Summer at Briar Lake…Roxanne Rustand

Roxanne Rustand Posted on by

Just thought I’d let you all know that my second e-book, Summer at Briar Lake, is available for Kindle and other e-readers.  I spend a lot of time featuring other authors here, and just realized that I hadn’t yet posted here about my own new book.  Oops!

Here’s  the cover–what do you think?   I had such a ball writing this one–as you know, I love animals of all kind, so in addition to being a romance with  definite thread of light suspense, I got to add in all sorts of quirky animals.  🙂

Here’s an Amazon link to click,  if you’d like to buy it…it’s just $2.99!   Summer at Briar Lake

Summer at Briar Lake
Roxanne Rustand
January, 2014

In Summer at Briar Lake, a disillusioned lawyer searching for a quiet life in a small resort town ends up sharing a house with a woman who has a dark past, a troubled daughter and a menagerie of epic proportions.

The situation is challenging enough, but add a miniature goat with a penchant for roses and adventure, and an unknown enemy who will stop at nothing to achieve his own goals, and life becomes even more…interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

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Brenda B Taylor and Toby, the Big Cur Dog

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Guest blogger  Brenda B Taylor 

The Wades of Crawford County, Leann and Ralph, live on a farm five miles from the small town of Cuba, Missouri during the post-Civil War era. The farm’s livestock play an important role in family’s livelihood, but the most interesting animal, the one I really enjoyed writing into the stories, is the big cur dog named Toby. Jesse, Ralph and Leann’s six-year-old son in Through The Storm, claimed Toby as his special friend. Toby came out of the woods one day to take up residence under the Wades’ back steps. Jesse immediately fell in love with the big cur and the two became inseparable. Toby followed Jesse to school, but the teacher chased the dog away, much to Jesse’s chagrin.

Toby stayed close to Jesse when the little boy was sick and could not lift his head from the bed pillow. Leann relented and let Toby sleep in Jesse’s room, but only if Jim, the older brother, washed the dog so he wouldn’t smell and had clean hair. Jesse had a bad habit of nuzzling Toby’s fur and getting dog hair in his mouth.  Toby saved Leann and Jesse when they were lost in the cornfield during a heavy thunderstorm. He led Ralph to each one. Leann learned to love and appreciate the large dog, but she still scolded Jesse when he got dog hair in his mouth. Nuzzling Toby remained outside the limit of Leann’s tolerance.

Below is a excerpt from the third book in the Wades of Crawford County series, Through The Storm, when Toby helped save Leann and Jesse during the thunderstorm.

     Leann and Jim made their way to the cornfield in the now-pouring rain. The thunder grew closer, louder. She tried calling Jesse but was afraid her voice couldn’t be heard over the storm.
     A bolt of lightning flashed close by, right in front of her. With an earsplitting blast, a tree on the hill exploded in a burst of light. Leann screamed.
     Jim started running to find Jesse. Leann tried running to keep up with Jim. She tripped on her long skirt, now sagging under the weight of the water, and fell into the mud, losing sight of Jim and Toby in the tall corn. She wanted to scream for Jim, but he needed to find Jesse, so she sat in the mud, crying. She could do nothing but pray the Lord would help Jim get to Jesse and bring him to safety.
     Leann lost all perception of time. It seemed she sat in the mud crying and praying for an eternity. Lightning flashed around her. Thunder rolled. Her imagination saw Jesse lying among the corn stalks after being struck by lightning. Crying harder, she buried her face in her hands. Where were Jim and Jesse? Where were her sons?
      Suddenly, Toby licked her hands.
     “Where did you come from? You need to be finding Jesse,” she scolded the dog between sobs.
      Large hands reached out of nowhere, pulling her to her feet. Astonished, she looked up into her husband’s dark and troubled eyes under the wide-brimmed leather hat dripping with water.

The Wades of Crawford County series is a poignant tale of a love strong enough to survive the hard times in post-

Civil War Missouri, and woven with the cords of family values and faith.

