I can’t wait to read this book! Sandra Cox has become one of my favorite Western authors. She fills the stories with strong-but-flawed characters, believable Old West settings, lots of atmosphere, fast-moving plots, and everything else I like in great Westerns. I’m so glad this book arrives on my Kindle today soon!
Warning. Besides hand-tooled boots, content contains: a big-hearted, hasty-tempered cowboy, a homeless young woman, an orphaned little girl and a wild white stallion.
Blurb
Coop Malloy receives a telegram that his sister and brother-in-law have died and Kallie, his ten-year-old niece, is on her way to Texas to live with him.
Still reeling from the loss of his sister, he receives another shock when his childhood friend Randa Lockhart steps off the stage with Kallie. He’s stunned to see that the little pigtailed nuisance that tagged after him and his best friend years ago has turned into a beautiful young woman.
Randa and Kallie have barely settled in when Coop finds buffalo hunter Marvin Doolin beating the local blacksmith within an inch of his life for laming his horse. Coop steps in and when the buffalo hunter tries to kill him, he shoots him. Now Doolin’s four brothers are out to even the score.
When they go after Randa, they cross the line. They’re about to find out that’s there’s nothing Coop won’t do, and no one he won’t track down to protect the two females that have burrowed hard and fast into his heart.
Excerpt
A May sun beat hot on Cooper Malloy’s shoulders. He hooked a dusty boot heel on the wooden sidewalk and pulled a creased telegram out of his pocket. The paper, torn in spots from handling, crackled as he unfolded it and read it again. Your sister, Patsy Mae, and her husband have passed. Stop. Your niece, Kalinda Raine, arriving on stage, May 16, 1880. Stop. Sincerely, Montgomery Smith, Attorney-at-Law.
His breath whistled past the lump in his throat. A hot kernel of grief had lodged in his heart when he’d received the telegram a week ago and showed no signs of leaving. What the hell had happened? Even though they’d been married eleven years both Patsy and George were young, Patsy twenty-eight, George—his childhood best friend—thirty. They’d grown up together in St. Louie. He and George had raised all kinds of hell till he’d got an itch to go west and George fell in love with Patsy.
Thundering hooves and a cloud of dust tore him from his painful reverie. He straightened as the stage pulled into the small town of Mobeetie, Texas.
“Whoa, there,” the black-bearded, wiry driver called out, bringing his team to a stomping, snorting halt. The door swung back against the side of the coach with a thump. A thin, little man hopped out and offered his hand to a lovely young woman with honey-colored hair and doe-brown eyes, her skirt rustling as she descended. Cooper’s gaze coasted past her looking eagerly for his ten-year-old niece.
Bio
Sandra is a vegetarian, animal lover and avid gardener. She lives with her husband, their dog and several cats in sunny North Carolina.
Besides western and western romance, Sandra also writes time-travel, paranormal and regency romance, young adult fantasy and non-fiction. She is a category bestselling Amazon author, Eppie finalist and Golden Ankh Award winner.
Book details
release 10/14/19
Pre-order or Order here.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice, a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, In the Footsteps of Giants, Winter 2021.
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I haven’t read a western in such a long time. Sounds like this would be a good one to read. 🙂
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Sandra really brings these characters to life. Within the first two pages of this book, I was hooked.
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A lovely introduction to this book, Jacqui. I have read a few westerns lately due to reading your book reviews.
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I’m still binging on them. Luckily, Sandra writes pretty fast!
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This looks good!
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If it’s anything like her others, it’s great.
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Aww. Thank you both.
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Thanks!
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I remember you sharing your love of westerns, Jacqui. I can tell you’re excited for this new one. Sandra sounds like she’s successfully playing with a lot of genres. I’m sure she’s delighted having you as a fan! I’m looking forward to your review. 😀
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And a big fan! I’ve read a passle of Westerns so know what works and what doesn’t. Hers does.
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I’m extremely delighted, D:) Jacqui’s the best. And she rights a mean prehistoric romance too:)
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Congratulations, Sandra! I enjoyed the excerpt and hope to read it in the not-too-distant future! I’ve been meaning to read one of your books, and this looks intriguing!
Thanks for featuring Sandra’s book, Jacqui. I love westerns, but haven’t read one in too long. I finished reading your “Survival of the Fittest” last night. I absolutely loved it! I’ve been down with a nasty cold, so I was able to read it pretty quickly. I think Homo erectus is a fascinating species, because it was long-lived and widespread; but also because I sympathized with a young boy whose fossil evidence indicated he had a serious abscessed tooth and could not have survived without the help and care of other People. There are so many things I enjoyed about your book ~ one of the highlights was how important their sense of smell was in communication and in reading their environment. I will definitely read more of your books. I am intrigued that you wrote a book with Lucy as the main character. A diorama featuring her stood outside the fossil lab at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and I used to look at her and wonder about her life.
