Well, what can I say? Cynthia is an incredibly prolific author and dare I say, a friend to boot. I love the area she's writing about...read on and find out.
Hi L.A. Thanks for hosting me today.
Central City Brides is the third series I’ve set in Colorado and I’m always sorry to see a series end. This book, THE PRETENDER BRIDE, is my 32nd historical western romance and the 12th that I’ve set in Colorado. I keep coming back here because this is my home and I love these places that are familiar to me. I hope that through my work you have come to know them a little bit, too.
Central City was a gold mining town founded in 1859 and would later become known as “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.” Millions of dollars of gold was taken from the mines there. In today’s money it was probably billions.
Even though this is my last Colorado book for a while, that’s not to say I’m stopping writing, oh no, I couldn’t do that if I tried. It’s a part of me. I’m simply going to another part of the country…Seattle to be exact. I don’t know much about that part of the country, so it is a learning experience for me and one I hope you’ll be able to join me on.
In the meantime, enjoy THE PRETENDER BRIDE.
Central City was a gold mining town founded in 1859 and would later become known as “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.” Millions of dollars of gold was taken from the mines there. In today’s money it was probably billions.
Even though this is my last Colorado book for a while, that’s not to say I’m stopping writing, oh no, I couldn’t do that if I tried. It’s a part of me. I’m simply going to another part of the country…Seattle to be exact. I don’t know much about that part of the country, so it is a learning experience for me and one I hope you’ll be able to join me on.
In the meantime, enjoy THE PRETENDER BRIDE.
Blurb:
Lost and alone after her step-father is murdered on the streets of New York, Katie takes her two young siblings and claims them as her own. Pretending to be a widow, she flees to Colorado Territory as a mail-order bride and into the arms of the handsome gunsmith, Robert Wallace. The attraction is instant, but just when things are looking up for her, the past comes calling--and Katie discovers harsh truths about her stepfather that put everything at risk. Her stepfather had secrets, and they're not done with her yet.
Robert Wallace was a skeptic until he watched his friends settle happily with their mail-order brides. When his own seemingly perfect family arrives, he's thrilled. Until he discovers his new bride is surrounded by layer-upon-layer of lies. He's been tricked by a scheming woman before and he won't be taken in by another one, no matter how innocent she seems. No matter how badly he wants her.
Katie is determined to keep her new family together, come hell or high water. And no one is going to get in her way. Not the man from New York who followed her to Colorado. Not her past. And not the stubborn, irresistible Scot who is her husband.
Excerpt:
CHAPTER 1
April 10, 1871
Rockford Residence, Brooklyn, New York
“Detective Nelson. What are you doing in here?”
Katie Kennedy asked the man she found in her stepfather’s bedroom. He appeared to be looking through the books on Noah’s nightstand.
“Oh, I…ah…was looking for the bathroom.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I’m sure you won’t find it in Noah’s books.”
He set the book in his hand back on top of Noah’s Bible.
“I…I wanted something to read…you know…”
“You’ll find reading material already in the bathroom across the hall.”
She pointed out the door.
“Oh, well, I don’t seem to need to use it after all.”
Katie thought that was the oddest conversation she’d ever had. What was David Nelson looking for?
*****
“Goodbye. Thank you for coming. I’m sure Noah would have been glad you were here.”
Katie Kennedy closed the door on the last caller to her stepfather’s wake, except for her friend Geneva Watson who offered to stay and was in the kitchen cleaning up.
Ten o’clock. She slumped back against the door. She’d put her little brother and sister to bed several hours ago. Ethan was five and Ruthie just three. They didn’t completely understand what was happening and this was much too late for them. Heavens, she thought, the hour was too late for her as well. Ten o’clock before she could chase the last well-wisher out the door.
Noah Rockford had been well liked in the neighborhood and apparently among his fellow policemen as an endless stream of blue uniforms moved before her eyes in and out of the house today. She’d hated having to host a wake for him. Katie had loved Noah. He’d raised her since she was ten years-old and married her mother.
Katie sighed. Yes, he’d been liked by everyone except the person who shot him.
She looked around at the mess and shook her head. Cups, plates and cutlery were on every flat surface here in the living room, waiting for her to gather and clean them. She gathered dishes from the coffee table, the end tables, and the bookshelves. She should be thankful she and the children still had a house to hold the wake in. Noah hadn’t owned the home but rented it from Mr. Doolittle next door.
After Noah’s murder, the elderly man said Katie and the children could stay for a month before he’d have to get another renter. Katie thought that was because he felt sorry for them and her little brother and sister reminded him of his grandchildren. For whatever reason, she was grateful. That was a week ago and she still didn’t know what she would do. She’d get a furnished room if she had to, all of the furniture here belonged to the house. The only thing she had to move were their clothes, books, pictures, a few keepsakes such as the jewelry Noah gave her and Ruthie. It was pretty and he’d taken such joy giving it to them. Good memories were attached to the jewelry.
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Bio:
Cynthia Woolf is the award-winning and best-selling author of thirty-one historical western romance books and two short stories with more books on the way.
Cynthia loves writing and reading romance. Her first western romance Tame A Wild Heart, was inspired by the story her mother told her of meeting Cynthia’s father on a ranch in Creede, Colorado. Although Tame A Wild Heart takes place in Creede that is the only similarity between the stories. Her father was a cowboy not a bounty hunter and her mother was a nursemaid (called a nanny now) not the ranch owner. The ranch they met on is still there as part of the open space in Mineral County in southwestern Colorado.
Writing as CA Woolf she has six sci-fi, space opera romance titles. She calls them westerns in space.
Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and her great friends and critique partners for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.
Find Cynthia:
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