Love's Double Blessing by Linda Hubalek

CAN THEY HANDLE BECOMING INSTANT PARENTS TO TWO ORPHANED CHILDREN?


In Love's Blessing: A Clear Creek Legacy, widow Jenna McDowell, and medically discharged soldier Riel (Gabriel) Shepard meet at his grandfather's Cooper Ranch near Sweet Grove, Texas. They both came to the ranch to heal from their individual heartbreaks. Time and help from their family and pastor finds them healing, falling in love, and ready to marry each other.

In Love's Double Blessing, the sequel to Love's Blessing, as Jenna and Riel plan their December wedding and remodel an old ranch house, their lives are instantly changed by a call from the Dallas police. Jenna's friends die in an auto accident and she's named the guardian of their children, six-year-old Amie, and four-year-old RJ.

Because of Riel's PTSD, caused by a military accident in Afghanistan which involved a child's death, Jenna doesn't believe Riel can handle an instant family. She calls off the wedding, so Riel doesn't have to raise the children.

But Riel bonds with the children and wants to be their new father. Can Riel convince Jenna to marry him? Doesn't this situation count as a "for better or worse" their pastor had been counseling them about?


(Riel's ancestors, Reuben Shepard, was featured in Darcie Desires a Drover in the Brides with Grit series, and Gabriel Shepard, was featured in Gabe's Pledge in the Grooms with Honor series.)

WHAT HAPPENED TO ORPHANED CHILDREN IN THE 1800S?

Even though Love's Double Blessing was a contemporary story, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to orphaned children in rural America in the 1800s. 

I assume children were taken in by family members, neighbors, or sent to an orphanage in a city if no one stepped forward to help. In some cases, older children struggled to make a living and keep the young children within their family.

Except for the kindness of neighbors and the community, orphaned children were on their own. Even though our modern-day system has some flaws, I'm sure glad children have people and resources to help them.

If you're blessed with the Christmas spirit this year, I hope you can share it with a child less fortunate. Then it would be a "double" blessing, for you, and for them.

Happy Holidays from the Kansas prairie!

Linda Hubalek

Love's Blessing by Linda Hubalek

Working the Past into the Present

In Love's Blessing, my new contemporary story in the First Street Church Kindle World, newly widowed Jenna McDowell, and medically discharged soldier Riel (Gabriel) Shepard, meet at his grandfather's Cooper Ranch near Sweet Grove,Texas.

They both came to the ranch to heal from their individual heartbreaks. Jenna’s husband committed suicide and left her destitute. Riel lost his foot in a military accident and suffers from PTSD. 

Time and help from their family and pastor finds them healing and falling in love, but are they ready to marry?

Starts the new Clear Creek Legacy Series

How did I tie the past into the present? Riel's ancestors, Reuben Shepard, was featured in Darcie Desires a Drover in the Brides with Grit series, and Gabriel Shepard, in Gabe's Pledge in the Grooms with Honor series.

Riel is given a box of leather tools once used by his ancestors, because he is named after his great-great grandfather. Holding the tools makes Riel realize he's been handed a new profession, a saddle maker, as his ancestors were before him in Clear Creek, Kansas.

My new contemporary stories in the Clear Creek Legacy series will connect descendants, with their ancestors, as they struggle with a life-changing crisis.

Has anything handed down from your ancestors, pointed you to a new career? 

In my case, old family photos, family history, and quilts started me writing down the stories of my ancestors, and led me to writing and publishing over thirty books.

Many thanks from the Kansas prairie!

Linda Hubalek

Grooms with Honor Series by Linda Hubalek

Grooms with Honor...
What does the phrase make you think of?
Strong men, honorable men, decent characters, always putting their brides first...

Little did I know when I added six sons to the preacher's family in the Brides with Grit series that they'd have their own book series someday.  But it seemed natural to continue life stories on the Kansas prairie with these six brothers, in the prime of their lives, ready to find a help mate.

In each story the woman faces a serious threat, and the man comes to her rescue. Back in the 1800s you had to rely on the help of others rather than the state's or government's help, so I'm sure situations like these women found themselves in were very threatening and real. Hopefully there were men, and communities, to help them out.

Here's the description for Angus' Trust

A sweet historical romance set in 1886.

Angus Reagan grew up fascinated with trains and has done everything from stoking engines to applying the car brakes. Now, after being a train detective for years, he's thinking about heading home to Clear Creek, Kansas. He misses his family and community.

