Rosanne Bittner's Blog, page 47

  To celebrate the re-release of my Savage Destiny Series in Kindle Version, I'm participating in a series of Buy the Book Book Tours from January 21, 2013 thru April 8, 2013. And, along with the tour, I'll be giving away the entire Savage Destiny Series listed above.


Schedule for Sweet Prairie Passion:

JANUARY 21
My Devotional Thoughts
Melissa Keir- Sexy Between the Covers
Passionate Encounters
Author Jinni James

JANUARY 22
Ella Quinn Author
It's All About The Romance
M.J. Schiller

JANUARY 23
Real World on Writing
Have Novel, Will Edit

JANUARY 24
Romance Writer Sara Walter Ellwood
HBS Author's Spotlight
Janna Shay's Fair Play

JANUARY 25
Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
Just One More Chapter

JANUARY 26
Regina May Ross's Blog
Not Now...Mommy's Reading
Mochas Mysteries and More

JANUARY 27
Cathie Dunn writes
From the Pen of Mae Clair

JANUARY 28
Sarah Balance
The Brook Syers Blog
Socrates Book Review Blog

Please visit me on my Book Tours!!!

Giveaway Details:
One (1) complete set of the Savage Destiny Series ~ Kindle version. Drawing for the Giveaway will be held on April 9, 2013, and the winner will be announced on April 9, 2013.
 
To be eligible to enter the Giveaway, use the Rafflecopter Form below!  Amazon.com Widgetsa Rafflecopter giveaway

When I finished this blog I decided it consisted of a “traveling” conversation. That’s what I call a lot of rambling on about nothing … which leads into topics not even planned … and that’s what happened here, so here goes.

A belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you. I can’t believe the holidays are suddenly over. When did that happen? There is such a buildup toward Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I think it’s all too close together. Too bad we can’t have Thanksgiving one month then about 6 weeks later Christmas and then New Years a month or more later – and then not worry about 4th quarter taxes until April and year-end taxes in May. It’s all much too crammed together – full of shopping and decorating and wrapping and cooking and parties and excitement and them BAM! It’s done, and you’re left with going back to the same old job, sadly taking down the decorations, finding a place to put all the presents, wondering what to do with leftovers and – worst of all – trying to get tax information together for 4th quarter and also end-of-year.

I guess the best way to look at it is that winter is already half over and just as fast as the holidays came and went, we’ll turn around and it will be spring and warm and green and flowers will start blooming.

The seasons come and go … and we are another year older. If we’re lucky we’re still healthy, and thank God we live in a place where there is no civil war going on and we still enjoy our freedom and relative peace. If we can honestly say we have 2-3 good friends, that’s great, too.

So, life goes on, and we should be glad we were even here to celebrate another Christmas and another new year. I just find the rush a bit overwhelming. I want to say “stop!” Let me enjoy this moment a little while longer. Let me lie on the sofa and stare at the Christmas tree. Let me watch the joy in the eyes of my grandsons as they unwrap their presents.

This year I got my grandsons lighted world globes from National Geographic. I decided they had enough video games and i-pads and cell phones and such. I wanted to get them something educational, and with the world situation what it is today, it’s important to be able to find some of these countries (like Syria and Iran) and see where they are in proximity to Europe and Israel and the United States. We’ve become so “global.” When I was a little girl, I never gave such countries a second thought. For me the United States was my whole world and everybody loved us and wanted to come here. The rest of the world was far, far away and would never bother us. Yes, we had WWII, but we never felt truly threatened by some kind of invasion. Today things are different and our children and grandchildren need to be more aware of “the rest” of the world and all the other cultures out there we know so little about.

Personally I think National Geographic is one of the best sources for our children to learn about the rest of the world. It is always full of fascinating articles and pictures about other countries and how they live and govern themselves. Read, read, read. That’s what our children should be doing, rather than playing games. They should follow the news, read about other countries, even think about finding a job that might take them to other places, expand their horizons, learn that there is so much more out there than the little area where they live. That’s more important today than ever.

I don’t know how I went from Christmas to world culture, but that’s how the mind wanders and how conversations go from how you feel to how many people died in a civil war on the other side of the world. Women are probably the most notorious for what I call “traveling” conversations. Two women who are strangers to each other can get on an elevator and by the time they get off they sometimes know all about each others’ children and their birthdays/jobs, whatever! And sometimes they have come up with ways to solve the world’s problems.

