Thursday Thirteen - 243 - 13 Ways My First-Ever Book Signing Was an Amazing Night to Remember

1 - CLICK HERE to watch a news feature--my writers' group's Hearts on Fire event

Local CTV cameras were at The Halifax Club last Thursday night to interview members of Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada in time for their Valentine's Day broadcast.

L to R: Tara MacDonald, Heidi Hamburg, Renee Field, Jennie Marsland, Donna Alward and me









2 - This is our second group networking event. Last year's was held at Argyle Fine Art.

This year we met up with cross-industry media guests, film & television production professionals and business community members, as well as celebrating with family and friends at the elegant Halifax Club.














3 - Almost immediately I found myself introduced to Karen Wentzell and Lara Cassidy, both on the Board of Directors for Women in Film and Television Atlantic.

Since I'll be attending their conference next month, Women Making Waves, it was a real pleasure to meet them beforehand. It's less than a month before the conference opens on Mar. 9th - can't wait.














4 - Also following nearly two decades in the film and television industry doing wardrobe and costume design, Jeanie Kimber now runs her own wardrobe consulting service.

I also once looked after her wee Kimbers when Jeanie worked as the layout and design guru for a local magazine she produced with her husband. So, we're family, really.















5 - While CTV's Kelland Sundahl set up her interview with Bev Pettersen...














6 - ...Giacomo Bruno took shots for SNAP Halifax.


















7 - Celebrating this life milestone alongside me - my husband Brad...


















8 - ...and my best friend forever, the one, the only...Connie.














9 - With my family - husband Brad and mom Paulette.














10 - The evening was put together by Shawna Romkey who runs Dogwood Consulting, and Tara MacDonald who runs Charlie Mac Productions.














11 - Shawna gave me my dream-come-true moment. This was the moment I signed a copy of my book for the first time ever.

Thank you, Shawna.















12 - The evening also included absolutely delicious hors d'oeuvres and wine. Brad enjoys some chicken skewers while Tara catches up with aesthetician Shelley LeBlonc and photographer Caroline Ruyle.














13 - Stepping inside the doors of the Halifax Club was a personal joy for me, as the mid-Victorian mansion had long been admired by me from afar.

Here's to more dreams coming true. Is there something you've been longing to do? So much has changed for me in the space of only one year. If you have a dream that burns inside, maybe it's time to let it out to play.

Thursday Thirteen - 235 - 13 Facts-are-Stranger-Than-Fiction Things About the Halifax Explosion as Told by Guest Author Jennie Marsland

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For this week's Thursday Thirteen,











I'm handing the mic over to my fellow Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada author Jennie Marsland.

Welcome, Jennie!






Julia, it’s great to be here today.

As a fellow history buff, you know I love chatting about the real event that serves as a backdrop for the love story in Shattered, my latest release, set in 1917 in our hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Great War era fascinates me, because of the scale of the conflict and the dizzying pace of change that went with it – which is also a novelist’s dream.

Between 1914 and 1918, the Victorian way of life was swept away by new technologies, morals and manners. Women got the vote and entered the work world in droves. Cars, electricity and telephones became commonplace. The generation that fought in the Great War experienced the Great Depression and sent their sons to World War 2. They grew up with horses and buggies and lived to see men walk on the moon. I can’t help but admire them.

So, I’ve written a story about two people struggling to find their place in the face of all this change – and ultimately, disaster.

I’ll give you the cover blurb of Shattered for details:

Liam Cochrane no longer belongs. He lost his youth and his brother on the battlefields of Europe. Now he’s home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, trying to dull his pain with liquor and the occasional willing woman. He’s become a stranger in the North End neighbourhood where he grew up.

Alice O’Neill has never belonged. Able to read music, but not words, she dreams of teaching piano – and of Liam, who has held her heart for years and never known. But Liam has shadowy ties in England that he’s revealed to no one, and in that fall of 1917, Halifax is on a collision course with fate. On December 6, a horrific accident of war will devastate the city’s North End. What will be left for Liam and Alice when their world is shattered?

That ‘accident of war’ was the Halifax Explosion of 1917, an event that changed the face of the city forever. For Thursday Thirteen, here are the facts of what occurred on the fine morning of December 6, as Halifax geared up for another busy wartime day.












1 -In Halifax in the fall of 1917, you could get a dinner of roast chicken with steamed potatoes and creamed carrots, followed by a choice of desserts – apple pie, custard, tapioca and other sweets – for 25 cents. A new business suit cost $18 to $35.

