Following Faith & the Lonesome Hearts Series

What happens when you have a 4-book series, but book #2 is under exclusive contract in a multi-author anthology? A bit of confusion. But that's cleared up now. As of Feb 7th, I can share Following Faith (book 2 in my Lonesome Hearts series) with you as a stand-alone read. Hurrah! 

Lonesome Hearts Series - Western Historical Romance Adventure

It all started with my 2010 RWA® Golden Heart® award-winning book, Between Heaven & Hell (which also won the Chanticleer Laramie® for best Western Romance Drama in 2014). But then came...Faith, Bravery, and Raven. 

This 4-book series follows the frontiersmen and women who meet on the Oregon Trail and afterward. Each story features characters from the other books but is also a standalone read.

Book 1: BETWEEN HEAVEN & HELL 

The scout & the wagon boss

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas – 1850

Hannah knows one thing the moment she enters Fort Leavenworth—she’s arrived in Hell. But inside the fort is the means to a new life, a position as a scout on a wagon train bound for the Western Territories. All Hannah has to do is convince the wagon master, Paden Callahan, she’s the right person for the job.

After his wife was murdered by the Comanche, Paden let his work as a Texas Ranger consume him. Now he wants nothing more than to forget his past and disappear into the West. Unfortunately, the one man he can’t refuse has asked him to guide a wagon train full of tenderfoots across thousands of miles of Indian land. But Paden’s greatest challenge turns out to be Hannah, a woman his heart won’t allow him to ignore even though she’s been raised by an enemy he hates.

On a trail full of danger, will he guide her to heaven or hell?

READ AN EXCERPT 

* Available on Amazon (eBook/Print) & Kindle Unlimited *

Book 2: FOLLOWING FAITH 

The schoolmistress & the Osage warrior

Oregon Territory – 1852

Labeled a harlot and expelled from a remote logging camp and her work teaching children, Faith Featherby embarks on a journey to return a stolen spirit horse to the little girl whose photograph was hidden in the horse’s riding blanket.

Orphaned young and stifled by a lifelong shyness, Faith has only her education as a schoolmistress and her memories of her mother’s stories. She’s not an experienced rider, but a Medicine Hat horse—alleged to have the sacred power to protect its rider—might be her best hope for surviving the wilderness… until an Osage warrior rides out of the mist.

Scarred by a brutal past, the Eagle Feather challenges Faith to follow a new path where belief in yourself and your partner, be they horse or man, can lead to a triumph of the heart.

Can a single day together on horseback change your life forever?

READ AN EXCERPT

* Available on Amazon (eBook only for now) & Kindle Unlimited *

Book 3: CHOOSING BRAVERY 

The wilderness guide & the fugitive tracker

The Cascade Mountains, Oregon Territory – 1868

After her parents vanished in the wilderness, Élodie Rousseau found a home with an Osage warrior and a logging camp schoolmistress who joined forces to return Élodie’s beloved spirit horse. With them as her teachers, she became the legendary mountain guide, Yellow Feather. She knows everything about surviving and thriving in the wild, but something is missing.

Legendary Far North fugitive tracker, Lachlan Bravery, is tortured by his failure to find the one person who mattered most—the mentor who taught him everything he once held sacred. Driven to repay a dead man, his hunt for a notorious band of outlaws brings him to Élodie’s mountain where they must join forces on a final quest deep inside a cave with the power to destroy not only their unexpected love but their lives.

When legends collide, will the sparks ignite their love or drive them apart?

READ AN EXCERPT 

* Available on Amazon (eBook/Print) & Kindle Unlimited *

Book 4: RESCUING RAVEN 

The Lakota savior & the shotgun messenger

Deadwood, Dakota Territory – 1876

Raven wants to save one person. Charlie wants to save the world. Their warring nations thrust them together but duty pulled them apart—until their paths crossed again in Deadwood for a fight for love.

In a gold rush storm, can an unlikely pair rescue each other?

Rescuing Raven features a grown-up Charlie Jennings who was a young boy in my Oregon Trail story, Between Heaven & Hell (set in 1850). You’ll also get to meet real-life (and really complicated) Al Swearengen—one of the first men to set up a business in Deadwood. Al’s most well-known saloon was The Gem Theater, but his first Deadwood saloon (the one shown in my story) was The Cricket. 

READ AN EXCERPT 

* Available on Amazon (eBook only for now) or as a free read for my newsletter subscribers *

The Lonesome Hearts series (and the heroes and heroines in each story) covered a lot of ground (from Kansas to Oregon to the Dakotas) and that made them a lot of fun to write! 

What's your favorite setting for a story? 