And so here is my “traveling” conversational blog – a lot about nothing – or not much about something important – however you want to look at it. I’ve been away from writing for a while because of the holidays and that annoying tax matter, so I guess it just feels good to write something down. It’s time to get busy on a new book that’s been brewing in the background for quite a while now … and to warn all of you to watch for more exciting things to come in my writing and promotional efforts. Keep an eye on my web site and Facebook and Twitter for a special promo for my Savage Destiny books through a “Buy The Book” campaign. And before you know it, I’ll be holding a big promo for PARADISE VALLEY, my book coming in July! I can’t wait! And yes, summer will be upon us in a sudden rush, just like the Holidays come upon us too fast. Maybe I should write a book about how time slows down and suddenly one day consists of 48 hours rather than 24, and there is lots of time to stop and enjoy all the good things in life … a world where no one thinks about the “next” day and their “next” project or what they will be doing for the weekend when the weekend isn’t even here yet.
       
All we have is today.  Relax and enjoy that.

I’ve been bad – haven’t posted a new blog for quite a while. Just too much going on, what with a fund-raising fashion show I recently took part in, decorating for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now lots of shopping to do and presents to wrap and parties to go to, and end-of-year reports to do for our family business and getting ready to visit our condo in Las Vegas and on and on …

I think I’m supposed to be retired at my age, but I don’t see that happening … ever! There are times when I hate being this busy, but I know things will slow down again – and overall, I never want to retire. Why should I? They say staying physically and mentally active is what keeps us old folks going and out of those “homes” we don’t like to talk about. I feel and look much younger than I am, and I have lots of energy and am blessed with (so far) very good health, so why should I sit down in a rocking chair and knit? No, thanks.

They say having lots of friends and an active social life is another means of staying healthy as you grow older. Well, I have plenty of that, and I am grateful for all my friends. Laughter really is good medicine for your physical well being – and I believe that helping and caring about others is also good medicine … for the soul. Life is far too short to spend it with regrets, or with malice toward others, or holding old grudges, or to waste away your last years just sitting and watching TV and figuring out which pill to take when. Thank God I take only 1 pill a day, and I’m hoping that if I stay this active, it will help ward off having to take more.

Well, in all the “busy-ness” lately I keep thinking about how I should visit my blog site and keep in touch with all you wonderful blogger friends out there. Sorry I don’t do this more often, but this time of year I don’t even spend time on my writing like I should. That’s the only thing in my life that has “slowed down,” I guess you could say. When I was younger and far busier than I am now – raising two active sons, working full time and a hundred other things going on in my life – I was writing 2 – 4 books a year!! Well, not any more, but trust me, the books WILL keep coming.

PARADISE VALLEY , my first brand new title in years, is coming out next July, and I AM WORKING – (really) – on another new story. It has just taken me a while to decide how to handle it. My original idea just didn’t work out, so I am taking the story in another direction. Now that I have a better idea what I’m going to do, I’ll get busy. I PROMISE! My goal is to be done by April. The working title is DESPERATE HEARTS , but that could change, since the storyline is also changed. We’ll see.

Meantime, yes, I still love to write and will keep on keepin’ on as long as the Good Lord allows me to enjoy continued good health and energy. I have never lost my love of American history and the Old West and Native Americans. Recently I watched a cute little movie called “Chasing Dreams,” about a little boy who desperately wanted to go to Wyoming and live like the outlaw Butch Cassidy. I won’t go into the whole story here. What struck me was when the boy is running away with an old man who is fleeing a nursing home, they drive to Wyoming, and while heading down the highway the little boy looks out and “sees” Indians chasing them. 
OMG – that brought back such memories for me. When I was little I played cowboys and Indians all the time (yes, even though I’m a girly-girl). And even as a grown-up, when my husband and I started traveling out west, I would look out the window and envision what it must have been like to see Indians riding over the hills toward us – or wild horses roaming free. Sometimes it’s hard to envision what the Old West was like once … lawless, wild, free. There is nothing more beautiful than the American West, nothing so magnificent, no place else with such endless horizons. So much of it hasn’t changed – yet too much of it HAS changed, mostly the landscape in areas where cities have sprouted in places where there was a time no one thought anybody would even want to live.