2 -The reason for Halifax’s existence is its harbour, one of the largest and deepest in the world. As an added bonus, the harbour proper is connected by a narrow channel (The Narrows) to an inner harbour (Bedford Basin) that can’t be seen from the open ocean. This made the city strategically vital as a shipping point for troops and supplies during both World Wars.

3 -14 harbour pilots and 8 apprentices were handling a shipping volume of 17 million tonnes a year at the time of the explosion. Traffic on the Harbour had never been so frantic.

Those working on the water knew an accident was inevitable, but everyone was more concerned about the possibility of enemy attack. In 1917 aerial warfare was in its infancy, and no one could be certain that Germany hadn’t secretly developed planes that could fly across the Atlantic or take off from the decks of ships to bomb North America. Submarine attack was an even more real possibility. The entrance to the Harbour was closed with nets from dusk to dawn, meaning all traffic had to come and go during daylight hours, increasing the congestion.

4 -The Explosion occurred when the French vessel Mont Blanc, loaded with picric acid, TNT, benzol and gun cotton, collided with Imo, a Belgian relief vessel, in The Narrows. Fuel drums on Mont Blanc’s deck caught fire, turning the ship into a floating bomb that drifted into Pier 6 in the city’s North End and detonated, destroying the community of Richmond and killing over 2000.



















5 - The Halifax Explosion is still the largest non-atomic, non-natural explosion in recorded history. It was used as a case study in predicting the effect of the atomic bomb.

6 -A half-ton piece of the anchor from Mont Blanc landed over 2 miles away from where she exploded.

7 -A huge tidal wave followed the blast. Sixty-four workmen at a pier were killed by a boulder believed to have come from the bottom of the Harbour. Ships touched bottom as the wave swept outward to shore.

8 -One sailor was swept off the deck of his ship by the wave, then dumped on the deck again in the backlash. He survived.

9 -Another sailor was blown half a mile from the deck of his ship to Needham Hill. He was picked up later, semi-conscious, wearing one shoe but not a stitch of clothing, battered but with no grave injuries.

10 -300 train cars and 20 locomotives were destroyed at the rail yard and the North Street train station.

11 -Halifax’s first motorized fire truck, the Patricia, responded to the fire on Mont Blanc and was destroyed at the waterfront along with the fire chief’s car. All in both vehicles were killed.

12 -After the Explosion, while everything possible was being done for the human victims, a committee was also formed to rescue injured and homeless animals. Horses, of course, were still very important in 1917, and many were killed or hurt.

13 -The youngest victim of the explosion was six days old.

Thursday Thirteen - 202 - 13 Questions For Jennie Marsland, Author of McShannon's Heart

Pull up a chair and set a spell - I've got western romance author Jennie Marsland at A Piece of My Mind today, whose second release McShannon's Heart hit bookstore shelves earlier this year.

1 - Does your second release feel different from your debut?

Good question. The first draft of McShannon’s Chance more or less wrote itself, I felt so comfortable with the characters and the Western setting. Then there were the bumps in the road – having two publishers fold after accepting the book. Its release, when it finally happened, was a dream come true. I found McShannon’s Heart a lot more difficult to write, I think because knowing I’d done it once, I expected more of myself. Now that it’s published I feel more of a solid sense of relief and accomplishment.

2 - Was the Wallace Flats series always planned as a series, or did supporting characters demand their own story?

The series wasn’t planned at all. While I wrote McShannon’s Chance, the whole family took root in my mind, so I found couldn’t stop there. I had Chelle McShannon married and settled in England, so the story of how that happened was waiting to be told. Then there’s Nathan Munroe, Trey McShannon’s childhood nemesis. Nate won’t give me any peace until I get him settled with Lorie, so there will be at least one more book in the series.

3 - You just celebrated McShannon's Heart with a musical evening and book reading at The Company House in Halifax. How does music figure in your story?

Music is an integral part of Heart.

The hero, Martin Rainnie, is the local fiddler in the small Yorkshire village of Mallonby.

His first wife, Eleanor, was a singer. When she died in childbirth, Martin gave up his music because it evoked too many painful memories. It isn’t until he brings his baby daughter home and starts playing his fiddle again that he begins to heal.












My other half is a professional-level guitarist. We met through music, and it’s an important part of our life as a couple. I found it easy to understand that part of Martin’s conflict.

Check out Jennie's lovely singing voice in her book trailer for McShannon's Heart:



4 - You also participated in a meet-and-greet evening with other romance writers and the Halifax business community at Argyle Fine Art last month. How does the art world tie in with your first book, McShannon's Chance?