Jacqui ❤️ 🤠

~ * ~ 

Fall in love with a new Old West...where the men are steadfast & the women are adventurous. 

Website: JacquiNelson.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/jacquinelson

BookBub: www.bookbub.com/authors/jacqui-nelson

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JacquiNelson

Join my newsletter & receive Rescuing Raven (Raven and Charlie's story in Deadwood 1876) for free: JacquiNelson.com/download-my-free-read 

"A New Old West" from award winning author Jacqui Nelson

Each month, I feature a Best of the West guest author on Get Lost in a Story. One of my first guests was a fantastic debut author, Golden Heart winner Jacqui Nelson. Last month, you heard about her award-winning novel, Between Heaven and Hell. She'll have another Western historical romance out in September, Between Love and Lies. And today I'm giving readers a sneak peek!

Between Love & Lies, coming Sept 2014

In a town ruled by sin, will he earn her love or her lies?

Sadie Sullivan lost everything when a herd of longhorn cattle bound for Dodge City trampled and destroyed her farm. Now she works in Dodge—one of the most wicked and lawless towns in the West—at the Northern Star saloon. But her survival in this new world of sin and violence depends on maintaining a secret so deadly it could end her life before the town of Dodge can.

The one man capable of unraveling all of Sadie's secrets is Noah Ballantyne, the Texan cattle rancher whose herd destroyed her home. Back in town and taking up the role of Deputy Marshall, Noah vows he won't leave until he's put things right. But with the Northern Star's owner unwilling to let her go and a rival rancher plotting to claim her for his own, things won't be easy...especially with Sadie resisting him every step of the way.

Between Love & Lies – a never before seen excerpt 

Dodge City, Kansas – 1877

Noah drew a bag from each of his vest pockets and scattered their contents, a stream of colorful poker chips, across the card table. “How many acres was your farm?” He pulled his chair closer, his knee brushing hers.

The contact sent a jolt, unexpected and breath-taking as a bolt of lightning, up Sadie’s spine. She pinned her gaze on the window and huffed out a breath, trying to conceal her reaction. “If you’d truly purchased my home, you wouldn’t have to ask its size.”

He unfolded a crisp white piece of paper and laid it atop the poker chips. The deed to her farm bore his name.

Her blood roared in her ears. “Well, since you do indeed own my farm, you do not need me to tell you the extent of your property.”

“Indulge me,” he insisted, pulling his chair even closer until she sat between his splayed knees, within the unyielding curve of his body.

She blinked, befuddled by his persistence and this conversation’s purpose. Around her, the corners where the sun couldn’t reach were no less dark, but with Noah sitting so close the shadows seemed lighter.

She released a pent-up breath. “My farm totaled one hundred acres.”

Noah assembled the poker chips in neat stacks before her. When he was done, she counted ten columns of ten chips.

His gaze snared hers and held her captive. “I’ll give you one acre for every request you grant me.”

She felt her jaw sag in disbelief, but the rest of her snapped to attention. The desire to regain her farm was deep-rooted. And completely illogical. She couldn’t live on the land without a new house—a house she didn’t have the funds to build or protect from the never-ending herds flowing north from Texas. The dream of recovering all she’d lost faded, leaving her with only Noah’s proposal. He’d mentioned requests and she worked in a saloon…with a brothel upstairs.

Heat singed her cheeks, but she lifted her chin. “What kind of requests are you proposing?”

Meet Jacqui

Jacqui Nelson writes historical romantic adventures set in the American West and Victorian London. Jacqui's love for the Old West came from watching classic Western movies while growing up on a cattle farm. Her passion for Victorian London wasn't far behind and only increased when she worked in England and explored the nooks and crannies of London on her weekends. She now lives on the west coast of Canada where she works in a bookstore. She is a Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® winner and three-time finalist.

Amazon ebook or paperback

Jacqui's previous releases:

Between Heaven & Hell 

On a trail full of danger, will he guide her to heaven or hell?

Hannah knows one thing the moment she enters Fort Leavenworth—she's arrived in Hell. But inside is the means to a new life, a position as a scout on a wagon train bound for the Western Territories. All she has to do is convince the wagon master, Paden Callahan, she's the right person for the job.

After his wife was murdered by the Comanche, Paden let his work as a Texas Ranger consume him. Now he wants nothing more than to disappear into the West. Unfortunately, the one man he can't refuse has asked him to guide a wagon train full of tenderfoots across thousands of miles of Indian land. But Paden's greatest challenge turns out to be Hannah, a woman his heart won't allow him to ignore even though she was raised by an enemy he hates.

