E.E. Burke's Best of the West: The Bride Train Collection

A bestselling series from an award-winning author… 

Taming the West one bride at a time.

Four women answer a railroad advertisement seeking single young ladies as brides for settlers on the Western frontier. The Bride Train carries them to a land plagued by violence and unrest…a place where passion rules…and only a woman's touch can tame it into love.

Prequel: A Bride’s Journey

Enjoy this brief introduction to The Bride Train Series, which provides a glimpse into the journal of one of the brides traveling west.

Valentine’s Rose, Book 1

An English nobleman searching for riches, an Irish laundress seeking love... Only in American would Fate be foolish enough to put them together.

Patrick’s Charm, Book 2

A disabled veteran’s fortunes improve after he hires a beautiful and talented performer, but when her past catches up will his luck run out?

Tempting Prudence, Book 3

An upright spinster is kidnapped to become the bride of a notorious bootlegger and finds an unexpected chance at love…if she’ll risk everything, including her reputation.

Seducing Susannah, Book 4

The arrogant railroad agent must marry a proper lady to reclaim his inheritance, but the woman he wants despises him…passionately.

The Bride Train is inspired by a series of true events that took place in southeastern Kansas shortly after the Civil War, when the government opened former Cherokee land for settlement. The railroads used their political power to purchase the large tract, and settlers who had staked claims under “preemption rights” were forced to broker deals with the new owner.

By 1869-70, riots broke out in protest of railroad land policies. Angry settlers burned ties and tore up track as fast as the railroad could put it down. Things got so bad that President Grant sent troops into Kansas to quell the violence. A more peaceful solution was proposed: a program sponsoring the immigration of single young ladies into Kansas to become brides and provide a “calming influence” on the unruly men. I couldn’t find evidence this program got off the ground, but what a great romance series idea!

The bride immigration program is first mentioned in my debut romance novel, Her Bodyguard, which is set against the same series of events in a different location. That scene inspired me to conceive an entire series about the railroad matchmaking service. The first question that popped into my head was: “What kind of woman would answer an advertisement to leave everything behind and go to an uncivilized land to marry virtual strangers?

Each of these couple is based on actual historic characters I found while researching the mail-order bride phenomenon. These stories follow four couples. 

If you haven't read the books, why not try your hand at matching them? Who would YOU put together and why?

The grooms:

English noble 

Saloon owner 

Bootlegger

Railroad agent

The brides:

Widow with a young child

Famous actress

Irish laundress

Upright spinster

Don't give it away if you know the answers! ;)

All four of the Bride Train books have become Amazon bestsellers, and Tempting Prudence won a readers' and bloggers' book award for Best Western Romance in 2016. 

Take a ride on the Bride Train out to the American West and fall in love! 

This series collection is on sale for a special introductory price of only $2.99!  In a month, it will go to full price, $5.99, so grab your copy now.

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Welcome Bestselling Author Amanda McIntyre To Our Crew!

Check out Amanda's Books on Amazon

It's my great pleasure to welcome our newest crew member, fellow Midwesterner and bestselling author Amanda McIntyre.





Amanda says her 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 their happily ever after.

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. 

The Kinnison Legacy Series

Avid fans made the Kinnison Legacy a #1 Amazon Bestselling series. It all began with three brothers... When tragedy strikes the lives of three young boys, they are placed under the care of wealthy cattle baron, Jed Kinnison. He raises the three as his own, leaving everything to them, including a special dream he had for the ranch. Meet the rugged men of the Kinnison Legacy and the formidable women who will tame them.

RUGGED HEARTS, BOOK I  http://amzn.to/2guoUUV

RUSTLER’S HEART, BOOK II  http://amzn.to/2hxP8L4

RENEGADE HEARTS, BOOK III http://amzn.to/2gFxBPm

NEW: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
(a Kinnison Legacy holiday novella)

Rein and Liberty MacKenzie are starting a family…make that trying to. In this sexy, heart-warming holiday tale, the Kinnison Legacy returns to End of the Line, Montana where the persistent couple face more on the road to parenthood than they bargained for.

Available from Amazon: http://amzn.to/2brqrM

Readers wanted more of the Kinnison’s, wanted to learn more about the cabins being built by Rein to fulfill his Uncle Jed Kinnison's dream. A place where people could visit--where, through hard work and the beautiful Montana country. healing and second chances could take place. I listened and in 2015, a new spin-off series of the Legacy was born...

The Last Hope Ranch Series

NO STRINGS ATTACHED, BOOK I -Last Hope Ranch series 

(features Clay and Sally)

With friends married and starting their families, Sally Anderson’s biological clock is ticking. She wants a family…just not in the conventional way. Recuperating at the Last Hope Ranch from his tour of duty, Clay Saunders is the perfect match for her plan. She wants a baby. 
No rules. No commitments. NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

Available from Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gTGgvj

Excerpt from No Strings Attached~

“I want to have a baby.” Her gaze was steady.

He’d tip-toed his way through a minefield or two in his time, he could handle this. He reached for a towel and wiped his hands, proceeding cautiously. “Yeah, I saw the brochures.” He glanced over her shoulder and saw the rest of the ladies seated in the other room busy talking.

