The Convenient Bride Collection Blog Hop Day #1

Today kicks off the start of a week-long blog tour to celebrate the release of The Convenient Bride Collection from Barbour Publishers! You could win a 7" Kindle Fire loaded with amazing Christian Fiction!! See below for all the details...but first, enjoy this sneak peek of my story, A Groom for Josette.

~ ~ ~ ~

Welcome to Little Falls, Minnesota Territory in the year 1855.

 

The town was growing quickly around the banks of the Mississippi River and the dam that many believed would make Little Falls one of the largest cities on the river.

The town was filled with eager men looking to make a fortune.

The only trouble was, there were over three hundred bachelors and no single women! The men took matters into their own hands and created an advertisement for brides. They made the bold claim that there were a hundred eligible bachelors for every lady who came to town.

Thus the setting for A Groom for Josette.

Meet Josette LeBlanc, the daughter of a French Fur Trader and a Chippewa Indian.

Her mother died when she was young and her father moved her to St. Louis where he quickly remarried and started a shipping industry. After his death, Josette learns her inheritance will go to her half-brother Stephen when he turns twenty-one...if she isn't married.

She only has three weeks to find a husband, or she will be turned out on the street.

Josette reads the advertisement and travels by steamboat up the Mississippi to find a husband.

She reserves a sitting room at the Northern Hotel in Little Falls to conduct interviews.

But the hotel proprietor doesn't bring her to a sitting room...he brings her to the ballroom where a hundred men stand waiting to meet her!

One man in the room has entered on accident and has no interest in finding a wife. Meet Alexandre Dugas.

Alexandre has just made a year-long pilgrimage up the Mississippi from New Orleans to take a pastoral position with the Indians and fur traders, fulfilling his greatest dream. When he meets Josette, he feels compelled to marry her, but a misunderstanding threatens both their plans.

Did they make the biggest mistake of their lives by marrying in haste? Or does God have other plans...?

~ ~ ~ ~

To celebrate the release of The Convenient Bride Collection, all nine authors are giving away a 7" Kindle Fire loaded with amazing Christian Fiction! Enter the Rafflectoper below for your chance to win and don't forget to visit these other authors to learn more about their novellas!

Monday, July 6th
Gabrielle Meyer www.gabriellemeyer.com & Mona Hodgson www.monahodgson.com/blog

Tuesday, July 7th
Renee Yancy www.reneeyancy.blogspot.com

Wednesday, July 8th
Erica Vetsch at Coffee Cups & Camisoles blog http://coffeecupsandcamisoles.blogspot.com/
& Jennifer Uhlarik www.monahodgson.com/blog

Thursday, July 9th
Amanda Barratt www.gabriellemeyer.com

Friday, July 10th
Melissa Jagears www.inspirationalhistoricalfiction.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway
**I have a winner from my blog post on release day! Bonnie Traher wins a copy of The Convenient Bride Collection, as well as my first release, The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection! Congrats, Bonnie.**

Release Day for A Groom for Josette!

It's an exciting day in my little corner of the world! It's release day for my second published story, A Groom for Josette in The Convenient Bride Collection from Barbour Publishers!! (Insert hand-clapping, cheering, and foot-stomping!) 

 

The real celebration will begin next Monday, July 6th as all the authors in this collection kick off a week-long blog hop. I'll be sharing more about A Groom for Josette next week, with a look at the characters, the setting, and my inspiration for the story.

But best of all, at the end of the week, we're giving away an incredible gift to one lucky winner! A loaded 7" Kindle Fire.

But why wait to give something away??

In honor of Release Day, I'm giving away two books this week!! One lucky winner will receive a copy of both of my summer releases: The Convenient Bride Collection as well as The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection!! I'll pick a winner on Sunday, July 5th and announce the winner on Monday's blog post.

All you need to do is enter the Rafflecopter below!! Thanks for stopping by to celebrate!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thoughts Behind a New Cover

It's exciting to anticipate cover art. A writer wonders if the design team will capture the essence of the story, and if they will convey it in a way the reader will understand. It's even more challenging when the designer has to capture the essence of multiple stories, which is the case in a novella collection.

The Convenient Brides Collection encompasses nine stories, by nine authors, set in nine different locations and eras. The only commonality is the theme, which is marriages of convenience. Here's the back cover blurb the publisher released:

Join nine brides of convenience on their adventures in a variety of times and settings gone by—from a ranch in California…to the rugged mountains of Colorado…to a steamship on the Mississippi…to the dangerous excitement of the Oregon Trail…into high society of New York City. No matter the time or place, the convenient brides proceed with what must be done, taking nuptials out of necessity. . .and never dreaming that God might take their feeble attempts to secure their futures and turn them into true love stories for His glory.

It's amazing how many diverse settings this collection covers! Yet, the publisher had to find a cover image that could convey the heart of the collection. My story, A Groom for Josette, is the one they mention set on a steamship on the Mississippi--yet, in my story, Josette also spends time in a rough river town in central Minnesota, as well as a mission on Belle Prairie.

It would be impossible for the publisher to chose an image to convey all these settings, so they find one image that a reader might relate to marriages of convenience, and here it is:

As a reader, I often think of the early American West as a place where many marriages took place out of convenience. Since the publisher couldn't capture every setting, they chose a universal setting. A lone church on the prairie. It's a stunning picture, and so inviting.

I'm excited to be published with Barbour Publishers, and to have my name alongside all these other great authors. My friend, Erica Vetsch, is the lead author in this collection. It's thrilling to see her name at the top! Erica is a fellow Minnesotan and a wonderful historical author.

As the release draws closer, I'll share a little more about my story. It was inspired by a real event that took place in my hometown in the 1850s, and worked so well with the marriage of convenience theme. I can't wait to share it with you.

Your Turn: Do you have any questions about book covers or novella collections? What do you think of this cover? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

* * * *

To Preorder:
A Groom for Josette releases in July. For those in my local area who want to preorder a copy, please consider supporting our local retailer, The Good Book Store. For those outside our area, you can preorder the collection here. Also, please be sure to visit Goodreads and mark this series as Want to Read. You can find it here.

My other novella, Four Brides and a Bachelor, releases with The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection in May. To preorder, you can go here. To mark as Want to Read on Goodreads, please go here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!