Desert Inferno -- contemporary romance

image we took in 2011 on one of our desert hikes. The rattler is not in the book, but it is a symbol of the danger that is.

 

Next in my series, Romances with an Edge, is a contemporary romance where I wrote the first draft in the 1990's for the sheer satisfaction of creating it. I didn't think whether it was salable as back then, I wrote a lot of my contemporaries because I had read others; then wondered what would I write if I did them.

Desert Inferno broke one cardinal rule I had seen in most romance novels of that time. The hero was not handsome, not in his eyes or in those of many he arrested. Jake Donovan was a border patrolman and worked the desert along the rugged land between Arizona and Mexico to arrest those committing crimes and turn back those with no right to enter the United States. 

Even then, it was not popular with many people, but he had come from a difficult upbringing and chose this as his way to contribute. As backstory, his brother was in prison when this story begins. He chose the other way, and Jake had helped put him there for his crimes.

Back to writing, when the option to be an indie writer arose, the books took some changes to fit the time (communicating had changed a lot in those years. I brought out the first in 2012, it was Desert Inferno, which opens with the heroine, Rachel O'Brian, a successful artist with a career painting Southwest landscapes, many of her works in prestigious galleries.

The reader meets her when she has gone out from her family's ranch on the border, to do a plein air painting-- alone on the desert with her paints and her faithful truck, who she has named Matilda, (I by the way, never have named a vehicle, but I knew some did).

Action begins when she sees movement, believes it might be a person in trouble. She grabs a canteen, her gun, and walks out to see if help is needed.  She does know the dangers of this land. Assistance might have been earlier, but now the man is dying and soon dead. The desert can be deadly for the unaware.

Back at her ranch, she notifies the police that she needs someone to come out. The one who gets the notice is already on the border and shows up to assess what happened. It is Jake Donovan. This is the beginning of a beauty and the beast type story, though she does not see her beast as he sees himself or even as others see him.

Click on the link to get the free sample of how this begins and the flavor or the book.

The problem with this book, once I wanted to bring it out, was a cover. There were simply no male models that fit what I saw Jake as. Easy to get the beauty of the story in an image, but not the kind of man without perfect features and yet who has charisma, power, and the kind of energy that was attractive to many others, especially women.

I finally solved the cover problem with this image that does not show his face, but does that body she admires so much. It hints at the violence with the lightning.

Desert Inferno at Amazon

 With their very different upbringings, figuring out what would work for a relationship, where only one wants it, takes some time. Meanwhile, Jake has an enemy out to destroy him-- an enemy not safe for Rachel either. The ranch she has been raised on with her single father was in earlier historic romances in Winds of Change.

There is a lot of the desert in the book because of my love of it, not ignoring the dangers it can present, especially in wilderness. I also called Border office in Nogales, Arizona, to make sure I was keeping that part accurate for its time 2000. Being a painter myself, Rachel's part was easy to write. 

With twists and turns in the story, it kept the book interesting for me to see all this couple went through to get a happily ever after (you know, with romances, that's part of the deal for readers-- unlike how life too often works out...). 

Because I enjoy writing more than a couple, other characters crop up, including family, but always the romance is central-- again part of the deal with this genre. 

Embracing the Dream - Arizona Historic Romance

 Although, I plan to continue with my contemporary romances in the Romances with an Edge series, I ,also, like to write about what I am doing that I think might help those wanting to be writers. Putting out a book is much more than writing it. There is also how it will be seen, which means titles, covers and blurbs. Amazon and most other sites do not allow a change of titles or even series names. There are other options and that's what happened last week that did not involve contemporary books.

Ranch Boss and I looked at the cover for Embracing the Dream, which has had other titles, but never will again due to a better title, after it had been pulled and brought back (losing all prior reviews as did all the Arizona historical romances, Winds of Change series). The cover image did fit the book, as in a woman with a dream of a man, but seemed flat. We created a new one, using no AI, but do have some useful tools to do it. (I might write a blog on how creating your own cover works). We then improved the blurb for those who go to the book in Amazon. 

 It's hard sometimes to come up with a way to alert readers to what they might like about a book, especially when it's a complex romance (which most of mine are). I do not write a story that just tells of one relationship, the lovers. It will be at the center, but I really like the secondary characters, some of whom, as happened with Embracing the Dream, were in earlier books, and become hero and heroine in another story. It also can happen that such character end up secondary in future books if they fit the stories.  

