Special Edition: Shanna Hatfield-A Cowboy Christmas!

READ A BOOK, 

HELP A COWBOY

This project really speaks to the heart of some of my favorite things--Christmas, cowboys, and giving back.  And gifted storyteller, Shanna Hatfield has delivered them all in one lovely keepsake holiday book that you and your family's will treasure for years to come!

Because she grew up around cowboys and loves to include them in the stories she writes, author Shanna Hatfield supports the JCCF through her Read a Book, Help A Cowboy campaign. In its sixth year, the campaign raises funds and awareness for the JCCF. Now through Christmas Eve, Hatfield will donate ten percent of the proceeds from every book purchase to the JCCF.

ABOUT SHANNA

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up sassy characters, twisting plots, or testing out new recipes, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller. She resides near Walla Walla, Washington.

Amanda:Tell us about this project, what prompted you to  do this kind of a book?

Shanna: This type of book is far different than the sweet romances I typically write, but it was such a fun project. It combines three things I love: cowboys, Christmas, and recipes! I've always thought it would be fun to do a book that included interviews with rodeo and ranch families because they are just such amazing people to get to know. When I had the opportunity to combine the interviews with all things Christmas (cowboy style!) and throw in some of my favorite recipes, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up! 

Amanda:How long have you been giving portions of royalties to this cause?

Shanna: This will be the sixth year for me to donate to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. I can't say enough good things about this organization and the help they offer injured rodeo athletes. It is nothing short of amazing. 

ABOUT THE JUSTIN CRISIS COWBOY FUND

For most rodeo athletes it is a matter of when they get hurt, not if.

Many are uninsured and for those who find themselves out of work for months on end, the injury can be devastating physically, emotionally, and financially.

That’s where the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund steps in. The JCCF provides financial assistance to rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries that leave them unable to compete for an extended time. Rather than worry about how they’ll pay their bills, they can focus on healing.

 A wonderful addition to this year’s campaign is Hatfield’s brand-new book called  A Cowboy Christmas. The book features 300 pages of western holiday fun with more than 70 full-color recipes.

The jangle of spurs mingles with the jingle of sleigh bells in this celebration of Christmas—cowboy style!

Welcome home to a western holiday with A Cowboy Christmas. A collection of unique holiday décor, traditions, recipes, and guides for entertaining with ease make this your go-to resource for an amazing western Christmas. Filled with stories of real-life ranch families and rodeo cowboys, get a glimpse into their traditions, try their family recipes, and experience their lifestyles. From preserving memories of the past to tips for wrapping presents, discover the special touches incorporated throughout this book that make it a holiday keepsake you’ll cherish for years to come. Brimming with holiday cheer, recipes with full-color photographs, and one-of-a-kind ideas, this book is a wonderful celebration of the holidays that will help make your Christmas unforgettable.

Here is one of the many sweet treats you'll find in this wonderful treasury!

Chocolate Chex Trees

These yummy and adorable trees are so simple to make and a great project if you have kids at home who need something to do. Set them on a disposable plate, foil-wrapped piece of cardboard, or a large sugar cookie wrapped in cellophane for gift-giving!

Ingredients:

3 cups Chex Chocolate cereal

6 pretzel sticks (the thick kind, made for dipping)

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup Nutella

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Mix the peanut but­ter, Nutella, but­ter, and pow­dered sugar in a bowl.

On whatever you plan to use for a base, mold the peanut butter mixture around the pretzel stick until it stands upright and forms a slight cone shape.

Hold it steady by using the tip of the pret­zel as a han­dle and begin insert­ing pieces of cereal into the peanut but­ter mix­ture in a sym­met­ri­cal pat­tern around the stick. You can tip the cereal pieces up or down, depending on your personal preference. Add more cereal pieces, stag­ger­ing them as you move upward, until you get near the top.

For the top of the tree, use broken pieces or cut them in half to get the smaller scale of branches near the top.

Use two pieces of cereal back to back to form the top.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 6 trees

October 2, 2019 

Available at these fine merchants:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

BooksaMillion

Apple

Kobo

Indie-Bound

To celebrate her release, Shanna is giving away a digital copy of one of her Christmas Romances!

Share in a comment what your favorite Christmas tradition is!

One lucky winner will go home with a digital of this gifted storyteller's work!!
(be sure you leave your email to be notified!)

Holiday blessings and cowboy dreams!

