E.E. Burke's BEST OF THE WEST: New! Eight bestselling authors, eight sizzling Western romances

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What do eight bestselling Western historical romance authors do when they get together? 

They collaborate on a boxed set bestseller!

HEARTS ABLAZE is a collection of eight historical romances set in the Old West, and blazing with passion and adventure. All this, for only 99 cents.

When we first came together to work on this project, we quickly realized we had something very special–a breadth of sweet to sensual stories that represent the varied and vibrant tapestry of the Old American West. 

From the wild Pacific forests to the lonesome prairie, on wagon trains and at frontier outposts, you’ll fall in love with lumberjacks and soldiers, trailblazers and trick riders, courageous warriors and rugged cowboys.

In Whispered Love, bestselling author Kathleen Ball transports you to the Pacific Northwest, a land bristling with handsome, well-muscled lumberjacks. Foreman Samuel Pearse has only one rule; no women allowed. Until he finds one asleep in his bathtub—Pat Clarke, the company cook. With her secret revealed and her virtue at stake, Pat turns to the only man who can help her…the one man who sets fire to her heart.

In Kate’s Outlaw, award-winning author E.E. Burke spins a suspenseful yarn about a half-breed desperado who abducts—and then rescues—a railroad heiress. On the run from danger, with enemies on both sides, Jake and Kate seek solace in each other’s arms, and ignite a love as powerful as it is forbidden.

The Officer and the Bostoner, from USA Today bestselling author Rose Gordon, follows the adventures of a well-to-do lady traveling cross-country to meet her intended. Instead, she finds herself stranded at a military fort and forced into an unwanted marriage. Can a hot-blooded officer spark love in his wife’s cold heart?

Fools Rush from USA Today bestselling author Ciara Knight. A young
woman, desperate for independence from all men, embarks on a crazy cross-country wagon train adventure disguised as a man. Instead of finding her independence, a bounty hunter captures her under the guise of horse thieving, a crime punishable by hanging. Will a man she’s lied to for months save her, or will he surrender her to a monster with a badge?

Ridin’ For A Fall by Kirsten Lynn immerses you in a fiery tale of forever love. When circumstances force best friends and Wild West Show performers, Lena Boden and Kyle Allaway to marry and return to Wyoming, they must stand together against internal doubts and external forces seeking their destruction—or risk a fall that will knock them out of the saddle for good.

A Warrior’s Heart, by bestselling author Amanda McIntyre, brings to life the passionate story of a bold Cherokee warrior and the brave white woman he rescues from certain death. Thrown together by circumstances not of their own making, they overcome betrayal and tragedy to find a love strong enough to bring nations together.

The Rancher, from bestselling author Hildie McQueen, transports readers to 1870s Montana Territory and into a sensual encounter between an injured rancher and a woman running for her life. Sometimes love enters at the worst moment…

In The Drifter, bestselling author Elizabeth Rose takes readers on an epic
journey across the plains, as drifter Chase Masters shows up wounded at Nessa Pemberton's stagecoach relay station mistaken as the bandit who killed her husband. Can a single mother learn to love again and put her trust in a man who is nothing but a drifter?

Let’s corral the authors and get to know them better…

Kathleen Ball 

Writes contemporary and historical western romance with great emotion and memorable characters. Her books have appeared on best sellers lists including: Amazon, All Romance Ebooks, Bookstrand, Desert Breeze Publishing and Secret Cravings Publishing. She is the recipient of eight Editor's Choice Awards, and The Readers' Choice Award for Ryelee's Cowboy. She was a finalist in the 2012 and 2015 RONE Awards and Top Pick, Five Star Series from the Romance Review, and winner of the Lear diamond award for Best Historical Novel- Cinders' Bride. 

You can find out more about Kathleen and her books at her website or on Facebook.

Kathleen, how did you come up with the idea for Whispered Love?

I had just watched the movie The Revenant and the beautiful scenery and the time period awed me. The Pacific North West is a place I never thought to write about but the idea to set a book there kept coming back to me. It went from there to my hero, a handsome, brawny lumberjack, and the story practically wrote itself.

Is writing or storytelling easier for you?

