Besides the change in weather and animals, the next first treat I have for you is my newest release. The first book of a new historical western series.
Savannah is the beginning of the lives of the people connected to the Silver Dollar Saloon. This is an up and up saloon in Shady Gulch, Montana Territory. By up and up, I mean the women who work there aren't pawed and don't do any "favors" for any of the clients. They are treated as respectable women in the community because they are woman who have been saved by the owner of the saloon, Beau Gentry. They have bad pasts and worked at the saloon and live in the boarding house Beau owns to get over their pasts and learn to move on and become wives and mothers. It's kind of a mail order bride business in the sense each woman who is helped and comes to work at the Silver Dollar goes on to court, marry, and wed.
Even Beau, who is big and gruff and has kept his past private, will find someone to tear down his walls and help him become vulnerable to love. And his partner, Jule Mathieu, a Creole Beau grew up with will find his match. I can see this series going on for some time as women come and go in the saloon.
Here is the blurb and an excerpt from Savannah: Silver Dollar Saloon
Escaping a past full of deceit and
larceny, Savannah Gentry goes in search of her only kin, a half-brother she
discovered after her father’s death. She hopes Shady Gulch in the Dakota
Territory can give her a future. However, she stumbles into the arms of
Reverend Larkin Webster, finds herself working in the Silver Dollar Saloon, and
soon fears she’s gone from the frying pan into the fire.
After dodging death and
incarceration, the Topeka Kid decides to turn his life around and takes on a
new identity. Reverend Larkin Webster. It works, until he finds a temptation he
can’t resist and steals the heart of Savannah Gentry. When her past collides
with his, he wonders if this theft could end up with him losing everything,
including his life.
Excerpt:
Time for her to
play. She glanced down the bar as she untied her apron. Lark was still there,
sipping on a mug of beer.
He’d get to hear
her play. Knowing he would be listening, she straightened her shoulders, held
her head high, and followed Beau over to the piano.
Jules stood. He’d
been playing rollicking tunes for Lottie Mae and Freedom to sing along with.
She took her seat,
did a quick warm up, and lost herself in the rippling notes and lightness of
the Bach sonata. The other nights she’d played more serious music. Tonight, her
heart soared, and she showed that in her song choice. Her audience sat silently
as she played for fifteen minutes before coming to the end of the piece.
Clapping and
shouting ensued when she’d finished.
Beau and Jules
arrived at her side as men surged forward, begging her to play more. She would
have never dreamed men who frequented a saloon would take such pleasure in
classical music.
“Do you mind
playing one more song?” Beau asked.
“I would play all
night if you let me.” She sat back down and the room went silent. A lullaby
came to mind and she began playing. This song didn’t last as long. Again,
raucous applause exploded when she finished.
“You can hear Miss
Savannah again tomorrow night,” Beau said, escorting her back to the bar and
the blanket to the storage room.
“I can stay and
help at the bar,” she said, riding the euphoria of such a wonderful acceptance
of her music.
“Lark is in the
storage room. He’ll walk you to the boarding house,” Beau said, pushing her
behind the curtain.
She turned to give
him what-for but a hand on her arm spun her around.
Lark stood an
arm’s length away. “I’ve heard talk of what a wonderful piano player you were
but hearing you…it was like being taken to another place.”
His compliment
swelled her chest. “You felt that way? It’s how I feel when I play.”
“You, and your
music, are breathtaking.” He stepped closer.
She tipped her
face up, hoping he’d kiss her, but he grasped her hand, leading her to the back
of the storage room. Before they stepped out into the alley, she planted her
feet and tugged his hand.
He faced her.
“What’s wrong?”
“When you’re
dressed like this, I can forget you’re a preacher and hope you might like me
enough to…” Staring into his eyes she lost her gumption to ask for a kiss even
though that’s all she’d been able to think of since their last chaste meeting
of lips.
He took a step
closer. “I might like you enough to what?”
“Kiss me,” she
whispered.
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Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 32
novels, 6 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery, western
romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American
elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters.
6 comments:
Another winner!!! Very creative concept, Paty. Looking forward to reading this series also.
Thanks, Judith! You know me, I can't write something typical! LOL
Can't wait to read Savannah and the Topeka Kid's story! Loved the excerpt!
Thanks for stopping in Sarah. It was a fun story to write. Can't wait to write more in this setting.
So happy to see this release and the start of a new series. Love the character description. This will be a good one!
Thanks, Maggie! This is the first historical western romance series since the Halseys that I am excited about writing. I've discovered when I keep the same setting and secondary characters, it makes writing the book easier.
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