Daisy Clancy spent her childhood in the family-run café in Clear Creek, Kansas, but she left home to work in a big city when she came of age. Still single and finally lonely for family, Daisy decides to return home and open her own business.

Fate puts the two childhood friends on the same train and sparks of memories cause each to think of their future, maybe even together. But a train robbery sets them on another journey they hadn’t planned on.

This book series, Grooms with Honor, showcases the six sons of Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan, first featured in the 1873 year-based Brides with Grit series.

"Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?"

The young men have heard Pastor Reagan say these words to many couples over the years, and they vow to treat all women this way as they walk through life.

Besides the Reagan brothers, the series will feature other men in their community.

(Note: Two Montana Sky Kindle World stories, Nolan's Vow on sale at 99 cents until May 31, and Elof's Mission, enter the Grooms with Honor series setting right before Angus' Trust.)

Thanks for stopping by the Sweethearts of the West Blog. Hopefully I've given you another reason to appreciate the old west...because of their grooms with honor...

Linda Hubalek

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Researching Nolan's Vow by Linda Hubalek

I released my latest book, Nolan's Vow, a historical romance set in 1885, in Debra Holland’s Montana Sky Kindle World in December.

Here's the description

Nolan Clancy finished his military career in Fort Ellis, Montana Territory and is traveling home to run his grandparent’s café in Kansas. His train is delayed in Sweetwater Springs, MT because of a snow storm, and he helps a woman feed the waylaid passengers in the café in town.

Holly Brandt grew up on military forts where her father was an interpreter between the soldiers and the Indians. Her mother, a full-blooded Cheyenne, and Holly’s two sisters died in Kansas before she and her father moved to the Montana Territory. Her father’s death leaves Holly orphaned and homeless until she finds work in a café.

When the café owner decides to sell her business and move away, Nolan invites Holly to travel to Kansas with him.

People don’t always treat Holly with respect because of her mother’s Cheyenne heritage, but Nolan sees her as a kind woman always wanting to help others. His pastor has always told him to respect and honor women as it says in the wedding vows, and Nolan realizes he wants to say the real wedding vows to Holly.

But will their differences, along with the townspeople’s interference, let them have their happily ever after?

Researching the book

Being set in someone else's story line took a lot of research for the setting, and the characters who Debra Holland and other authors had already introduced.

What businesses were in Sweetwater Springs, and who ran them? Age, married, any children?

Was there a church, sheriff, undertaker, a railroad...a stage coach which went through town, and on which day? (The list went on and on with every scene.)

I had the couple travel from MT to KS. How long did it take on a train and on which railroad lines?

Then I researched forts both in the Montana Territory and Kansas because I wanted to work in military history. I tend to work fact into my fiction stories, so it takes more work, but I think my readers enjoy it, and have come to expect it.

I started Nolan's Vow in the Montana Sky Kindle World, but the story went on to
 introduce the Grooms with Honor series, the next series after my Brides with Grit series.

What it worth it, working in someone else's "world"?

At first it was hard to think outside my own characters "normal world" but I'm glad I did it. It's always good to learn something new, whether its about life in the 1880s, or working on a new computer program. It's the challenge that keeps us researching and writing.

Thanks for visiting Sweethearts of the West today!

Linda Hubalek

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My Favorite Christmas Cookie

Although this scene from Millie Marries a Marshal (from the book two in the Brides with Grit series) is not a Christmas scene, it reminds me of my favorite Swedish cookie, “Kisslings”, which I’ve made every year for Christmas since I was in grade school.

I grew up near the Swedish settlement town of Lindsborg, Kansas, also known as “Little Sweden USA” so our Swedish heritage, and Christmas baking is an important to our community to this day.

Please enjoy this 1873 scene between town marshal Adam Wilerson, mail-order bride Millie Donovan and her two-year-old nephew, Tate—and try this simple cookie recipe too!

Millie Marries a Marshal

Millie heard Adam come in late last night, because she and Tate were in the room across the hall from his bedroom and she was wide-awake, still thinking about his statement that he wanted her “upstairs”…and how she wished she could be “upstairs” enjoying being his wife.

But then thoughts of why they were upstairs, because Tate was in danger, killed the mood. Now she had breakfast ready and he was stalling coming downstairs.

Millie heard Adam’s boot steps come down the steps and enter the room, but didn’t turn to look at him until Tate screaked in terror. She spun around then stopped, looking at Adam’s bruised chin. His face had been a target for someone’s fist last night.

“Tate, it’s okay, Adam just has a boo-boo on his face. He doesn’t even need a bandage.”