Like that little boy, I can still close my eyes and “pretend.” I often “see” the events of my stories, and I try hard to “feel” the emotions or even the physical pain and hardship of the pioneers and Indians. I still love watching westerns and reading them. I always will. And after a few years of trying to write something different, I realized it’s just not in my heart to write anything but a good ole’ western romance or western family sagas or Native American stories. Somehow I think I was born to write them. Maybe I lived out west in another life, either as a pioneer or a Native America woman. There has to be some mysterious reason why I am so drawn to that era and those locations, and why it is so easy for me to envision that life so that I can bring reality to my stories.

Now that I have written this, I am getting more anxious to get to that book I told you I’d write next, so I’d better get my shopping done and my tax work done and push everything aside and make time to write. Meantime, Happy Holidays to everybody!! Be careful traveling and God Bless!

There was a time when I moaned and groaned about the changes in publishing to e-books. I hated the internet (sorry, but I still don’t like “visiting” on-line – I don’t often post to Facebook or Twitter) – hated the idea of reading a book on a screen rather than holding it in my hand – didn’t understand blogging and all that “stuff.”

Well, here I am with a Facebook Personal and Fan page – a Blog – I’m on Twitter – I have a web site – and of course e-mail. My last hold-out … e-books and a Kindle reader. 

Well, I got to liking Facebook – great way to advertise my books to the entire world. I learned to like blogging for the same reason, and it’s a good way to help other writers with my (sage??) advice. After all, I’ve been writing for 30 years and have 57 published novels, so I must know something about this business! 

Now comes e-books. I broke down and purchased the new Kindle Fire. WOW!! I’m a “downloading” freak! Who knew there were so many FREE books??? Let alone the convenience of reading other books whenever I want without having to haul them around with me – and of course I get to download my own books just for the fun of it!

Two of my older books will be reissued through Sourcebooks.com (and can also be purchased through Amazon.com) in 2012 as e-books and will also be available in print. WILDEST DREAMS in February 2012 and THUNDER ON THE PLAINS in July 2012. I am, of course, advertising these all over the place, thanks to the Internet, so I hope those of you who are just discovering Rosanne Bittner will purchase these reprints – great new covers, and you can put them on your Kindle!

Back to e-books – I am learning to really enjoy my Kindle! I have also ordered the new AMC western, HELL ON WHEELS, so that each episode is automatically downloaded to my Kindle! How cool is that? I can watch each episode when it’s convenient for me. This is one of the features of owning the Kindle Fire that I really like, because I often miss some of my favorite TV programs. I either forget, or I fall asleep before they come on, or something else is on at the same time. We do have DISH but we don’t have one of those fancy DISH receivers that automatically stores stuff – and besides, this way I can watch my favorite TV shows in another room or while on vacation in Vegas. I don’t have to be home retrieving it from my DISH receiver.

All in all, I am slowly but surely breaking down and learning to like the new technology. I have an I-4 cell phone and now the Kindle – and I will probably purchase a Nook because it looks like some of my older books will also be reissued through Barnes & Noble. 

Be sure to watch my web site for news about that, and I will also post something on this blog if and when that happens. 

Keep your fingers crossed that one or two of my books will catch the eye of someone in La-La Land and will become a new TV western series!! Wouldn’t that be great? If that happens, I’ll be able to download the episodes to my Kindle Fire and watch them whenever I want! What a world we live in!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

As I sit here at my desk unable to sleep because in a few hours I’ll be hosting a memorial for my mother, many things go through my mind about life in general and all the things each of us goes through from childhood through high school and young love, marriage, our own children, then grandchildren and the inevitable experience of caring for our own parents as they once had to care for us. THE LION KING’S “Circle of Life” song is so fitting, for we are all part of that circle. My favorite picture of my mom and dad is when they were first married. My mom was only seventeen, and she’s looking at my dad as though he walked on water … such adoration in her eyes. Now they are together again … and young again.

I look at all the little things I saved that were my mom’s and wonder how many of my own little treasures my sons and grandsons will want to keep after I’m gone. It then struck me that I am so lucky to be able to leave behind something that will never really go away, at least not for many years after I’m gone, and that’s my books. By leaving behind some of my stories for others to read, I am leaving behind a piece of Rosanne Bittner that lives on, because in most of my stories I am the heroine. Most of the time my heroines behave as I would have behaved in those times, or at least the way I think I would have behaved. I always try to imagine myself in the various situations my heroines find themselves in, and try to make it personal. What would I say? What would I do? I like to think that I am a survivor. I’ve been through a lot in my own life, and I think that as we age it becomes so much easier to identify with our heroines, especially if we write about women who marry and have children. In many cases with my stories, I follow that woman as she grows older, and I know from personal experience how it feels to be young and in love – how it feels to be a mother – a daughter – a sister – a wife – a grandmother.