“Truly captivating in the development of the entire cast of characters, each person is given a detail unseen in literature today. These are not just silly heroes and heroines prancing about on a page. These are real people, fighting real challenges, loving real loves. If you’re looking for a truly well told story, this is your book.” ~ Jessie

AMAZON LINK to buy the book: Through The Storm (The Wades of Crawford County Series)

Contact the author: http://bit.ly/KVDPYf

The desire to write historical fiction has long been a passion with Brenda B. Taylor. Since elementary school, she has written stories in her spare time. Brenda earned three degrees: a BSE from Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas; a MEd from Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas; and an EdD from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; then worked as a teacher and administrator in the Texas Public School system. Only after retirement could she fulfill the dream of publication.

Brenda and her husband make their home in beautiful East Texas where they enjoy spending time with family and friends, traveling, and working in Bethabara Faith Ministry, Inc. She crafts stories about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people in her favorite place overlooking bird feeders, bird houses, and a variety of blooming trees and flowers. She sincerely thanks all who purchase and read her books. Her desire is that the message in each book will touch the heart of the reader as it did hers in the writing.

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Hip Hop—Donita K. Paul’s most unusual muse!

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by guest blogger  Donita K Paul

It is a known fact in my family, that if you sit me down on a park bench, I’ll soon have a gathering of children or dogs or both. My grown kids call me a dog magnet. When I taught the three year old Sunday school, my son intimated it was my peer group. And I got into mountains of trouble with a sensitive mom of a rambunctious and perfectly normal first grade boy by saying training kids and dogs were similar. She had just been admiring my dog’s repertoire of astonishing tricks.  She didn’t think behavioral modification should be used on human offspring.

I’ve had pets all my life, so when I moved into my daughter’s basement and didn’t have a dog because there was no back door and no cat because her husband was allergic and no bird because she was allergic, I began to show signs of pet deprivation.  This is the nicest place I’ve ever lived, spacey, airy, and modern. And petless.

Two turtles and a dog came to live upstairs, but they didn’t fill my needs.

Finally, a type of pet I’d never had caught my attention. Two years ago, I became the custodian of a house rabbit. His name is Hippity Hoppity Hare. (I’ve made up a song about him that has four verses and we plan to make a website picture book.) He shortens his name to Hip Hop when he’s rapping. And he’s most often called Bunzy or Bunzoid.

Hip is a Netherland dwarf lop-eared rabbit but his ears didn’t lop. They shamefully stand straight up. His breeder has won all sorts of prizes and if her husband had noticed my little fella it wouldn’t have been little bunny foo foo bopping field mice, but the money minded husband of the rabbit ranch who would have done the bopping. So essentially, I rescued Bunzy from being removed from the genetic pool. Instead of $150 or more, he was only $25.00 –a bargain bun.

He is the color of cinnamon toast. He sits in his cage on a table by the chair I spend most of my time in. And he keeps me company.  I never imagined a rabbit could be this much fun. He’s kind of limited on tricks. He comes for treats and to give kisses–sweet little kisses with much less slobber than a canine. He allows me to stroke his soft fur to lower my blood pressure.  And he even does a type of purring that will never win him honors in a purr-off with the poorest of alley cats but warms my heart.

I spend a great deal of time watching him, and I might even claim him as a writing muse, since he never offers a discouraging word and patiently stays by me as I write into the night.

 

 

 

 

Here’s an Amazon link so you can buy Donita’s wonderful new book!  One Realm Beyond (Realm Walkers)

ONE REALM BEYOND
Donita K Paul
Harper Collins Publishing

My latest fantasy comes out this month on the 28th. It is a new world, with new characters, lots of adventure, amazing revelations, and satisfying relationships.  Benzoid has sat beside me as a young girl had her first dragon ride, a young man learned the value of friendship, and a not so young dragon was pressed back into active service for the good of her country.