Adella’s Enemy (included in Passion’s Prize, a novel in three parts)

Amazon ebook & print

Amazon | B&N | Kobo
Apple iBook

You can learn more about Jacqui by visiting her website or following her on social media: 

www.JacquiNelson.com

www.facebook.com/JacquiNelsonBooks

www.twitter.com/Jacqui_Nelson

www.goodreads.com/jacquinelson

www.amazon.com/author/jacquinelson 

www.pinterest.com/JacquiAuthor

Now, let's get to the questions...

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

Jacqui: After writing my first novel, Between Heaven &  Hell (an Oregon Trail story that won a Golden Heart® for historical romance in 2010 and that I just published this summer), I started searching for a storyline for a second book. As is often the case for me, I turned to history for inspiration. While reading my Time-Life Old West books, I learned how the Texas cattle drives devastated the small farms along the trail when the longhorns infected the local cattle with a deadly tick.

What if a hard-working woman’s only source of income was destroyed by a cattle drover’s herd in just such a way? What if the drover returned a year later on a second cattle drive and found the woman’s life had changed 180 degrees: from innocent farm girl to cynical siren singing in a notorious Dodge City saloon? The idea was the spark for Noah and Sadie’s story.

E.E.: What is your hero’s “kryptonite”? What brings him to his knees?

Jacqui: Noah’s kryptonite is the guilt he carries and can’t ignore. It’s what drags him back to Dodge a year after his first disastrous trip. It’s what then keeps him in Dodge until different emotion invades his heart.

E.E.: What one thing about your hero frustrates your heroine?

Jacqui: Noah wants to help Sadie, but she’s learned the hard way not to trust anyone. How can she depend on anyone when everyone in her past has abandoned her, including Noah when he first met her a year ago?

E.E.: What one thing about your heroine frustrates your hero?

Jacqui: Sadie won’t accept Noah’s offer of assistance and if he can’t help her, he can’t make amends for starting her descent into a life of sin.

E.E.: What could we find in your heroine's purse?

Jacqui: Sadie doesn’t carry a purse, but she does make good use of another accessory. If she needs to open a locked door that stands in her way, she uses her hairpins. Her employer, Madam Garrett (the owner of the Northern Star Saloon) is hiding an evil secret. Exposing this secret is Sadie’s ticket out of Dodge and her dangerous life as a saloon girl.

E.E.: Which of your characters would you most like to invite to dinner?

Jacqui: I’d choose frontier lawman Marshal Bat Masterson. I had a great time researching his life and threading him into my novel. Masterson and Wyatt Earp were in Dodge City in 1877 (the year of my story) and I loved the true-life detail that Masterson had a wicked sense of humor. I couldn’t resist having him pester Noah into becoming his deputy so Masterson could more easily meddle with Noah and Sadie’s lives.

E.E.: What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

Jacqui: The stories that sing to me are the ones brimming with emotion and grit. When I read, I want to laugh, to cry, to shout in protest (when something goes wrong) or in joy (when something goes right).

E.E.: If you were given a chance to travel to the past where would you go?

Jacqui: I’d travel to the American Old West of course! I love the frontier spirit and the open country. But I’d like to put some restrictions on my time travel…no visiting during the winter or pouring rain J

E.E.: What drew you to write in the genre(s) you do?

Jacqui: I grew up on a farm and I loved watching Western TV shows and movies. I find the memories from my youth are often the most vivid and therefore the most inspiring.

E.E.: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

Jacqui: Although my characters are often larger-than-life in their looks and their deeds, the journey I ask them to take is never glamorous. I drag my characters through the mud, both physically and emotionally. I make them earn their happily-ever-after. Is it possible to be sexy under those conditions? I’ll have to let my readers be the judge of that!  

E.E.: What has been your most rewarding publishing moment? 

Jacqui: I love hearing from readers. One comment that particularly delights me is hearing how those who don’t normally read Westerns say they enjoyed one of my books and are now looking forward to reading more Westerns. It’s a thrill to learn that I might be helping to resurrect a love for the Western genre!

So that leads to a question: when was the last time you read a Western novel or watched a Western TV show or movie? And what did you think?

Enter and leave a comment for your chance to win one of my books, including my new release, Between Love & Lies, which comes out in September.

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E.E. Burke's Best of the West with Jacqui Nelson

Welcome to day two of my Best of the West interview with Jacqui Nelson, who has just released a new Western historical romance, Between Heaven & Hell. 

Jacqui and I first met in 2010 at RWA when we were both finalists in the Golden Heart® Historical category. About a year ago, we worked together on a project with another GH pal, Jennifer Jakes. 

