Meet Stephany Tullis, Chandler County, and A New Christmas "Season of Suspense"

Welome GLIAS friends. I’m excited today to tell you about my new romantic suspense holiday-themed Box Set, “A Season of Suspense: A Chandler County Christmas.” This set contains six brand new, heart-racing romantic suspense stories by six award winning authors—who just happen to be me and five of my friends and fellow authors!

I’m especially thrilled to introduce you to author Stephany Tullis, one of the masterminds behind

“Season of Suspense” and, in fact, one of the architects of the entire Chandler County world where the stories of SOS are set.

Stephany is a USA Today and Amazon Best Selling cinematic writer of edgy inspirational fiction. Her books cross several genres including Women's Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, and Satire. She currently lives in Metro Atlanta.

You can check out her #1 Best selling book “Blue Lady’s Mission Under Fire”

HERE

Stephany, along with former GLIAS crew member PJ Fiala, created the world of Chandler County several years ago, and have since welcomed more than a dozen authors who’ve written Chandler County romantic suspense novels.

The fictional Chandler County is located between Louisville and Lexington KY, an area largely affected by the Kentucky Derby and the goings on surrounding that iconic race. It’s two main towns, Chandlerville and Bourbonville are rich in culture, diversity, horse ranches, bourbon distilleries, politics, their respective businesses and business owners. Guests float in and out of town as the Derby approaches and also in November, when the Chandler County Birthday Bash rolls around.

The stories in “A Season of Suspense” are all short novellas set in the Christmas holiday season. The box set will release on November 4, 2019, but it’s available for PRE-ORDER now— and there are a number of awesome things that happen when you pre-order from any online retailer. Read on for more info.

 Here’s a little about the six amazing authors and stories you’ll find in “A Season of Suspense.”

Stephany Tullis: “Missing Joy” – They came seeking love, peace & joy but will they find it in the midst of the Storm?

Lizbeth Selvig “Missing One Angel” – Finding Angel was their second priority. Staying alive to do it was their first.

Traci Wooden-Carlisle: “Missing Under the Mistletoe” – Love at death’s door. Not her first choice…but it could end up being the best choice.

Cherime MacFarlane: “Missing Family” – One minute he was the heir. Now he doesn’t have a family.

Dionne Grace: “Missing You for Christmas” – Tyler was intrigued by his new neighbor, but would the dilemma that materialized be his undoing?

Tearra Rhodes: “Missing Wishes” – Could one missing wish hold the key to her heart even while another holds the key to a tragic mystery?

If that sounds intriguing, here’s the place to go:

PRE-ORDER LINK

And once you pre-order, you’re eligible to receive six free bonus books from the SOS authors.

Follow this link after ordering http://bit.ly/SOSFreebie to get instructions for downloading the freebies!

But the coolest thing that happens when you pre-order is that you’ll be teaming up with the SOS authors to help rescue and rehome retired racehorses. A SEASON OF SUSPENSE is partnering with CANTER Minnesota / CANTER USA, a wonderful non-profit dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming ex-racehorses. 50% of pre-sale profits will go to this deserving organization. So pre-order and help a racehorse! To date CANTER has found new loving homes and new careers for over 25,000 former racetrack thoroughbreds!

I hope we’ve intrigued you with this upcoming set of romantic suspense stories. 

GIVEAWAY: If you’d like to sample some of what Chandler County has to offer—just leave us a comment about your favorite suspense novels, TV shows, or movies. What is your favorite whodunnit? Or who is your favorite detective or sleuth? I have two Chandler County e-books for on commenter:  Stephany’s “Missing Pieces” and my (Lizbeth’s) “Missing by a Heartbeat.”

And if, for fun, you’d like to know a little more about Stephany’s novella “Missing Christmas Joy,” and mine “Missing One Angel” from the upcoming box set, you can read the blurbs below.

Missing Christmas Joy

By Stephany Tullis

In this story of suspense, romance, family ties, and sinuous passions, USA Today Bestselling author Stephany Tullis weaves a page turning holiday adventure.