One Realm Beyond is available at Christian book stores, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Cbd.com. Come by the website www.donitakpaul.com to celebrate with us.

To  connect with Donita, you can go to.
https://www.facebook.com/don.k.p
http://www.pinterest.com/donitakpaul/
http://dragonbloggin.blogspot.com/

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Ada Brownell…and a poodle named Macho

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Guest blogger Ada Brownell

Our two youngest children always wanted a dog, but with asthma in the house we couldn’t have a pet. But their health improved and Jeanette started rising early in the morning before school to look at newspaper advertising about dogs.

“Great dane, free to good home,” she read to me one morning as I prepared breakfast. A few days later, it was “St. Bernard. Good with children. Free.”

Jaron wanted a dog, too, but three years older than Jeanette, he wanted to be sure we could afford a computer he and Dad were thinking about.

Being the eighth child in our large family, I’d never had a pet myself. My husband brought in a couple of outdoor dogs for our oldest son, but I never became attached to them.

Trudy, a lady in our church raised poodles and my husband heard that they don’t shed like other dogs and heard they don’t bother people with asthma. One day Trudy called. A poodle had been returned because he had grown larger than a toy poodle ordinarily grows and would be offered at a bargain price. So the kids and Pop went the Trudy’s house and came home with the apricot-colored poodle named Appy.

Jaron, a high school student, went to the library and checked out a book on poodles and the dog immediately went into training. He learned all sorts of tricks. In about three days, Jaron said he was changing the dog’s name to Macho. He was bigger than expected, but also Macho thought he was a big dog.

Yet, Macho always assumed people loved him. I’d be watching TV next to my husband and he’d jump up on my lap, then squeeze himself between us.

I finally got up the nerve to pet him.

“He feels funny,” I said, from a background of being chased by dogs baring their teeth as a kid. “You could put two dogs in his hide.”

Didn’t take me long to figure out that how the Lord made him, so he could dry his hair by flipping his tummy skin almost over his back and shaking it in place again.

When the kids went to college, he was ours. He slept on our bed and woke me up in the mornings staring me in the face so I’d let him go out. His was quite spoiled, going to the doggie beauty shop more often than I went to the hairdresser. Try to put him out with snow on the ground, and he’d give me a look that meant, “Are you out of your mind? I’m not going out there.”

He had a vocabulary of about a dozen words and the word “walk” could send him into a frenzy. We spelling it, and he learned that. So we spelled it backward. He picked up on  actions, too. When I put on my sports shoes, he’d run and try to put his leash on himself.

But his intelligence was retarded in one area–cats. We visited my sister, who had a cat and when we arrived, the cat sat on top of a plastic table beside a lawn chair not moving a whisker. Macho could smell the cat, but searched and searched below the table and never found the cat.

We had adventures with Macho, and when he was gone, I missed him. He added much to our lives and our family will never forget him.

Rocky the goat charged out of nowhere into my new historical romance, The Lady Fugitive, which I hope will be published soon. I admit I had to do some research on goats. Jenny, disguised as a man, purchased a farm and the animals came with it.  But it wasn’t Jenny but Stu, a homeless orphan, who loves the animal most.

 

 

And here is a link for another one of my  books!   Imagine the Future You (Dynamite Decisions for Youth)

IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU 

By Ada Nicholson Brownell

 Will you be the person you dream of being—or someone from your nightmares?

You don’t need a fortune teller to reveal your future. You are the person who determines who you will be, what your life will be like, and how your hopes and dreams will be fulfilled. This book will show how to make the right connections, how to grow your talents, and how to begin believing in yourself and things greater than yourself—for a wonderful Future You!

Ada Brownell’s author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

 

 

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Dorothy Love: Carolina Gold, and Golden Retrievers!

