Smiling Book Reviews: Ruth Logan Herne

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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Review: Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne

Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Prodigal Is Coming Home

It’s been a long time since Colt Stafford shrugged off his cowboy legacy for shiny Manhattan loafers and a promising career on Wall Street. But when stock market manipulations leave him financially strapped, the oldest son of legendary rancher Sam Stafford decides to return to the sprawling Double S ranch in Gray’s Glen, Washington. He’s broke, but not broken, and it’s time to check in with his ailing father, and get his legs back under him by climbing into the saddle again.

He doesn’t expect to come home to a stranger pointing a loaded gun at his chest— a tough yet beautiful woman that Sam hired as the house manager. Colt senses there’s more to Angelina Morales than meets the eye and he’s determined to find out what she’s hiding...and why.

Colt’s return brings new challenges. Younger brother Nick has been Sam’s right-hand man at the ranch for years and isn’t thrilled at having Colt insert himself into Double S affairs. And the ranch’s contentious relationship with the citizens of Gray’s Glen asks all the Stafford men to examine their hearts about what it truly means to be a neighbor. And as Wall Street recovers, will Colt succumb to the call of the financial district’s wealth and power—or find the courage to stay in the saddle for good?

MY REVIEW

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: More Than a Promise by Ruth Logan Herne

Genre: Christian, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Franciscan Media
Publication date: February 23, 2016
Number of pages: 292

"My Three Sons"... Naughty sons, at that!... meets "Sarah, Plain and Tall" in this delightful marriage of convenience story that shows how amazingly inconvenient love... and life... can be!

Widower Matt Wilmot is in trouble. His boys are causing chaos and wreaking havoc, his former mother-in-law is threatening to sue for custody, his father just had heart surgery and their family company is liable for a huge balloon payment on a loan his father took out to expand the business the previous year. But rain and illness took their toll, and Matt is having a rough time spinning multiple plates in the air.

But when he discovers Elle Drake next door, a woman with a wonderful hand at managing errant boys, cranky relatives, and frustrated men... Matt's world suddenly tips back into a more normal orbit. And when drastic measures are required, it's the girl next door who's there to save the day.

Elle Drake wanted nothing more than to create beautiful pottery and have a family, but when her millionaire husband publicly dumped the renowned artist for another woman, Elle moves back to Cedar Mills to start anew, the spinster artist with her big potting shed. But when her to-die-for good-looking neighbor thinks marriage is a good idea, Elle figures he's either crazy, desperate or right.

But a marriage of convenience can become its own conundrum, and when life takes sudden turns, can this marriage become all that they bargained for? And maybe more than a promise?

Purchasing Links:
AMAZON | B&N | CHRISTIANBOOK.COM

But Elle...
            Elle was amazing. Elle made the boys laugh. She made him laugh. She made them think about things other than themselves. She made them cookies, made them work, and most of all, she expected them to rise to a challenge. To be good. To be kind. And when they were around her, they tried to meet her expectations.
            Married. To Elle.
            He gripped her hand tighter as they made their way over to her house. His father moved ahead and Matt took advantage of the moment to slow Elle’s steps. “You seem to excel at getting me out of trouble.”
            Elle winced. “I couldn’t let her rake you over the coals like that. Who does that kind of thing, when someone’s house is burning down alongside them? Sorry.” She made a face of regret and sighed. “Now we’ll have to wiggle our way out of this and that’s going to be a tangle, but I figured it would quiet her down. And it did work,” she added with a quick, small smile.
            “What if we don’t wiggle our way out of this?”
            “What?”
            She tried to stop their progress, but Matt kept her hand in his and kept walking.
            “Matt.”
            “You said yourself it makes perfect sense.”
            “I said no such thing,” she hissed as they drew closer to the house. “We barely know each other.”
            He smiled into her eyes and saw the answering flicker of acknowledgment and interest. Real interest. “A lifetime gives us plenty of time for that, I guess.”
            “Are you crazy?”
            He was, kind of, because her off-the-cuff idea was growing in appeal. “Maybe. Or maybe you came up with the best answer possible.” They’d reached the door. He put a finger to his lips. “We’ll hash this out later.”
            “There is nothing to hash out.”
            He winked, because the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea.
            “Matt, I—”
            He kissed her. He kissed her long and slow and with a gentle firmness that said they had a lot to talk about. Later.   And when he stopped kissing her, he cupped her face with his two hands and whispered, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
            It was wonderful and he knew it, which meant she should take him down a peg, but his parents were excitedly waiting inside her back door. “We’ll discuss this later.”
            He grazed one finger across her lips. “I’m looking forward to it.”
            Insufferable. Confidence bordering on cockiness. Righteously good-looking. And he couldn’t possibly be serious. Could he? One look at his face said otherwise

I loved this book!! I've always loved stories with single parents with precocious children and a love interest that can charm and handle those children. This book has THREE children, all with different personalities, and Elle manages to charm them all.