Growing up it seemed as though everyone in my family had a gift for storytelling. Everyone but me. My stories often missed the point, or went in circles. My father was a wonderful storyteller and often had us on the edge of our seat. I started writing seven years ago. I never thought to be a writer, after all I can’t even tell a story but when my fingers touched the keys to my computer I was amazed. I still can’t tell a story but I can write a pretty good one.

E.E. Burke 

Award-winning author of sensual and sweet historical romances. Woven through with real history, her stories recapture a bygone era and resonate with enduring themes. Besides being a bestselling author, she's earned accolades in regional and national contests, including the RWA's prestigious Golden Heart®. Over the years, she’s been a disc jockey, a journalist and an advertising executive, before finally getting around to living the dream--writing stories readers can get lost in. 

Learn more about E.E. and her books on her website or on her Facebook page.

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

History, of course! I’ll admit it--I’m a history geek. I get more story ideas reading history books and exploring historical museums than anywhere else. When I was working on Kate’s Outlaw (and the beginning of the Steam! Romance & Rails series) I found a fascinating story about the Western band of the Cherokee Nation suing to stop land giveaways to railroads, on the basis of sovereignty. I loved how they used the white men’s judicial system to fight back against wealthy railroad barons and dishonest speculators. I did wonder how they financed an expensive legal battle, which led to some interesting theories…and a story idea was born!

What is your hero’s “kryptonite” – in other words, what will bring him instantly to his knees?

In Kate's Outlaw, Jake Colson, or Wa-ya (the Wolf) as he’s known among his people, has a deeply ingrained sense of loyalty. He will protect those he considers part of his “pack," especially his clan and family. In fact, dogged loyalty is, in a sense, his greatest weakness. Because of loyalty, he does things he wouldn’t do otherwise. Loyalty is also one of his shining strengths, as Kate discovers when he puts his life on the line to protect her. I love taking a character trait and looking at it from different angles, and using that trait to reveal both the best and worst in a person. Sometimes our weaknesses can turn out to be unexpected strengths.

Rose Gordon

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than a dozen unusual historical romances that have been known to include scarred heroes, feisty heroines, marriage-producing scandals, far too much scheming, naughty literature and always a sweet happily-ever-after.

See more about Rose and her books at her website or on her Facebook page. 

In The Officer and the Bostoner, what could we find in your heroine's purse?

Very little money and absolutely no peppermints, which is a horrible fate for a weary traveler with a roiling stomach. But, who knows, perhaps fate will use that to her advantage. 

Do you put yourself in the heroine’s role?

Absolutely. When she hurts, my chest constricts and a lump forms in my throat. When she's giddy with excitement, I can hardly sit in my chair! When the hero tells her he loves her...I want to reach through the screen and melt in his arms myself. Yes, I'm weird. It's okay. 

Ciara Knight

Ciara Knight is a USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author who writes 'A Little Edge and A Lot of Heart' that spans the heat scales. Her popular sweet romance series, Sweetwater County (rated PG), takes readers into small town romance full of family trials, friendly competition, and community love. The prequel novella of a brand new sister series, Riverbend, is now available, and the first four books will release in 2016. 

To learn more about Ciara and her books, visit her website or her Facebook page.

In Fool's Rush, what one thing about your hero drives his heroine crazy? And what one thing about your heroine drives her hero nuts?

The fact that Bethany is dressed as a man and she can’t touch Thomas’s strong chest, run her hands through his thick hair, or tell him how much she’s in awe over his strong, giving nature nearly drives her mad with restrained passion.

Thomas is frustrated with the fact Bethany keeps disappearing on the wagon train headed west. The beautiful, strong woman is going to send him into a heat stroke on the prairie if he can’t get his hands on her soon.

Which is easier for you, writing or storytelling?

Due to my significant battle with a brain-sucking monster, AKA language disorder, storytelling is the easier of the two for me. Not that I’ll ever let my learning challenge stop me. As far as story-telling goes, let’s just say that I’m happy to say that I now enjoy living in my worlds and not having to explain where I went when the teacher is calls on me. J

Kirsten Lynn

Kirsten is a Western and Military Historian. She worked six years with a Navy non-profit and continues to contract with the Marine Corps History Division for certain projects. Making her home where her roots were sewn in Wyoming, Kirsten also works as a local historian. She loves to use the history she has learned and add it to a great love story. She writes stories about men of uncommon valor…women with undaunted courage…love of unwavering devotion …and romance with unending sizzle. When she’s not writing, she finds inspiration in day trips through the Bighorn Mountains, binge reading and watching sappy old movies, or sappy new movies. Housework can always wait.