When Ms. Isabel Johnson decides to celebrate the first year of her thriving B & B business with the first annual Holly Jolly Holiday Couples Retreat, she has no idea that her life will never be the same. An idyllic spot with over 250 acres and home to now four generations of Johnsons, Ms. Isabel runs the Home on the Ranch B & B with the help of Manager, Joyeaux Noelle, Head Chef, Louis St. Cloud and new hire handyman, Frankie Sanders.

In the spirit of Christmas and despite dire storm warnings that predict the worst weather the county has faced in 10 years, the influx of jubilant couples descend on the festively decorated grounds in search of love, peace, joy, fulfillment and in some cases renewed relationships. When the highly recommended retreat leaders find themselves stranded at the Louisville International Airport due to strong winds, blowing snow and building ice, Ms. Isabel twists her grandson’s (Dr. Jared Johnson) arm and convinces him and his wife Marissa Johnson to co-lead the holiday Retreat. 

An unexpected visitor disrupts the intended romantic and Christmas spirited festivities not only exposing family secrets but threatening the lives of Retreat guests. To further complicate matters, when Mr. James, the postman, delivers a special priority Christmas card to Ms. Johnson, her inner voice warns that this will be a Christmas like none other. 

MISSING ONE ANGEL

By Lizbeth Selvig

As an abused child and a serial runaway, Mallory Carrick experienced early on the dark side of the foster care system and the tough world of life on the streets. But all that is behind her since finding a job and a family at Crosby Racing. Based at the racing stable’s home, Sanctuary Pond Farm, Mallory’s bright and cheerful personality, as well as her empathy for animals and people alike, makes her everyone’s favorite confidante and friend. And nobody has fallen for her harder than Sawyer Hawkins.

Sawyer, too, has a home at Sanctuary Pond where owner Winn Crosby has built a super-successful stable with the help of young adults needing second chances. Like Mallory, Sawyer had a rough start in life. Working with horses changed him, but finding Mallory Carrick saved him. He’s more than ready to build a future with her, and she wants the same.

Enter precocious, difficult, and homeless thirteen-year-old Angelika Coltrane. “Angel” certainly does not live up to her nickname, and when she stows away in a horse trailer bound for Sanctuary Pond, she starts a chain of events that threatens everyone in her path. Mallory immediately empathizes with the girl and is the only one to bond with her, inviting her to stay at the farm with her. Sawyer knows they aren’t ready to take on a runaway. But it’s holiday season and even he doesn’t have the heart to send a girl named Angel away at Christmastime.

But Angel isn’t simply a difficult teen. She has a secret she’ll only hint at. The crime she’s witnessed makes her a danger to herself and anyone around her. Just when the holidays start to mean something special, when her new surroundings offer people who actually understand her, and she gets the chance she’s always dreamed of to work around horses, Angel’s past catches her and she’s kidnapped.

Mallory and Sawyer must find out why she’s gone and where she’s been taken, but the danger tests their young love in a way that might destroy it. They have to decide if they possess the strength—or even the desire—to search for Angel before it’s too late for all of them.

Romance and Scandal at Churchill Downs in Lizbeth Selvig's new book.

I love to go to the racetrack and spend an afternoon watching stunning equine athletes charge for the finish line. I admire the wiry super-strength of the jockeys doing what I’ve always wished I’d been able to do for a career. I love the bugler’s call to the post. I love the post parades and the jockeys’ silks. Horse racing definitely is a sport like no other.

I don’t go often—once or twice a year. It’s like going to a movie—take twenty or thirty dollars along and bet no more and no less. It isn’t the money that attracts me, it’s the sheer awe in the power and unpredictability of the competition. And, of course, the horses. They are the main attraction!

 I love the sport, but I’ve also never been blind to the problems or criticisms that surround “the sport of kings.” Some animal lovers call racing cruel. Doping of horses, over-medicating before races, cheating drug tests, and jockey tricks like using buzzers to shock horses into running faster: these are just a few of the complaints, often legitimate, about the horse racing business.