All the experiences we have in our own lives can be used in our stories to give that personal “inside” touch to the hero/heroine and their experiences and points of view. Naturally I’ve never been through every single thing that happens to my heroines, but I can certainly use my imagination and envision what it must be like to travel for 2000 miles in a covered wagon, to live with the elements, to be a woman alone in an untamed land, the loneliness of living in the middle of nowhere without other women to talk to, to have a baby with no doctor’s help, to love a man who is often difficult to love or understand.

My own husband has always been a strong, take-no-prisoners type of man. I suppose that’s why my heroes are much the same. And we farmed for several years, so I know what it’s like to work out in a field all day, to get my hands dirty, to have a backache from a lot of bending over or lifting, working outside in the hot sun. I’ve been through major surgeries, family problems, years of chronic migraines, helping run a farm, pulling brush, doing “fix-up” work on the house, problems with children, taking care of aging parents … all the life experiences that help us be better writers and that help me identify with my heroines.

Now here I am with no parents, which makes me the “elder” of my side of the family. Well, I certainly don’t feel it. My husband and I just celebrated our 47th anniversary, and I feel about 45, so how did that happen? Most people think I look far younger than my age, and due to God’s blessing I feel far younger and have no aches or pains, no health problems of any kind. I am active and still writing as well as helping run a family business. I like to go out in the woods and practice shooting my 30/30 Winchester repeating rifle, and I work out on a weight bench.

Yet in a few hours I will watch as they bury my mother’s ashes, and I’ll think of Abbie in my Savage Destiny books – all the things she went through as I followed her life from sixteen through a grandmother and finally her death … when she hears Zeke calling her and she walks into the light and is reunited with the love of her life, just as my mom is now with my dad and all those she loved who went before her. That is our hope, that there is something wonderful “out there” waiting for us, for the spirit never dies.

If you read my Savage Destiny books, you’ll see how I feel about young love, the tragedy and triumph of life and love, motherhood, survival, loyalty, passion, bravery. It’s all there in my books, not just the Savage Destiny series, but in most of my other stories. And so I know that once I, too, am gone, my spirit lives on … not just in the hearts of my sons and grandsons … but also in all the heroines in my books, because in essence, they are me.

 
I'm having a Re-Release Party for my Savage Destiny Series!  Visit my Indian Summer Site for Details

Ladies and gentlemen, if you aren’t familiar with true action-packed western historical romance with a hero to die for, read SAVAGE DESTINY! After a total of 57 published novels, I still find them the best books I ever wrote, packed with real history about Colorado and the Cheyenne Indians, filled with endless action, and probably the best love story I ever penned.

SAVAGE DESTINY is a seven-book series covering about 50 years of history, as seen through the eyes of Zeke and Abbie Monroe. They meet on a wagon train west when Abbie is only 15 and the wagon train scout, Zeke, (best known as Cheyenne Zeke) is 25. Abbie hands Zeke a cup of coffee, their fingers touch, and pow! An epic love story is born, a story that epitomizes the ruggedness of the untamed land, the immense challenges to the pioneers, the lawless atmosphere, the wild and rapid way in which America was settled, and the traumatic affect opening the West had on the Native Americans, especially (in my story) the Cheyenne. I am not embarrassed to say that I am in love all over again with Zeke Monroe. I’d nearly forgotten what a provocative, masculine, handsome, rugged hero he is – and Abbie is the perfect strong, devoted, patient woman at his side, a woman who understands Zeke like few others do.

When I proofread the books for the Kindle edition, I learned a lot about Zeke that I never saw when I wrote these books – that in spite of his virile demeanor and his ability to fight and survive and the fact that he has no fear – Zeke Monroe is quite vulnerable when it comes to Abbie. He will do anything for her, and throughout their years together he lives with the constant fear that Abbie will suffer for being married to a half-breed, something that in the 1800’s was considered shameful. Throughout their life together he protects her with a fierceness seldom found in any human. He truly cherishes this woman, and I think that is what draws women readers to Zeke – the fact that this man cherishes his wife. Cherish is a term we seldom hear today, let alone experience emotionally.