Find out more about Kirsten and her books on her website and at her Facebook page. 

How did you come up with the idea for Ridin' for a Fall?

Lena is very loosely based on my great-grandmother. She and her brother were trick riders, and he even became part of Buffalo Bill's Congress of Rough Riders. In real life, she had a hard life, abandoned by her husband and raising the children alone. So, I wanted to give her a HEA. I also wanted to set a series in the area where I currently live. Kyle and the rest of the Allaways and Gowans appeared through my interactions with the people in Sheridan and Big Horn, Wyoming. The A&G Ranch was inspired by many of the ranches in this area. Her brother even makes an appearance as the silverware stealing Alt Boden. There will be two more books in the Original Brand series that will be based on my great-uncles during WWII.

What would you find in your heroine's purse?

Well, since moving back to Wyoming and leaving the highbrow life of a Wild West Show trick rider (where she was forced to wear dresses and such in public), Lena rarely carries a handbag. You're more likely to find her decked out in denims and tossing a saddlebag over her favorite Paint horse. In the saddlebag for just a daily ride, you'd find jerky, an apple or two, cookies (to share with Kyle), a change of cloths to change little Katie, and a change of clothes for the baby, and some formula.  

Amanda McIntyre

Amanda’s storytelling is a natural offshoot of her artistic creativity. A visual writer, living in the rich tapestry of the American heartland, her passion is telling character-driven stories with a penchant (okay, some call it a wicked obsession) for placing ordinary people in extraordinary situations to see how they overcome the obstacles to reach their happily ever after.

A bestselling author, her work is published internationally in Print, eBook, and Audio. She writes steamy contemporary and sizzling historical romance and truly believes, no matter what, love will always find a way.

To learn more about Amanda and her books check out her website or her Facebook page. 

How did you come up with the idea for A Warrior's Heart?

I have always been interested in my ancestry. There were stories growing up, that on my grandmother’s side, I was related to the Younger brothers of Missouri, who once rode with Jesse James. I’m still searching, but it would certainly explain my inner rebelliousness, wouldn’t it? On my father’s side, there are a great many gaps, however, somewhere along the line there is a portion of Cherokee blood. As I was tracing my lineage, I found the topic of the Trail of Tears—a story barely touched on actually in school history books. I kept reading, finding more and more about the story—which I won’t lie, is heart-breaking, frustrating and yet, despite the odds—it was about a nation of people, respectful of the earth and all living things, that managed to survive as a nation, the terrible obstacles they had to face.

That was my fodder for A Warrior’s Heart. A complex story about perceptions, greed, loyalty, deceit, betrayal, tenacity, kindness, courage, redemption, forgiveness, retribution and understanding. Seasoned with human emotions, and steeped in romance-it’s the timeless tale of two people brought together under circumstances not of their own making, how they survive and how love—and its many attributes—finds a way to bring two nations together.

What kind of stories do you get lost in?

Whether a book or movie, I get lost in the type of story that has complex characters that you peel away the layers to find the true heart, how they respond to extraordinary situations. Some of my favorite authors are those who write about the dynamics of family (whether by blood or experience)—Nora Roberts, The MacGregors and her Quinn brothers trilogy, Anne River Siddons-Colony, John Jakes-North and South to name a scant few. I love the rich tapestry of personalities, what motivates their actions, their reactions to the circumstances around them. As far as movies; the complexity of Legends of the Fall, a brilliant fusion of history and family dynamics I could watch over and over again. John Jakes, North and South is another. Stories like Hope Floats, Practical Magic, The Help, Sweet Magnolias, Meet Me in St Louis are lighter favs, while shows like Longmire, Hell on Wheels, Copper, and Ripper street fascinate me in terms of the darker side of character in a dark setting. In truth, my eclectic taste in books, movies and music very much affects my writing as well.