“No, what I mean is…I really hadn’t given this much thought—you know, about asking somebody to help me.” She looked away as though piecing it together in her brain. “I could pay you a fee, of course and there would have to be some legal issue-- a contract.”
Whoa. Contract? Clay needed a drink. He opened one cabinet and then another, surely Jerry kept a stash of whiskey around, if only for cooking.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Looking for the whiskey.”
“Jerry’s a beer drinker,” Sally answered.
“That’ll do.” He continued to check every cabinet and shelf in the kitchen.
“You think I’m crazy.”
It wasn’t really a question. More of a statement of fact as presented—he just happened to agree. “Bingo.” He leveled her a look then went back to his quest

WORTH THE WAIT -Last Hope Ranch series

(features Hank and Julie)
Coming 2017

Coming next year, a brand new related series with a few familiar faces and some new to the quaint once-booming mining town who live, work, love, and play in…

End of the Line, Montana series

NEWLY RELEASED DECEMBER 2016

LOST and FOUND (An End of the Line Crossover novella)

A failed spring break affair leaves city girl, Anna Worthington and country boy, Cole Tanner convinced that love at first sight isn’t possible. Now, a decade later, fate brings them together on New Year’s Eve with the challenge that sometimes a second chance is all the heart needs. What does Cole have in common with End of the Line, Montana?

Available from Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2gAQODx

Excerpt from Lost and Found~

Bride or planner, Anna felt it was time that this woman realized she was not one of her little minions. “Excuse me, I’m Anna Worth—”

Raucous male laughter came from the front foyer area.

“Thanks goodness, he’s back.” The woman sighed, as did Freddy. “Excuse me, and you are…?”

“Anna,” she started, but before she could get out her last name, the woman pointed her finger at Freddy.

“We’re going to be late for our appointment.” She crooked her finger, and like baby ducks in a row, Anna followed Freddy who dutifully followed the formidable woman. She stopped and hugged the waist of one of the men, pecking him soundly on the cheek.

“Darling, I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve been going crazy with the floor plan. Maybe you can talk to—” She glanced at Anna and raised one dark brow by way of a question.

“Anna, but—”

“Yes, Anna.” She turned back to the man, patted his cheek, and crooked that finger again at Freddy as she walked out of the room.

Had to be the bride. Anna’s gaze swung around to the backside of the man with broad shoulders and trim waist in a form-fitting blue denim shirt. He was bent over, brushing something from his knee, giving full view of one of the most near-perfect cowboy butts she’d seen in a long while.

And if she guessed correctly, probably the groom of Bridezilla. She almost felt sorry for him.

He said a few words to the older gentleman he’d been talking to, shook hands, and turned to Anna as he removed his leather work gloves. Her eyes nearly popped from their sockets. “Cole?”

“Anna?”

It was that awkward moment when you feel the urge to either run up and hug the man who’d stolen your virginity and your heart ten years ago, or hit him over the head with the nearest hard object. Unable to think at all, she stood frozen in place, not trusting either option.

Check out all of Amanda's books on Amazon

Find out more about Amanda's books on her WEBSITE

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Follow her on FACEBOOK and TWITTER

AN INTERVIEW WITH AMANDA

E.E.: When did you first start writing books, and what was the catalyst?
Amanda:This is going to date me, but here goes...I was strongly opposed to even having a computer in our house! When I finally lifted the edict<g> I started writing for our local newspaper. I did a weekly column featuring the importance of the Fine Arts in our schools. That led to discovering an online contest one day and just for fun I chose to write a story that I literally stayed up all night to finish the first draft. I submitted it and was rejected, but it sparked my creativity-something I'd reserved for crafts and painting before then--I took some online classes, joined the online chapter of RWA, and for a time did reviews and interviews, absorbing as much about the craft and its pioneers as possible. My first book was published in an anthology in 2001--that rejected story, after edits and rewrites, came shortly thereafter.

E.E.: What drew you to write in Western settings?
Amanda: I grew up in the Heartland. I'm a small town Midwestern girl whose heart will always prefer a small-town way of life, and where you can still drive a backroad and see farm land for miles and miles.  I also have a passion for horses. I don't own one, but trust me its not for lack of trying! My dream is to find an equine rescue ranch nearby where I volunteer in my spare (cough*) time. Which could get interesting , since my first grandchild is due March 2017! 

E.E.: If you could invite one or two or your characters to dinner, who would it be and why?
Amanda: Oh boy...My current WIP is a crossover for my End of the Line, Montana series, with a cowboy transplant to my little Montana mountain town all the way  from Atlanta, Ga. His heart, like mine, prefers country life to the city. But most often, while I'm writing, I'd love to sit down the hero and/or heroine and pick their brains about where this story of theirs is taking ME! One other gal I'd loved to have dinner with (and she'd probably cook it) is Betty, the owner of Betty's Cafe in End of the Line. The biggest heart, the best food, and beacon of information on anybody in a ten-mile radius-she would surely have fodder for a million stories!

E.E.: Tell me three things few people know about you that might surprise (or shock) everyone?
Amanda: Well, maybe not shock, but here goes...1) I love cemeteries (I think tapophile is the correct term) and I have a bucket list of specific places I'd like to one day visit--all by car, since I much prefer road trip adventure to any other mode (except horses); 2) Most people don't know that I always, always pen my first draft on notebook paper with a Black Bic classic. And, 3) because of my weird love of the Great Lakes and its shipwrecks, my husband thinks maybe I was a lighthouse keeper in another life.

From Amanda: And though it comes as no surprise, I am thrilled to be here at GLIAS with so many diverse and talented storytellers!  Thank you, E.E. and everyone for the welcome! Now, read below to see how you can enter to win a Kindle Fire from E.E and me!

CHRISTMAS TOGETHER

It's nigh on impossible to get anywhere in this world without helping each other. Not only that, this is the season for lending a hand, coming together and encouraging each other. Amanda and I have teamed up to celebrate togetherness with a joint book promotion and giveaway.

You can get Amanda's brand new release, The Promise, and my bestselling American Mail-Order Bride Christmas 2-book collection, for only 99 cents each up through Christmas.

You can also enter our drawing for a Kindle Fire! (Readers outside the U.S. can enter the drawing for a "Secret Stocking" filled with eBooks.) To enter, go to to www.amandamcintyresbooks.com or www.eeburke.com.