The Last Good Man by Kathleen Eagle - A Review

"A good man is hard to find, but a romance by Eagle is a good place to start." -Kirkus Reviews

I have seen Kathleen Eagle's name for a long time, but never pulled one of her books off the shelf to give her a try. This is a mistake that has now been rectified.
 
This book, The Last Good Man, is the way I aspire to write. Ms. Eagle's characters are real people that we might know in our own lives. Their struggles, so well described, could very well be a family member or a neighbor. She takes us down to the depths of Savannah and Clay's souls. After working in a cancer center for many years, I've seen the toll cancer takes on people and the trip Savannah makes in her recovery from breast cancer is hard but hopeful.

I am glad I made the journey with Clay, Savannah and Claudia and their search for ever after.

Savannah Stephens has come home to Sunbonnet, Wyoming, after abandoning a modeling career in New York. She slips into town leaving everyone to wonder why. Good-hearted rancher, Clay Keogh, has troubles of his own but he, too, wants to find out what is troubling Savannah. Clay has loved Savannah since they were kids even though she loved Clay's half-brother, bad boy, Kole Kills Crow. Clay can't help but notice Savannah's daughter looks just like his brother and wonders if she is still in love with Kole. It's up to Clay to find out her secrets, to be there with a shoulder she can lean on. Savannah soon realizes that he's a very special man. But unless she can bring herself to share the painful truth about her fall from stardom, the emotional distance between her and Clay may separate them forever.

About the Author: Bestselling author Kathleen Eagle retired from a seventeen-year teaching career on a North Dakota Indian reservation to become a full-time novelist. The Lakota Sioux heritage of her husband and their three children has inspired many of her stories. Among her honors, she has received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times, the Midwest Fiction Writer of the Year Award, and Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award. Library Journal named THE NIGHT REMEMBERS one of the five best romances of the year. Kathleen takes great pleasure in reading letters from readers who tell her that her books have tugged at their heartstrings, entertained, inspired, and even enlightened them.

See the link below to purchase the ebook from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Good-Man-ebook/dp/B007MSTUY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348887395&sr=1-1&keywords=kathleen+eagle+last+good+man

Visit her website:

http://www.kathleeneagle.com/home.html

Leave a comment and tell us if you've read this book or any others by Kathleen Eagle. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Carra

Brazos Bride by Caroline Clemmons - Book Review

One of the things I wanted to do on this site was to promote authors work. I have strayed from this over the summer and I'm going to fix that now. The first book is a western historical.

 

 Brazos Bride by Caroline Clemmons is the first installment in her Men of Stone Mountain series and it's a keeper.

Hope Montoya has figured out she is being poisoned. She fears her mothers death was due to the same method and her father was murdered. With what little strength she has left, Hope must figure out how to save her ranch and her inheritance. Who can she trust to help her? She decides to ask Micah Stone to marry her and protect her while they search for the person or persons who want her dead.

Micah Stone has loved Hope since he first saw her. When her father is killed, Micah is tried and aquitted for his murder. Against his better judgement, he agrees to her proposal of a marriage in name only. Can Micah find who is poisoning Hope in time to save her and then walk away?

Can Hope and Micah deny their feelings for each other?

Ms. Clemmons characters come alive on the page and her descriptions paint a vivd picture of the Texas countyside. I hope you will try Brazos Bride, as well as the other books she has on Amazon.

Brazos Bride is mildly sensual and contains some profanity so if this bothers you, you might not like the story.

Below is a link to Amazon for, Brazos Bride.

http://www.amazon.com/Brazos-Bride-Stone-Mountain-Micah/dp/1478172517/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1348366785&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=brazos+bride

I do hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!
Carra

Guest Post at Sweethearts of the West

Good morning! I am a guest today at Sweethearts of the West Blog and I'm practically dancin' I am so excited.

Please stop by this beautiful website by authors, Caroline Clemmons and Celia Yeary, to read my post and leave a comment. While you are there, waltz around their site for the many other interesting articles. It is one of my favorite places to visit and I think you will agree.