Beth Underhill, Trey McShannon’s mail-order bride, is a watercolour artist.

She’s passionate about her work, and she and Trey have to come to an understanding about its place in her life. As a woman, Beth has to struggle to have her art taken seriously.

She also has to take some risks to get Trey to believe that, as important as painting is to her, he comes first. He’s lost so many important people in his life, trust doesn’t come easily. I dabble in watercolours myself, so I enjoyed writing that aspect of Beth’s character. Her attraction to the Colorado landscape feeds her attraction to Trey and his lifestyle.












Jennie stands third from left at the Argyle Fine Art BeConnected event.

5 - Horses really play key roles in the series. Are you an experienced horse rider?

I don’t know if I’d say ‘experienced’. I’ve always loved horses, and I owned one for a couple of years when I was in high school.

Calico was a sweetheart and I loved him dearly. I spent most of my spare time at the barn. I did a lot of trail riding and competed in a couple of very small local horse shows. There are times when I still miss it.

I’ve also been captivated by the mystique of racing Thoroughbreds for a long time. Trey’s stallion, Flying Cloud, and his mares were very real characters to me.

6 - How much time do you spend researching before you write? Do you have to give yourself a research limit?

I don’t give myself a research limit, but perhaps I should!

A good part of my research comes from reading contemporary novels or journals. For example, the scene in Chance where Beth almost blows up the stove is based on a real incident recorded in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s journal. To get a feel for affluent New York society in 1870, I reread Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence. Details of daily life – how people cooked, cleaned their houses, raised their children – are easily found in writings of the time, especially women’s writings.

I also spent hours on-line looking through Civil War photographs and reading about battles. I even found a census report from Morgan County, Georgia, the McShannons’ home, dated 1861. It listed five families as owning more than fifty slaves. In my series, those families became the Sinclairs, MacAfees, Munroes, Bascombs and Hugheses – the county’s large planters. Over half the households on the census were small or mid-sized farms like the McShannons’, with no slaves at all. A snapshot of history on a single page.

For Heart, I had to research the woollen industry in Victorian England, as Mallonby is a mill town. I loved looking through pictures of the Dales, and I reread my old James Herriot stories to get the flavour of the local dialect. Of course, I didn’t need much of an excuse to thumb through Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights again, either. As for music, the pieces Martin plays and sings are ones I’ve heard or sung myself.

Look at me rattling on. Do I need a research limit? I ask you!

7 - Tell us about Chelle McShannon.

While her brother resembles the Cajun side of the family, Chelle is more like her forthright English father.

She speaks her mind and sometimes lands in trouble as a result. She’s lively and flirtatious, knows she’s attractive and enjoys the fact, but she’s honest and sincere. She also has a lot of inner strength.

When she finds herself in the foreign and not particularly welcoming village of Mallonby, she doesn’t change to fit in. She finds her place on her own terms.

8 - And Martin Rainnie?

Martin is a gentle giant, a big man who’s content with his comfortable farm, his music and his wife. After losing Eleanor, he doesn’t know how to handle his anger.
Anyone who provokes him is asking for a fight.

As Chelle tells him, he doesn’t know his own strength. She annoys him at first with her concern for his daughter, but the baby forms a link between them that he soon realizes he doesn’t want to break.

He’s a quiet man who expresses his feelings a lot more easily with his fiddle than he does with words.

9 - Are there any more stories lurking in Wallace Flats?

Yes, as I mentioned, there’s Nathan Munroe’s story. A lot of readers have told me they like Nate, and I enjoy his ambivalent relationship with Trey.

Nate’s book opens with him locking Trey, his father and Martin in the Wallace Flats jail for the night, after Dad gets into trouble over a poker game and Nate feeds them all some confiscated moonshine. I think his book is going to be a lot of fun to write.

10 - What are you working on now?

I’m almost finished the first draft of Shattered, which is set here in Halifax at the time of the 1917 explosion. Another bottomless pit of research.

My hero, Liam Cochrane, is a returned WWI veteran who lost his brother and nearly lost a leg overseas. His heroine, Alice O’Neill, is a girl from Liam’s North End neighbourhood who’s loved him from afar for years, but never let him know. Alice is – can you guess? – a singer and pianist who is also dyslexic. When she finds that she can learn to read music, though not words, it changes her whole outlook on life and on herself.

