On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

🎜🎜On the fourth day of Christmas, my favorite author gave to me...

A copy of A Family Arrangement...that has a tree...on the cover...🎜🎜

I'm definitely not a singer, or a lyricist. Thankfully you don't have to listen to us sing to enter this amazing Christmas giveaway! Join me and nine other authors as we celebrate Christmas with the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway! We're giving away 78 prizes to 12 winners--and one of them could be you!

Here’s how it works:

We’ll randomly select a winner every day for the first twelve days of December. Each day the prize builds with another book or book-related goody.

On the first day of Christmas your authors gave to you...

Hazardous Holiday, by Liz Johnson

On the second day of Christmas, your authors gave to you...

An audiobook of Watercolor Dreams by Sherry Kyle

On the third day of Christmas, your authors gave to you...

Concealed Identity, by Jessica R. Patch

On the fourth day of Christmas, your authors gave to you...

A Family Arrangement, by Gabrielle Meyer

Abram Cooper has ten months to turn rough Minnesota country into a vibrant town, or his sister-in-law will take his three sons back to Iowa with his blessing. Until then, Charlotte Lee has agreed to keep house and help raise his children as part of their bargain. But can the single father fulfill Charlotte's requirements in time to make sure that she and his boys don't leave—and take his heart with them?

Charlotte is convinced that the wilderness is no place to raise her nephews. But as she watches the community slowly develop, she sees that Abram just might be able to make it blossom. With three little matchmakers bringing her and Abram together, Little Falls could become not just a flourishing town, but the perfect home for their patchwork family.

🎄🎄🎄🎄

Enter the Rafflecopter below by following some of your favorite authors on social media and signing up for their newsletters. Every entry carries over–so the sooner you enter, the more chances you have to win. So check back every day until the 12th of December to try and win one of the many awesome prizes.

On Monday, December 5th be sure to visit Author Erica Vetsch to see what she'll add to the prize for the fifth day of Christmas!

My questions for you: Do you have your Christmas tree up? Is it real or artificial? Do you have any fun traditions focusing on your tree?

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2015: A Year of Firsts

What a year! 2015 will go down in (my) history as the year dreams came true. It was a year of many first-time experiences in my writing career.

In March, I joined Coffee Cups & Camisoles, a group blog with fellow historical authors Jaime Jo Wright, Anne Love, and Erica Vetsch.

In May, my first published story, Four Brides and a Bachelor in The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection released, and I happened to be with a group of Minnesota authors on release day! It was so much fun to celebrate with Erica Vetsch, Michelle Griep, Julie Klassen, and many other lovely ladies.

Erica and I are both in The Most Eligible Collection!

That's author Julie Klassen buying my book! :)

I also had my first book signing event in May!

Over the summer, I wrote my first story for Love Inspired Historical (an imprint of Harlequin Books) in their Blurb2Book Contest. I was one of seven people contracted during the contest and I signed my first contract with them. My story, A Mother in the Making, releases in September 2016.

In July, I became a "multi-published" author, when my second story released with Barbour. My novella, A Groom for Josette, released in The Convenient Bride Collection.

The moment my second book arrived on my doorstep!

In 2015, I wrote three complete novels. One has been contracted and the other two are sitting on editors desks under consideration. It was the first time I have written more than one novel over the course of a year.

On the home front, this was the year I took my daughters on their first airplane ride. We went to Washington, D.C. in May and saw so many wonderful things. In September, my twin boys went off to Kindergarten, and for the first time in eleven years, I didn't have preschoolers in my home. My oldest daughter had her tonsils removed and then a couple months later she got braces, my second daughter started homeschooling, and my husband took the girls on their first hunting trip.

My beautiful family!

2015 has been an exceptional year. I thank God that all of us are healthy and happy, and we've made some incredible memories. In 2016 we look forward to many more adventures to come.

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. In 2012, I started this blog as a way to document my journey to publication and it's been such a blessing to see my dream come true. My prayer is that my journey would encourage you to take one of your own. If God has placed a dream on your heart, go after it! You never know what blessings He has in store.

Your Turn: What are the highlights of your year? What are your hopes and dreams for 2016?

