaks of the Arctic and the ancient ruins of Egypt.
~~~
Monica Millard
Faceless
$.99
KINDLE| NOOK | iTUNES | KOBO | SMASHWORDS
Have you ever experienced that one moment that made you stop and take notice of a person you see every day, but never truly saw before? That’s what happened to me the day Eli Markham walked away from the school bully, instead of fighting.
It wasn’t the first time he’s done this, but it was the first time his eyes found mine in the crowd and held me captive. Now, I can’t get him out of my head and I’m seeing him everywhere.
Problem is, I’m not the only one taking notice of him. Someone, something, has got him in its sights and they want him bad. Bad enough to try to frame him for the murder of the bully he walked away from.
As his alibi for that crime and then another, I’ve stumbled into the crosshairs of the monster that’s after him and losing isn’t an option for it.
~~~
Valerie Ipson
Ideal High
$.99
People say it wasn’t an accident, so what really happened that night at Ritter’s Crossing when a fire at the abandoned cotton gin killed seven students? Or was it eight? Soon the writing on the bathroom wall means it’s up to Taryn Young to hurtle past her grief to figure out just what’s going on at Ideal High School in this page-turning mystery that confronts bullying and betrayal.
~~~
Stacy Lynn Carroll
Shattered Hearts
$.99
Sarah Dunkin’s world shatters when she walks in on her husband’s secret addiction. Thrown into the world of pornography, therapy, and support groups, Sarah must find a way to forgive before she drowns in betrayal and despair. The task before her seems impossible as she struggles to care for their five children on her own. Growing up without religion in her life, Sarah is forced to make difficult choices and finds herself being drawn to a higher power she never understood. But with the help of a mysterious friend, Sarah just might be able to piece back together the life, and the love, she and her husband once shared.
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Lisa Swinton
On the Corner of Heartache and Love
$.99
Maren’s stuck at the intersection of heartache and love, but happily ever after might be just around the corner.
After three years, Maren Summers is elated to finally have her dream wedding to her dream man, Kevin Bryant. In her sights is the promotion to Weddings she’s worked so hard for at the newspaper. Happily ever after is within her grasp…
Until Kevin jilts her at the altar, elopes with another woman, and becomes her boss. Devastated by the twisted turn of events Maren moves in with her best friend and notices the not-so-homeless guy on the corner, Zane Whitfield. As his heart-wrenching tale unfolds—his vow to wait a year on the corner for his lost love—Maren sees his compassionate human-interest story as her ticket away from Kevin, weddings, and her heartache.
But as the New Year approaches, is Maren headed for heartache again if Zane’s lost love returns or has time changed more than one heart?
~~~
Susan Tietjen
Dragon Unchained
$.99
Lady Theona McArthur thinks opening The Keeper, a forbidden ancient relic, will help her find the love of her life. At least that’s what her dreams tell her. But instead of being shown where this handsome boy with violet eyes lives, she becomes possessed by evil spirits and is imprisoned for violating the laws of Kildaria.
Then rumors of war bring a foreign prince to seek an alliance with Kildaria, and Theona’s shocked that Prince Gideon Seville is the young man of her dreams, the one with the violet eyes.
When Theona is condemned to death for transgressing the law, those evil spirits—the shades of sorcerers long dead—offer her one reprieve. Just learn to use magic she never knew she had to return them, and their two ferocious dragons, to mortality, and they’ll set her free. She has no choice but to comply, but she fears that if the sorcerers don’t destroy her, the lure of magic could. Her chance friendship with Prince Gideon blossoms into the love of a lifetime, but even together, will they have what it takes to beat the odds against evil sorcerers, magical dragons, war, and death?
Share This:
Before I share this sample from a scene, I’d like to tell you how my novel, Gone for a Soldier, came to be numbered as Book 0 in The Owen Family Saga.
At most online vendors, when you have a book series, they like you to indicate which book is where along the time continuum. I had already marked The Man from Shenandoah as Book 1, and since it’s difficult to change the numbering scheme at all the online vendors, not to mention on the covers, I designated Gone for a Soldier as Book 0, or a prequel. So Book 0 it is. Perhaps that’s fitting for an origin story like Gone for a Soldier.
Now I’ll share a sample scene with you, where second brother Ben is waiting for his sweetheart, Ella Ruth, to meet him.
~~~
Ben waited in the darkness of the lane that led up from the north fork of the river. Before him on a rise stood the grand house, the centerpiece of the prosperous farm owned by Miss Ella Ruth Allen’s father. Behind him, tied to a low-hanging tree limb, his horse nickered softly and stamped a hoof.
Ella Ruth was late in arriving to their tryst, but that was to be expected. Ella Ruth was late for every occasion.
He smiled momentarily at her habitual tardiness, and then adjusted his leaning position against the smooth tree trunk. If he had his wish, he would scoop her up and run away to the nearest place he could marry her, but she hadn’t yet agreed to elope with him. He hoped his powers of persuasion would be sufficient to the task tonight. If not, he only had a few more days to win her over to the idea.
Hearing footfalls on the lane, he pushed away from the tree and straightened.
“Ben?” Breathless. Timid. Hopeful.
“I’m here,” he called, keeping his voice low.
The footsteps slowed. Hesitant. “Where? I cannot see you.”
She was close, so close to him that he could smell the scent of the rose water she wore. He moved forward. “Here,” he said, bringing the girl into his arms.
“Oh Ben,” she sighed, snuggling against him, her head fitting into the hollow beneath his chin. “I worried you wouldn’t come.” Her anxiety showed itself in a constrained giggle.
“You can depend on me,” he told her, repeating a phrase he’d said many times before in his attempts to woo and win her.
“You always say that,” she said, a bright little chuckle in her voice.