Hildie McQueen

Bestselling author Hildie McQueen loves unusual situations and getting into interesting adventures, which is what her characters do as well. She writes romance because she is in love with love! Author of Romance in Highland historical, Western Historical and contemporary, she writes something every reader can enjoy.

Most days she can be found in her pajamas hiding from deliverymen while drinking tea from her David Gandy coffee mug. In the afternoons she browses the Internet for semi-nude men to post on Facebook.

Hildie's favorite past-times are romance conventions, traveling, shopping and reading. She resides in beautiful small town Georgia with her super-hero husband Kurt, an unruly boy Chihuahua Pepito and a spoiled rotten girl Chiweenie named Lola.

Find out more about Hildie and her books on her website and her Facebook page.

In The Rancher, what one thing about your hero drives his heroine crazy? And what one thing about your heroine drives her hero nuts?

Grant is stubborn and not willing to take the time he needs to heal, it makes Julia angry that he won’t take care of his injuries as needed. This comment she makes cracked me up. “If you want to fall over with an infection and lay in a pile of skin and bones until someone finds you, then it’s on you.” I think Julia is very hard to get to know, so it drives Grant nuts that she won’t open up to him about her life.

What is your hero’s “kryptonite” – in other words, what will bring him instantly to his knees?

Grant Gentry loves his brothers more than anything, his younger brother Lincoln and older brother Emerson, who raised them. If anything happens to either one, he’d fall to pieces. In The Rancher, Linc is missing, presumed dead, so Grant’s intensity is easy to understand and your heart goes out to him.

Elizabeth Rose

Elizabeth Rose is the bestselling author of over 55 books, an Amazon All-Star and in the Top 100 of Amazon’s most popular, bestselling historical romance authors. She writes medieval, small town contemporary, paranormal and western romance.

She is known for her series and sagas of family characters that often cross over into other series. To find out more about Elizabeth’s books, read excerpts, or to view her booktrailer videos, please visit her website.  For a limited time, if you sign up for her mailing list, you will receive the Tarnished Saints’ Christmas Prequel for free. You can also find her on Facebook.

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

I love watching old westerns and learning about life in those times and knew I had to write The Drifter. I started researching stagecoach lines and found it interesting. Life on the plains was hard and dangerous, and travel was rough and dirty. There were bandits, weather, and Indians to worry about. Life running a stagecoach relay station was even more fascinating. I knew I had to have my heroine doing just this. So to make it a romance, I upped the stakes. Nessa Pemberton, my heroine is also a widow with a young son and a brother who has been hurt riding shotgun on a stage during a raid. And of course the thing she fears most is bandits, and my hero ends up wounded in her barn and happens to look a lot like the bandit that killed her husband.

This book was a lot of fun to write, and I was able to share my research with my readers through Nessa and Chase’s story.

In The Drifter, what is your hero’s “kryptonite” – in other words, what will bring him instantly to his knees?

Chase Masters is a drifter and a loner. He thinks he doesn’t need anyone, but that is only because he is running from his mistakes of the past. Ignoring them keeps him from feeling the hurt inside. But when Nessa tends to his wounds and he is basically part of her family while he’s healing – that is his kryptonite.

He loves her molasses pie, and likes being around Nessa and her son, Billy, who looks up to him. He’s not a stranger to hard work and doesn’t mind helping out around the stagecoach relay station, and likes to feel needed. Through the years he’s convinced himself he’s a drifter and never stays in one place long, but being around Nessa and her family makes him realize that he’s only been fooling himself.

Join the Party! 

On Thursday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern. we’re hosting a Facebook party to celebrate the release of Hearts Ablaze. Come prepared to ask those burning questions (yes, you can put us on the hot seat, and feed us s'mores afterwards). Enter FLASH giveaways & a RAFFLE for the grand prize, a $100 Amazon gift card. Invite your friends!

Here's the link to RSVP and join: http://bit.ly/HeartsAblazeParty

Now it's your turn!

What are some of your favorite characters in Old West stories? Cowboys? American Indians? Soldiers? Outlaws? Tell us why.

Enter the drawing for a copy of the boxed set HEARTS ABLAZE or one of the eight books included. 

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