 |
| Order eBook Formats Order Paperback from Amazon |
This month, her classic OUTLAW HEARTS has been re-released (with a gorgeous new cover), and July 13 we'll be able to get our hands on the long-awaited sequel, DO NOT FORSAKE ME. (I've pre-ordered my copy!)
These are books #1 and #2 of a trilogy that is the saga of outlaw/gunfighter-turned lawman, Jake Harkner. The three books combine for an incredible love story, as Jake’s strength comes from one woman, Miranda Hayes Harkner, who completely changes Jake’s life and brings him out of the depths of hell. She gives Jake the family he never thought he would have and helps him face his demons. Jake and Randy’s deep devotion to each other helps them rise above life’s struggles caused by Jake’s past reputation and his ability to come to terms with his most haunting and devastating sin from his past. Most of all, OUTLAW HEARTS and DO NOT FORSAKE ME (and LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE coming in 2016) tell the story of a man who deep inside is an abused little boy who wants nothing more than to be loved.
 |
| Order eBook Formats Order Paperback from Amazon |
Here's a special excerpt from DO NOT FORSAKE ME:
(ake has learned some terrible news – his beloved Randy, the woman he loves more than his own life, is very ill – she wakes up groggy from sedatives and Jake is trying very hard to lighten the moment, not wanting to tell her the truth (or even face it himself), which leads to the following conversation after he’s crawled into bed with her that morning …
(Jake speaking) … “You’ve been out
like you went on a drinking binge. You even talked to me, but like a drunk
woman. You don’t remember?”
“No! I don’t remember a thing!” Randy turned onto her back. “What did you do to me after you undressed
me?”
He grinned. “Unspeakable things … horrible … shameful …
unspeakable things. You don’t even want to know. You’d never talk to me
again. I’d be out in somebody’s dog
house if I told you.”
She pushed at him. “You did not.”
“Oh, I figured I’d take advantage of
the situation and I did all the things you’ve always been too embarrassed to
let me do. Only the worst prostitute in the worst brothel in Oklahoma would let
me do such things.”
Randy couldn’t help a smile. “And how would you know that?”
“I’ve seen it all and done it
all.” He met her mouth in a deep
kiss. “It was great.”
“You’d better be lying,” she told
him when he moved his kisses back to her throat.
“I never lie to you. You have been properly ravished, mi querida. We had nothing but disrespectful sex last
night.”
“Is
there such a thing?”
“You bet. I got to know things about you I never realized
in twenty-six years of sleeping with you.”
She laughed softly. “You’re being mean.”
“Mean is what I’m known for.”
Randy studied his eyes and saw the
hint of fear behind all the joking.
“What did Brian tell you?”
His smile faded a little. “He told me it’s okay to have sex with you.”
Her eyes widened. “ You didn’t ask
him about that!”
“Of course I did. Do you think our
son-in-law doesn’t know we still frolic in bed?”
“Jake, I will never be able to face
him again.”
“Mrs. Harkner, who are you married
to?”
“Jake Harkner.”
“Do you really think those closest
to us don’t know a man like me still enjoys women?”
“Women?
As in plural?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m not sure I do. Did you really just take a bath at that
brothel the last time you were gone?” she teased.
“I really did.”
“And who helped bathe you?”
“Me, myself and I.”
Randy grinned. “I’m not sure I believe that.”
“Who loves you more than his own
life?”
“You.”
“And there is your answer.”
She ran her fingers through his
thick hair, sensing his fear. Losing
someone in his family, his only source of love, was the only thing on earth
that frightened Jake Harkner.
“I can’t live without you,
Randy. “I can’t do it.”
Meet Rosanne
 |
| Rosanne Bittner "Queen of Western Romance" - RT Magazine |
Rosanne Bittner has been writing most of her
life, beginning with poetry at a young age, then moving on to writing her first
book 36 years ago. After writing a total
of nine books after that, it was the ninth book that finally sold 33 years ago,
SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION, which was then published in 1983 and became the first
book of a 7-book series about the settling of Colorado called SAVAGE
DESTINY. All 7 books are still selling
and Amazon recently reissued all 7 books for print-on-demand with new
covers! Rosanne went on to write 53 more
books since then, for a total of 60 published novels to date with #61 coming in
2016.
