Wednesday, March 9, 2016

ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS--rerelease Western Historical Romance



ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS

Genre: Western Historical Romance

Author: Celia Yeary

BLURB:

To escape an arranged marriage, beautiful, proper Cynthia Harrington from East Texas impulsively marries Ricardo Romero, a striking, sensual Spaniard who ranches on the far western edge of the Texas frontier. Innocently, she steps into a hotbed of anger, rivalry, and strong wills. As she struggles to gain a foothold in the hostile household and foreign ranch community, she finds that her biggest challenge is to make her husband love her.

Ricardo creates his own problems by marrying an outsider, angering his mother, father, and his jealous ex-lady friend. Then, the Texas Rangers arrive looking for a killer, and Cynthia saves Ricardo’s mother in a confrontation with the wanted man. Ricardo realizes that his delicate bride has more grit and spunk than he thought, and his greatest trial becomes a race to pursue his own wife and persuade her to stay with him.

EXCERPT:
While he waited in the parlor, Ricardo thought through his plan once more. Was this the right thing to do? His schedule was to leave for home in three days. Would that be enough time? He paced back and forth in front of the large front window, hoping Mr. Harrington would not come home. All he needed to do was convince Cynthia to marry him, and he believed he could.
He heard her approach and spun on his heels. There she was, pale but beautiful, sad but strong.
“Cynthia?”
“What are you doing here?” She cocked her head to one side. She looked like she’d been crying sometime during the previous hours.
“Will you sit here beside me?” He swept his arm toward the love seat.
She sat and he joined her. “Cynthia, I have news. And I have a proposition. Will you hear me out?”

Turning slightly toward him, she leaned forward in curiosity. “What do you want, Ricardo?”

“I want to ask you to marry me. Three days from now, if you will.”

She gasped and pulled back. “What?”

“I ask for your hand in marriage.” He studied her light blue eyes, so wide with surprise. She had not turned from him yet. “The marriage proposal you received yesterday will be retracted soon, before the afternoon is over, I’m certain. So, I ask you to marry me instead, but not a month from now—in three days.”

“Why three days?” she asked. “And how do you know Harris will retract his proposal?”

He almost laughed. She asked why so soon, not why on earth he would ask in the first place.

“Believe me; Harris Newton does not want to marry you.”

“Why?”

“He will retract his proposal because you were out on the road with me all night.”

“Well, then, why should I marry you in three days?”

This was a good sign, a good sign, indeed. “Because I’m going home, and I want you to go with me—as my bride. Will you, Cynthia? Will you marry me?”

She was speechless, but she did not reject him out of hand. After some moments of heavy silence, she asked. “Where exactly do you live?”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “West of San Antonio, on a very large ranch.”

“Why were you here in Nacogdoches? I’ve often wondered.”

“To buy blooded mares to add to our herd.”

“Our. Who else?”

“My father. He and I ranch together on property that has been in his family for generations. He and my mother live there, but it’s a very large house, and an enormous operation. It takes all of us and many vaqueros to keep things going. My father is aging, so I am mostly in charge.”

“A ranch? I know nothing of ranching or the West. I would like to live in a city. But you live…”

“Not far from San Antonio,” he hastened to say. “But it is far enough away that we only go twice a year for a holiday.”

She lowered her head and looked at her hands. “I don’t know. That seems far out of my realm of expertise. I’m not certain I could do that.”

“Answer this, Cynthia. Would you rather live here until your father finds another husband for you, or would you rather make your own decision? I’m giving you a choice.”

At that moment, they heard heavy, hurried footsteps on the porch. Both knew it was the master of the house. Ricardo gathered Cynthia into his arms. He turned her just so, placed his lips on her soft, feminine ones, and kissed her with all the passion he could muster. For good measure, he moved his hand to one breast. Instead of fighting, she responded as though she hadn’t heard her father.

“Cynthia Louise Harrington! What the devil are you up to?”

Ricardo and Cynthia pulled back, but they did not jerk apart. Instead, they gazed into each other’s eyes and parted slowly. Without caring if the man was in the room or not, Ricardo placed his palm on her cheek, and kissed her on the other, ever so sweetly and gently. Before he let her go, he whispered, “Will you marry me?”

She nodded and whispered in return, “Yes, I will marry you.”