This one grew out of a story a friend told me. She lives in the part of town devastated by the Explosion, One day she came home from work, glanced at her kitchen window and saw a man dressed in old-fashioned clothes, sitting at her table. Then he disappeared. That got my imagination spinning.

11 - You also write children's fiction. How does your writing process differ when writing for children and adults?

It really doesn’t differ at all. The elements of storytelling are the same for any age – character, setting, conflict. The conflict and vocabulary have to be age-appropriate, that’s all. I still love reading childrens’ books myself.

The one I’m working on is set in the small village by the Minas Basin where my father grew up, and where I spent my childhood summer vacations. And one of the young characters is, surprise, surprise, a musician. That book is up next after I finish Shattered.

12 - What do you think the younger version of you, who read those Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour westerns, would think if she'd known she would one day be a western author?

I think on some level, she always knew that, though she wasn’t conscious of it. I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason.

13 - Do you have any upcoming public events?















Yes. I’m very excited to be taking part in a book signing event on March 19th, with three other members of Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada. Julianne MacLean, Donna Alward and Deborah Hale will be signing copies of their new releases.

Julianne’s Captured by the Highlander, the first of a trilogy, is a departure from her much-loved Regency stories. I haven’t read it yet, but if the reviews are any indication, it’s a complete winner. Can Julianne write anything but?

Donna’s Proud Rancher, Precious Bundle is the newest of her heart-warming, beautifully-characterized contemporary Westerns.

Deborah’s Bought: The Penniless Lady – which I have to read and review post-haste! – hooked me with the cover alone. I want that lovely blue dress! And it goes without saying that the story between the covers will be just as delicious. The event is taking place from 2 to 4 pm at Chapters, near MicMac Mall in Dartmouth. I can’t wait!

I'll be there, Jennie - and thanks for dropping by.

Here's a sneak peek at McShannon's Heart - enjoy!


“Dad, we were through this again last night.” Trey shrugged out of his suit jacket and ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

“I don’t want Chelle here any more than you do, not with what’s coming. You have to go, but you know there’ll be no real future for me in England. There won’t be one for me here, either—not if I don’t go with the rest of the boys.”

The anger Chelle had seen in the churchyard flashed in her brother’s eyes again. “And I can’t. It’s suicide and I won’t be a part of it. Win or lose, I won’t be able to stay here. If I’m going to have to go West, I might as well start sooner as later. I’ll have Cloud, and I’ll get a couple of mares when I can.”

Anger dulled to sadness as Trey looked around the room. “We can sell this place when the war’s over. The land will still be here, whatever happens.”

Chelle knew he was right. Uncle Jack in Yorkshire could make room for her and her father, but he had a son of his own, with a wife and baby. There would be no room for Trey, but still, she hadn’t been able to help hoping he’d come with them in the end. Now she’d be losing him, too.

Unless I marry Rory. Then Dad and I would stay here until the war ended and Rory came home, and...Chelle silenced the selfish thought.

If she married Rory now, her father would give up his plans to return to his old home to heal, and Trey would feel that he had no choice but to join the troop and fight for a cause he didn’t believe in. She couldn’t be responsible for that. If Rory proposed, as she was sure he meant to, they would have to wait until the war was over.

Her father broke into her thoughts. “I’ll see to the legal arrangements tomorrow. I’ll sign the place over to you, lad. Whatever you get for it later will be yours to help you along. It would have been yours one day, anyway.”

He looked at his children with tired eyes. “I never thought this day would come so soon…not so soon. But we’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s all we can do.”

- Jennie Marsland, 2011

Thursday Thirteen - 198 - 13 Ways the Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada Got Connected at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, Nova Scotia

1 - The week before Valentine's Day was a perfect time for my writers' group to get together at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax for an evening of networking with the Halifax business community.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

2 - A joint event sponsored by Bconnected, Charlie Mac Productions, Rich Graphics and Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, the evening was an opportunity to get out of the house on a crisp winter's night, meet new people, check out some really stunning artwork while indulging in a little wine, cheese and fruit.

You can see my husband Brad and myself hobnobbing at right.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

3 - Then it was paparazzi time.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

4 - From L to R: RWAC president Annette Gallant, Donna Alward, moi, Julianne MacLean, Deborah Hale, Jennie Marsland, Lilly Cain, Kelly Boyce, Taylor Keating and Renee Field













5 - The business crowd was delighted to discover that nestled here on the rocky coast of eastern Canada are writers who - instead of publishing only locally-set Atlantic Canadian stories with Canadian publishers - publish North American commercial romantic fiction through New York publishers.