Rosanne wrote through many personal
challenges and worked full time at secretarial work for the first several years
of her writing. She’s been married 50
years and has two sons and three grandsons, and she helps run a family business
in a small town in southwest Michigan. She attributes her success to the fact that her books are filled with
real American history, which she brings alive through her fictitious
characters, so well that fans often write wanting to know if those people
really lived. She also writes mostly
family sagas, series books and trilogies that take a family through 20 – 40
years of great love stories, the kind of love that holds two people together
through danger and heartache and triumph.
Her books span the West, from Indiana to California and Mexico to
Canada.
She has traveled to every
location about which she writes, and her love for the magnificent western
landscape shows through in her writing with descriptions of vast prairies and
plains, and incredibly beautiful descriptions of the Sierras and the Rockies. She has a huge library of her
own research books and has studied America’s history, especially the Old West
and Native Americans, for forty years.
Rosanne has won numerous writing awards,
including the prestigious WILLA AWARD from Women Writing the West, and was
named "Queen of Western Romance" and one of the “legends” of western romance by
Romantic Times magazine.
Follow Rosanne via her web site and blog
www.rosannebittner.com
www.rosannebittner.blogspot.com
www.rosannebittner.blogspot.com
On Facebook - www.facebook.com/RosanneBittnerAuthor
Twitter - twitter.com/RosanneBittner
Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/author/show/67759.Rosanne_Bittner
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/F.-Rosanne-Bittner/e/B000APXL10
Twitter - twitter.com/RosanneBittner
Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/author/show/67759.Rosanne_Bittner
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/F.-Rosanne-Bittner/e/B000APXL10
Or email her at rbamericanhistory@parrett.net
E.E. How often do you get lost in a
story?
Rosanne: ALWAYS. It never leaves me. I can be watching a movie or carrying on a
conversation, while in my mind I am writing my next chapter or mulling over how
to solve a certain situation in my book.
I have been “living” in the Old West (in my head) for most of my life.
E.E.: What’s your favorite “love”
word?
Rosanne: It’s a phrase in Spanish. In my outlaw trilogy, Jake Harkner is half
Mexican (mother was Mexican). When he is
feeling especially passionate, either in making love – or sometimes when he’s
extra angry and upset – he reverts to Spanish.
I love when he tells his wife, “Tu
eres mi vida, mi querida esposa.” (You are my life, my darling wife.)
E.E.: What turns you off like nothing
else?
Rosanne: Depends what you’re referring to. If it’s personally, it’s some man telling
dirty jokes in front of women, thinking he is impressing them and actually
thinking it’s a way of flirting and turning women on. NO WAY!
What turns me off as far as in a book, it’s sex without commitment –
just for the thrill – one-night stands – abusive or disrespectful sex and sex
scenes that are written by crudely naming intimate body parts and making it
look like all the supposed heroine cares about is six-pack abs and a big
ding-dong. That’s not a love story. It’s porn.
Although my books are hard-hitting, realistic westerns with gunfights
and fist fights and drinking and smoking and cussing and some very realistic
“old west” action, the love story involved is always very passionate, very
beautiful and the sex gets very intimate but in a beautiful way that is a real
turn-on.
E.E.: What sound or noise do you
love?
Rosanne: Chirping birds – and the sound of
soft rain on the roof.
E.E.: What was the first story you
remember writing?
Rosanne: Poor Mrs. Quack. I was in fourth grade, and now I realize I
was writing romance even then. It was
about male and female ducks who were married and the male duck gets shot and
the female can’t find him and cries – later they find each other again.
E.E.: What’s your favorite movie of all
time?
Rosanne: That’s a hard one. There isn’t just one. I love The Guns of Josie Wales and Pale
Rider with Clint Eastwood. Also
absolutely love Quigley Down Under with Tom Selleck and also The Shootist with John Wayne. I ball my
eyes out every time I watch that one because it’s about a dying gunfighter –
and John Wayne really was dying of cancer when he made that movie. What an icon! I also love Silverado. My favorite comedy is Rat Race.
E.E.: Is there a “blooper” in your
story?
