Hello, January by Merrillee Whren

January 2025 is nearly half over. January can be warm or cold, depending on where you live. I live in southern Arizona, and January in this part of the world is not especially cold. January in the southern hemisphere brings with it warm, if not hot, temperatures. We occasionally get snow in the valley, but that is rare. We definitely get snow in the nearby mountains, as you can see from the photos above. Southern Florida has a warmer winter climate than southern Arizona. We recently enjoyed those two sunsets while in southern Florida near the beach as we took in a few warm days.

In January, people think about new beginnings. Some make resolutions or goals for the new year. In my book, A Match to Call Ours, my heroine Brittany Gorman is definitely looking for a new beginning. She has recently lost her job and broken up with her boyfriend of eight years. It is time for a new start, and it's January in Montana, where you find lots of cold and snow. You can find buy links for this book by clicking on the title of the book above. 

Here is a photo taken by a friend who lives in western Montana.

I lived in Montana when I was in elementary school. I walked to school in some really cold weather, dressed in so many clothes I looked like the Michelin Man. We skated, sledded and built snowmen. We had a great time in the cold, cold weather. Now I choose to live where the winters aren't so cold. I like to see snow once at Christmas and then not again unless it's in the mountains near us. Here is the snow we experienced in Massachusetts just before Christmas.

So whatever your weather is in January, enjoy this beginning of a new year and be sure to check out A Match to Call Ours, the first book in my Front Porch Promises series.

What kind of January weather are you having?

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

Fictional Character and Real Life by Merrillee Whren

Back in December of last year, I did a blog post about Montana Memories when I announced the pre-order for my book, A MATCH TO CALL OURS, the first book in my Front Porch Promises series. This book's original title under the Love Inspired imprint was Montana Match because, as you might guess, the book is set in Montana. Notice the photo at the top of the blog. This photo is a real life shot taken by a friend who lives in Montana. The photos of the characters are what I imagined Brittany and Parker look like. It's not always easy to find photos that match the images in my head.

In this book I used some incidents from my own life. When Brittany first meets Parker, he gives her ski lessons. On her first ride on a ski lift, she nearly falls on her face when she gets off. That actually happened to me the first time I rode a ski lift. There is a blizzard in the story, and I have lived through a few Montana blizzards. The little girls in the story talk about watching a calf being born, an experience from my own childhood.

I have used things that have happened to my family or friends in numerous books. My husband crashed an airplane, and I used that in Hometown Dad. When I was in college in Tennessee, a bunch of us drove over to Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. My hero and heroine in A Song to Call Ours go to the Highland Games. In A Place to Find Love, I take my characters on a trip to Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands as I relived some of the things we did on a trip to Europe several years ago. When I wrote Four Little Blessings, I gave the reader a taste of my former home, Amelia Island, Florida, showing everything from the beach to historic Ft. Clinch.

I could name a dozen more incidents I have plucked from real life and put in my books. I find it fun to put some real life into my fictional characters. What is something from your life that you might like to see in a book?

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Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

Montana Memories by Merrillee Whren

 

     From the time I was four until I turned ten, my family lived in Billings, Montana. I remember walking over a mile to school when it was really cold, bundled up in coats, gloves, hats, snow pants, and boots. Blizzards, tall snowdrifts, sledding, building snowmen, and ice skating were a normal part of winter.

     When I started writing books, I decided I would set at least one book in every place I've ever lived. When I set out to write the adult stories of three teenagers who were secondary characters in some of my early Love Inspired books, I decided to set one of those books in Montana. Brittany's story became Montana Match. I relied on my memories of living in Montana. Although I didn't live on a ranch, we had a mini-ranch just down the street from us. Our neighbor raised cows, horses, and goats. We got fresh milk from the lady who lived at the end of our lane. 

     I put my hero on an isolated ranch, but he referred to himself as a gentleman rancher. He lives there, but he has hired hands who do the actual ranching. My hero has adopted twin daughters. One of my best friends in fourth grade was named Rose. She had Crow Indian ancestry, and I used her as a model for my twins. I even named one of them Rose.

     The other books in the series were never purchased by Love Inspired, so I decided to publish them myself, and the Front Porch Promises series was born. The series expanded beyond those three teenagers and their adults stories, and for the longest time, A Place to Call Home was Book #1 in the Front Porch Promises series. However, Montana Match was always intended to be the first book. Recently the rights to Montana Match reverted back to me, so I gave it a new title to go along with the other books in the series. It is now titled A Match to Call Ours, and it has a new cover. 

You can preorder it now for 99 cents. Get the buy links by clicking or tapping here.

What are some of your childhood memories?

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

Fall colors...and a free book! Roxanne Rustand

I love autumn. Unpacking sweaters, gloves, jackets.  The crisp bite of the air, the promise of blazing colors and then, eventually, snow.

Being a Minnesotan from birth, the prospect of snow fills me with excitement as I await those first delicate flakes.

This is a bit early for that of course, but leaving the heat of summer behind is always a delight!  What is your favorite season?

The color almost always turns quicker up north, so these are some photos from a trip to Wisconson. Seeing such beauty never fails to astonish me!

The skeletal white birch trees, set against the deep green of the pines and the wild abandon of the hardwoods trying to out-do each other is a ceaseless delight.

Something else that delights me is that I have  Christmas-themed book, Montana Mistletoe, coming out in November.  In fact, though it's technically a Christmas book, I believe it will be available on Amazon in mid-October!

This book was great fun to write. After living in the country and having horses all my life, I love to occasionally write series set in ranch country with cowboys and horses...along with the dynamics of blended families and the challenges so many people face these days...along the way to a once in a lifetime love.

Anyone leaving a comment will be in a drawing for a free-copy of this new book.

Here's the cover!

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful autumn!

Roxanne Rustand

USA Today Bestselling Author

Montana Mistletoe, Love Inspired      12/2018Falling for the Rancher, Love Inspired  6/2017 

High Country Homecoming, Love Inspired 6/2018 

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Bargain anthology--Sweet Christmas Kisses 4 & free book! Roxanne Rustand

It's so exciting, every year, to work on the Sweet Christmas Kisses anthology.  Our 2017 edition, volume #4, was no exception.  Again this year, we have a huge bargain for you---fourteen authors and  1,198 pages of Christmas themed stories!  Luckily it's in ebook form, as no one would want to carry around such a heavy book!  :)  

You can buy it on Amazon here: www.tinyurl.com/sweetchristmaskisses4   or in all other                  e-formats. And for those who leave a comment on this blog today, there will be a drawing for a free copy!

My contribution, A CHRISTMAS IN MONTANA is a prequel to my Shadows of the Rockies series, a very loosely connected set of contemporary sweet romance novels involving cowboys, ranchers, veterinarians and people who simply love the country and small town life. 

Two full-length e-books in that series are out thus far (COMEBACK COWBOY and A MONTANA LEGACY) and more are coming next year!  

Note that I described them all as "loosely connected" though.  The novella and the other books can stand completely alone--so you have a complete story in each without any loose threads or any unfinished business at the end.

Have you bought the anthology yet?  Have you started reading it?  If so,  would love to hear your thoughts on A CHRISTMAS IN MONTANA!

Roxanne Rustand

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