“Why is he so upset?” Adam asked above the child’s screams.

“Think about it, Adam…” Millie knew when Adam realized Tate had seen—and felt—bruises before.

Adam crouched down to Tate’s height at the high chair. “Oh, no. I’m okay, Sweet poo-Tater, I really am. Please don’t cry…”

Millie glanced at Adam, then Tate, wondering if her remedy for Tate’s “boo-boos” would calm the toddler down. “Tate. Tate, don’t you think Adam should have a ‘Baker’s Kiss’ on that boo-boo?”

“Huh?” Tate stopped his crying and looked between the adults. That caused Adam to look between her and Tate in confusion as well.

“What’s a Baker’s Kiss, Millie?” Adam asked warily.

Millie opened the pie cupboard and took out a little tin container and a larger one from a shelf, put them on the table in front of Tate, and took off the lids.

Millie smiled at Tate and asked sweetly, “Shall I give you a Baker’s Kiss first so Adam can see what they are? Where was your last boo-boo, Tate?”

Now Tate was excited, waving his left arm and pointing at it with his right hand. “Here, here!” The tot was transformed into an excited, happy child compared to the terrified boy of a minute ago.

“Okay. We take the special cookie, dip it in the special sugar, and pat the boo-boo. Then…” Millie paused to lick her tongue all over her lips, “you get the special Baker’s Kiss on your boo-boo.” She wet her lips again and carefully touched her puckered mouth on his skin, taking off a bit of sugar, leaving the imprint of a kiss on his arm.

Tate grinned in delight, then took the cookie from Millie’s palm and stuck it in his mouth, happily chewing on the shortbread cookie.

“No wonder the kitchen smells like cookies half the time, and my socks smell like sugar if I walk in stocking feet around the kitchen. Tate’s been having lots of boo-boos?” Adam quietly asked Millie.

“Oh yes, but it’s become a happy game and I’m fattening him up at the same time,” Millie whispered back.

“Adam’s turn! Gets a kiss from Illie!”

Millie sucked in a breath to fortify her intention. There was another reason she wanted to give Adam a kiss besides to calm Tate down. She wanted to announce her feelings to Adam.

She had formed small round shortbread cookies, and pinched up a bit of dough on top before she baked them to give a little handle for her to dip into the tin of fine sugar. Millie ground sugar with a mortar and pestle to make it very fine and added a little corn starch to make the sugar stick better to the skin.

“Sit down in the chair by Tate, Adam, so he can see your kiss. What’s the simple version of how you got your boo-boo, Adam?”

Millie took a cookie from the tin, dabbed it in the sugar tin, and carefully touched the bruise on Adam’s chin.

“I overreacted when Ralph Peters…uh yelled at his wife, and I got a boo-boo on my chin.”

“He hit you, just because of that?”

“Uh, I swung at him first without thinking and…Ida decked me.”

Millie giggled and touched his chin again because the sugar fell off when Adam talked.

“Ida is twice the size of Ralph, so I’m sure she can protect herself.”

“Yeah, I think of that every time I move my jaw.”

“Kiss! Kiss!” Millie licked her lips as Tate started chanting. She watched Adam stare at her lips as she slowly moved towards his face. She took a breath, then gave him a long, wet, kiss right in the middle of the sugar smear.

“I think you missed the exact spot,” Adam slowly smiled while looking at her sugar-covered lips.”

“Oh, I know I did,” Millie said as she dipped the cookie into the sugar mix and this time dabbed directly on his upturned lips. She put the cookie on the table and wrapped her arms around Adam’s shoulders before lowering her lips to zero in on her target.

(Excerpt from Millie Marries a Marshal © 2014 by Linda K. Hubalek)

Kisslings, A Swedish Christmas recipe, featuring in Egg Gravy by Linda Hubalek

1 ½ cups butter

¾ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 c. finely chopped pecans (or almonds)

3 ½ cups flour

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together, then mix in rest of ingredients. Roll out dough on floured surface until a quarter inch thick. Cut the dough into “half moon” shapes using a small glass inverted to make the inside and outside of the cookie. (You can also make shapes with your choice of cookie cutters.) Move the shapes to an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Take the sheets out of the oven when the edges (not the whole cookie) turn golden brown. Immediately dip in powdered sugar while still hot, then move to cooling rack to cool. (The powdered sugar will “melt” and stick to the cookies.)

Enjoy these special cookies at Christmas—or any time!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Linda Hubalek

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The story behind "Helen Heals a Hotelier" by Linda K. Hublaek

This book, Helen Heals a Hotelier, book ten in the Brides with Grit series was an easy continuation of Lorna Loves a Lawyer, book nine, because of its ending.