Men, too, love these stories, mainly because of the rugged bravery of Zeke Monroe, the real history, and the almost non-stop action. The books follow Zeke and Abbie from that first meeting through tragedy and triumph that includes not only them but also their children and grandchildren, who all follow his and her unique stories in how history and their heritage affect their lives. There are numerous side-character stories in these novels, and all these characters affect Zeke and Abbie - and history itself – in one way or another.

Over the years, readers have told me that these are the best books they ever read and the best love story they have ever experienced; and most want to know if these characters really lived. To me, when readers ask something like that, I’ve done a good job.

I am proud of SAVAGE DESTINY, and am so happy these books will again be available to everyone, especially new, younger readers who have never read them

By the way, I am now "Kindle-graphing" my Amazon.com e-books -- which means I can send you personalized digital inscriptions for any of my books offered in Kindle edition by Amazon.com! Click here for details and available e-books.

Book 1: SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION . The ninth book that I wrote, SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION was the first to be published. It tells the powerful love story of 15-year-old Abigail Trent, who is traveling west with her family; and a very rugged plainsman, Zeke Monroe, the half-Cheyenne guide who wins Abbie's heart as they journey through an untamed land beset with Indians, outlaws and nature's harsh challenges. Although Zeke and Abbie come from very different worlds, violence and personal loss bring them together in unexpected ways, including a very poignant situation that involves Abbie's little brother. By journey's end, Abbie has changed from an innocent young girl to a strong woman whose courage and determination to survive make her the perfect woman for the sometimes violent Zeke, whose past and upbringing make him a challenge only Abbie's love and personal faith can overcome. SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION is the beginning of many more stories about this unforgettable couple and their life together as they face the perils of settling America's Old West and learn that love can conquer anything. 

 Book 2: RIDE THE FREE WIND continues the love story of Zeke and Abbie Monroe. For the first five years of her marriage Abbie lives among the Cheyenne, learning their customs and beliefs and giving birth to a son who is as wild and free as his Native American family, and a daughter who will one day be forced to choose between her Indian and white blood. Through real historical events involving the government and Native Americans, Zeke and Abbie cling to one another through danger and torn loyalties. This story vividly depicts the "right" and "wrong" of both sides in the bloody conflicts that arose as the West was settled. Through it all Zeke strives to reach the point where he can provide his Abbie with a real "white woman's" home, where she can set a prized family heirloom, a mantle clock, over a fireplace in a house with real wood floors and a cooking hearth. Though his heart is as wild as his Cheyenne blood, Zeke will give up that life for his beloved Abbie. 

 Book 3: RIVER OF LOVE finds Zeke and Abbie Monroe settled into a cabin along the Arkansas River in southern Colorado, where they build a horse ranch amid challenges to their love and their contrasting worlds. As Abbie bears more children carrying their mixed blood, finding a peaceful family life is something that does not come easily. Zeke's Cheyenne relatives face broken treaties, and the building of the Union Pacific cuts a swath of violence and change through the lives of white and Cheyenne alike, forcing the Monroe children to face deeply torn loyalties. New and powerful enemies enter this spellbinding story, and Zeke's love for his Abbie is tested in a totally unexpected way that would devastate the love of most couples with even the strongest relationship. No two people demonstrate the power of love more vividly and with more poignancy than Zeke and Abbie Monroe in RIVER OF LOVE . 

 Book 4: EMBRACE THE WILD LAND . The American Civil War plunges Zeke and Abbie Monroe into violence and separation, danger and torn loyalties. Their first-born son, Wolf's Blood, takes part in the Sun Dance, a tortuous ritual that initiates him into life with the Cheyenne. Then war forces Zeke to leave his family to join his white brother, Danny, in the conflict. Abbie is left to face a horrible fate at the hands of Zeke's worst enemy while he is gone. For the first time in their beloved marriage her strong, brave, warrior husband is not there to protect her. When Zeke returns to learn her fate, the worst violence in his savage soul rages forth to seek sweet revenge. Zeke and Abbie's love transcends loss and tragedy thrown at them by savage people in a savage land that can be tamed by only the bravest souls in EMBRACE THE WILD LAND .

