Thanks so much for having me, Bree. Here’s a bit about the story:

Journey now to Fort Bliss in West Texas of 1874, where…
A Battle Is About to be Waged Between Two Hearts.

 
Fashion artist Priscilla Hutchens has a grudge against the army that has ruined her family and taken the people she holds most dear. When her twin niece and nephew are left orphaned at Fort Bliss, Texas, she swoops down on Fort Bliss to gain custody of them immediately.

There is just one thing standing in the way—Post surgeon Major Elliot Ryder, who is also the twins uncle, also claims the children and thinks he knows what is best for them.

Priscilla and Elliot will cross swords, but each will have to lay down arms if they are to find a lasting peace on which to form the family both are longing for.  Who will win the battle? Or will a truce be called for the sake of love and family?

Several years ago, I was able to visit Fort Larned, on the Santa Fe Trail in my home state of Kansas. I have always been enamored with the US Cavalry. Maybe it was the John Wayne movies I watched (and still watch) as a kid, or the fact that I grew up only about 50 miles from the National US Cavalry Museum in Fort Riley, Kansas. Maybe it was because so much of the history of America’s westward expansion, which I love, is tied to the Cavalry. Regardless, walking through the restored buildings of Fort Larned, I knew I wanted to write a story set at a western fort, and I wanted a US Cavalry officer as a hero.

My Heart Belongs in Fort Bliss, TX is the first in a new series  of ‘destination romances’ from Barbour Publishing. Set in actual historical places you can still visit, each story is a romance that relies heavily on the setting to propel the story. In my case, the setting is the Trans-Pecos desert of west Texas, a hostile environment that has a beauty all its own.

It’s going to be a busy year! January first saw the release of My Heart Belongs in Fort Bliss, TX, and February first saw the release of my second Love Inspired Historical, The Bounty Hunter’s Baby. July first, I have a novella releasing in the Of Rags and Riches collection called Win, Place, or Show, set in Gilded Age New York. Then later this fall, my first Regency novella, Jamie Ever After releases in the Regency Brides collection.

I have always enjoyed reading historical romance. I love the guaranteed happily-ever-after, and seeing all the ways people can fall in love. It seemed natural, when I began writing myself, to write historical romance.

Such a difficult question! There are so many! Anne and Gilbert, Jane and Mr. Rochester, Lady and the Tramp. Impossible to choose!

Unique romances come from unique characters. The character and plot must drive the romance, and yet, readers of romance really want the same thing every time. To fall in love alongside the characters. So you have to include many of the same elements in each story, however uniquely you put them in. Readers want attraction, sacrifice, thoughtfulness, kindness, humor, and hope. Make your readers like your characters, and they will enjoy those characters falling in love.

Those touch points listed above…attraction, sacrifice, thoughtfulness, kindness, humor, hope. Caring, tenderness, unselfishness, strength, truth…I’m just going through my head thinking of all the things that my husband is to me…that’s how I describe love.

This is a many-faceted question, because there are so many kinds of love. I love my husband and I love my Kansas Jayhawks, but those are such different things. I guess I’ll fall back on what one senator said…paraphrasing… I don’t have an all-encompassing definition of LOVE, but I know it when I see it.

Thanks so much for having me, Bree, It’s been a blast!