Lorna, a mail-order bride arrived in Clear Creek, Kansas and married her groom, only to have him disappear the next day. She's left penniless in the frontier town but Lorna Jantz's neighbor, Lyle Elison, comes to her rescue, and they fall in love along the way.

But Lorna is still married, until the same groom uses the same tactic on another mail-order bride, Helen Higby. The dishonest man is caught, but this time Helen is left on her own, with four young girls along.

For me, the best part of writing is researching where a character is "from" to give them a background. 

I chose Gettysburg, PA for Helen which opened up a lot of stories, and hurt for Helen. Why? Her husband and father died on the battlefield, right where they farmed south of town. I read that eight thousand men and three thousand horses died on the three-day battle in July of 1863. Can you imagine the horror and stench this caused? And you're looking for your loved ones? The people in the area had to help bury these soldiers, drag the horses into piles and burn them, and take care of the other thousands of soldiers wounded, from both sides of the armies.

Whoa...that's some major emotional baggage to carry around and try to overcome. But then add the background of why each of her daughters had a different father?

The story may be "sweet" but has depth because of the heroine's background before meeting the new man in her and her daughter's lives. And then you add his background, and his overbearing mother to the mix...

Here's the description:

A sweet historical romance set in 1873. Helen Higby answers an ad for a mail-order bride, but finds out her groom is already married—and wanted by the law—after their wedding ceremony. Now stuck in Clear Creek, Kansas, with her four little girls, Helen needs a way to provide for her family. 

Ethan Paulson is in charge of the family hotel while his parents take an extended trip. Ethan’s fiancée, Sarah Wilerson, left him at the altar last summer and he’s had a hard time accepting her rejection—until a beautiful woman and her children take up residence in the Paulson Hotel. 

Helen had worked in a hotel in Pennsylvania before traveling to Kansas, so she helps Ethan organize and improve the offerings of the Paulson Hotel, while falling in love with him. 

Sparks fly when Mrs. Paulson, Ethan’s mother, returns to find changes, including a family making themselves at home in the hotel, and in Ethan’s heart. Can chaos and drama turn into love and a happy ending for everyone living in the Paulson Hotel? 


You can find the book on: Amazon 

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy today's Sweethearts of the West blog.

Linda Hubalek

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The story behind "Lorna Loves a Lawyer" by Linda K. Hubalek

I try to use a realistic situation for my historical romance stories, even if it ends up being a sweet and clean version for the reader.

For Lorna Loves a Lawyer, book nine in the Brides with Grit series, I thought about different scenarios a mail-order bride might find herself in.

I'd done the "groom died before the bride arrives" in Millie Marries a Marshal. In Lilly: Bride of Illinois, her groom turned out to be a saloon owner with plans for Lilly to be soiled dove, instead of his wife.

So what if the bride arrives, they marry, and then the groom disappears the next day? That put a whole new twist on the story, especially if she's left penniless in a frontier town. Of course Lorna Jantz's neighbor, Lyle Elison, comes to her rescue, and they fall in love along the way.

Here's the description:

A sweet historical romance set in 1873. Lorna Jantz left Boston looking for adventure, signing up as a mail-order bride for a rich Kansas rancher. But, the groom only becomes rich after taking off with her money, after their twenty-four hour marriage. Which left Lorna in a pickle, stuck in a little town with no money, no home and a growing belly.

Lyle Elison was one of Boston’s worst, a spoiled, rich merchant’s son, until enforced time on the family’s Kansas ranch made him see his purpose in life. After training in Boston, he’s back in Clear Creek, Kansas, as the town’s new lawyer.

Backgrounds make Lorna and Lyle connect, but time spent together makes them good friends, willing to help each other face their respective problems. Lorna needs help tracking down the louse who stole her money and left her in a family way. Lyle needs to be married by his birthday to receive his inheritance from his grandfather’s Will.

In between their capers, each falls in love with the other, secretly wishing they could confess their love and be together forever. But first, they have to find Lorna’s wayward husband before Lyle’s birthday.

You can find the book on: Amazon   B&N   Kobo   Apple

I'm sure situations like this in the 1800s didn't always end up as happy as Lorna and Lyle's story, but we can always hope a few did.

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy today's Sweethearts of the West blog.

