What happens to your brain when six out of seven days are filled with smoke-laden, unhealthy air trapped beneath dark, gray-brown skies?

Nothing good. I did manage to set up some guest blogs and participate in a Facebook party to celebrate my #NewRelease. But I couldn’t muster as much hoopla as I would have liked. My brain was not cooperating; neither was the #Creekfire, which is pushing 300,000 acres consumed (as I write this) and remains under 25% contained.

And then Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. I respected her as a fierce warrior for human rights, but also admired her as someone who lived happily ever after with her true love until his death and served her country until her own. RIP RBG.

But I am super excited to finally celebrate the release of ALL THE STARS IN MONTANA. And because you, my loyal newsletter followers, have been with me on this long—and sometimes frustrating (Covid-19)—journey, I’ve randomly chosen 3 names from the list to receive a PRINT COPY of one Property Sisters of Montana title. Your pick. (STARS is still in production, but I have should have my copies within a week or two.)

#1 – Dianne Kitson
#2 – Anna Zuniga
#3 – Kerry Cox Croucier

Please email me your snail mail address and I will put the book of your choice in the mail.

Meet The Property Sisters’s loves: Boone, Trey and Zach!

Three sisters, each with a unique hero.

• Boone Fielding loved Ruby enough to let her go...until she finally came back to him. Then all bets were off and on-the-job courting became a thing.
• Trey Brandel had no intention of falling in love OR staying in Montana…until he met Amber. Who trades a dream career in New York City for a risky business venture in a small town in Montana? The man who loves Amber McCall, of course.
• Zach Masters has no business falling in love with Jade, but does that stop him? Of course, not. He’d do anything for Jade—even if his “career coaching” leads to her big break and a job that compels her to live in Montana again.

I fell in love with each of the guys as I wrote their stories, but I also came to crush on them even more in the subsequent stories when they made good on their promises and words of love.

In this scene from ALL THE STARS IN MONTANA © Tule Publishing, you get to see the “brothers-in-law to be” in action.

______________________________

       Zach used the rocker to launch to his feet, and then held up his empty beer bottle. “Ready for a second. I’ll go with you.”
       He braced for a bit of sisterly grilling on the walk to the shop, but Amber seemed the most relaxed he’d ever seen her in the company of her future husband. Trey Brandel stood out in the crowd with a cosmopolitan style Zach sort of envied. His deep-yellow, linen shorts that stopped at the knee were topped with a loose, African-print shirt and interesting leather sandals that looked hand-stitched. Not West Coast, not East Coast, but something unique that set him apart.
       “You’re not from around here, are you, Trey?”
       The man looked at his wife-to-be. “Montana’s the last place I ever thought I’d be, but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
       Amber gave him a peck on the cheek. “Me too.”
       “But you grew up here.” Zach held the gate for the couple to pass through ahead of him.
       “And I moved away. Like Jade,” she added, stopping to look at him. Floodlights from the shop made it easy to read her expressive face. So different from her younger sister’s but similar too. “Sometimes you need a bit of distance to get the right perspective.” Her smile changed her face from pretty to beautiful when she turned her attention to Trey. “Right, honey?”
       Trey pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “Absolutely.” Then he added for Zach’s benefit, “I was supposed to be in New York taking over my dad’s magazine, but once I got there, I realized my life was here, waiting for me to come to my senses.”
       Perspective. Interesting. Was the same thing going to happen to Jade?
       A door opened in the side of the large metal building where they’d been heading, and a blast of distinctly country music reached them. Amber pivoted, hands on her hips. “Boone Fielding, what the heck, dude? Are you holding out on us? Sounds like the real party is in the shop.”
       The tall man standing in the doorway laughed and made a “come here” motion. “Jim just sent me to tell you the meat’s resting. Is everything a go up at the house?”
       Amber took Trey’s hand and grabbed Zach by the elbow. “Come on, guys. Let’s help carry that side of beef Zach brought.”

Last week's Q&A was: Have you ever been forced to flee from a natural disaster – fire, earthquake, tornado, tsunami warning? Yes or No?

Wow, my friends. I read about a few close calls. And I didn’t even include lava flows from a volcano in my list of natural disasters. I’m glad to know the majority of us has been truly fortunate. Even if we…okay, I… whine about the inconvenience of the smoke, I know I’m very lucky because the fire itself is miles and miles from us.

My two randomly selected winners this week are:

Linda Locobacci
and
Marie Bourgery

(Linda and Marie congrats. Please email me your pick of either a $5 Starbucks or a $5 Amazon gift card.)

Q&A

This week’s Q&A is pretty simple. It concerns your reading habits. Do you prefer stand-alone novels to connected series? Yes or No? Asking for a friend. 😉

(Two winners will be chosen by random drawing to receive either a $5 Starbucks gift card or a $5 Amazon gift card. Please reply the usual ways:
email or on my DebraSalonenAuthor Facebook page.)

Thanks to all who chimed in this week. It felt so good to re-connect with you all.

Take care and stay well,

Deb

Next week: Another remodel job…oh, boy. And the first snippet from Cupid to the Rescue.