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by guest blogger  Dorothy Love

Outside of a book, a dog is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.   Groucho Marks

I love this quote because it combines two of my life’s passions—books and canines. I’ve been a  book lover, and a dog lover all my life. My first book was a Little Golden Book called  Three Little Kittens,  and my first dog was a beagle puppy  Daddy brought home inside his jacket pocket when I was nine.  We named her Pansy because the markings on her face resembled the flower.  Like most hunting breeds, Pansy marched to her own drummer, running across the road that ran past our house to the empty fields beyond in pursuit of rabbits or squirrels, or, I suspect, often just for the pleasure of running flat out with the wind in her ears.

One morning Pansy darted across the road just as a car pulling a trailer crested the hill.  I called her back, but she ignored me. Until the car drew closer and she decided to chase it. She died in my mother’s arms.

After Pansy, there were two dachshunds who lived with us during my high school years but I didn’t have another dog that was truly mine until I was married. My husband and I adopted a Sheltie we named Brandy. For thirteen years she was our vocal and protective companion. She loved  long walks and hot dogs, and hated the hot air balloons that hovered above our North Dallas neighborhood on weekends. When Brandy died in her sleep I vowed that I wanted no more dogs. It hurt too much when they left us.

Six months later a friend who had recently adopted a golden retriever told us what great companions they were and the next thing I knew, a beautiful little golden fur ball with bright button eyes entered our lives and our hearts.  We called her Molly and she is the reason we have had nothing but goldens since.

A golden retriever spoils one for any other kind of dog. Beautiful, sweet -tempered, smart, eager to please and easy to train, they are simply the very definition of “canine companion.”

When Molly was four, we moved to Iowa for my husband’s job and we bought a new SUV, just to transport Molly to our new home. Six years later we moved to California  and Molly went with us.  When she died at age 12, again I vowed no more dogs.

But then we got Major. He was my millennium puppy, born in 2000 and he instantly became the canine love of my life. When he died of cancer this past May, I was glad we still had Jake, the golden we adopted when Major was seven.  Jake is now an “only dog” and like our other goldens, he’s gorgeous, and loving. Since Major left us Jake rarely leaves my side. I think he knows my heart is still broken.

The day we took Major to the vet for the last time as I sat sobbing, and saying goodbye, Dr Crowley said something that stuck with me: “If it didn’t hurt to lose them, it wouldn’t be worth  having them in the first place.”
All of my dogs have left their little pawprints all over my heart ( Not to mention  all over my furniture and my floors!)  But I wouldn’t trade them, or my golden memories of them— for anything.

 

 

CAROLINA GOLD
by Dorothy Love
Thomas Nelson Publishers

The war is over, but at Fairhaven Plantation, Charlotte’s struggle has just begun.
Following her father’s death, Charlotte Fraser returns to Fairhaven, her family’s rice plantation in the South Carolina Lowcountry. With no one else to rely upon, smart, independent Charlotte is determined to resume cultivating the superior strain of rice called Carolina Gold.  But the war has left the plantation in ruins, her father’s former bondsmen are free, and workers and equipment are in short supply.
To make ends meet, Charlotte reluctantly agrees to tutor the two young daughters of her widowed neighbor and heir to Willowood Plantation, Nicholas Betancourt.  Just as her friendship with Nick deepens, he embarks upon a quest to prove his claim to Willowood and sends Charlotte on a dangerous journey that uncovers a long-held family secret, and threatens everything she holds dear.  Inspired by the life of a 19th-century woman rice farmer, Carolina Gold pays tribute to the hauntingly beautiful Lowcountry and weaves together  mystery, romance, and historical detail, bringing to life the story of one young woman’s struggle to restore her ruined world.

AMAZON LINK TO BUY DOROTHY’S NEW BOOK!  Click here: Carolina Gold

Dorothy is sponsoring a great give-away opportunity!
Just head over to:     www. Facebook.com/dorothyLovebooks   where she is giving away Carolina themed foods, books, Starbucks cards and a $100 Visa card.