Jacqui Nelson’s North of the Border - Inspiration for my Trick Rider Story

Who's next on my North of the Border guest blog series? 

Today it's me, your North of the Border host, Jacqui Nelson :) 

And I'm sharing the inspiration for my Wild West trick-riding heroine, Eldorado Jane, from my novel, Between Home & Heartbreak.

How, when and why did Canada become part of my inspiration for this story? Read on and see...

~  * ~

I love writing about classic Old West events. So I always wanted to create a story about a female trick rider in an iconic show like Buffalo Bill's Wild West (which first started in America in 1883). 

I haven't seen many trick riders in action. I'd like to see more.

Where I grew up (in northern Alberta, Canada) the most popular sports/activities seemed to be hockey and ice skating (in the winter) and the rodeo and the fair (in the summer). There weren't many female hockey players or rodeo riders, but the women ruled the barrel racing. Our small town (population 1,500) had two brothers who became champions in the saddle bronc event. I wondered about the sisters of rodeo-royalty families. What were their talents? What were their dreams? Where did they go and what did they do?

In a small town in a remote location, you often have to go somewhere to even figure out what your dreams are. That was me. I left home at eighteen but came back often. I loved the farm, but I loved to explore and discover new things as well.

Then, many years later, after attending a Tournament of Kings dinner show in Vegas or it might have been the Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament in Orlando (I went to both), I heard a rumor that the sister of one of those super-star rodeo families had been riding in those shows!

A Medieval Times Princess riding in the California Rose Parade

My youthful ponderings had been given an answer. Or at least a partial answer. My mind took off exploring again, thinking about trick riders and what types of shows they might join or leave—and why.

Eventually, Eldorado Jane (my trick-riding superstar of my show, Colonel Calhoun’s Wondrous West) showed up in the Texas Hill Country in 1879. Eldorado Jane has left the show, but it hasn't left her. A show without its star attraction is a show that isn't drawing the biggest crowds and isn't paying its bills. So, Colonel Calhoun tracks down Eldorado Jane (aka Eldora) and insists that a show must be put on—to make money and to make a point. If you've worked so hard to become a star and a success, how can you give that up? And how many people (your employer, your fellow performers, your fans) won't let you give up your show life even if you wanted to?

Here's an excerpt from Colonel Calhoun’s Wondrous West show where (in the wake of a violent death that has yet to be solved) there's a lot more going on that just the show...

~ * ~ 

The hushed beat of Indian drums built to a mighty pounding that filled the show tent.


Standing in the middle of the ring, Eldora laid her palm over her heart and gazed around with the exaggerated alarm of an actor. The dread beating in Lewis’ heart was real.


A horse charged in carrying a chief wearing a feathered war bonnet, face paint, and a breastplate full of too many adornments to decipher at his speed. A half-dozen whooping and chanting, bare-chested braves on nimble ponies followed him. When Eldora leapt on her own horse, they chased her around the ring.
 A handful of seconds later, the warriors corralled her by the target with the bulls-eye.

“Don’t worry,” Vandrill’s grip on Lewis’ shoulder tightened, warning him not to leave his seat in the crowd. “It’s part of the act.”


The chief pulled Eldora off her horse and into the throng. A loud whoop sounded and the riders raced for the exit, revealing Eldora bound with rope to the target. Using long measured strides, the chief marched away from her. After ten steps, he spun to face her again. This time with his palms raised high.


The drums went silent. So did the crowd. They all stared at the chief who finally stood still enough for Lewis to see beyond the face paint and war bonnet. The chief was Hawk and his breastplate contained not only feathers and beads but animal claws.


Claws that could’ve been used to murder someone and make it look like a mountain lion. A reclusive animal that usually stayed far away from towns, even when injured.


Hawk pulled a tomahawk from his belt, widened his stance and drew back his arm. He aimed the blade at Eldora.


Lewis grabbed the pistol that Vandrill held close against Lewis' side and yanked the barrel earthward. He used his other hand to slug Vandrill in the jaw.


The entire time they wrestled for the weapon, Vandrill kept his gaze on the show ring. “Stop fighting me and start helping Eldora,” he hissed. “Brutus has arrived and he looks spitting mad. I don’t want to shoot him if it can be avoided. So, release the gun and get going.” He shoved Lewis toward Eldora. “Your lady needs you.”