 Book 5: CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN . Zeke and Abbie are forced to defend their children against challenges faced because of their mixed blood. More settlers come west under the Homestead Act, causing the gradual and final demise of the Cheyenne way of life. The surge of new settlers brings with it a wealthy Englishman, Edward Tynes, who builds a cattle ranch near the Monroe homestead and falls in love with Abbie, admiring her strength and bravery, and jealous of her undying love for a man who cannot give her the pampered life Tynes feels she deserves. Zeke leaves to join his warrior son, Wolf's Blood, in new Indian wars, and for the first time Abbie's loyalty to her husband is tested. But no man can replace the fiercely brave, strong, handsome Zeke Monroe in Abbie's life. 

 Book 6: MEET THE NEW DAWN . A relentless wave of frontier progress forces itself into the lives of Zeke and Abbie Monroe, threatening their many years of abiding love and forcing a separation unlike any other they have experienced. Zeke joins the Cheyenne in their last effort to hold on to the freedom they knew until the white man invaded their pristine domain and destroyed their game, their hunting grounds, their beautiful innocence. MEET THE NEW DAWN is a keenly powerful and poignant story about the last years of Zeke and Abbie Monroe's life together, and how their love and their passion for each other lingers on into their twilight years as proof that age and the challenges of life cannot dim the love these two share, a love that causes a man and woman to see each other only as the fifteen-year-old girl who once touched a savage older man's hand over a campfire, a touch that changed both their lives forever. Get out the Kleenex for this powerful read you will never, ever forget! 

Book 7 (Not yet available on Kindle - New Cover Coming Soon): EAGLE'S SONG . After I finished Book 6, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I had to get away from the Monroe family. The first six books were published between 1983 and 1985, and it took me eleven years to walk back into the lives of all the characters who had become so dear to me. There was Abbie, waiting for me to finish her story, and also tell the stories of some of her grandchildren. In EAGLE'S SONG , the clan gathered for a long-awaited reunion on their sprawling Colorado ranch, but old hatreds and new passions exploded...in heartbreaking tragedy for eldest son Wolf's Blood; in a forbidden love affair between Abbie's wild grandson Zeke and a rancher's headstrong daughter; and in an agonizing choice Wolf's Blood's young son must make--a choice that could seal his father's fate.

Well finally, the horribly hot summer is over and we are headed into my favorite time of year … Autumn. Here in Michigan, Fall is the most beautiful time of year. And for me the return of college and pro football just makes the season that much better! Leaves will be turning soon and although that means we are headed for cold and snow, I don’t really care. Anything is better than the kind of summer we had this year!

Been busy proofreading my SAVAGE DESTINY books for their reissue by Amazon as e-books – mostly likely by October 1st! Be sure to watch my web and blog sites for news about an up-coming “Indian Summer” contest to celebrate the return of these books, which were first published almost 30 years ago and are still selling! Hero Cheyenne Zeke will live in my heart forever, as will his “Abbie-girl.” From what I hear from readers, they feel the same way. If you’ve never read these books, join my contest to win a free Kindle reader and you can download them to that and read up a storm! This is an unforgettable series that follows the settling of Colorado and its effects on the Cheyenne Indians as well as on the family of Zeke Monroe, a half-breed who lives torn between two worlds. The stories follow Zeke and Abbie, as well as some of their children and grandchildren, through about 50 years of a very powerful loved story set against real American history. I would say these stories compare strongly to James Michener’s book/movie CENTENNIAL.

I am also working on edits for my brand new book, PARADISE VALLEY, coming next July. The cover is just about ready but needs a couple more tweaks, so watch for it, along with a short description of the story. Can’t wait for everybody to read it! I will be pushing the book next May at the Romantic Times Conference in Kansas City, where many of the big-name romance authors from the 80’s and 90’s will be honored as “Divas of Romance!” It’s going to be so much fun and a big reunion of some of us lovers of bodice-rippers and the best of historical romance! I can’t wait! Meantime, keep an eye out for my contest – and watch Amazon for those SAVAGE DESTINY books. There aren’t many Native America stories around that are any better than these.