She will also have an  author chat party on FB on Jan 14.  If you have any questions about these events, about her book, or about her beautiful dogs, you can ask here, and Dorothy will be here to answer!

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Faith like Jessie? by Cara Putman

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by guest blogger Cara Putnam

We’ve had a Heinz 57, pound puppy in our family for the last six years. With an adorable face and mounds of fur, she’s been a good addition to our family but she has just one problem.

She likes to run.

If we lived on a farm far from a highway, that wouldn’t be a problem. She could run free without any problem. But we don’t.

And she does.

In her eyes, the freedom of running far exceeds the risks of what could happen. So the kids and I have chased her around our neighborhood periodically. She’ll let us get close and then look at us with fire in her eyes and dart away. So far this tendency hasn’t led to disaster. Instead, we’ve always found her, always kept her in sight, or a neighbor has called to let us know she’s running free.

When I look at her, I wonder why she feels the need to run. We provide food, shelter, love and affection (well the kids provide the last!).

As I chase her, I often wonder if that’s how God feels about me. There are times I know exactly what He wants me to do, but I grit me teeth and plant my feet. I may not run, but I don’t move like He asks. Does He groan and wonder what it will take to get me to appreciate what I have? I’m so grateful He has exceeding more patience than I do. I am so grateful that He never gives up on me. And this year I want to live with an ear that is quick to hear and a heart that is quick to obey.

And maybe one day, Jessie will acquire the same.

About the author: Cara C. Putman graduated high school at 16, college at 20, and completed her law degree at 27. An award-winning author of seventeen books with more on the way, she is active in women’s ministry at her church and is a lecturer on business and employment law to graduate students at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. Putman also practices law and is a second-generation homeschooling mom. Putman is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration at Krannert. She serves on the executive board of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), an organization she has served in various roles since 2007. She lives with her husband and four children in Indiana. You can connect with her online at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/caraputman
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cara_putman
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/caraputman
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/CaraPutman

SHADOWED BY GRACE
by Cara Putnam

Here’s a link to buy the book on Amazon:
Shadowed by Grace: A Story of Monuments Men

Christianbook.com: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?event=AFF&p=1141766&item_no=681783

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadowed-by-grace-cara-putman/1115951174?ean=9781433681783

About the book:
Rachel Justice is desperate to save her dying mother. She doesn’t want to leave her, but she accepts her newspaper’s assignment to travel to Italy and photograph war images. No one knows her photography is a cover and that Rachel is really seeking to find the father she never knew, hopeful to get some help with her failing mother. Dedicated to her mission, Rachel is focused on completing it. Soon, though, she finds her priorities and plans changing when she is assigned to Lt. Scott Lindstrom, on mission as a Monument Man. Their meeting will have far-reaching consequences. Will this derail her plans? Will she ever find her father? Is her faith enough to carry her through?

You  can read the first chapter here: http://caraputman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Shadowed-by-Grace-chapter-excerpt.pdf

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Would you love to receive free books from a variety of authors?

Roxanne Rustand Posted on by

Do you enjoy reading?  Would you be interested in a chance to receive FREE books  in exchange for being willing to post an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other sites?

 

Here’s your chance at a wide variety of books–contemporary, historical, but all are of the sweeter variety (no erotica.)  You can find out more about the authors at www.sweetromancereads.com

Here’s an easy link for finding out more about this opportunity!     http://svy.mk/1bnM8Vy

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Happy Holidays!

Roxanne Rustand Posted on by

Turning from my usual theme of country life and pets, i thought I’d share one of the recipes I often make for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day dinners.

Given our frigid temps and snow right now, it would be a nice, warm addition to our next supper.

I’ve been making this since around 1976…when my husband’s cousin’s wife gave me the recipe after we were there for dinner.  It’s so easy…and so good!