For helping readers find books with subjects they like, there are lists of tropes. They also help a writer look either at the story they have written or for some create a story that might be more popular with readers. Tropes are those issues that have proven popular in other books. I looked through the lists for this book and found two that did fit, first was Forbidden love. His family is Yaqui, a family she really liked and who liked her. But this was a difficult time for the Yaquis in Tucson as there had been a  war raging in Mexico between their tribe and those in Mexico who wanted their lands. The violent altercations made those in Tucson leery of the tribal members who had come there. 

As for another forbidden part of her hopes, he had been married when she first realized her feelings, then even when later his wife left him, with their son, for another man, her parents were not happy with her dream as she was younger, by a lot. Age gap trope. They wanted her to grow up more and encouraged her to go back East to university, which she did. In the meantime, to help his younger brother, who tried to join the Rough Riders for the Spanish American War, he joined and was accepted while his younger brother was not.

When they both return to Tucson, after very different experiences, the book begins. I won't say more about it here. If you want the rest, click on the link below for my website in the series Winds of Change and that title, Embracing the Dream. Actually, because we changed the cover after the website was created, it has that other cover. When you click to see more, you will see the current cover, and it'll take you to the book on Amazon for the blurb and a free sample to read the beginning.

Rain Trueax Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Chance, Contemporary Romance

In my book, Moon Dust, readers first came across Judd Shipman, who was part of a youth gang determined to undermine the school where he attended, not because the kids had anything against education, but were brainwashed by a man who claimed to be a youth leader. After observing what was going on, he and his friend, Barry Kuntz began to see how wrong this all was and tried to turn things around. 

 

Second Chance is eight or so years later, Judd has gotten a second chance thanks to support of friends, especially the principal in that school, Dane; now he wants to offer that to others through the animal wildlife rescue center he has been putting together the hard way, after he got the education that again friends gave him. His friend, Barry is still will him but is fighting cancer. Life isn't easy for Judd as he worries about his sister who has had a drug and alcohol problem. Using the money he makes working as a truck driver, he helps his sister along with the animals that come to his center.

For me, as a writer, Judd makes a terrific hero. He has a tragic back story with being nearly murdered by his father, who killed his mother, but he has turned it around. Yes, he had help, but he still had to do that. His father is still in prison but could get out soon. His sister wants Judd to try to block that, but Judd believes in second chances. His sister goes to a psychologist to try to get her to convince Judd to block the parole, wants her to talk to Judd.

Well, again as a writer, who would make a good heroine? How about a woman also in Moon Dust, psychologist, Barrett Schaffer, who was also Susan's best friend. Judd's sister knows a secret about him that would make him possibly listen to a woman who has been only an unrealistic dream since he was a teen.

When they meet again, sparks are there, but there is an age gap, Barrett is now a divorcee raising a daughter. Judd encourages her to visit his wildlife rescue, but it's hard for him to believe this dream might become real.

What happens next between these two, with Barrett's difficult divorce, Judd's destructive father and an enemy determined to destroy his life, well, it doesn't get in the way of these two finding growing feelings, but first, can they overcome the obstacles, real and imagined, how will Barrett's daughter feel about a new man, not to mention, the fight back against their enemies, with the help of their friends from Moon Dust, still backing both of them. 

So, forbidden love or is it; age gap does it really matter; second chance or is it too late, and danger around the corner in many different ways.

If the book interests you, check out more about it in my website. In the contemporary series Romance with an Edge:

https://raintrueaxbooks.com/ 

 

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wildlife rescue

 Once in a while for me, characters just seem naturals for a second book. That happened in Moon Dust with two, rather unlikely protagonists and yet... were they? They became the heart of Second Chance, likely or not. 

Before I get into their story, this is the only book where I wrote myself and Ranch Boss into a book. Below is the clip where they appear, based on an experience we had with a wildlife rehab center, Chintimini, that we knew about in Corvallis, Oregon-- not the one in this book, but pretty much how it happens in such places where we brought an injured animal for help.

 I created the image above from a photo of our farm creek and the kinds of animals that often get rescued by sites like Chintimini and the fictional one in my book. All the animal photos were ours, which I cut out to make the image. Now, onward to the clip.

When the car drove in the driveway, he went out to meet the couple and direct them to the back. He'd created a temporary examining room out of a floor-less shed. It wasn't as good as what he'd had before the fire; but with a strong light overhead, it would serve.

The couple were older, excited about the bird they were carrying and concerned as to its chances. "Bring it on back," Judd instructed and asked Barrett to bring him a bottle of cortisone from the recently donated refrigerator.

Putting on his gloves, Judd didn't bother with the jacket. The owl that peered at him from the carrier had dilated pupils and seemed completely unaware of its surroundings. Even at that, the gloves were a precaution.