Vandrill was right. Brutus, the buffalo that had previously moved at a placid pace, now careened wildly around the ring. Hawk didn’t even glance at the beast. The Lakota brave’s gaze hadn’t wavered. Neither had his tomahawk, still raised and ready to throw at Eldora.


Lewis jumped over the wall separating the crowd from the ring. He raced forward with only his body to protect her.

~ * ~

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Between Home & Heartbreak, visit my excerpt page on my website. Or you can find the story on Amazon US, UK, Canada, and Australia. And on Kindle Unlimited as well.

Sitting Bull & Buffalo Bill in Montreal, Quebec, 1885

Before the invention of film, vaudeville and variety shows were the entertainment of the day. Everyone traveled. The show often traveled to reach the guests, and guests traveled to reach the show. Just like I traveled to see a trick rider from my hometown who I didn't even know I was going to see.

On a side note, some Canadian travel trivia... 

William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody (the creator of Buffalo Bill's Wild West) was born in Iowa Territory but lived for several years in his father’s hometown in Toronto Township (in Ontario, Canada) before his family settled in the Kansas Territory.

Do you have a favorite show you've traveled to see or would like to travel to see? 

Comment below for a chance to win an e-copy of Eldorado Jane's story... 

~ * ~

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

You'll find Wild West scouts, spies, cardsharps, wilderness guides, and trick-riding superstars in my stories. Those are my heroines. Wait till you meet my heroes! My love for historical romance adventures with grit and passion came from watching Western movies while growing up on a cattle farm in northern Canada.

I've been nominated for over 20 awards and won the RWA® Golden Heart® & the Laramie® but my best reward is hearing from readers who have enjoyed my stories.

Website: www.JacquiNelson.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/jacquinelson

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

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JacquiNelson

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E.E. Burke's Best of the West featuring award-winning author Laura Drake

Preorder

Welcome back RITA Award winner Laura Drake and get a sneak peek of her upcoming release: THE LAST TRUE COWBOY

Carly Beauchamp has loved cowboy Austin Davis since first grade. Ask anyone in their dusty, backwater New Mexico town of Unforgiven, and they'll say “Carly and Austin” the way some say “big trucks and country boys.” But after years of waiting for a wedding ring, Carly’s done with being a rodeo widow . . . 

Austin never meant to put his career on the circuit before Carly. She’s always been his future, his one and only. But now that she’s moved on, he’s beginning to see where he went wrong, and he’ll do anything to win her back. The only thing is, Carly’s suddenly acting differently, and she’s definitely hiding a secret—one that will test the depth of their love and open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Here's an excerpt:

Addiction sucks. I should know. Papaw has his White Lightning. Nana has her Bingo-jones. My addiction has sad green eyes and my name tattooed across his left pec. But my white-dress, raising-babies-with-my-best-friend dreams always come in second to his goddamned rodeo. There’s even a term for it; Rodeo Widow. Except to earn that title, I’d have to be married.

Squinting through the windshield glare, I shove the ‘three on the tree’ to third and press on the gas, but the speedometer doesn’t budge. Dang it, at this rate I’m going to be late for the breakfast shift.  Papaw bought the truck new about the time I was born, and Nana named it ‘Nellybelle’.  Said she stole the name from a car on some TV show—Roy Somebody. Whatever, Nana. All I know is, I’m stuck driving the beater so you can drive the Camry to Bingo.

I’m less than a mile from the paved road when clanking starts under the hood. It sounds like the hammers of hell in there. I take it out of gear and lurch to the side of the washboard road and watch the dust billow up in the rearview mirror. “Now that’s just craptastic.” I’m no mechanic, but I’ve been driving since before I could reach the pedals. I know what a thrown rod sounds like. Nana would say, ‘Nellybelle’s sleeping with Jesus’. My luck she’ll want to have a funeral.

I grab a rubber band from the glovebox and lasso my hair into a thick ponytail. More strawberry than strawberry blonde means if it takes longer than ten minutes to catch a ride, I’ll look like Elmo. With freckles. Luckily, Papaw left a gimmie cap behind the seat. I slap it on, throw my purse strap over my shoulder, open the door and slide into the hot morning. 

Once I hit the blacktop, odds are somebody will stop. One good thing about living outside of Unforgiven New Mexico all your life is that sooner or later someone you know is bound to come by.

I hear it before I see it. Quad Reynolds’ truck materializes through the heat-haze off the blacktop. It’s almost as ancient at Nellybelle (may she rust in peace). 