It’s awesome that you wrote about her!
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You have just made my day, Louise. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. That tooth–back then, there was no way to deal with a rotten or infected tooth. It did kill them, as I found when researching several of the partial skeletons that have been found. It’s interesting to know they just had to tolerate it, day after day, knowing the pain would never end. They were tough people!
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Thanks for the kind words, Fundy. I appreciate your interest.
If you loved Survival just wait till you read Quest. It’s even better if you can imagine.
Sorry to here you’ve been under the weather. Colds are nasty indeed.
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Hi Jacqui and Sandra – it does sound like a soul tearing read … while one can so easily get hooked into westerns – I’m sure I’d enjoy it … good luck – cheers Hilary
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Sandra’s western folks are more like mine than you’d think. Westerners (in the Old West) were on their own, facing down nature often, using their best physical and mental capacities to survive. I love them.
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Interesting to know … one day I must get one and read it …
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Thanks, Hilary:)
Jacqui, Our characters being similar, puts me in good company:)
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Haven’t read a Western in several years…time to get back in the saddle! 🙂
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They aren’t as cerebral as others but there’s a lot of clever thinking going on. I find them very appealing.
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Oooh–I’m going to find Billy Battles. Thanks, Bette! Just finished your Maine haikus. I feel like I live in Maine after reading them. Excellent!
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On second thought, I did read a most wonderful Western that is part of a series–Finding Billy Battles by Ronald Yates–Book 1 in a series. I’ve got Book 2 on my kindle. Outstanding book and author/journalist. Highly recommend. I think I’ve got so many books on my Wish List and kindle, that I’ve really got to get organized and take a substantial amount of time off just to read…
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Hi Bette, I liked the ‘back in the saddle’ comment:)
Thanks for the heads up on an author I haven’t tried.
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I know you’ll love Ron’s writing, Sandra. Tumble Star is on my kindle and I look forward to a great read from you too!
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Sounds like a great rodeo going on in this book. Or maybe a stampede? All my silliness aside, I love the excerpt. This is the kind of cowboy we all want in our lives, even if he’s an engineer. Well done, Sandra.
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Her Westerns are fast-paced with great characters. I love it!
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Thanks, Sharon:) Glad you enjoyed the excerpt.
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I love the “warning”! Cowboys and romance never go out of fashion. Great cover!
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Who doesn’t love a good cowboy, kitted out in hat, plaid shirt, and lopsided grin?
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Glad you enjoyed the warning, Lee. Love your icon:)
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Congratulations, beautiful cover.
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I really love this cover. The silhouette of a great Western cowby–oh boy.
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Thanks, Juneta. Glad you like the cover. It’s a color change for me.
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Oooh, that cover is pretty. Thanks for sharing, Jacqui.
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I’d say this is my favorite but I say that about each of her Westerns. She has a great eye for this stuff.
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Thanks, Jacqui. I added that teeny, little star. Heh.
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Thanks, Staci. Glad to hear you like it. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.
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Thanks for a lovely cover reveal, Jacqui, and letting me visit with your equally lovely blogger buds. You always make my day.
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I pleased and excited to host you, Sandra. I’d be even more excited if this was publication date and the book appeared in my Kindle. Soon… soon…
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We’re down to hours now…..
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Wow, Sandra is such a prolific writer. Another release! It sounds as though she’s populated her book with wonderful characters as usual. She always tells a good tale!
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Hey, Mae! Thanks for the kind words. And right back at ya on telling good tales:)
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I have discovered that, Mae. Especially these Westerns. Oh my they are good.
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I’m pretty sure that quite a few authors are writing westerns. And that plenty of people are reading them. It’s a genre that retains popularity as decade after decade go by.
Hi Jacqui. See you —
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I think you’re right, westerns don’t seem to have a lot of peaks and valleys like many genres. They just keep rolling along:)
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I think it’s a niche–like my paleohistoric fiction but with a much bigger audience. I troll Amazon for good Western series.
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You hit it on the head, Jacqui. Niche is exactly the right word.
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My father-in-law has been getting back into reading western stories. Sounds like this is right up his alley.
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Nice to hear your father-in-law is reading westerns.
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I think they’re making quite a comeback! I wouldn’t mind reading a few myself, if I had the time. Non-fiction has been taking up my reading hours for years now.
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There is some really good non-fiction out there. I have a Jeff Shaara WWII nonfic on my Kindle, beckoning me.
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I’ve enjoyed every one of Sandra’s. Her approach is different from some of the others I’ve read, like Paul Thompson or Robert Thompson, but no less compelling.
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Sounds like a great story, Jacqui. Thanks for the review!
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Thanks, Jill. Jacqui gives wonderful reviews, doesn’t she, Jill. And in a wide variety of genres.
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Oh yeah it is! I love people surviving the tough lessons life throws at them.
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