Rosanne: Yes, and I found it when it was
too late. Don’t know how I missed
it. It’s a wrongly-named gun part – and
I know better because I know guns and carry one. I’m not going to say what it
is because I don’t want everybody hunting for it. I think I and the editor were so engrossed in
the action taking place at the time that neither of us noticed, so maybe the
readers won’t notice either.
E.E.: When reading, do you put yourself in
the heroine’s role?
Rosanne: Of course!!! The heroine doesn’t do one thing that I
wouldn’t do myself, which is why I have never had a heroine have an affair. She is always devoted to the hero.
E.E.: Is writing, or story-telling, easier
for you?
Rosanne: Definitely story-telling. I never think of writing as a chore or as a
job of writing a book. I simply love to
tell stories. My agent of many years
told me years ago that though I am not a “literary” writer, I am a great
“story-teller”
E.E.: Do you write listening to
music?
Rosanne: Sometimes. When I do, it’s symphonic music and it’s
always the big, big theme music from big, big westerns – like Silverado
and The Big Country.
E.E.: Which of your characters would you
most like to invite to dinner?
Rosanne: Are you
kidding? JAKE HARKNER!! What a life he’s led – and he’s so complicated
yet so much fun in a lot of ways – he’s a man who says it exactly the way it
is. He just comes right out and says
what he thinks and he’s amazingly approachable in spite of always being a bit
defensive and wary of those around him because he knows there are those who
would like the reputation of killing him.
He’s an adoring husband and devoted father – and he’s drop-dead
gorgeous. He carries his age well!
E.E.: What is your hero’s “kryptonite?”
(What brings him to his knees?)
Rosanne: His
wife. He worships the ground she walks
on. He’d rather slit his wrists than to
even raise his voice to her.
E.E.: What draws you to Western historical romance?
Rosanne: That’s
a little hard to answer because it’s just something that has always been “in”
me. When I was little I loved to play
cowboy when most little girls were playing with their dolls. I was always drawn to books about pioneers
and Indians. As an adult, I think the
draw has always been how fast America progressed and how quickly we moved into
untamed land and built cities and brought civilization all across the
country. No other country in the world
grew as fast as America has, and I think it’s because we’ve always had the
freedom of entrepreneurship. People came here to get away from regimes that
kept them from expanding their ideas and their right to get rich. That progress had a stunning affect on our
Native Americans that lingers still today.
They have not truly recovered from being displaced or from the
government’s efforts to change their entire culture. Between that and all the exciting historical
events that took place in settling this country, food for plot is endless!!
E.E.: What has been your most rewarding
publishing moment?
Rosanne: When my editor asked
me to write a sequel to OUTLAW HEARTS. I
had been wanting to write a sequel for over 20 years. Finally getting the
chance was a dream come true, and when I finished I knew I had to do a third
book, which I am half done with now. I
am so proud of DO NOT FORSAKE ME and thrilled that readers
can now continue with Jake and Randy’s beautiful love story.
E.E.: Which movie represents your writing
style?
Rosanne: The TV mini-series, CENTENNIAL by
James Michener. My 7-book Savage Destiny
series closely follows the same events.
E.E.: How did you come up with the idea
for your book?
Rosanne: About 30 years ago I was standing
in the bathroom getting ready for my (then) full-time job and thought of the
idea for OUTLAW HEARTS while drying my hair.
I didn’t have anything to write with, so I wrote it down on the back of
a check book with an eyebrow pencil! I
didn’t actually write the story till a few years later – and ever since then I
wanted to do the sequel, which now is being published in July (DO NOT FORSAKE
ME).
Thank you for your questions and
your interest in my writing! I hope
everyone picks up OUTLAW HEARTS and DO NOT FORSAKE ME. I promise you won’t be disappointed! And you will look forward to the third book
in 2016 – LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE. Enjoy your summer reading!
Today, Rosanne will award two people a set of the first two
books, OUTLAW HEARTS and DO NOT FORSAKE ME. Just leave a comment and enter the drawing.
Something I’d like to know from readers is if you are hungry for the big, fat, family-saga type story – tired of paying for thin, one-dimensional stories that you can read in just a couple of hours?
a Rafflecopter giveaway
