WORLD BUILDING

What's world building? Constructing an alien lab on Mars? Maybe a wolf's den where shapeshifters thrive?  How about 1878 Texas?

     Too dumb to understand the impossible task (thank God!),  I researched 1880's Texas fashions, customs and word usage. Then I found a site offering accurate 19th century maps, bought one, and chose a spot for my mythical town of Eclipse, Texas.

     When I wrote my first historical novel, I had no idea how difficult it would be to capturie the essence of an earlier time.

Intimate Strangers, my first novel, emerged from that process. Since then, I've written Wolf's Tender, Breed True, The Journal Of Lucy Quince, Five Card Stud, and Sweeter than Honey-- all set in Eclipse, Texas starring the people who live there. 

Intimate Strangers Blurb: Lucy Quince returns to Eclipse, Texas, a scarred woman with no memory of the family she left behind. Her quest to find her past, leads her to a hard-faced husband accused of her murder and children who think she ran off and left them.

Ambrose Quince is no fool. Second chances are rare in life. He vows to find the men who kidnapped and brutalized his wife. But first he has to regain Lucy's trust. She's the only woman he'll ever love...if he's a stranger to her, than by damn, he'll be an intimate stranger.

Excerpt Snippet:His chest brushed her shoulder and Ambrose leaned over her closer than necessary. Head even with hers, resting one hand on her back, he retrieved the slice of cake and inhaled deeply. “My God, I’ve missed that smell.” 

Rattled at his proximity, Lucy demanded defensively, “What smell?”

Ambrose paused, bending closer to her neck to breathe deeply. “…Salt …Sugar…Cinnamon…" 

“I thought you said I didn’t cook before. Did you hang your nose over the shoulder of somebody else who quit?” 

He stopped to consider, almost brushing his lips against her neck before he continued. “No other cooks, no other women. I guess I must be remembering you … the scent of Lucy Quince. That’s what I've missed-- the smell of my woman.”

What the Reviewers Said: 

                           Carol @ Love Western Romances ~ Rating: 5 Spurs    
" compelling three-dimensional characters, an absorbing plot, intriguing suspense, a sizzling hot romance, and an insightful exploration of the building blocks of marriage. Definitely a keeper to be read  again and again."
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 2010 EPIC AWARD COMMITTEE Rating:

BEST WESTERN ROMANCE and BEST EROTIC WESTERN 2009
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To find more of my Eclipse western erotic romances, visit me
 @ Gem's Place.