Follow this link :   http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com/


Thanks for visiting today!
Carra

An Award From The Daughters Of The Republic Of Texas

Gloria Carr Cope/Carra Copelin

 

This past Saturday, I received a  certificate from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Frances Cooke Van Zandt Chapter, for being a member for twenty-five years. This is such an honor. I wish my mother, Matelyn Roddy Carr Smolak, could have been here to receive hers as well. She would have been so proud.

Thirty years ago, Mother and I began the search for the documentation of proof to our ancestor, Amon McCommas. In order for one to become a daughter or a son of the DRT or SRT, you must prove your ancestor of lineal descent who rendered loyal service to the Republic Texas before the Texas annexation in February 1846.

We began our search in 1982 and found Amon's name listed on a 1845 Poll Tax List in the basement of the Old Red Courthouse. The rest of the documentation came from marriage records, family bible pages, and birth or death records. We then submitted the copies along with the application and became members in 1987.

The following is a little history for my GGGGGrandfather, Amon McCommas, Sr.

Amon McCommas, Sr

Amon came to Texas in December 1844 with the Peter's Colony and is credited with preaching the first sermon in Dallas County on the banks of the Trinity River. His family was one of the first 5 or 6 families to settle in Dallas. He was a Campbellite preacher (Disciples of Christ minister) and he founded the Christian Church of Dallas in 1845 with 12 members. In 1873 this church was divided into two groups: the Pearl and Main Street Church of Christ and another group that developed into the Central Christian Church.

In 1846, Amon chaired the meeting that formed Dallas County and was later elected as the first Chief Justice of the Dallas County Commissioner's Court. Amon was a farmer who owned the first "tread-mill" (grist mill powered by mules) in Dallas. He served as president of the first county fair in Dallas; this fair went on to become the State Fair of Texas. He is a charter member of the Dallas County Pioneers Association, organized in 1875, for which he served as the first Chaplain.

Amon and his wife Mary Braumfield McCommas raised their children and several of their grandchildren (due to the premature deaths of some of their own children: James B. McCommas, Rosanna Cox and Armilda Fleeman). McCommas Boulevard in Dallas was named for Amon McCommas and his family. He also donated the land for the Old Red Courthouse located near Dealy Plaza and the Triple Underpass. The building still stands today.



The Old Red Courthouse, Dallas, Texas

Thanks for visiting. I hope you want to come back often.

Carra

THE NEXT BIG THING TAG POSTS

 

Caroline Clemmons, http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/, a very talented author and one of my valued critique partners, has tagged me to answer ten questions about my Work in Progress, or WIP. I am excited to participate in this project and hope to give you a little insight into my book due out next year.

I'm developing a series called The Texan Code. I feel everyone needs a code they can live by like honor, justice and concience. These are not exclusive to Texas by any means, but every Texan should have at least one.



 

The following are my answers to the ten questions.

 


1. What is the working title of your book?

 

There have been several titles for this first book in my Texan Series, but currently it is, Code of Honor.

 

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

 

I thought about plane crashes, the one in particular that happened at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in 1988. I wanted to know what happened in the aftermath to the families involved, from the pilots to the airlines to the antagonist.

 

I first went with mechanical failure in the aircraft which resulted in a pilot error charge from the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation, though that plot isn't as relevant today with the improvements made in the airline industry. The revised plotline is taking a more personal tone. It centers around the Benning family, Graeme and Maggie overcoming obstacles on their path to forever after love, Maggie's four-year-old son, Andy, and the man bent on destroying them.

 

3. What genre does your book fall under?

 

Romantic Suspense. I believe in happy endings and I want to know from the get-go that's what I'll get. I also need a little intrigue throughout to spice it up, something to make me think, to make me work a little for that satisfying ending.

 

4. What actor would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

 

That question is both easy and hard. I use real people for the characters in my head, usually celebrities. So far I've been unable to gain permission to use these so I went shopping at, istockphotos.com, and purchased photos of models to use on a future cover or on blogs.

For my hero, Graeme McAlister, I have multiple pics of the 1990's Diet Coke guy, Lucky Vanous. Lucky is also an actor, so he's the natural choice to play that part.




