Coming Home to the Hearts and Spurs Anthology

Good Monday to everyone!

I’m so excited to be here with the other authors of Prairie Rose Publications. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been writing for more than 15 years and have published two novels. Both Touch of Texas (2007) and Touched by Love (2008) are western historical romances.

Though I love what I do, I didn’t grow up expecting to be a writer. I’m a classically trained musician (flute and voice) and I still perform and conduct regularly. But I’ve read romance for as long as I can remembers, and, when a hard-headed cowboy started knocking on my creative mind—usually at night—I decided to write down his story. Then the next one showed up. And the next… The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

I’m not complaining. I don’t mind a bunch of tall, sexy cowboys propping their boots on my desk. When Prairie Rose Publications came knocking, looking for authors who love to write western historical romances, I knew it was the place for me!

My first short story with PRP was Her Christmas Wish, which was included in PRP’s 2013 inaugural release, the Christmas anthology WISHING FOR A COWBOY. The book includes eight wonderful western historical romances and eight recipes from those stories!

Her only Christmas wish was the man who left her behind.

Even a woman capable of living on her own…

Kathryn McConnell is a widow celebrating a milestone birthday alone. Though she feels a woman should be able to mourn the passing of her thirtieth birthday any way she wants, she won’t turn away a cowboy in need of lodging—until she learns it’s the man she’d expected to marry thirteen years earlier.

…never forgets her first love.

Will O’Brien had challenged his father’s prejudice against the woman he loved only to discover he was unable to stand against his family’s wealth and connections. Without a way to support his bride, Will struck out for the west, determined to earn a living for them both. When he returned after two years with no word from Katie, he found she’d married another and moved away. Heart broken, he returns to his work, but never stops hoping to find her.

When chance lands Will at the remote stagecoach station run by the widowed Kathryn, he grabs at the opportunity he’s been handed, hoping to win back the only woman he has ever loved.

In two days, on January 15, PRP will release HEARTS AND SPURS, our second anthology, which has nine stories in it, including mine:  Coming Home.

Sometimes it takes two to make dreams come true.

When a man who believes he’ll never have a home and family…

Former U.S. Marshal Jericho Hawken should have been shepherding a wagon train to new territory, but he unwillingly left them vulnerable to a vicious raider. The murder of the settlers he was supposed to be guarding is the hardest thing he’s ever had to face…until he meets the sister of one of the settlers.

…finds a woman who has lost everything…

Instead of a joyous reunion with her brother, Maryland Henry has come to River’s Bend to take responsibility for her three orphaned nieces. Fired from her teaching position and with no other family on whom to rely, Mary believes Jericho Hawken is responsible for all her woes. Or is he what she’s been searching for all along?

It’ll take a lot of forgiveness and a few fireworks to realize that together their dreams can come true.

I hope you’ll bookmark our blog and visit once in a while—or maybe every day. I’ll be back on February 10. And don’t miss all the fun planned for the launch of Hearts and Spurs on January 15.

So let’s chat a bit. What’s the first thing you think of when someone says “western”?

Since this is my first time on the Prairie Rose Publications blog, I’m giving away a copy of all three of my books to one winner. All you have to do to be in the drawing is leave a comment!  Be sure to include your email address.  I’ll pull one name from my cowboy hat after midnight tonight (Central Time), so you have plenty of time to join in the fun.

And be sure to drop in at my website, www.TracyGarrett.com, or find me on Facebook, to keep up on what's coming next.