First Page-Her Abundant Joy by Author Lyn Cote

Her Abundant Joy
by Lyn Cote
Final book of Texas Star of Destiny series
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright:
for the end of that man is peace. Psalm 37: 37

Chapter One
Texas, April 1846

Gazing ahead through the pouring rain, Carson Quinn tried to take a deep breath and couldn’t. Searing tightness in his chest reminded him--he hadn’t been able to blot out the images. Images the past week with Blanche had blistered into his mind, knotted around his lungs. Late on his second day in the saddle, all he was looking forward to was a hot bath and a warm bed at one of Galveston’s inns, comfort for his body if not his spirit.

Draped within the dismal mist, he nudged his horse to churn quicker through mud and murky puddles over the last half-mile into the seaport. Amid the jumble of buildings, strange people clogged the streets. He pulled up on his reins. Something had happened here. Something out of the ordinary. Something that might force him out of his own misery into the misery of others.

People huddled under dripping trees, under canvas, and standing under the overhanging roofs of stores, everyone drenched. Rainwater funneled down his leather hat as he steered his horse through the throng. Those who peered up at him looked pale, forlorn and sickly. They weren’t dressed like Texans, or even Americans— He inhaled a shallow breath. He still thought of Americans as separate from Texas, from him. But Texas was part of the US now. Had been for over two months.

Who were these people?

Book Monday-Lyn Cote's 2nd Texas Novel

Though Her Inheritance Forever will not be out until the 18th of this month, this is the day I have for it on my blog. I'm really excited about this book. The heroine Alandra was just a little girl in the first book The Desires of her Heart. Fifteen years have passed since Dorritt and Quinn married and began life southwest of San Antonio. And Alandra has finally come of age. This is her story.

In 1836 Texas, Alandra Sandoval is the Tejano lady of Rancho Sandoval. She is determined to show the world of men that she, a woman, can run the ranch successfully without a male by her side. Yet she still longs for future love and a family.

Scully Falconer, a loner, is the top hand on a nearby ranch. He has given his loyalty to the Quinn family and doesn’t ask more than honest pay for an honest day’s work.

Alandra, the lady of Mexican descent, and Scully, the American cowboy, think they have very different paths set before them. But greedy relatives burst onto the scene, threatening to change their way of life. And when General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande and marches north to keep his rendezvous with destiny at the Alamo, Alandra and Scully’s lives will never be the same.

The Library Journal says Lyn Cote “demonstrates her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories that will captivate historical romance readers.” HER INHERITANCE FOREVER attests to Cote’s ability to create page-turning, riveting romances with wonderful historical details that also allow readers to watch the forming of the Texas state."

If you wish to pre-order it, just click the cover to the right. If you can't find it at your local library, bookstore or Walmart, please ask for it. And let me know if you enjoy it! --Lyn

Book Monday & Lyn Cote's 2nd Texas Historical Romance

Though Her Inheritance Forever will not be out until the 18th of this month, this is the day I have for it on my blog. I'm really excited about this book. The heroine Alandra was just a little girl in the first book The Desires of her Heart. Fifteen years have passed since Dorritt and Quinn married and began life southwest of San Antonio. And Alandra has finally come of age. This is her story.

In 1836 Texas, Alandra Sandoval is the Tejano lady of Rancho Sandoval. She is determined to show the world of men that she, a woman, can run the ranch successfully without a male by her side. Yet she still longs for future love and a family.

Scully Falconer, a loner, is the top hand on a nearby ranch. He has given his loyalty to the Quinn family and doesn’t ask more than honest pay for an honest day’s work.

Alandra, the lady of Mexican descent, and Scully, the American cowboy, think they have very different paths set before them. But greedy relatives burst onto the scene, threatening to change their way of life. And when General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande and marches north to keep his rendezvous with destiny at the Alamo, Alandra and Scully’s lives will never be the same.

The Library Journal says Lyn Cote “demonstrates her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories that will captivate historical romance readers.” HER INHERITANCE FOREVER attests to Cote’s ability to create page-turning, riveting romances with wonderful historical details that also allow readers to watch the forming of the Texas state."