6 - Renee Field was the first writer to speak to the gathering.



Her latest release, Beastly Passion, is published by Ellora's Cave.




















7 - Paula, one half of the writing team known as Taylor Keating,


spoke about her debut novel, Game Over, published by Tor.





















8 - Debut author Kelly Boyce


talked about her upcoming April release The Outlaw Bride from Carina Press.


















9 - Deborah Hale


gave us a look at her current release, Married: The Virgin Widow as well as a preview of her upcoming Gentlemen of Fortune series from Harlequin Historicals - which includes her 25th release in a career spanning thirteen years.
















10 - Next we heard from Donna Alward,


who told us about her 16th Harlequin release, Proud Rancher, Precious Bundle.




















11 - Lilly Cain


explained the print-on-demand aspect of publishing, including her third release Building Magic.






















12 - My cousin Julianne MacLean


introduced her new St. Martin's Press series which begins with Captured by the Highlander, releasing March 1st - her 16th release since 2000.




















13 - Wrapping up the author's segment of the evening, Jennie Marsland


shared her second release, McShannon's Heart, from Bluewood Publishing.

Thursday Thirteen - 150 - 13 Reasons to Read McShannon's Chance by Jennie Marsland

Jennie Marsland belongs to my writers' group, Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada. During the business part of our monthly meeting, we have a segment called Member News, where we share writing developments. Jennie was only with us a short time when her member news was 'I sold my first book!'

1 - McShannon's Chance is a Romance from BlueWood Publishing. It released last October in both E-book and print formats.

2 - Jennie takes us out to the Colorado of 1870, and as Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote about Oklahoma Territory:

Territory folks should stick together
Territory folks should all be pals
Cowboys dance with the farmer's daughters
Farmers dance with the ranchers' gals

This is the West of big skies, ranches carved from stands of lonesome pines, Civil War vets remaking their lives and women taking their chances with life on their own terms.

3 - We meet E.M. Underhill, an emerging Philadelphia painter whose work suggests something of the Impressionist movement making inroads in France. Masking her name with initials helps Beth's work to be taken seriously, but her cousin and guardian takes her least seriously of all. His attempts to marry her off send her instead to a barely-formed Colorado town. She steps off the stagecoach wondering if she'll regret her decision to accept a husband through an agency. But for Beth, it's a husband on her own terms, or none at all.

4 - Trey McShannon grew up on the edges of antebellum society, refusing to fight for the Confederacy when it finally came down to it. But he fought all the same - for the Union army. Now, with the war only raging in his nightmares, he carves a new life for himself outside Wallace Flats. A respectable homestead, good neighbors. All of it only makes the solitary days and nights that much worse. Writing to an agency for a wife seems like the practical approach, and Trey certainly has too much work taking up his time to go a-courtin'.

5 - This romance doesn't follow genre convention. It's much more like the 1989 mini-series Lonesome Dove, with Tommy Lee Jones, or 90's series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, with Jane Seymour and Joe Lando. We're introduced to a wider cast of characters than most romances allow. We follow two secondary couples, and meet many of the folk who make up the town of Wallace Flats.

6 - Where this novel excels as a romance are the scenes between Beth and Trey as they begin their relationship with an endpoint - an arranged partnership - and work backwards through their courtship. Jennie has written a 3D-High Definition cowboy in Trey McShannon. No mistaking who's talking when he and Beth are together. He's a man of few words, of unwavering gazes that size Beth up. And Beth, true to form as a woman ahead of her time, is not feisty so much as sassy as she teases Trey with delightful zingers.

7 - I really enjoyed the artist subplot with Beth's sketching as a counterpoint of expertise as she flounders in the day-to-day work of running a homestead. Her refusal to give up is a truly endearing quality - the unending chores don't dissuade her, the Old Boys Club of the art world doesn't intimidate her, and Trey's obvious war demons don't keep her at a safer distance.

8 - As I mentioned in my review of Anna Campbell's Captive of Sin - see the top menu bar for the link to my book reviews - a tortured hero is my favorite character, bar none. If there's the promise of a reveal as to why the hero is so tortured, don't lead me on - let me have it, right between the eyes.

Jennie delivers, with a poignant scene to which Trey's nightmares have led us in gradual but unrelenting steps.

9 - If you're used to the slicker pace of commercial romantic fiction, why not let the slower build-up of McShannon's Chance take you off the beaten track? The scenery is always more breathtaking when you take the backroads. Jennie's story takes its pace from the iconic lone cowboy making his way across an immense landscape. Why wear out your horse when there's so much ground to cover, mister?