 

CORN SPOON BREAD

2 beaten eggs
1  Jiffy Cornbread mix–dry, not mixed
8 oz can creamed corn
8 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
½ cup real butter
1 cup dairy sour cream

Topping:
1 cup shredded cheddar

Mix all but cheese, pour in casserole dish or 11×7 inch  greased pan.  Bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake another 10-15 min until knife comes clean.

If you don’t have  oven space, during the prep for a big meal, you can “bake” this  in the microwave–rotate it every five minutes, using a lower heat setting if you have it…then  once the turkey or ham comes out of the oven, you can put the cheese on the spoon bread, and finish it in the oven for maybe 10 minutes so the cheese gets browned on the edges.

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December in the country…mud, fog and a lot of cowboys!

Roxanne Rustand Posted on by

Howdy!

Can it really be December already? It sure doesn’t seem like it, with Thanksgiving falling so late this year and our balmy weather.

Most years we have snow by now here in Eastern Iowa, but our first light snow is long gone, and we’re seeing foggy mornings and a lot of mud.

So I slog around doing my horse chores morning and night, and hope that when i take each step in Susie’s corral, my boots come along with me.  🙂  This is a photo I took just this morning, while doing chores. I would have included some of the mares, but they all look like big mud balls!

But…that’s not all that is happening at our place…I’m excited about the new release of my first independently published book!

It’s now up on Amazon for Kindles for just $2.99, and will soon be available for Nook and all the rest, as well as  in print!

CLICK HERE TO BUY:  Comeback Cowboy (Shadows of the Rockies)

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I loved writing this book–it’s truly a book from my heart, country gal that I am. 🙂

For my research, I got to ride with a rodeo contractor and spend a lot of time interviewing bullriders, clowns, and others who are behind the scenes in rodeo.

But this definitely isn’t just about rodeo…it’s about  people who have made mistakes in the past and who must deal with the repercussions, and it has suspense and romance woven throughout.

It was originally published as Rodeo! but has been fully updated, and revised in keeping with the style of books I write now–sweet (not hot and sexy) romance, and inspirational fiction. Actually, my books were never hot anyway, but I so love concentrating on all of the emotion, tension and conflict of finding that one person who was meant to be–while being able to firmly “shut the bedroom door.”  🙂

So if you enjoy a warm, emotional read, I hope you will give it a try!   This is the first book in my Shadows of the Rockies series.  The second book in the series, A Montana Legacy, will be out by  January, and the third will be out in early spring, 2014.

An unrelated title,  Summer at Briar Lake, should be out in a few weeks.

Oh–and by the way, my quarterly newsletter suffered a major crash last year, but it is finally up and running again, and I’ll be sending out the first, newly redesigned newsletter in a couple weeks.  If you aren’t a subscriber, you can click on the red button at the top right corner of this website.  It’s free, of course, and will always include a favorite family recipe, some photos, and information on a drawing!  This time, it’s for a big, beautiful new Laurel Burch “Moroccan Mares” tote bag containing some prizes!

I hope you had  a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Roxanne

 

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Cats and Rats and Squirrels, Oh My!

Roxanne Rustand Posted on by

by guest blogger Shannon Taylor Vannater

Note: Shannon will be drawing names on November 21st, from those who leave a comment, and the winner will receive a free copy of her new book!

I live in very rural Arkansas with woods on three sides of us. Over the years, we’ve had indoor weenie dogs and now an outdoor chocolate lab, two cats, and a horse. Once upon a time, my son had a tiny nursery. He quickly outgrew it, so we moved him into a bigger bedroom and I got the tiny nursery as my office. 10’ by 10’ all mine. 100 square feet closed off from the rest of the house with a working door.

I painted my office my favorite thistle shade—a retired Crayola color—a mix of pink and lavender. I put up seashell wallpaper border, made curtains and cushion covers for my white wicker furniture using pastel seashell fabric, and displayed all the seashells I’ve collected over the years. It was perfect.