It was my love of horses and racing and the wish to shed some light on the problems and the people trying to solve them that led me to write “Missing By a Heartbeat,” for the Chandler County series of books. When I heard that the series was set near Lexington, Kentucky and centered around the Kentucky Derby, I had to write a story—one I’ve wanted to tell for many years.

 Here’s a little bit about the book, releasing December 15^th:

 Dr. Tori Sterling knows her way around race horse injuries better than vets with twice her experience, and she’s used to defending her scrupulously honest reputation in a world where rule-bending beats honesty.

Churchill Downs' iconic Twin Spires

Trainer Winn Crosby has finally made it to his dream destination: the venerable Churchill Downs. With a gift for getting the best from his horses, his goal is training a horse for a big stakes race. It’s no easy task, however, when every member of his staff is young and has a record. When a Derby-bound colt is targeted by a saboteur, Winn and his stable of misfits are prime suspects.

Winn teams with Tori to save his own reputation, and their partnership blossoms into unexpected passion, but they’re soon racing against time. Someone is desperate to eliminate them and their investigating, and the two have to find out who it is before they lose their careers, their lives or, worse, their chance at love.

Some of the problems Winn and Tori face in this story include the struggle to be totally ethical and honest in a world where that isn’t always valued. Some trainers and vets will push the rules as far as they possibly can in pursuit of winning.

I also talk about doping, and sabotage, and crooked trainers, and complicit track workers. Tori talks at one point about why it isn’t cruel to have two-year-old horses race, and Winn is on a campaign to change breeding programs so that thoroughbreds are better able physiologically to withstand the rigors of racing.

If it sounds like this novel is a treatise or an apology for horseracing, it definitely isn’t! It’s a romantic suspense with emphasis on the romance! But I think it might help show that there is a lot right with horse racing, and that most of the people involved care deeply about their animals.

The catalyst for this novel came, as many, many of my ideas do, from my own beautiful daughter. She is an equine veterinarian who started her career on the track. She’s passionate about horse health and safety, and she also loves racing. Readers who know me, might see a lot of my daughter in Tori—from the zillions of animals at her farm, to her steadfast refusal to do what’s not right to her involvement in a non-profit retired racehorse rescue.  As long as there are people like her in the world, things for animals will continue to get better!

The famous Barbaro Statue at the entrance to Churchill Downs

Enjoy an excerpt from “Missing by a Heartbeat.” 

 “Once I told him all the weird things going on, all the coincidences happening in one day, he wanted to help,” Tori said. “My dad can’t resist a mystery.”

She’d barely gotten the words out when the growing group in the barn aisle was stunned into speechlessness by a looming figure of a man. Well over six feet tall and broad as a lumberjack, his eyes a cold blue and his face as calm as the eye of a powerful hurricane, Nick Forge marched toward them. Winn had never met the trainer, but his presence was hard to miss. And his reputation as a hardass was not a secret.

“A mystery?” the man said, his voice so quietly threatening it rang as if he’d used a bullhorn. “You’re damn right it’s a mystery. And you.” He lasered in on Tori, making hot blood rush without warning to Winn’s head. “You think you’re the keeper of morals around here and you just need to jump into every little issue and figure it out, don’t you? Did you set the cops on me? Send them around to make me a suspect? What the hell do you think you are? Everyone’s sanctimonious Sunday school teacher?”

When he took another step forward, bringing him to within six feet of Tori, Winn jumped.

“Back off, Forge,” he said.

The next thing he knew, a rod of flesh-and-blood steel attached to a hand the size of a Humvee had swept into the nearest post as easily as a swatter nailed a fly.

Tori had grown up with two older brothers who’d made play out knocking each other to the ground, so she didn’t scream at the shock of seeing Winn hit the post and flop to the ground. But she had no trouble or second thoughts about launching herself at Nick Forge’s arm and twisting it from the wrist until she brought it behind his back. She dealt with strong thoroughbred horses every day. A surprised trainer, despite his height and weight, was nothing.

“Are you insane?” She spat the words at him like venom and gave his backward-facing arm another yank.

