Yep, my prequel to the Hearts Crossing Ranch stories is now available! Release date is called a “book birthday”, but in this case, it’s a Christmas treat! Part of the Christmas Extravaganza at my wonderful publishing house, Pelican Book Group. Each year, PBG selects 24 authors for their Christmas stories of holiday traditions, families, hope, and faith. I am so pleased to be one of the bunch for the fourth time!
I love Christmas stories as much as I adore Christmas movies. I read and watch both all year long. So…it’s easy to get inspired to write an Extravaganza.
I came up with the title first, reckoning somehow I’d figure out a Christmas Extravaganza story that fit. All my stories take place at my fictional Hearts Crossing Ranch in fictional Mountain Cove, Colorado, each one featuring a member of the Martin clan. So…this time I decided on a prequel of how their ma and pa met in 1976. Such a fun hobble down memory for my editor Lisa and me. I wrote the story for the Watershed line, since present-day matriarch Elaine is twenty years old in the book, refusing to go back to college after taking time after her father’s death. Yeah, it’s labeled YA, but it’s suitable for all ages, I promise. Something about first love we can all relate to. Sigh. And for some of us, like Elaine and me, it lasts forever!
My dear friend and former teaching colleague John moved up to Washington a while back, so we keep in touch electronically LOL. Here’s a pic of the autumn walk he took a couple days ago, and I couldn’t resist asking permission to share his photo. He readily agreed. We each taught American Studies at a Catholic high school, and share the same core beliefs about our country’s history and Constitution. Here ya go, a look at a perfect fall day in Washington state!
P.s. I’ll be reading and reviewing another dear friend LoRee Peery’s Christmas story in the near future, so stay tuned!
Okay, my dilute calico babygirl really isn’t the reason I’m posting today, but my release IS a Christmas story, and I came across this picture and…you understand. She’s three and we adopted her during Covid lockdown from our local animal services, and she’s definitely become Her Royal Highness of the Household.
(One day soon I’ll post her peeking out of the Christmas tree branches at age three months, when she climbed to the top.)
Anyway, moving on…I’m thrilled to be part of Pelican Book Group’s 2023 Christmas Extravaganza, and to continue the saga of the Martin family of Hearts Crossing Ranch in Mountain Cove, Colorado. There’s even an anthology with the first eight stories–featuring separately the challenges and romances of each of eight Martin siblings. I’ll show you more about it soon. But LOVE AT FIRST SNOW is the story of how their ma and pa meet. We go back all the way to 1976, yikes, to meet Elaine Martin and Alex Kennedy, who get together –of course, at Christmastime.
Another gorgeous cover to print out and frame, and hang on my wall.
I also love how their faces are kinda hidden with western mystique. You can imagine their visages all by yourself.
I’ll be back soon to post a blurb and a release date. Or at least the blurb! Can’t wait to share more with you.
LOVE AT FIRST SNOW...coming December 2023!
If you’ve known me longer than ten seconds, you know I like nothing better than writing Christmas stories and watching Christmas movies. I’m already recording practically every second of Hallmark and GACs’s “Christmas In July” programming. Ought to keep me busy until, uh, Christmas.
But I’m here today to announce that the next installment to my Hearts Crossing Ranch series over at PelicanBookGroup, LOVE AT FIRST SNOW, will be part of their wonderful CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA, featuring 24 stories by select authors. I can’t wait to cuddle up with every single one, my impossibly spoiled calico kitty Leigh snug on my lap…
LAFS was an amazingly enjoyable story to write, as it’s set back in 1976. It’s origin story of how Hearts Crossing matriarch Elaine Martin meets the love of her life, Alex Kennedy. While this makes one dozen novellas in this series about the Martin family of Mountain Cove, Colorado, never fear: each book is stand-alone. So…Kennedy? Yet it’s the Martin family? Find out how and why Alex takes his bride’s last name.
I’m thinking…just like “Yellowstone” (love it or hate it LOL…) next year’s Christmas story just might take me back to my original writing roots–the Old West, and how Josephus Martin started the ranch in the first place…
Stay tuned for more deets. And enjoy this lovely summer “Christmas in July” day!