“I want you to remember it. I want you to know I am true to you. There is no one in my heart but your dear person.”
“Oh Ben,” she repeated. “It’s Poppa you need to convince, not me.”
He sighed. “Don’t I know it.” He held her, rocking her slightly. “What’s the secret? How do I make him see my worth?”
“I cannot advise you on that point.”
He heard the despair in her voice. “Ella Ruth, what does your ma think? Does she influence him?”
“Oh no! Momma doesn’t meddle in Poppa’s affairs. She wouldn’t dream of telling him to let you—” Her voice choked.
No help in that direction. Ben sighed again. “There has to be a remedy. Does your brother have influence?”
“Merlin keeps out of Poppa’s business.”
Gall rose in his throat, and he couldn’t speak until he had cleared it away. “My pa always told me life wasn’t fair, that I should buck up and realize it for truth. I reckon I didn’t know what he meant until now.”
“Don’t you get disheartened, Ben. I adore you. Poppa will have to see, sooner or later, that you are not merely a farmer’s son, but a person of real substance, real importance. Like I do.” Her voice rose to a squeak.
Marveling at her remarkable speech, he patted her hair, then stroked her cheek. “I won’t lose heart, but time is growing short. War is coming, the papers say. I expect I’ll go fight for the Confederacy.”
“Oh no. You can’t. You would have to leave me.” She snuggled tighter against him.
“That’s the way it is with war. All the more reason to redouble my efforts. When can I talk to your pa again?”
“Not for days. He’s on a trip for business.”
“Humph.” Ben pondered on the problem, still stroking Ella Ruth’s cheek until she stayed his hand.
“Ben.”
“Hmm?”
“How much do you care for me?”
He shook his head, drew all his focus together to answer the question. “There ain’t a measure large enough, girl.” Moonlight fell upon her brow. It gave him an idea. He took her chin between fingers and thumb and gently turned up her face so he could gaze directly into her eyes. “You are the sun, the moon, the stars to me. No man ever loved a woman more.”
Ella Ruth giggled. “I wish Poppa had a romantic soul. He couldn’t help being moved by such tender words.” She shivered. “He’s a businessman.”
“A very wealthy businessman.”
“Yes.” She sighed. “Can’t you make a pretty speech about business, Ben?”
~~~
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I have another blog that I have maintained for nearly ten years, where I am known as “Writer in the Pines.” This is because I live in a part of Arizona where pine trees abound.
One of the features on the site is weekly samples of my work, usually a work-in-progress, or “WIP.” I’m going to institute Tidbit Tuesday here, for that same purpose. I’ll recycle some old posts while you all get up to speed. The following excerpt is the opening of my latest published novel, Gone for a Soldier.
~~~
Rulon — April 19, 1861
Rulon Owen hadn’t intended that crisp Friday in April to be momentous.
In fact, when he’d saddled his horse in order to do an errand in Mount Jackson for his ma, he hadn’t given much thought to anything but stealing a few moments to see Mary Hilbrands.
She was only a little bit of a thing, a girl with dark hair and eyes that shone like… well, they kind of smoldered nowadays whenever she looked his way. Those smoky dark eyes gave him a shaky feeling that spun his head in circles and tied his gut into knots that…
“Whew.” Rulon realized he’d let the horse slow to a walk while he’d been off in a reverie, somewhere not in Shenandoah County, as far as he could tell. He got the horse loping again, and wished it was already a year from now. Mayhap folks wouldn’t get their tails in a twist about them keeping company once Mary turned sixteen in May next year. He was almighty tired of Ben and Peter, and especially of Pa, accusing him of trying to rob the cradle because he’d taken such a shine to the girl. Yes. He’d concede that she was young, but when she spoke his name, his knees felt like they was composed of apple jelly.
Ma sides with me, he thought. Pa was the true cradle-robber of the family when the two of them wed. Him twenty-four. Ma barely sixteen.
He wasn’t likely to throw his opinion on that subject in his father’s face any day soon. Firm. Formidable. The entire county used those words to describe his father. Rulon shook his head. Receiving back-sass from his offspring did not sit well with Roderick Owen. But at age twenty, Rulon hadn’t taken a lickin’ for a long spell. Maybe Pa’s gone soft in his old age. That’s likely, now that he has nigh onto forty-five years pressing him down.
Rulon rode on, wondering what to do to get his father off his back on the subject of Mary Hilbrands. It’s time I ask Ma to say a word to Pa, he determined at last. She won’t let him ride me once I begin to court Mary in earnest.
He slowed the horse to a walk as he entered the town. Ahead, he spotted his brother Ben pulling sacks of grain out of a wagon parked in front of the mill where he’d taken employment over the winter. Glancing up, Ben saw Rulon, and stopped to raise his hand in greeting, a big grin splitting his face.
Rulon drew rein and halted. “Brother Ben.” He clasped the outstretched hand. “What makes you so happy today?”
“I am put in a smilin’ mood from seein’ you with that enraptured look on your face. Can’t wait to thrust your hand into the cookie jar, huh?”
Rulon snorted at Ben’s fancy.
Ben kept on talking his nonsense. “Oh yes, indeed. You’re an enchanted man, spellbound and smitten, ready to do that girl’s bidding.”
“Speak for yourself, brother.”
Ben laughed and said, “Give my best to Miss Mary,” then smacked Rulon’s horse on the rump.
~~~
C.K. Crigger, author of the China Bohannan adventures says: Marsha Ward has succeeded once again in drawing the reader deep into lives of the Owen family. The Civil War years and its effect on the family are accurately depicted; the romance is real and true. Strong family ties bind this series together and is sure to hold you enthralled.
Gone for a Soldier: Prequel (Book 0) – in print and ebook formats
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