She let him go when he allowed a quick grunt of pain and dropped to the ground beside Winn. He shook his head, eyes dazed but mostly with surprise.

“Hey, don’t get up fast.”

“I’m fine,” he started to scramble up but she pushed him down, too. “Tori, I really am.”

“Just make sure nothing cracked or got hit when you went down.”

“The asshole just took me by surprise, that’s all. My shoulder hit the post and I lost balance.” He protested but nonetheless quieted under her touch.

She heard the angry shouting beside them as the others descended on Forge and his protests began, but she refused to look up, concentrating instead on checking Winn’s eyes and running her fingers along his shoulder to check for bruised spots. She would have been smarter to believe his protests that he was fine. Touching him was like touching fire, or at least it felt so to her fingertips. He might not have been brawny the way Nick Forge was, but Tori doubted she’d be able to summon the strength to lift Winn’s arm much less twist it behind his back. Funny the difference between adrenaline and attraction.

“Nothing hurts here?” She pressed one last spot.

“Na. The shoulder blade stings a little, but it’s like knocking a funny bone—it’ll go away. C’mon.” His lowered voice caressed and wheedled as if he had to talk her into believing him. “Let me up now. This is hell on my male pride.”

“I’ll bet.”

There wasn’t anything funny about what had just happened, but they smiled anyway. Once they both straightened Tori finally saw that the tall blond man she assumed was Sawyer Richards had pushed Forge up against a wall and was holding him there. The rest of the kids were haranguing Forge with epithets and curses, and her father was allowing it for the moment. Clearly Nick Forge was putting up no resistance since none of Winn’s young employees could have held him had he wanted to push them aside, but he did gaze back at them with arrogant amusement on his heavy-featured face. Seriously, the man looked far more like a steroidal gym rat than a horse trainer.

“All right, that’s enough.” Winn’s tone brooked no argument and he expertly guided his charges away from their quarry.

“He has no right to come around our barn punching people out.” Leo was the last one to move back.

“True enough,” Winn said. “But he made his own bed—don’t you go sleeping in it.”

“What kind of panty-waisted girl are you, Crosby?” Forge eased his shoulders as he stepped away from the wall. “I had no intention of knocking you down. You just needed to stay out of my way.”

“I’d be careful about using the word ‘girl’ in that way, Nick.” Winn eyed him with mild reproval. “It wasn’t a man who got you into a hammerlock minutes ago.”

I hope you’ll watch for the release of “Missing By a Heartbeat” on December 15^th, and visit me in Chandler County! I’m excited for this story, which is also, by the way, my very first “whodunit.” 

You can pre-order the book HERE.

Meanwhile—I'm eager to know what you love and don’t love about your favorite sport. Horse racing, football, baseball…every sport has its darker side. Tell me what you’d do to change your favorite activity for the better!  I have a $10 Amazon gift card for one commenter today.

And remember—there are seven other Chandler County novels coming by Christmas. Three are available for you now!

 

 CHECK OUT CHANDLER COUNTY ONLINE!

 

Welcome to Chandler County

Hi GLIAS family! I’m so excited to hijack the blog today for a little shameless promotion of a brand new (for me) story world and soon-to-be-released book!

Last June I was lucky enough to attend a wonderful book signing event called Wild Deadwood Reads totally geared toward readers connecting with authors. (For information on this year’s event click HERE.) But I was also blessed to meet and get involved with a wonderful pair of authors who have created an exciting world called Chandler County, Kentucky. This past spring, six Chandler County books were released. Starting on October 26^th, eight new stories will be released, once a week through December.

I’m so excited that my book, “Missing By a Heartbeat” will be among them, and be released on November 16^th.

 

This is not a boxed set of books, it is available at all online retailers, not just Amazon, and it isn't a series that must be read in order. All CC books are stand alone novels. But they are set in the same wonderful place and share some of the same smart, sexy, sweet, rowdy, funny, beautiful characters. And there’s a heat level for everyone whether you love sweet inspy stories, hot sexy stories or something in between!