I am not the only one who thinks the world is spinning faster and there are fewer seconds each day. But if I ever catch up, I’ll just have to start all over again. Thing is, I have a beautiful story out right now, Royalty at the Ranch. about a cowboy who’s a prince. Incognito with a college chum at Hearts Crossing Ranch for Christmas, Brodie (aka Prince Anders) finds his heart stolen by the ranch’s granddaughter. (You can read more about her in Seeing Daylight.) But he lives in (fictional) Dornfeld, Addie in Colorado. Oh, what to do? Of course you know me, and you know a happy ending’s in store. And that I believe in Christmas Miracles. Thanks to my amazing publisher, Pelican Book group’s Christmas Extravaganza, and Watershed lines, for bringing my story to life. It’s so hard to leave Hearts Crossing Ranch that my brain is always exploding with new plots and characters, all set in that perfect little part of Colorado. Fingers crossed for next Christmas!
Well, as you see, I don’t update much. Losing a loved one to Covid, training a new kitten companion during lockdown, and accepting some health issues of my own and others kept me pretty busy the whole last year. Not to mention–writing a book that came out last Christmas! It’s set at my favorite place on earth, Hearts Crossing Ranch,
My Valentine book is a separate release from a successful multi-author anthology, arranged by the wonderful and award winning Mary Manners.
So while I honestly try to update things over the next few weeks…I hope you enjoy Holly Hearts and Heart of Hope.
Oh, be joyful! Sing and rejoice before the Lord. Here’s our little granddaughter showing how to get it done.
So glad the trail led you here to my homestead. Kick off your boots and make yourself welcome. It doesn’t snow around here, so I enjoy writing and reading Christmas stories all year long so I can pretend. Hang around barefoot as long as you want here along the beaches of California’s central coast.
Well, this was a tough year. I needed to remind myself of miracles a whole bunch. Our hearts broke at losing a loved one to Covid, and I gotta isolate a much as I can, due to a medication that messes up my immune system. Seeing the four grands and planning for Christmas are big challenges for sure. But hey, God’s in charge, always has been, aways will be.
Anyway, I hope you’ll return to Hearts Crossing Ranch in my latest novella for the series, Holly Hearts, and enjoy a merry little Christmas with Elli and Haggai. A kindergartener in Sanctuary, ranch granddaughter Ella Martin is now old enough to be a teenager with a heart and heartbreak all her own! When the hottest guy at school–not to mention her dad’s favorite ranch hand–breaks their date for the Winter Formal, she’s got to hold it together. Especially when she finds out Haggs is worried about his mom’s medical crisis. Well, she knows all about loving–and losing a mom–she’s lost one and trying to love another–so whatever Haggs needs, she’ll be there at his side.
The characters might be teenagers, but the theme of this book resonates with all ages. I mean, we’ve all been sixteen once, right? Helped somebody we love through a bad time, and hopefully trusted in God. It’s a sweet romance with a faith message, but as you know, my stories are never judge-y. It’s truly a story for everybody, all ages, all believers. And I know for sure Jesus held my hand while I wrote this. Please enjoy your journey back to Hearts Crossing Ranch!
So glad the trail led you to my homestead. This country gramma and California beach girl welcomes you any time, so kick off your boots or flip flops and stay a while. The picture above is a lovely park near our home where my grandkids romp after school, and it so reminds me of peace and tranquility mixed with their laughter and joy. Those four rug-rats will make sure I have a blessed 2020.
But it can only happen with trust in the Lord. 2019 had some difficult moments of family trauma, and 2020 is bringing me some health challenges, but all I have to do to remind myself Who’s in charge is to lift my eyes to the hills and mountains around me, and recite Psalm 121:1.
I do believe my creative muse is rousing herself after some much-needed time away, and the fingers are itching for a keyboard. I am confident I’ll find editors who’ll go with my two sweet novellas, Sorry and Heart of Hope, now off-market, but that did well as part of two amazing anthologies headed by Stacey Coverstone and Mary Manners. I’ll be busy updating this website over the next few weeks and working on two romance manuscripts. But I gotta say, I think a family saga with a dark side is next for me.
So stay tuned. And don’t be a stranger. Much love to you, and may Jesus enrich your spirit and heart in 2020.
I’m beyond blessed to have this novella included in the “Love, Sweet Love” anthology.
So glad the trail led you here. I’m pleased as punch to announce the recent release of Heart of Hope, in the already-bestselling Valentine anthology Love, Sweet Love. Five novellas, five authors in sweetheart stories filled with romance, family, food, and faith. And of course, happy endings.
How Heart of Hope came about: Well, in June 2017, family stuff got me thinking that I needed some time away from writing and blogging. Some good including a baby granddaughter who’s now a vivacious toddler. Some not so good–my mother in law is still ailing. So I decided 12 months was a good break.