 Telegram:

To: Rafaelo Romero. Double R Ranch. Rico Springs, Texas

From: Ricardo Romero

Arriving home Stop Twenty mares Stop One stallion Stop One bride Stop 

 Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas





Monday, February 15, 2016

The Perfect Excerpt


Excerpts—we love them, don’t we? There’s no better way to sample an author’s writing style than to read an excerpt. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to post the perfect excerpt. Many writers have their own methods, from very long, to very short, somewhere in-between, at times concise, and at others, rambling.In truth, most excerpts are too long, and some are much too long.What is the best method of selecting a sample of your writing? How can you entice a reader to read your full excerpt? 
Choose one that contains dialogue or action, not just narrative, and keep it short and simple. Consider the short story. The guidelines are: limit to a specific time, place, event, interaction, or character’s evolution. It is, in fact, a mini-novel, complete with a beginning, middle, and an ending, i.e., an abbreviated novel. The same is true for The Perfect Excerpt. 
Attention span is the amount of time a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Continuous involvement without any lapse at all is as short as eight seconds. The average adult who is engaged in an interesting activity or topic will remain focused for twenty seconds. People are also capable of longer periods up to two and a half hours when they are doing something enjoyable or motivating, such as watching a movie.
 Researchers have found that the modern adult’s attention span shortens as time goes on. The phenomenon of instant gratification in our technological world deters the attention span even more.Now consider the Excerpt. The guidelines are perhaps the same as those for a short story: one idea, one interaction, in one short time frame, wrapped up with a beginning, middle, and an ending, approximately three hundred words—a mini-short story with a hook at the end.  Here’s a test for you. How many words are in this article to this point? (310) How long did it take to read it? (Average adult-one minute.) 
EXAMPLE EXCERPT: From a short story titled "Starr Bright," featured in the anthology Cowboy Cravings. 'Conrad and Starr.'
Starr laughed low in her throat. "Oh, I don't think I'll need a man to make the decision for me. I know all about stallions, or studs, as you say. However, I have asked Mr. Taylor, here, to accompany and advise me."
Conrad remained silent. You did? You asked me to advise you? He wanted to laugh, but in truth, he was enormously pleased. With no expression, he nodded slightly to her. "Be glad to help." 
There was that tiny smile again, the one that was teasing, while at the same time a little sarcastic. Truth be known, he'd probably crawl through the burning fires of hell to get to her.
SECOND EXAMPLE: From “All My Hopes and Dreams” 
After several minutes, Cynthia was decidedly uncomfortable. Not only were the clothes chafing her skin, she needed to relieve herself.
“Mr. Romero?” she called.Silence.She cleared her throat as loudly as she could, but asked in a normal voice, “Oh, Mr. Romero. Are you awake?”
Lazily, he rolled his head on the trunk of the tree toward her. One side of his mouth quirked up, and to Cynthia, it certainly appeared to be a smirk. She ground her teeth but asked as mannerly as she could, “I require your assistance, Mr. Romero.” 
He moved his head to the original position and closed his eyes once again.Cynthia was furious, and she rarely lost her temper. Why ever be angry when she had her way all the time? After contemplating her problem, she rolled to the side, placed her hands on the ground, and managed to get to her knees. After struggling with the wet clothes, she was finally able to stand. 
In a huff, she strode as fast as she could in her hampered condition and reached his side. She lifted one almost bare foot, but before she could kick his leg, he caught her ankle, quick as a timber rattler. Unbalanced, she fell once more—the third time today—but this time she had a softer landing. Ricardo had grabbed her skirts and pulled her forward so that she fell over him.Her arms flailed about. 
“Let me up. Let me go. Don’t touch me, you…you scoundrel.”She stilled when she noticed he had his hands in the air, as if he surrendered. Even with the cheroot clamped in his teeth, he still managed to grin around it. One deep dimple appeared in one cheek.
Her stomach dropped.
THIRD EXAMPLE: From Rodeo Man-- A Contemporary Romance Novella with PBRJV.
 Cody turned to her, shaking his head. “Not a good spot for your bedroll. Not good at all.”
“Why not?”
“I saw mice droppings over here when I arrived.”
Mice?” she squeaked.
“Yeah, I guess they come out over here.”
“Noooo,” she said with her hands on her cheeks. “Is that the truth?”
“Seems likely to me. That’s why I sleep back over there.” He motioned with his head.
“Then, where am I going to sleep?”
Cody looked behind her, and said, “Whoa! One just popped his little head out that hole.”
Goosebumps popped up on Marla’s arms and down her back. In one motion, she squealed, “Eeek!” sounding just like one of the mice again, turned, and slammed into Cody. 
He stood his ground while she literally climbed up his body, grasping his shirt, wrapping her legs around his hips, and moving on up to clasp her arms around his neck. After only a few moments, she noticed he hadn’t moved, except to lock his arms around her bottom and boost her a little higher. Leaning back, she looked into his face. He grinned like a Cheshire cat, or the one that got the cream, not unlike the roguish grin she’d seen earlier.The man was dangerous.
“I’ll get down now,” she said, pursing her lips and looking away.
“Well…you’re gonna have to let go of my neck.”
When she did, he kept her escape in check by allowing her to slide down his body, unhurried, holding her close. When she stood toe-to-toe with him, she make the biggest mistake of her life. She looked up into his eyes.
“You sure are a little thing,” he whispered. 
“I’m petite.” 
“You’re short and compact,” he said low and sexy.

“I’m…will you stop it?”

“Haven’t done anything, yet.”
She raised one eyebrow in challenge. “Well?” 
********Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas 
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