Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Author Spotlight: Mandi Blake

Hi friends! Today, our author spotlight is on Mandi Blake! Everyone, say hello to Mandi! Without further ado, let's get to know Mandi and her book Mistaking the Cowboy.


Author Bio:
Mandi Blake was born and raised in Alabama where she lives with her husband and daughter, but her southern heart loves to travel. Reading has been her favorite hobby for as long as she can remember, but writing is her passion. She loves a good happily ever after in her sweet Christian romance books and loves to see her characters' relationships grow closer to God and each other.


Here's Mandi!

My latest release is Mistaking the Cowboy, and I loved writing this one. It’s the third book in the Blackwater Ranch series that tells the stories of the Hardings who own and work the family ranch in northern Wyoming.

Mistaking the Cowboy begins when Haley makes a bold decision to surprise the man she’s been chatting with online. She mistakenly lays a welcome kiss on his brother instead!

This isn’t a love triangle, so you can breathe easier. It’s also packed with quirky banter and some funny moments.

Family is also important in the Blackwater Ranch series, and these characters are finding a forever home in the small Wyoming town.

Check out Mistaking the Cowboy to meet Asher and Haley, or start at the beginning with Remembering the Cowboy to meet the whole family.


Mistaking the Cowboy Blurb

She kissed the wrong cowboy, but what if he was the right one?

Haley Meadows was so excited to meet the man she’d been chatting with online that she greeted him with a kiss only to find out she’d planted a big, messy, passionate wet one on his brother instead! She has to spend the rest of her vacation at Blackwater Ranch pretending that she didn’t kiss the wrong cowboy and like it.

Asher Harding is knocked off his feet by an auburn-haired beauty, but his infatuation is quickly squashed when he finds out she mistook him for his brother. She becomes a staple at the ranch during her visit, and getting to know her only deepens his desire for the one woman he can’t have.

As Haley gets to know the Hardings, she finds herself torn between protecting her heart and giving it away to the man she’s falling for. In the moment of truth, she’ll run for the one who stole her heart. Mistaking the Cowboy is the third book in the Christian Blackwater Ranch series, but the books can be read in any order.

 
Purchase Link and to Connect with Mandi:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DHY5S31
There are lots of places you can connect with me. You can find all of my social media links here to choose which you like best.

I also have a small-town series that is complete with six books! They mix sweet, swoony heroes with a touch of suspense. Check out the Unfailing Love series here.



Friends, I sure hope you enjoyed getting to know Mandi Blake and Mistaking the Cowboy.



Thank you so much for joining us, Mandi!


If you're an author and you'd like to be showcased here, just let me know. Must be inspirational or clean, can be fiction or nonfiction.
Check out my website, connect with me, and sign up for my newsletter. https://sallyshupe.weebly.com/


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Author Spotlight: Cate Nolan

Hi friends! Today, our author spotlight is on Cate Nolan! Everyone, say hello to Cate! Without further ado, let's get to know Cate and her book Texas Witness Threat.

  

Author Bio:
Cate Nolan lives in New York City, but she escapes to the ocean any chance she gets. Cate loves to leave her real life behind and play with the characters in her imagination. She's got that suspense writer gene that sees danger and a story in everyday occurrences. She particularly loves to write stories of faith enabling ordinary people to overcome extraordinary danger.


Here's Cate!

One of the things authors are often asked is where we get out ideas.

For me, the answer is literally anywhere and everywhere.

I have so many ideas that I’d have to live another century to write them all.

So finding ideas is not the hard part. Turning those ideas into viable stories is where it gets challenging.

For Texas Witness Threat, I had a question in mind – how would it feel if you experienced something, but no one believed you?

That was the nugget, but I needed to turn it into a story with a plot. And since I write for Love Inspired Suspense, there needed to be danger – lots of danger.

So I started with a murder.

Christine is coming from an early morning meeting when a sudden violent storm forces her to seek shelter. The only thing available is an abandoned warehouse – but she soon learns she’s not really alone.

She witnesses a murder – and then the killers realize she saw it so they come after her. She is fleeing them when she slips and falls in the path of a car driven by Texas Ranger Blake Larsen. That turns out to be the best thing that could happen to her.

But I needed more –
Who was murdered?
What happened to the body?
Why was the person murdered?

I love to plot, but I’m bad at outlining. I love to describe myself with a term I learned from romance author Jo Beverly – a mist-er. I write into the mist. I can see what’s just ahead, and I know where I’m going, but there’s a lot in between that I can’t see until I’m upon it.

Sometimes research helps. For this story, I relied on a piece of research that had fascinated me. After Hurricane Ike hit Texas in September, 2008, groups of Amish people from Indiana came down to Texas to help rescue animals, rebuild fences and homes, and generally help out. One person quoted in the article said he “came to help Texas ranchers to return a favor because other volunteers helped his town after a powerful tornado hit in 2007.”
That struck such a chord with me. I mean people helping others and then those folks returning the favor by helping others is a lesson close to my heart.

I started to wonder WHAT IF they liked it and stayed????

Once I had that piece, the story fell into place. I’m not going to say any more about it because I don’t want to give away the plot.  Suffice to say, my hero and heroine have to visit this Amish community to help solve the crime and save Christine. I loved being able to explore the Amish faith element though Christine’s eyes.

Now I’m on to more WHAT Ifs with the next story.

Texas Witness Threat Blurb

She saw something she shouldn’t have…Assistant US Attorney Christine Davis is positive she witnessed a murder, but with no body, the police aren’t convinced. Now someone wants her dead, and Texas Ranger Blake Larsen is the only one who believes her. For Blake, protecting Christine must stay more important than their growing feelings for each other. But can he keep her safe from an unknown enemy who wants her silenced?


Purchase Link and to Connect with Cate:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089RM8LP6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCateNolan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCateNolan
Amazon author: http://www.catenolanauthor.com/


Friends, I sure hope you enjoyed getting to know Cate Nolan and Texas Witness Threat.



Thank you so much for joining us, Cate!


If you're an author and you'd like to be showcased here, just let me know. Must be inspirational or clean, can be fiction or nonfiction.
Check out my website, connect with me, and sign up for my newsletter. https://sallyshupe.weebly.com/