Linda Hubalek

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The Buffalo Chip Lady by Linda Hubalek

I love looking at old photos collected on historical  internet sites like KansasMemory.org. One of the most famous photos, that of a woman gathering cow chips, depicts the typical life of a pioneer woman in many people’s minds.

Here’s this woman, stuck out on the Western Kansas plains, with nothing but the flat prairie behind her—and she’s gathering dried buffalo manure to use as fuel to cook her family’s meals.

That was life for the women homesteading on the plains with no trees for fuel. Unless you lived on a river that had trees on its banks, you were pretty much out of luck. Prairie fires kept trees from foresting the Plains before towns and farms changed the landscape. So you gathered whatever you could find to burn, and people soon found out that dried manure gave a nice slow burning heat.

However, one of the interesting internet links with this photo on the Kansas Memory.org site is the story behind the staging of this picture. Yes, a young woman that wanted to be a photographer set it up. In 1893 Ada McColl posed for her camera, and her mother Polly actually took the picture featuring Ada, and her little brother Burt, (mistaken for a girl because of his clothing). You can read the whole story of the Pioneer Photographer: The Story of the Cow Chip Lady in this link (then scroll down to page 10).

I always wonder about the people and scenery in old photos, so it was neat to find the story behind this particular one. Even though Ada staged the shot, it was a common chore for many a woman on the Kansas prairie in the 1850-1870s. Ada would have used her family's cow herd's dried manure to fill her wheelbarrow because the buffalo herds were gone from the state twenty years before this picture was taken.

But Ada gave us more than a glimpse of how the first pioneers  scrounged for buffalo chips after a herd passed through the area. She showed the view of the endless prairie in the horizon, the taste and smell of the dirt blowing on her face from the constant wind, the dry gritty feel of the dried manure on her hands, and the weight of the wheel barrow.

That's what I aimed to portray in my books... not only visual sights for the reader, but for all their senses as well. But, I have to admit, this picture says a lot without words...

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy today's Sweethearts of the West Blog.

Linda Hubalek

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New Release in Brides with Grit Series

Darcie Desires a Drover, book seven in the Brides with Grit series was just released so I'd like to tell you about it. 

This sweet wholesome romance series is set in 1873 near Ellsworth, Kansas.

Darcie Robbins is the sister to Millie Wilerson (Millie Marries a Marshal, book 2) and mother of Tate, the two-year old who has gotten his share of attention in the book series.

The “drover” is Reuben Shepard, all-around cowhand and cook at the Bar E Ranch. Reuben left the ranch during Cora Captures a Cowboy (book 4) to visit his family in New York. 

Here's the story line

Darcie Robbins fled St. Louis to protect her two children from their bad father. Now divorced, she’s temporarily working on the Bar E Ranch in central Kansas. She needs a permanent job—or a trustworthy husband—to help provide for her family.

Reuben Shepard went home to his family in New York after the Civil War, to find his wife had declared him dead—so she could wed another. In shock, Reuben didn’t contest her claim and wandered south, spending years as a cattle drover on western trails until settling down to work on the Bar E Ranch.

Spending time with Darcie’s toddler, Tate, makes Reuben miss his own son, Gabe. Reuben travels to New York, hoping to visit his son, and ends up bringing Gabe back to the Kansas because the boy’s step-father had just died.

When Reuben proposes marriage to Darcie for their children’s sake, the couple falls in love as they learn to trust and support each other while planning for their future. But their wedding is stalled when Reuben’s former wife arrives, stating she and Reuben are still married.

What’s the truth and what’s best for the children is their concern now instead of a wedding date. How can they clear the past so they can have a future together?

Here's the link's where the book is available. Please enjoy and share with others who like reading clean western romance books.

Amazon US   Amazon UK   Amazon CA    B&N    iTunes   Kobo    Scribd 

Also, please sign up for my newsletter on www.LindaHubalek.com to receive a free Brides with Grit short story, The Bridal Crown, and to hear about the release of future books, contests and more. And I love to connect with my readers, so please contact me through one of these social media sites, too. 

Thanks! Linda Hubalek

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Old Blue, the Longhorn Leader

I've been researching for my next book, Tina Tracks a Trail Boss, and needed more information about the cattle breed which traveled from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail.

A friend loaned me his 1941 copy of The Longhorns by J. Frank Dobie, and I found it to be a fascinating read.

Here's the description from Amazon, where you can get a copy of the book.

"The Texas Longhorn made more history than any other breed of cattle the world has known. These wiry, intractable beasts were themselves pioneers in a harsh land, moving elementally with drought grass, Arctic blizzards, and burning winds. Their story is the bedrock on which the history of the cow country of America is founded.