Graeme McAlister

 

Maggie Benning, was patterned after Texas country music personality, Kelly Willis. In light of this recent purchase below, I think Maggie could be played by Mercedes Masohn, Isabel from The Finder. What do you think?

Maggie Benning

For Maggie's son, Andy, I like the young actor, Alex D. Linz, from the movie, One Fine Day. Or perhaps, my grandson. <G>



Andy Benning

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

 

Maggie Benning needs to clear her husbands name for her son's legacy and Graeme McAlister wants to help her find the truth so he can build a future with Maggie and Andy.

 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

 

Probably self-published. A few of authors I know are close friends and critique partners. They have already gone the self-pub route so I have a great support system.

 

7. How long did it take you to write this book?

 

I have been writing this book and its siblings for a few years. My job and life took over for a while, but I am now retired and writing on a more regular schedule.

 

8. What other books would you compare it to in your genre?

 

It will probably follow the Silhouette Intimate Moments or Special Edition lines. 

 

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

 

 This answer is to the who was the inspiration. I started writing after reading Sandra Brown's Breakfast In Bed, I followed by every romance she wrote back then. Other authors who inspired me are Linda Lael Miller, Jayne Ann Krentz and Suzanne Brockman.

 

10. What else about this book might pique the reader's interest?

 

 Andrew and Bridey McTiernan Benning  wanted a houseful of their own children to love and to pass on the family ranch. With the realization they would have only one natural child, Wyatt, the Bennings became foster parents to Graeme, Elliott, Tony, Lawton and Kate. The Texan Code Series will follow each of the children Bridey and Andrew raised. In Code Of Honor, the first in the series, Graeme McAlister investigates the death and presumed suicide of, Wyatt, the Bennings only son and Maggie's husband.

 



                              

 

 

Graeme and Maggie investigate together and fall in love, only to uncover something that has the potential to ruin the family name and their future together.

 

Now it's my turn to tag five friends to post on September 22. 

 

 

Cheri Kay Clifton

 

Alison Bruce

 

 Ashley Kath-Bilsky

 

Gretchen Craig

 

Sharla Rae

 

 

The rules are to answer the ten questions about your current work in progress. Tag five other authors and add their links so we can hop over to meet them.

 

 

Thanks for joining me today.

 

Carra

Love and Inspiration

Author Sharla Rae, a dear friend and former critique partner, has written a post on her site at Writers In The Storm Blog, When Life (And Your Writing) Takes A Detour. It's a very personal story about the journey she has traveled this past year with her son in his battle with cancer.

Sharla Rae

Please stop by and give it a read.  I know she would appreciate it.





http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/when-life-takes-a-detour/





Thanks, Carra

Texas Facts and Trivia Thursday

Galveston Island

This week I would like to share some of the photos from our trip last week to Galveston. I love this island town off the Texas coast from my first trip during my junior year of high school to this most recent one.

Wikipedia says this:

Galveston ( /ˈɡælvɨstən/) is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 U.S. Census^[update], the city had a total population of 47,743 within a land area of 46 square miles (120 km²). Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, the city is the seat and second-largest city of Galveston County in population.
Named after Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez, Galveston's first European settlements on the island were constructed around 1816. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its successful independence from Spain. The city served as the main port for the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution and later served as the capital of the Republic of Texas.
During the 19th century, Galveston became a major U.S. commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United States. Galveston is known for the hurricane that devastated the city in 1900. The natural disaster that followed still counts as the deadliest in American history.
Much of Galveston's modern economy is centered in the tourism, health care, shipping and financial industries. The 84-acre (340,000 m²) University of Texas Medical Branch campus with an enrollment of more than 2,500 students is a major economic force of the city. Galveston is home to six historic districts containing one of the largest and historically significant collections of 19th-century buildings with over 60 structures listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2008, Galveston was devastated again by a hurricane. The city and her people are still in the process of repair, but they've made tremendous strides and it shows.

Carnival Magic

Carnival Magic

Pic From Our Front Door

 

 

Ferry

Feeding Frenzy off the back of the Ferry



Thanks for stopping by. I'll have more pics next week!

 

Hugs,

 

Carra