"Be careful. Their beaks and talons are sharp," he warned as the man set the carrier on the table. Barrett stood in the doorway as Judd reached into the carrier and carefully pulled the bird out.

The man gave a nervous laugh. "I got a good look at those talons when I picked him up."

"We were just lucky we saw him," his wife said. "Such a little bird, but he was tough. Stood there right in the road and somehow didn't get hit again."

"It's a barn owl," Judd told them as he pulled the bird's wings out, examining each one for breaks. Everything looked to be intact, which meant concussion and shock were its most likely problems. “It’s a female.” He smiled. “That’s good. They’re tougher in most species. We'll give her this to reduce the swelling and shock." He loaded a syringe with cortisone.

"What do you think her odds are?" the man asked, helping Judd hold the bird.

"I'll know better tomorrow." He picked up the bird and put it in a small cage. "I'll keep her in the house for tonight. If she’s still alive in the morning, I have an arrangement with a veterinarian. We'll see what she thinks."

The couple smiled with relief, left their phone number, and asked to be kept informed as to the bird's condition. When they had gone, Judd picked up the caged bird and carried it back into the house. 

I planned to write about the book, but more on our experience with the injured owl seemed better. Next week for the book.

We had driven from the farm to a nearby town for groceries, when we saw the owl just standing alongside the road. That didn't seem natural but when we returned we looked to see it still there. Getting out of the car, Ranch Boss wrapped it in  heavy blanket.

As soon as we had gotten home, stowed it safely into one of our cat carriers, we called the animal rescue facility, Chintimini in a town about 25 miles from here, where we knew they worked with wild creatures. They said bring it right in to assess its chances. An hour later, they were giving it treatment for shock and had said they felt it would survive, but it had a concussion. Fortunately its wings were unhurt.

After a few weeks, they had called to tell us we could come get it and release it back to where we found it, which we did, being blessed to watch the beautiful bird, as it flew into the night toward harboring trees.

https://chintiminiwildlife.org/ has grown a lot since then with expanded programs, worth checking it out. 

Evening Star

 

My contemporary novels are not as linked together as have been my historical novels. When I wrote them, that was only off and on in my mind. Some characters know each other, but my priority was the issues that interested me as is the case with this one. When I made the decision to bring these books out as an independent writer, I looked at whether I could change any of that. I felt not without losing credibility for these characters.

One example of where I did know is the hero of Evening Star, Randy O'Brian, I knew his ancestors had come up from Arizona and were related to Cordell O'Brian, the marshal in my earlier historical series. 

I think for writers, it's good to have people the readers will enjoy following from hero/heroine to secondary characters. Readers like that. I like it, but you have to think ahead to make that work. Considering the first of these contemporaries were written in the 1990s, when the plots came to me, to have a couple of them related is fortunate.

In terms of timing for when these contemporaries took place, Moon Dust and Evening Star are closest though the people don't know each other. Well, in Portland, Oregon, it's a big city with a lot of people, who live there, who we will never know unless we come together via jobs.

Back to the story at hand and why it interested me. First issue that came up
for me, as a writer, was I generally have a point of view of the hero and heroine. I like to write that way, but I didn't do it this time. There are two points of view but none for the hero. I wanted others to see him through others eyes, given what he was doing. 

Would the reader wonder also what was up with him, who was he really, who knows? Other than novellas, I like writing what the hero is thinking (always have the heroine), but this book, a full length novel, I preferred to see it all through her eyes-- other than that one other point of view, who was not Randy's. I have thought of rewriting this book in first person, and tried out a chapter or two, but don't know that it would improve the story. It would be easy to do despite I have never written one that way.

Marla Jamison thinks she has her life as she wants it. She's experienced tragic losses and wants nothing like that to happen again. She has a successful career, a boyfriend to date but not care too much where it came to either of them. Convenient describes it.

Except meeting a man, determined to teach her another way, puts all her plans at risk. The heart knows what it wants and maybe that's what is best. Difficult though it might be to get there.

Just for fun, this is the first paragraph in the book, if I did change it to first person: 

Hearing my heels click as I made my way across the terrazzo flooring, I barely made it to the elevator before the doors closed. To be polite, I smiled for the quick thinking young man who had held them for me. Unfortunately, that led to a protracted view of his week. I managed another smile as I thought—whose week isn’t overloaded. Before we reached his floor, I politely fended off an invitation to dinner. I held onto my smile.

 Below is the link to the book in third person. Currently all contemporaries are only at Amazon. That could change since they are finding no readers, but not sure it'd be better if they were wide like the historicals.

Evening Star