After many years as a best-selling contemporary author, developmental editor, and writing instructor, it’s a great pleasure to announce the release of my fourth historical novel.
The Harper Ranch Series features sweet, sweeping historical romance with high emotion and realistically-rendered settings in 1880s Montana Territory, including research sources and notes. The series is published by Montana Sky Publishing.
While I’m writing Book Five, Royal Rescue, the new Restless Heart is here! Book Four of the Harper Ranch Series….
Once adversaries, now forced to be partners to bring back her abducted son…
Near the battlefield of Custer’s last stand, a devoted mother, Margaret, and a free-spirit federal agent, Taylor, must overcome their months-old animosity and mistrust to find Margaret’s three-year-old boy, who was abducted in the wilds of Montana Territory in 1887. A bitter scoundrel’s revenge, a second chance at love, and a life-changing decision about the future create a memorable romantic adventure not to be missed.
Special surprise from my friend and colleague…
Debra Holland’s 9th Montana Sky historical romance, Montana Sky Justice, features an extended cameo of Taylor ten years later as he and the heroine-sheriff of Sweetwater Springs pursue bank robbers. An exciting read!
Redemption Rose, Book Three in the Harper Ranch Series
Susan Harper, a beautiful spinster with a scandalous past, must find the courage to love again.
From the Wild West to the steamy jungles of Panama and across the American Territories, shipping scion Joseph Rawlins courts the eldest Harper sister, Susan, through correspondence. His letters are fascinating, romantic, and above all safe. While she’s drawn to him, Susan fears the discovery of a past scandal will not only hurt him and ruin her, but also damage her sisters’ reputations and jeopardize the political career of Joseph’s father. A rose plant from Joseph’s match-making mother ironically foreshadows Susan’s inner journey to healing. In the striking conclusion, as wedding preparations begin for a sister, Susan confronts the past and finds it’s not just her who hides secrets that could destroy a family.
Rebel Love Song, Book Two in the Harper Ranch Series
What will she do to keep up her secret suffrage writings in the face of government pursuit?
Jessamine Harper, a suffragette like her mother and a ranch hand 
on the family ranch, scours newspapers (a scandal in itself for a Victorian woman) to find victims of cruelty at the hands of husbands, clergy, politics, and unfair work practices. Taylor Temogen, government land agent for Southern Montana Territory, is committed to stopping Jess’s insurgent writings so women will brave the rigors of homestead life to settle the West. Bethesda Janes, a Jewish goldminer, closet cellist, and gifted artist with iron and steel, who loves Jess but feels unworthy, must forgive the sins of his father to find the courage to claim love. What breaks the threads that bind these three in struggle are decency, courage, and abiding love.
And here’s the book that started the whole series:
Rye’s Reprieve, my first historical novel, Book One of the Harper Ranch Series
A doctor with a secret discovers that truth is the only medicine that will heal the heart
Gifted surgeon Rye Rawlins is trapped by a tragic secret so painful that he denies his profession and buries himself in a gold mine in Montana Territory. But saving people is second nature, whether it’s doctoring a man mauled by a mountain lion or battling a wolf to save a child. Veterinarian and horse rancher Missouri Harper suffers through the worst winter in Montana history to provide for three beautiful sisters and an ailing aunt. Dangerous storms, privation, and wild predators make survival precarious.
Rye comes to Missouri’s aid, putting his life in danger and Missouri in his debt. As they fall in love, his secret and her promise to remain a spinster to protect the land for her family force them to look within to discover the cost of love.
I hope you enjoy the Wild West adventure storylines and find a moment to post a review on Amazon. All the books fall into the category of “sweet” or G-rated historical romance.
My friend Debra Holland emailed me a couple days ago to say Rye’s Reprieve climbed to #41 on Amazon’s prestigious Top 100 Western Romance ebooks list, lingering among the latest works of leading historical romance authors of the day, including Debra. My historical novel is currently #1 in Kindle World Westerns, #3 in Romances.
Together on sale for $4.98 through May
Sale June 4 – 11
Last month I had to put down my 18-year-old kitty pal, Tuxedo, who was approaching kidney failure, and Debra, as both friend and a doctor of psychology, was just the right kind of support: loving, expressing condolences, backing off on the writing regimen while I grieved, and checking on me. I was grateful–as I was for all the wonderful notes I received on Facebook from my followers.
Amazon in its publishing role effectively uses email blasts to promote the works of its authors, so immediately my novel began climbing in the Top 100 of various lists: Historical Romance, Western Romance, Inspirational Romance, Kindle Worlds, as well as Westerns and the Romance category under Westerns.
I credit Amazon emails, the ENT ad, and Lauren’s newsletter for Rye’s Reprieve’s initial rise in rank.
Louella Nelson 