J. Frank Dobie was a tale spinner who appreciated the proper place of legend and folklore in history. In The Longhorns, he tells of the Spanish conquistadors, who brought their cattle with them; of ranching in the turbulent colonial times; of the cowboy, whose abandon, energy, insolence, and pride epitomized the booming West. He writes of terrifying stampedes, titantic bull fights on the range, ghost steers, and encounters with Indians.

A tireless prospector of the history and legends of the Southwest, Dobie spent most of his life preparing to write this book. He was born in the Texas brush country where the Longhorns made their last stand; he back-trailed them into Mexico; he pursued the vivid lore of Texas cowboys and Mexican vaqueros. No historian or naturalist has ever so related an animal to the land, its people, and its history."

Besides details of the actual animal and the trails they took, there are stories, which made the book enjoyable. One of my favorite chapters is about a lead steer named "Old Blue". Born in Texas in 1870, he walked his first trail at three years of age to New Mexico.

The next year Charlie Goodnight bought Old Blue, who was in a group of five thousand head driven to Pueblo, Colorado. Goodnight realized the steer's potential and the longhorn wasn't sold, but stayed with the home herd on the Goodnight Ranch.

In 1876, Goodnight decided to move back to Texas and Old Blue lead the herd. Over the next eight years, Old Blue kept leading herds, sometimes twice a year, to Dodge City. When the drive was over, he'd travel back to Texas with the horse remuda and drivers.

Old Blue was always be the pointer animal, and the herd learned to follow the sound of his bell. Attached to the bell was a little strap to tie up the clapper so it would stay quiet at night. Old Blue would let a cowboy tie up the clapper at night, and release it in the morning when the herd was ready to move.

The longhorn became a pet, walking right up to the camp to eat bread, apples, or whatever the cook would give him. He preferred to bed down with the horses instead of the herd. The steer faced storms, Indian raids and buffalo stampedes, and lived to be twenty years old.

This is the kind of research which makes interesting background for the writer's imagination, and for the reader. So, be sure to look for the lead longhorn steer in my next book, because he'll be leading the herd to Ellsworth, Kansas in 1873.

New Release! Lilly: Bride of Illinois

American Mail-Order Brides Series

On fifty consecutive days beginning November 19, 2015, a romance will be published featuring a mail order bride, one set in each of the fifty states. The books, written by forty-five authors, are being released in the order the states were admitted to the union. The stories all take place in 1890, when a factory fire in the East burns to the ground, leaving these women unemployed. These women answer mail-order bride ads in the Grooms' Gazette, and then head out to find their groom.

My contribution, Lilly: Bride of Illinois, book 21 in the American Mail-Order Bride Series is now available! It's a spin-off of my Brides with Grit Series featuring one of Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan's boys, Seth, as an adult. My state to write about was Illinois, so Seth and Lilly meet in Chicago, but eventually end up in Clear Creek, Kansas.

Here's the story line for Lilly: Bride of Illinois.

A clean, sweet historical romance set in 1890. Lilly Lind was forced to emigrate from Sweden two years ago, due to circumstances beyond her control. She finds a job as a garment maker in the Brown Textile Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, finally feeling as though she is settling in her new country. Then a suspicious fire burns the mill, making Lilly seek another way to survive. She answers a mail–order bride ad in the Grooms’ Gazette and sets off for Chicago, believing she will be a business owner’s wife.

Kansas rancher Seth Reagan travels to the Union Stockyards in Chicago to attend the 1890 American Fat Stock Show, the American Horse Show, and to purchase horseflesh to augment his herd. When arriving at the train station, he overhears a conversation between a young woman and a shady–looking man. Seth becomes concerned for the mail–order bride who is whisked away to a saloon, not to her new husband’s home.

When Seth goes to the saloon to check on the young woman, he finds her in trouble and offers to help her escape. While buying horses and arranging their return travel to Kansas, Seth realizes he would like to bring Lilly home with him, too, but she is still being hunted by the saloon owner’s thugs.

Lilly’s good fortune in meeting Seth makes her want to start a life with this man, but he came to Illinois for horses, not a bride. Would he want her after he learns of her secrets?

 Read about the whole series

I had a blast working with this group of authors and I think we put out a great series. Each book is so different from the other, ranging for western romance to a Victorian, depending on which state the book is featured in. Please go to the American Mail-Order Bride Series website for the complete list of all fifty books available for your reading enjoyment.

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy today's Sweethearts of the West blog.

Linda Hubalek

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