10 - Jennie really knows how to end each chapter with a hook. Like this, for example:

" 'Have it your way, Philadelphia. And you might as well call me Trey.' Another smug grin, followed by a measuring look. 'What are you doing here, anyway? Were you bored in town?'

Beth crisply gave him the plain, unvarnished facts.

While she spoke, Trey's angry look softened to something that might be curiosity. 'Why didn't you go to your cousin's?'

Beth decided to be honest. 'I didn't want to sit in Graham's house and wait for him to find an acceptable man to take me off his hands - acceptable to him.' She looked Trey in the eye again. 'When I wrote, I told you I didn't know much about housekeeping. What did you think you were getting?'

'That's not the point. I can't expect you to be content out here.'

Now he sounded embarrassed. Beth shrugged. 'Mr. McShannon, I'm a big girl. I thought from your letter that you'd give me credit for being able to make up my own mind.'

Trey's heavy brows lifted as he gave her another measuring glance. 'Oh, I'll bet you're an expert at that.' Then he turned his attention back to the road and urged the team into a faster trot."

11 - As well as an art world subplot that addresses bringing the authentic self into a relationship, rather than trying to deny that person, there is a wonderful undercurrent of the horse world, not surprising in a Colorado homestead story. But Jennie's masterful handling of the horse characters shows a real affinity for the world of the cowboy. Her love of Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour provides the backdrop for Jennie's romantic flare to paint a new west. In this one, the charged banter between Trey and Beth is the fuel for their attraction, not simply the way Trey wears a Stetson, or the way Beth pretties herself up for the Wallace Flats social.

12 - Here's the book trailer:



13 - I leave you with an excerpt. Enjoy!

"Trey got the blanket he kept tied to the back of his saddle, stretched out on it and closed his eyes.

The bright sun beat down on him, soothing tired muscles and clogging his mind. He laid a forearm over his eyes and took in a breath laden with the scent of warm earth. Another...three...four...

The acrid reek of burning brush, combined with the odors of sweaty horse and his own unwashed body stung his throat. The last two days fighting had taken place over a burning landscape, set ablaze by artillery fire. A pale, smoke-hazed moon hung above him in the night sky.

Cloud stumbled and nearly fell to his knees. Dizzy with fatigue, Trey pulled him up. Sheer instinct kept him in the saddle. He no longer cared if he fell. He only knew they couldn't stop, not with troops from both sides moving through the darkness.

The screams of the wounded they hadn't been able to save from the flames that day still rang in Trey's mind, drowning out the subtle night sounds around him. Sounds he shouldn't have ignored.

He looked back to check on the rest of his patrol, but they blended into the darkness. In another minute, he'd be turning the corner he could barely see up ahead. His pulse hammered in his ears.

He rounded the bend in the road, heard a shout from the darkness of a stand of trees. Metal flashed in the moonlight. Trey pulled his rifle and fired in one smooth motion.

Trey dismounted and walked toward the still figure, knowing what he'd see. He turned the body over and looked into the face of the man he'd shot.

The darkness broke up and gave way to sunlight again, the cool, smokey night to the warmth of Beth's arms.

'Trey, it's alright. It's over.' Her voice barely reached him through the remains of the nightmare. Stomach heaving, muscles frozen, he clung to Beth while she stroked his hair and murmured soothing nonsense. Long, humiliating seconds passed before he regained enough control to pull away. Beth clasped her hands around her knees and waited while he gathered what was left of his dignity.

'Maddy told me she and Logan asked you to stay with them your first winter here. I think I know now why you didn't.'

Still sick and shaky, Trey wiped his face with his sleeve and looked out over the river. 'Yeah, I guess so.'

'How often does this happen?'

'Not often, now. Not for a year, until...'

'Until I came.' Beth reached for his hand.

Trey pulled his hand back. He'd rather have Beth's contempt than her pity, but then he glanced at her and realized she wasn't offering him pity.

'There's no point, Beth. Some memories aren't worth sharing. It wouldn't do anyone any good.'

Trey picked up a rock and tossed it in the river. The ripples it made spread and vanished with the current."

- Jennie Marsland, 2009

Alice Audrey says I've never known farmers and ranchers to be all that chummy. Not that they won't pass the time of day...

Pamela Callow says I love books that take me off the beaten path. Sounds like Jennie Marsland's book fits the bill!

Scotialassie says I can't wait to read it. I love the trailer. This book looks like it's right 'up my alley'.