Right now I am proofreading the conversions of my Savage Destiny books for Amazon. They will soon be available as e-books, and those of you who would like a “forever” copy of these books will be able to download them and save them to your Kindles or PC e-readers. I am so happy these books, the first of which is almost 30 years old, will again be available to everyone, especially new, younger readers who have never read them.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you aren’t familiar with true action-packed western historical romance with a hero to die for, read SAVAGE DESTINY! In spite of how long ago they were written and published, they have never stopped selling. And after a total of 57 published novels, I still find them the best books I ever wrote, packed with real history about Colorado and the Cheyenne Indians, filled with endless action, and probably the best love story I ever penned, other than, perhaps, OUTLAW HEARTS, my other favorite story. But that is a single book, whereas SAVAGE DESTINY is 7 books total and covers about 50 years of history, staying with the basic couple, Zeke and Abbie Monroe, throughout the series. They meet on a wagon train west when Abbie is only 15 and the wagon train scout, Zeke, (best known as Cheyenne Zeke) is 25. Abbie hands Zeke a cup of coffee, their fingers touch, and pow! An epic love story is born, a story that epitomizes the ruggedness of the untamed land, the immense challenges to the pioneers, the lawless atmosphere, the wild and rapid way in which America was settled, and the traumatic affect opening the West had on the Native Americans, especially (in my story) the Cheyenne.

I honestly do not intend to brag here. I am just stating a fact that as I proofread my own stories – and I can’t put them down! I am reading the books back to back and have hardly taken a break. I am not embarrassed to say that I am in love all over again with Zeke Monroe. I’d nearly forgotten what a provocative, masculine, handsome, rugged hero he is – and Abbie is the perfect strong, devoted, patient woman at his side, a woman who understands Zeke like few others do. I am learning a lot about Zeke that I never saw when I wrote these books – that in spite of his virile demeanor and his ability to fight and survive and the fact that he has no fear – Zeke Monroe is quite vulnerable when it comes to Abbie. He will do anything for her, and throughout their years together he lives with the constant fear that Abbie will suffer for being married to a half-breed, something that in the 1800’s was considered by many whites to be more deplorable than a white woman marrying a black man or a full-blood Indian. A tragedy Zeke experienced before meeting Abbie made him vow never to be close to or to marry another white woman, but there is something about Abbie that keeps drawing Zeke back into her arms and finally convinces him he can’t live without her. Throughout their life together he protects here with a fierceness seldom found in any human. He truly cherishes this woman, and I think that is what comes out in these books that draws women to Zeke – the fact that this man cherishes his wife. Cherish is a term we seldom hear today, let alone experience emotionally.

Men, too, love these stories, mainly because of the rugged bravery of Zeke Monroe, the real history, and the almost non-stop action. The books follow Zeke and Abbie from that first meeting through nearly 50 years of the settling of Colorado, through tragedy and triumph that includes not only them but also their children and grandchildren, who all follow his and her unique story in how history and their heritage affect their lives. There are numerous side-character stories in these novels, and all these characters affect Zeke and Abbie - and history itself – in one way or another.

I noticed as I read each story that the writing itself gets a little better with each one, as though I was learning as I went along, which is exactly what was happening. The writing in Book #1 could have been better, I’ll admit; but the story is so damn good that apparently most readers of this series hardly noticed. All I’ve ever heard from them is that these are the best books they ever read and the best love story they have ever experienced; and most want to know if these characters really lived. To me, when readers ask something like that, I’ve done a good job.

I now remember why I wrote these books with such passion – I was in love with Zeke Monroe and the whole family, and I didn’t want to leave them! I had absolutely no outline for these stories. They just poured out of me. And I think the reason they turned out so good and continue to sell is because of the passion that went into each story. My favorite way to write is to simply create the characters, put them into a particular time period time period/historical events, and then just turn them loose and see what happens. The story unfolds all by itself.

I am proud of SAVAGE DESTINY, and I hope those of you who have never read it will download each book to your e-readers and just ENJOY! 

Rosanne

Thunder on the Plains Giveaway!
Thunder on the Plains
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To celebrate the release of Thunder on the Plains by Sourcebooks, beginning Tuesday, July 3rd, I'll be giving away one autographed copy per week for the month of July. And on July 31st, one lucky Follower will win a Grand Prize!
 On Tuesday, July 31st, in addition to winning a copy of Thunder on the Plains, I'll be giving away the Grand Prize of a Kindle Touch Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display to one of my Followers.
[image error] Visit my 4th of July Party Site for more details on how to enter!