He pulls alongside me and yells out the window, “Where’s your car?”

Now the Reynolds aren’t among Unforgiven’s best and brightest, and given a population of 1,500, that’s not a high bar. Quad was the first of his clan to get a high school diploma, mostly thanks to kind and long-suffering teachers passing him along year to year like a white elephant gift.  People can’t help what they’re born with (or without), but Quad has had a thing for me since third grade. He’s also got body odor and dandruff so bad his eyebrows flake. I stuff my hands in my back pockets and walk up to the window. “I broke down. Can you give me a lift to town?”

“Heck yeah. Climb in.” He unhooks the bungee cord that holds the door shut. “Wait.” He holds the door closed with a hand on the window frame. “You’re not gonna make me eat those foldy-overy things again, are you?”

Exasperation puffs from my lips. “They’re crepes, and no one made you eat them the first time. Besides, I took them off the menu.” Mostly because no one ate them. I keep trying to changes to the menu to improve business, but so far, the only thing that’s gone over is Ratatouille. And only because I told them the name is French for ‘hash’.

“Oh good.” The door moans when he pushes it open.

I climb into the cab, right into his yearning look. “When’re you going to throw over that no-account cowboy and fall for me, Carly Sue?”

“Believe me, I’m considering giving him up.”

“Well, I’m available, but you better hurry ‘afore some woman snatches me away.” 

Not going there. I’m no mean-girl. “I’ll take it under advisement, thanks.” I turn so the springs quit pushing on my butt bone and so the bungee doesn’t scrape my shins. 

He drapes an arm over the steering wheel, and the breeze washes me in the smell of day-old sweat. “Where is Austin now, anyway?”

“Let’s see. What day is it?”

“Thursday. No. Wait. Friday.”

“He’s in Las Cruces. Three-day rodeo at the county fair this weekend.”

He shakes his head. “That boy can ride. I’ll give him that.”

Yeah. That’s the problem. 

Austin and I fell in love in first grade. I looked across the craft table and recognized a piece of me, staring back. Something about him just clicked with me. It was the same for him, and like two jigsaw pieces, we snapped together. We never have come undone. Until now. 

This time, I mean it. 

Meet the author

Laura is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. In 2014, Laura realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She's a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

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Writers in the Storm

EE: What sound or noise do you love?

Laura: My husband saying my name

EE: What turns you off like nothing else?

Laura: Mean people

EE: Do you write while listening to music? If so what kind?

Laura: Classical. It’s calming and forms the background of my days. I love other music, but if it has words, I can’t concentrate – I find myself singing along!

EE: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

Laura: This time, it was to go to Dairy Queen and get a strawberry-banana Blizzard! The calories don’t count if you’ve finished a book, you know. And I ordered a small, but they gave me a medium. SCORE! Those calories don’t count either, because I didn’t ask for it.

If you couldn’t be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?

Photography. I couldn’t actually DO it, because I stink at it, but as long as we’re dreaming…

EE: What question are you never asked in interviews, but wish you were?

Laura: WHY do you do this? It’s hard, it makes you gray and your butt spreads. I do it to help women who are going through a ‘rough patch’, who need to escape their lives, and realize there ARE happily ever afters. I’ve been there. I know the power of a book.

EE: What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

Laura: I realized a dream I didn’t even dare to dream!  In 2014, I received the RWA, RITA award for best first book. I got up on stage in the dress of my dreams, in front of 2,000 people and Nora Roberts presented the award! Highlight of my life.

(Note from EE: I was there that night and Laura looked stunning!)

EE: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

Laura: Facebook. I post cat and coffee memes, beauty pics, inspiring quotes and interesting facts every day. The comments of my friends crack me up!  Come join the party:  https://www.facebook.com/laura.drake.927

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

Laura: Believe it or not, Carly Simon’s song, Jesse. The yearning in that song, for something she knows isn’t good for her just tugs at me. If you’ve never heard it, do yourself a favor:  https://youtu.be/T3W4Y85hx9Y

Question for readers:

I'm endlessly fascinated by how good people can make bad decisions. In this book, Carly makes one, and spends the whole book trying to recover from it. I've done the same.  Have you?

Giveaway:

I'll give away one paperback copy of Nothing Sweeter and one of Sweet on You. U.S. only, please - but if someone is out of the country, I can gift them an ebook of whichever they win.  

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