Walking a Mile in Another Man's Cowboy Books ~ Guest Post by Erica Vetsch

This week is all about celebrating new releases, and today we're celebrating a fun one!! My author friend, Erica Vetsch, is here today to talk about The Cactus Creek Challenge. I'm especially excited because Erica is a fellow Minnesotan, as well as one of the contributors of my group blog, Coffee Cups & Camisoles, and she's also an author in both of the novella collections I'm in this summer! Not only do we share all of this in common, we're also fellow history & museum lovers. Erica is a great blessing to me and so many who know her (she's also hilarious!). I hope you enjoy her guest post. :)

Erica and me on release day for The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection!

Being photobombed at the MN ACFW Writer's Retreat in May

Thank you so much, Gabrielle, for the invitation to visit your blog. I love that we’re fellow Minnesotans, history addicts, and friends.

Gabrielle asked me to choose one of the themes from my new release The Cactus Creek Challenge to talk about with you all here today, and the first theme that shot to my mind was that of experiencing life through someone else’s eyes, walking a mile in another man’s cowboy boots, so to speak. In The Cactus Creek Challenge, the schoolmarm Cassie and the sheriff Ben swap places for a month for charity, which leads to some interesting predicaments for each of them.

Both Cassie and Ben bring a wagonload of preconceived notions to their new job. Each has to let go of their hold of their previous job. And each has to give and receive grace when, in the end, they need each other to do the best job possible.

Ben’s preconceived notions are that teaching school isn’t that hard—after all, you just sit behind a desk and listen to recitations—and that no woman could keep the peace in his town, especially not one so young as Cassie.

For Cassie, she is sure she can do anything without help, especially something as simple as walking around town wearing a badge and chatting with people all day. There hasn’t been a speck of trouble in Cactus Creek in forever, and things aren’t likely to change.

Each of them has to face several challenges in the course of settling into their new jobs, and both are reluctant to accept the help, advice, or criticism of the other. Their stubbornness trips them up, and folks take advantage of their greenness.  They are each sure the other is messing up their job because they’re doing things differently. Ben decides to change the curriculum at the school to something more to his liking, and Cassie decides to prettify the jail. Ben lets the kids run free, and Cassie bites off more than she can chew in protecting a gold shipment.

In the end, each has to learn that they are better together than apart, that each brings strengths to the table that the other can utilize.

This makes me think of the body of Christ, His Church. Each of us is gifted and equipped for the edifying of the body. Each of us brings something different to the equation. And we are better together than apart. When we share the load, we lighten the load. When we give each other the grace to serve Christ according to our gifts, we are stronger. When we exercise our gifts to serve each other, even if it’s in a job we’ve never done before, we grow in our fellowship and our faith.  That’s what being part of the body of Christ is: service and grace.

YOUR TURN: Have you had the chance to walk a mile in another man’s cowboy boots?

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 Anything he can do, I can do better. At least that was what Cassie Bucknell thought before she pinned on Ben Wilder’s badge and took to patrolling the streets of Cactus Creek, Texas. Cassie has been in love with Ben since primer school, but Ben treats her like a little sister. When they are picked to swap jobs for a month as part of the annual Cactus Creek Challenge in their Texas hometown, the schoolhouse is thrown into an uproar, the jail becomes a temporary bank vault, and Cassie and Ben square off in a battle of wills that becomes a battle for their hearts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Erica Vetsch is a transplanted Kansan now residing in Minnesota. She loves history and romance, and is blessed to be able to combine the two by writing historical romances. Whenever she’s not immersed in fictional worlds, she’s the company bookkeeper for the family lumber business, mother of two, wife to a man who is her total opposite and soul-mate, and avid museum patron.

• Erica's Goodreads
• Erica's Books on Amazon
• Erica's Facebook Page
• Erica's Newsletter
• Erica's Pinterest Boards
• Erica's Twitter
• Erica's Website

Erica has agreed to give away a copy to one lucky winner! Enter the Reafflecopter below for your chance to win.
 



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The winner of The Convenient Bride Collection from last week's drawing is Tammy Cordery! Congrats, Tammy.