Blog Hop Tour & Giveaway: Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne

Genre: Adult, Christian, Romance, Western
Publisher: Multnomah Books
Publication date: March 15, 2016
Number of pages: 320

Amazon Purchase Link

It’s been a long time since Colt Stafford shrugged off his cowboy legacy for shiny Manhattan loafers and a promising career on Wall Street. But when stock market manipulations leave him financially strapped, the oldest son of legendary rancher Sam Stafford decides to return to the sprawling Double S ranch in Gray’s Glen, Washington. He’s broke, but not broken, and it’s time to check in with his ailing father, and get his legs back under him by climbing into the saddle again.

He doesn’t expect to come home to a stranger pointing a loaded gun at his chest— a tough yet beautiful woman that Sam hired as the house manager. Colt senses there’s more to Angelina Morales than meets the eye and he’s determined to find out what she’s hiding...and why.

Colt’s return brings new challenges. Younger brother Nick has been Sam’s right-hand man at the ranch for years and isn’t thrilled at having Colt insert himself into Double S affairs. And the ranch’s contentious relationship with the citizens of Gray’s Glen asks all the Stafford men to examine their hearts about what it truly means to be a neighbor. And as Wall Street recovers, will Colt succumb to the call of the financial district’s wealth and power—or finally the courage to stay in the saddle for good?

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family, her country, dogs, chocolate and coffee! A country gal with a heart for the big city, Ruthy likes nothing more than to write the kind of books she loves to read, and she's even more happy that now she gets paid to do it! She's been married for a Very Long Time and she and her husband Dave live on a small farm in upstate New York where lake effect snow buries them on a regular basis in winter. But that's all right... it gives her more time to write!

Interview via SLB Tours

1. How did you get started as an author? What or whom inspired you?
I think I’ve known all my life that I wanted to write books. As far back as I can remember I was a reader and a storyteller, so the urge came naturally to me. Realizing what I wanted to focus on, romance with women empowerment came as I got older and things began meshing in my head. I love stories that reach out to women and help lift them up spiritually and romantically with the joy and strength of faith and the quest to strengthen themselves to be all they can be on their own… the hunky hero is a bonus!

2. How many books have you written and in what genres?
I’ve written over thirty books now, with several releasing this year and next. I still PINCH MYSELF that this is real!!!!! Happy dancing! I love romance, so there’s romance in all of my books, but the longer books are more a single title romance with either stronger family issues or external conflict woven in. I can hint at these things in my Love Inspired romances, but I can delve a little more with an extra 25 thousand words. Having said that, I love my Love Inspired romances and the chance to reach readers at such a reasonable price. That means the world to me.

3. What does your writing process look like?
I’m a linear writer. I don’t skip around chapters, I weave a story like you would a tapestry, from beginning to end, and then I go in and add the embroidery… which is refining, editing, revising and tweaking. I get up between 3 and 4 in the morning and work until my before school kids come for breakfast around seven… and when they’re on the bus, I clean up the kitchen and go back to writing. I try to get 2-3,000 words in every day now that I don’t have children here all day. (Until September, I worked full-time and wrote part-time. Now I’ve flipped that to writing full time and wrap around care part time)
And I try to hop online and connect with readers via Facebook and Twitter a few times a day. I love Facebook because it allows me to talk with people and see how they’re doing!

4. How long does it typically take you to write a novel?
This varies on the length and how much of the story I have in my head. But I think if you gave it a three-month window, you’d be accurate. That allows me time for self-editing, too.

5. What projects are you currently working on? What can you tell us about these projects?
Right now I am working on a couple of Christmas projects, a novella collection for St. Martin’s Press in NYC and a historical Christmas collection that is only being whispered about right now because contracts are not signed as yet… So we’ll chat about that next month! I’m also doing some edits on next year’s books and developing a delightful romance series that’s got a quirky little town, a Christmas baby, and three women who pledged to never lose their way… but somehow have managed to do just that. So we help them find their way back to faith, hope and … of course!... love.

6. What inspired the idea for Back in the Saddle? How many novels are you planning for this series?
I’ve always loved cowboys and when Waterbrook editor Shannon Marchese asked for a cowboy series, two of the books were already in my mentally planned storage container. (Some people refer to this as their “head”.) I pulled them out, dusted them off and looked at these heroes… and then the third hero…. And decided that I wanted a “Bonanza” meets “Dynasty” style story line… So there are three motherless men and we get to see how that affected each boy/man differently. Woven into the stories is a really good look at how similar events can have grossly different effects on children and their later perceptions, and how often we push ourselves to make the same mistakes our parents did… while trying desperately to prove them wrong. The FUNNEST part of all of this was creating heroines to match these guys and give them the wake-up call they needed! And all these cute kids, dogs, cows and horses, ramblin’ old cowboys and smokin’ hot young ones… This is a three-book series and contains everything you could want to make the reader smile… cry, maybe, just a little… and then sigh, happily. And that’s my recipe for a great story!

7. What other hobbies do you enjoy when you are not writing?
I love gardening and in upstate we only have a few months for that, so I enjoy it while I can…. And in winter I try to fix things in this old house, and when I fix one thing I usually break two others… but does that stop me??? It does not! J Mostly, though, I enjoy family. We’ve got six kids, plus my beautiful niece that I kind of stole from my sister… Five of them are married, and we have 14 grandchildren that we absolutely love. So hanging with kids comes naturally to me! I don’t know if you can call kids a hobby, but they’re a definite resource for book research! :)