If you wish to pre-order it, just click the cover to the right. If you can't find it at your local library, bookstore or Walmart, please ask for it. And let me know if you enjoy it! --Lyn

Stephanie Grace Whitson's Inspiration

Stephanie Grace Whitson has written both contemporary and historical novels for Bethany House. Her latest is the book above.
Here's my friend Stephanie:

"Strong women made me a writer. It was in the early 1990's and in our home school we were learning the history of our home state, Nebraska. It's no secret that the average history textbook doesn't make for very exciting reading. One day I decided on a more "hands on" approach to the lesson, and we walked up the road and into an abandoned pioneer cemetery near our country home. The children began gathering facts about who was buried there, and during the process I began asking them questions about how those pioneer lives were different from ours. Where did this mother go for help when her child was sick? What did they eat for dinner? How did that family cope with losing all those children (one row of graves were five children from the same family)?

As "history" became real to my children, the lives of the pioneer women of Nebraska began to speak to me. I began to read about the women who crossed the Oregon trail, and the ones who eventually settled in Nebraska, and I met amazing women--many of them nameless. Women who buried five children and carried on. Women who braved prairie fires and blizzards and carried on. Women who wrote of terrible things happening, and yet also wrote, "God knew best." Women who had a strong faith in a personal God and who found Him sufficient even in the face of trials and difficulty I could never imagine.

I began "playing with an imaginary friend" who would become Jesse King, the heroine in my first novel. Since that day, I've had the incredible privilege of being inspired by dozens of mighty women who lived quietly in the past and who have been largely forgotten. Their stories are retold in a fictional way in my books, the latest of which is A Claim of Her Own, about a single woman prospecting for gold in Deadwood, South Dakota. Mattie faces down an ugly past and risks everything to find happiness.

Not long after I began the journey into learning about pioneer women of the west, my husband was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. Those pioneer women from the past encouraged me. Their tough times gave me perspective and helped me endure. During that time I began to hand quilt a small unfinished crib quilt left behind by a mother some time around 1870. Why didn't she finish her quilt? Probably because her baby didn't survive. As I sat with my husband during chemotherapy sessions, I was again reminded that the women who have gone before me have experienced the same kinds of trials and the same kinds of challenges I. They endured. . . so can I. Their faith was strong. . .and it reached out across the years and reminded me that God walks with us through our valleys and He does give us the strength to endure.

Someday in heaven I hope to meet the mighty women who have inspired my historical fiction and learn their names as we rejoice together at the goodness of the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Thanks for sharing that, Stephanie. Your entrance into writing by identifying with the lives of American women who went before is intriguing as well as uplifting.
Her new book will be released the first week of April. I'm looking forward to it!

Drop by her website: http://www.stephaniewhitson.com/

2nd Book Monday-The Desires of Her Heart

Another Book Monday. Usually I will be featuring books by other authors but this year I will let you know four times when one of my new offerings has been released.

First in Lyn Cote's Newest Historical Saga

The Desires of Her Heart. Avon Inspire. (Texas: Star of Destiny, Bk. 1). Feb. 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-06-137341-1. pap. $12.95.

"After gambling away his family's estate, Kilbride decides to pack up and move the family to the new Texas territory, where land is free for the taking. But 25-year-old Dorritt knows her stepfather doesn't have the sense or character to lead them there; instead, she relies on their wagon train's rugged scout to guide them. Dorritt trusts Quinn until she discovers his prior business dealings with Kilbride. Dorritt, who wants to be free of her stepfather so she can live her own dreams, discovers, though, that her dreams may include a man after all. In her new series launch, the RITA Award–winning author (Blessed Assurance, "Women of Ivy Manor" series) demonstrates her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories that will captivate historical romance readers." Library Journal

I was especially pleased to read the phrase, "...her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories...." That is what I try to do in all the stories I write.

Please drop by my website: www.LynCote.net to find out more and see the lovely cover art the book received. And as always, my books can be purchased from my website. If you can't afford to buy it yourself, please ask your local librarian or church librarian to get it for you.