ABOUT CHANDLER COUNTY

Chandler County lies in 311 square miles between Lexington and Lousiville, Kentucky and consists of two main towns: Chandlerville (named for the founder Lyle Chandler) and Bourbonville (named for the prohibition-era government-led destruction of hundreds of private stills that flooded the town with bourbon and bourbon scent for weeks). Both towns thrive on business brought in by the Kentucky Derby every spring, but there are also many businesses that make up a successful economy.

In Chandler County you’ll find small town closeness and folks who’ve grown up in the area as well as lots of heroes and heroines who are new to the towns and the love they find there. Horses, horsemen and women, and thoroughbreds abound. In my book, you’ll meet a local veterinarian and a new-to-Churchill Downs trainer and plenty of scandal to give them trouble as well as push them together.

There truly is something and somebody for everyone!

Along with “Missing By a Heartbeat” here are the other seven books that will be released this fall:

“Missing Alaska” by Cherime Macfarlane

“Missing Desire” by PJ Fiala

“Missing Out” by Trish Edmisten

“Missing My Heart” by Tina Susedik

“Missing the Gate” by Aubree Lane

“Missing Us” by Traci Wooden-Carlisle

“Missing Home” by Stephany Tullis

In addition to the excitement of new releases, there is a Facebook Fan Page that’s full of fun little facts about each of the books: favorite recipes, favorite getaways, teasers, questions for readers, and giveaways. I’d love for everyone to hop on over and like the page so you can keep up with all the pre-release fun. 

 CHANDLER COUNTY FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

ABOUT MISSING BY A HEARTBEAT

Here’s a mini synopsis of my book, which will be available for pre-order this coming weekend!

Dr. Victoria “Tori” Sterling has only been practicing equine veterinary medicine for seven years, but she already knows her way around race horse injuries better than most vets with twice her experience. Innovative and honest to a fault, in a world where tradition and rule-bending are standard practices, Tori has fought to earn her good reputation. She’s also learned the hard way that an eccentric, animal-focused lifestyle is too much for any man to understand much less share. Since every spare minute is spent on her career and her farm filled with rescue animals—she has no time for love relationships.

As a newcomer to Chandlerville, thoroughbred trainer Winn Crosby has escaped a troubled past and made it to his dream destination: Kentucky and the venerable Churchill Downs. With a dozen horses in his stable and a gift for getting the best from them, he wants only to keep his business out of trouble and reach his ultimate goal of training a big stakes horse. It’s not an easy task, however, when every one of his teenage grooms, as well as his assistant trainer, has a record. But Winn was once a troubled teen, and along with his love of horses, he loves “his kids” and will do anything to help them succeed as he has.

It doesn’t take him long to decide Tori Sterling is someone who can help him with his goals. In addition to being straight-talking and scrupulously honest, she’s funny, smart, and attractive, and she makes him feel the same way—something rare for a man who’s had to fight for respect his whole life. Despite her support and his best efforts, however, it doesn’t take trouble long to find him. When a Derby-bound colt is targeted by a saboteur, Winn and his stable of misfits are prime suspects. Then a series of mysterious and illegal happenings behind the scenes at Churchill Downs keep him in the crosshairs and force him into a partnership with Tori that’s part detective team and all crazy attraction.

Because even though Tori stopped looking for love long ago, Winn gets through her defenses like nobody ever has. In him she sees a true horseman, a kind soul, and a man who shares her passion for all things lost. Tori’s love of animals and kids makes her a perfect role model for the teens in Winn’s employ. And her farm is a haven for Winn, who has never fully left his lost and lonely childhood in Chicago behind.

Together they struggle to find out who is doping horses with a secret stimulant that seems to magically make winners out of losers, who is sabotaging equipment and causing barn-wide panic, and who apparently wants Tori and Winn out of the horseracing business altogether. And they have to do it before both of them lose their careers—and their chance at love.

Have you ever been to Kentucky? Have you ever been to a racetrack? Tell me your best horse racing or never-been-to-a-horse-race story! I have a choice of any of my back list e-books for a commenter today. Please leave your email address with your comment!

And watch for more posts about the individual Chandler County books as we get to their release dates!