CFBA presents GINGHAM MOUNTAIN by Mary Connealy

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Gingham Mountain
(Barbour Books - February 1, 2009)
by
Mary Connealy


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary's writing journey is similar to a lot of others. Boil it down to persistence, oh, go ahead and call it stubbornness. She just kept typing away. She thinks the reason she did it was because she was more or less a dunce around people—prone to sit silently when she really ought to speak up (or far worse, speak up when she ought to sit silently).

So, Mary had all these things she wanted to say, in her head: the perfect zinger to the rude cashier, which you think of an hour after you’ve left the store; the perfect bit of wisdom when someone needs help, which doesn’t occur to you until they solve their problems themselves; the perfect guilt trip for the kids, which you don’t say because you’re not an idiot. She keep all this wit to herself, much to the relief of all who know her, and then wrote all her great ideas into books. It’s therapeutic if nothing else, and more affordable than a psychiatrist.

So then a very nice, oh so nice publishing company like Barbour Heartsong comes along and says, “Hey, we’ll pay you money for this 45,000 word therapy session.” That’s as sweet as it gets.

Mary's journey to publication is the same as everyone’s except for a few geniuses out there who make it hard for all of us. And even they probably have an Ode to Roast Beef or two in their past.

There are two other books in this Lassoed In Texas Series: Petticoat Ranch and Calico Canyon


ABOUT THE BOOK


All aboard for a delightful, suspense-filled romance, where a Texan is torn between his attraction to a meddlesome schoolmarm and the charms of a designing dressmaker. When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, she's determined to keep him from committing her orphans to hard labor on his ranch. How far will she go to ensure their welfare?

Grant Cooper is determined to provide a home for the two kids brought in by the orphan train as he runs head-on into the new school marm, who believes he's made slave labor out of eight orphaned children. He crowds too many orphans into his rickety house, just like Hannah Cartwright's cruel father. Grant's family of orphans have been mistreated too many times by judgmental school teachers. Now the new schoolmarm is the same except she's so pretty and she isn't really bad to his children, it's Grant she can't stand.

But he is inexplicably drawn to Hannah. Can he keep his ragtag family together while steering clear of love and marriage? Will he win her love or be caught in the clutches of a scheming seamstress?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Gingham Mountain, go HERE

THOUGHTS FROM JEN

This is the fourth book I've read by Mary Connealy and she never disappoints me. Mary creates strong, unique characters and spices up her stories with great handfuls of humor and lots of heart.

Gingham Mountain has it all: A rugged man with a heart of gold, a well-meaning woman who keeps getting things wrong, rapid-fire banter between two people too stubborn to admit they're attracted to each other, and a pair of conniving schemers bent on ruining everything. How Hannah, Grant, and a passel of orphans overcome against all odds is an exciting, entertaining read.

This is the third book of the Lassoed In Texas Series. While you can read it on its own, I would highly recommend reading the entire series in order. There are some fun things you might miss otherwise. For example, Hannah and her sister Lilly are introduced in great depth in Calico Canyon. Reading it first will give a lot more depth to Hannah's story.

This book gets two enthusiastic thumbs up. If you like your historical romances sassy, sweet, and suspenseful, take a trip to Gingham Mountain.