Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Wednesday Wonders: SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS




Today I am happy to feature
Sweet Texas Christmas 
an anthology of four sweet romance stories 
by Stacey Coverstone, Cheryl Pierson, Marie Piper 
with a focus on
Sarah J. McNeal and her story,
"A Christmas Visitor"
About Sweet Texas Christmas:


Christmas in Texas couldn’t be sweeter than these stories of lost love found and new love discovered at the most joyous time of the year! SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS is a boxed set of Christmas novellas that will warm your heart and keep you reading long into the night to see how these couples find their happily-ever-after ending!

With the holiday season in full swing, these western heroes and their ladies come together in a delightful collection of four deliciously sweet Yuletide stories you’re sure to love and remember. Authors Stacey Coverstone, Cheryl Pierson, Sarah McNeal, and Marie Piper have penned these scrumptious Christmas tales just for your reading pleasure, along with a special surprise in each story!

Each of these holiday tales includes a delectable dessert recipe guaranteed to bring an added measure of Christmas sweetness your way! There’s nothing quite like a SWEET TEXAS CHRISTMAS!

Excerpt from "A Christmas Visitor":

“Don’t you even think about stepping up on this porch, Sterling Alexander Thoroughgood, or I’ll shoot a hole in you big enough for a team of horses to jump through.” The woman wearing a faded blue calico dress aimed the shotgun straight at his heart…and sometimes his liver, since she wasn’t holding the shotgun all that steady.
Sterling raised his hands in the air. His bare hands were practically numb from the cold. He glanced up at the slate gray sky. Snow’s comin’. Then, he grinned at the woman holding the shotgun. “Merry Christmas to you, too, Matilda.”
She dipped the shotgun for just a moment, but raised it again as if on a second thought. “What do you want here after being gone for three years? Did you break some hearts up in Wyoming? Maybe you have some fathers and brothers gunning for you and you thought you’d come running back here to hide.”
Well, there it was. He’d hurt her when he left, and she wasn’t about to let him forget it. “I came to see Allister. I told him I’d be coming back soon as I got my place up and running. We had
an agreement about him selling me some cattle and maybe a bull to get a good, diverse herd started of my own.” He reached out his hand to press down on the barrel of her shotgun pointing it toward the broken-down boards of the porch. “So, if you could see yourself clear to let me speak to your daddy, I’d be obliged.”
Matilda placed a hand on her hip while the other held tight to that shotgun. “Seems you’re a little too late, Mr. Thoroughgood. Pa died last year from pneumonia. He’d been sick a while and I had to sell off all of the livestock except for the mule and a few chickens to pay for the doctor and his medicine. I guess you’ll be leaving here empty handed.”
“Tilly, darlin’, I’m so sorry to hear the news that Allister has passed away. He was a good man, and a good friend to me.” He stretched out a hand to touch her arm, but she stepped back
just out of reach.
“Don’t you dare call me sweet names or my nickname, you snake. You’ve been gone three years, and not a single word from you in all that time! All that sweet talk means nothing to me now.” She opened the door and stepped back to wave him into the house.

My Book Review:

What a delightful collection of sweet Christmas romances containing action, courting and recipes. I enjoyed all the stories and recommend the book.
Today I am highlighting the story “A Christmas Visitor” written by Sarah J. McNeal.
How long must a girl be expected to wait for the man she loves to return—to write, anything? Matilda is one unhappy woman in love, and Sarah did a wonderful job writing her character. The character of the man who finally showed up after three years, Sterling Alexander Thoroughgood, is also well-written, and he is so likable, I felt ready to forgive him his massive error in judgment. Sarah painted with words a sweet scene of their Christmas celebration, along with describing a unique gift Sterling hoped would soften Matilda's heart and change her mind. I kept guessing at the contents of the gift as she worked to open it. In the end, what she received changed everything for her. Great ending. 

To purchase Sweet Texas Christmas, please CLICK HERE.

About Sarah J. McNeal:

I became interested in writing at a young age. My parents didn't allow us to have a television so my sisters and I became avid readers. We read everything from Shakespeare to my mother's True Detective Stories that, by the way, scared the hell out of me. I submitted my first story and received my first rejection when I was thirteen years old.

Along with writing, I have a deep love of music and play the violin, bagpipes, guitar and harmonica.

I live with my four-legged children, Liberty, my rescue kitty and my golden retriever rescue, Lily. I feed the wild birds around my house and care very much about all creatures of the Earth. I am a member of The Defenders of Wildlife and The ASPCA as well as The Humane Society of the United States.

I write time travel, paranormal and romance novels and love doing the historical research for them. I am presently writing a series of musical instrument stories inspired by my love of music. My Wildings of Wyoming series began with Harmonica Joe's Reluctant Bride and the sequel, For Love of Banjo. The Wilding family has grown since then with several short stories, A Husband for Christmas, When Love Comes Knocking, Hollow Heart, and The Beast of Hazard, and a novella, Fly Away Heart from Prairie Rose Publications. You can find all my Wilding stories listed at http://prairierosepublications.com/books-2/special-collections/the-wildings/ There are more Wilding family stories to come.

Writing brings me a joy and fulfillment that nothing else can. I love creating magical worlds and people who want to make a difference. I hope that anyone who reads them will love them, too.

Connect with Sarah J. McNeal:




 

9 comments:

  1. My thanks to you, Robyn, for offering to post about this warm, historical Christmas anthology and the wonderful review you wrote for my contribution. Thank you so very, very much.

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  2. Robyn, what a great tribute to Sarah's story--I loved Sterling, too. I had to forgive him. It seemed like such a "man" thing to do, and to not understand why it had been so important to her. And what good recipes, too, that are included in this anthology! Very "sweet" stuff, both the stories and the wonderful recipes!

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl. Sterling's got a lot of explaining to do and his gift of the puzzle box with its secret contents better be pretty dang good to make up for his absence.

      I made the gingerbread recipe way back in 1970. My husband loved gingerbread so, you know how it is, I made it to please him. I liked it, too. I'm going to try out some of the other recipes in there, too.
      I'm reading your story right now...you've practically killed off the hero...AGAIN, but I'm counting on another smart and caring heroine to get him through this mess.

      Thanks for coming. You've got so much going on right now, I'm grateful you could make it here. Thanks!

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  3. Sarah, you do have a way with wayward men. We can't help but love them. Now to find the time to just sit and read..and boy is my list growing. (smile). Doris

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    1. Doris, I hope if you get a chance to read these stories that you fall in love with Sterling and I hope you think his gift should win him salvation.
      Thanks so much for coming.

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  4. Robyn, I enjoyed this highlight of Sarah's story so thank you. Sarah, I so look forward to reading A Christmas Visitor. I have the book and am half way through the first one. I always enjoy your characters and all the dynamics. Looking forward to all of them. Wishing you the best.

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    1. Beverly, you darling', thank you so much for buying the anthology and for your very kind remarks. I really appreciate it.

      I'm reading the anthology right now and I'm in the middle of Cheryl's story which is, as always, excellent. Stacey Coverstone certainly has a spit fire, tenacious heroine in her story. I still have to chuckle thinking about her.

      Anyway, I hope when you get to my story, that you truly like it.
      Thank you for your comment, Bev.

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  5. I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories in this anthology. The recipes were also great. I love good gingerbread and molasses cookies. Congrats to all the authors. I hope this one does well.

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    1. Thank you, Robyn. And thank you for sharing our new anthology on your blog. This was very kind of you. I appreciate your generosity.

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