Until I decided that since it was my office, my two outdoor charcoal gray cats should be able to come in. It was my 100 square feet and I could share it if I wanted to. Right? Hubby even agreed and installed a cat door. Since they’d always been outdoor cats, they were used to going outside to do their business. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing did for a while. They understood that the vast outdoors was their bathroom. They spent their days with me while I wrote, then prowled or slept at night.

Smokey—my scaredy cat female—was no problem. She huddled thankfully under the wicker couch and I never saw her go out. But everything smelled okay, so I knew she did. Charcoal, my curious, neutered tom, prowled all night, came inside in the morning, ate and slept the day away.

Everything went smoothly. Until one morning after everyone left and I heard something in my office. I opened the door and something flew by my head about eye level. I searched the shelves and saw a flying squirrel. I didn’t even know we had those in Arkansas. Charcoal was in stalk mode and the poor squirrel flew all over my office. I learned they not only live in Arkansas, but they’re very fast.

I stuffed Charcoal out the cat door and locked it, found thick gloves, and pursued the squirrel. They’re really fast. That squirrel perched on all eight shelves and every time I’d reach for him, he’d fly in my face and land on another shelf, my desk, the wicker, or the curtains.

After about forty-five minutes or so, I wore him down. He started running instead of flying and I learned that flying squirrels run even faster than they fly. He finally ran in the end of a 3 ring binder notebook. I clamped a gloved hand on each end, but I couldn’t open to the door with no hands.

So, I quickly stood the notebook on the floor closing off one hole, then shook the poor squirrel up. He came running up right into my hand and I had him. He bit my thick glove and squealed all the way out the back door—where the cat wasn’t—and to the woods behind our house.

Charcoal treated me to three more flying squirrel capers and I learned there are at least four where I live, they are all very fast, but you can catch them with thick gloves once you tire them out. I guess my great gray hunter got bored with squirrels, so he brought me a rat instead. I didn’t know we had rats that big in Arkansas. I propped the cat door open, screamed and hopped around on the wicker furniture, and poked at the beast with a yard stick until it scurried out the door.

That was it. The cat door got sealed off. Charcoal and Smokey got their gray butts kicked out. Even though poor Smokey was innocent, she now huddles under the house and Charcoal lives in the shed.

So now, he leaves his dead offerings on my porch—mostly rats, mice, and moles. There used to be the occasional rabbit, but no more squirrels. He’s eight now, so maybe he’s not quite that fast anymore. When I find his prize, I praise him and say, “You’re the tomcat.”

And during the day, when nobody’s home, I make sure Charcoal doesn’t have any guests and let them inside. Smokey huddles under the wicker couch and Charcoal sprawls on my bookshelf. Shhh!!!

Here is an Amazon link, so you can buy Shannon’s new book!  Rodeo Queen (Heartsong Presents)

RODEO QUEEN
Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Heartsong Presents

CAITLYN WENTWORTH LOVES BEING A RODEO QUEEN

Until she starts receiving threatening letters from a stalker. The good news is, the Texas Ranger assigned to her case is none other than her former sweetheart Mitch Warren—the man who chose his career over love.

Mitch vows to focus on protecting the woman he’s never forgotten. But Caitlyn stirs up memories best left in the past. When Mitch insists on hiding Caitlyn away on his family’s San Antonio ranch, will he keep things professional or seek out a second chance?

About the author:
Central Arkansas author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom/pastor’s wife. She lives in a town with a population of around 100, if you count a few cows. Vannatter won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award in the short contemporary category, The 18th Annual Heartsong Awards 3rd Favorite New Author and #1 Contemporary Award. Her books are available at christianbook.com, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, harlequin.com, and barbourbooks.com. Learn more about Shannon and her books at http://shannonvannatter.com and check out her real life romance blog at http://shannonvannatter.com/blog/. Connect with her on Facebook: facebook.com/shannontaylorvannatter, Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/stvannatter/, and Twitter: @stvauthor

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