Funny how the Lord works. June 2018 rolls around. Exactly one year later. Four amazing authors invite me to participate in this Valentine anthology. Wow. I need to thank Mary Manners, Delia Latham, Dora Hiers, and Zoe McCarthy for all the support and handholding.
And I decided the setting had to be in my beloved California, so I picked a fictional world I’d thought up years ago for Faithful Danger. Rancho Lorena, loosely based on Santa Ynez. It’s rustic charm and Wild West history simply demanded my hero be–shocker–a cowboy. So Akron McCrory and Bree Bellflower’s story was born–sprinkled with my own Aunt Grace’s banana bread. (Each L,SL story was tied to a recipe.)
Here’s a snippet about all our stories. Oh, and did I mention we reached best-selling Amazon status? That is a true first for li’l ole me. Thank you, God.
HEART OF HOPE: He gave Bree her first kiss, but can he give her a future? She’s back in Rancho Lorena but not to stay—until Akron steals her heart. For good this time. But his ranch is in financial trouble, and she’s a rich developer. A recipe for disaster. Until they find the missing ingredients of love, happiness, and hope when they help out together at a home for young women in need.
LIKE A DANCE by Delia Latham
A former celebrity dancer with a child she adores. A successful but burnt-out therapist to Hollywood’s rich and famous. When they show up in Hummingbird Hollow at the same time, sparks fly… but can they fan the flames?
LANDING IN LOVE by Mary Manners
Erin Mulvaney is comfortable in front of both crowds and cameras. It’s the tango of one-on-one relationships, especially when it comes to men, that ties up her tongue. When handsome Kyle arrives to renovate her family’s restaurant, can she conquer her fears to cover the project along side him?
HER VALENTINE VET by Dora Hiers
Veterinarian Murphy Denton doesn’t trust people. Heiress Micaela Stanford would donate her fortune to care for abandoned animals. Her generous spirit crushes his defenses. Will his dysfunctional past prevent them from a happily-ever-after?
GOOD BREAKS by Zoe M. McCarthy
Life has dealt a mammography tech and an entrepreneur bad breaks and led them to a small North Carolina ski town. A new bad break introduces them. Can they share more than a love of skiing? Or is she intent only on fixing his flaws?
Best you cuddle up now with some sweets–I suggest chocolate–and a good cup of coffee. Or just maybe a glass of a big bold red–Heart of Hope is set in wine country, after all.
Welcome to my homestead! So glad the trail led you here. Just kick off your boots or sneakers or flipflops…you can even stick around here barefoot. Whatever you’re wearing or whatever mood you’re in, you’re bound to find something to read on my bookshelf. I always love me a cowboy, but let me say, I’ve got plenty of other other pieces in my Crazy Quilt. Please stay a while and check things out.
News Flash: My first-ever World War II story, Nearby, is first-up in the mystical anthology MUSIC FROM THE HEART, where each author’s story is based on a historic popular songs. “Someone to Watch Over Me” inspired Stella and Ty’s wartime love story. Are there really angels?
My sweet romance WHEN HEARTS FLY takes you to my very own imaginary town, Paradise, Nebraska, in the Old West. Innkeeper Cordy Meeker wants a cowboy all her own, and falls into the arms of Hawk Shockley, a handsome Brit wearing a Stetson. But her late and very bad twin brother has gotten her in trouble…Enter Eadweard Muybridge, the real-life father of the motion picture. Is he friend? Or foe? Is Hawk true love? Or a charlatan?
Then…ride along with me and seven other terrific authors as we take a JOURNEY OF THE HEART and explore every thinkable mode of transportation in the Old West. In Sorry, my preacher’s-niece heroine Sarah, aka Sorry, scandalizes Truckee, California, by Riding a Bicycle. And nearly runs down a handsome preacherman who’s trying to find his way. And his heart.
Just released in one handy beach-read anthology…the original Hearts Crossing Ranch series, all eight stories in one big book!
And now in print–my first-ever Time Travel romance Witchy Woman along with two other spicier stories in IT MUST BE MAGIC, all part of the 2016 Octoberfest at Cobblestone Press. You’ll have a fun ride going back with Allie and Pack to Salem, Massachusetts, one of my favorite places, in 1644 where they Save The World, (just kidding), fall in love (of course!) and, oh, it has nothing to do with witchcraft.
Tanya Hanson, romance author 