The result of our collaboration was Passion's Prize, a three-part novel that revolves around a historic railroad race and was inspired in part by the popular AMC television series "Hell On Wheels."

When it comes to inspiration, I find there are unending resources through research on actual events and real historical characters. The railroad race and several of the secondary characters in Passion's Prize came right out of the history books.

Jacqui: Where do I find the inspiration for our Western heroes—the GOOD (guys), the BAD (boys) and the UGLY (spirited adversaries who push them to their limits)? I don’t have to look far with the seemingly endless number of fantastic Western novels, movies and TV series. 

Need a little help remembering the magnetism of a great Western hero? Elisabeth created some awesome Pinterest boards to help us out!
 

Inspiration for Western Heroes

Western Heroes

E.E. Over the past year, I started creating Pinterest boards to collect images for research and inspiration. I have boards for each book. And I've even created boards specifically for Western Heroes, Outlaws and Bad Boys and even Historical Hotties.

Historical Hotties

Collecting images is helpful (and terribly addictive) for a "visual" thinker. 

Today, we thought we'd share a little about the sources of inspiration for the Western Heroes who appear in our latest novels.

Between Heaven & Hell is Jacqui's first Western historical romance and the book that won her the Golden Heart in 2010. I love the name of her hero, Paden Callahan. Here's how she came up with the name and more about the character:

Amazon e-book or print

Hero: Paden Callahan

Hometown: Came to live in San Antonio when he was twelve, and before that? Well, all will be revealed before the end of the trail.

Home for now: By day, the back of his horse, Cholla, and by night, a bedroll on the ground when the setting sun forces him to halt.
Past: Tormented by the brutal murder of his wife by the Comanche, Paden can't forgive himself for being a Texas Ranger who failed to protect the one person who needed him the most.

Present: Reluctant leader of a wagon train bound for the Western Territories. Just has to cross a thousand miles of hostile Indian land to get there. His biggest challenge turns out to be a woman raised by the Osage. Hannah aka Blue Sky uses her exemplary riding and shooting skills to earn a position as a scout on Paden’s wagon train so she can outrun her own violent past. Can Paden keep Hannah safe, or is history about to repeat itself?

Clint Eastwood

Movie Inspiration: Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales. After the murder of his wife and son, Wales is a man consumed by revenge. He eventually pursues a different path, becoming the reluctant leader of several eclectic souls who can’t seem to survive without his help. But are they helping him just as much in return? 

Paden’s name was inspired by Kevin Kline’s character in Silverado.

Picture Inspiration: www.pinterest.com/JacquiAuthor/between-heaven-hell-a-novel

Jacqui: I loved working on Passion's Prize with Elisabeth and Jennifer. We're all big fans of the television show "Hell On Wheels" and developing interwoven romances around a big railroad story seemed like a great idea. She's expanded on the series with her current book, Her Bodyguard. Here's a little more about a "bad boy" turned hero.


Hero: Buck O’Connor

Hometown: Harrisonville, Missouri

Home for now: He’s been hiding out in Texas, but returns to Kansas to help his only living relative avoid being bankrupted by the railroad.

Past: A former Confederate guerrilla, Buck is wanted for taking part in an infamous wartime raid into Kansas. His obsessive quest for justice for his family spurred him to do things he later deeply regretted and cost him the love of a woman he tried to protect.

Present: He rescues Amy Langford in the midst of an ice storm, finds out she’s with the railroad, and accepts an offer to be her bodyguard so he can use the position to aid his cousin. Too late, he realizes he’s falling in love, but he can’t tell Amy the truth—about anything.

Movie/TV series Inspiration: Buck is actually inspired by the stories of real life “bushwhackers.” Insofar as his looks and voice, I kept seeing and hearing a young Sam Elliott. 

Cullen Bohannon

His personality reminds me of Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), the main character on AMC’s series “Hell On Wheels,” because Buck, like Cullen, is bent on getting justice at any cost. He’s been after it for years, but his decisions only make things worse.

Picture inspiration: www.pinterest.com/authoreeburke/her-bodyguard-steam-romance-and-rails-series

E.E. You can find more inspirational images for our stories here:

Elisabeth's Inspiration Boards
Jacqui's Inspiration Boards

Jacqui's books are available on Amazon and other major online retailers. You can also find more about on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads. 

Today, we're giving away three eBooks: Jacqui's latest, Between Heaven and Hell, our collaborative novel, Passion's Prize and my current release, Her Bodyguard. All you have to do is enter the raffle and leave a comment.

Do you have a favorite Western hero? Who is it, and what makes him your favorite? 

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