SO YOU WANT A LIP-SMACKING HAM by Marisa Masterson

Fall on the farm. The harvest is in. The weather has taken a turn, with mornings growing cold. It's time. Time? To do what? 

In my next new release, The Stranded Rancher, a farm becomes the setting for my book. For my characters, fall means butchering. It was time to prepare meat for the winter. With no freezers, two things became essential—as I discovered in my research. The family needed a smokehouse and a pork barrel. Both allowed for the preservation of fresh pork.

I was especially interested in the steps my character would follow to make hams. As I read on it, a discovered a type of sugar that was new to me. Muscovado. The clumpy sugar-making byproduct was cheaper, though harder to work with since it had to be separated to use. Cooks needed hammers to break it apart!

From The Stranded Rancher:

She had placed large covered crocks in the root cellar behind the house. Jack even shoveled a path to that cellar. After she washed the hams, she headed to the kitchen. 

The cellar stayed cool. Meat would not spoil there, and the hams would soak in the brine for a week, covered to stay clean and free from worms or bugs. Next, she worked with the pork belly. This, she washed, and then she rubbed pepper and muscovado into meat that would become bacon. 

Since it was the least expensive sugar, she had urged Caroline to buy muscovado rather than the more refined brown sugar. Both sugars contained molasses. Muscovado was a by-product of the sugar process. It was clumpy, which forced her to knead it with her hands before she rubbed it into the washed pork belly. Sybil’s shoulders ached by the time the meat rested inside the small barrels. 

Prior to hammering the lid onto the barrel, she poured salt over the dry rub already coating the meat. She moved the containers onto the porch. Gus would carry them to the cellar. At least, she did not have to do that step. In a few days, they would open the barrels. Jack planned to light a fire in the smokehouse and hang the bacon above it.

So, the secret to the hams? Sugar, time, and patience while the ham rested in a brine. I am glad I can head to the store to get my hams and not do the butchering!

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Jack and Caroline Poston are stranded. Her pregnancy makes trailing to Texas impossible. Instead, they head to her hometown to claim the farm left to her. A horrible surprise waits for them.

Jack can't help but wonder why such a pleasant man would cheat his child out of her property as he tours the farm with him. Caroline’s father legally claims her inheritance. He makes it clear that he does not intend to return it to her.

In a short amount of time, Jack realizes the true problem lies with Caroline’s stepmother. The scheming woman controls the farm. She refuses to leave and does not offer a place for them to stay. And as mysterious accidents begin occurring. Jack realizes that more than land is at stake.

Amidst the turmoil, Jack must turn to his estranged brother for help. To uncover the true villain threatening his wife, he must mend the rift between them.

Will Jack be able to keep Caroline and their patchwork family safe? Can he gain control of their new home, or will they be forced to leave once again?

Read the book's first chapter for free--https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ay4p1x9zo6

Look what our authors published in January!

Our authors have been busy writing your next favorite story.

Look what we published in January!

January Releases:

Pinna Sequoia Bride: National Park Brides book 14

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

     Training and caring for horses at her father’s side fills Pinna Walton’s summer at Sequoia National Park. But she yearns to be crafting her healing evergreen teas and syrups and fragrant soaps to help others in her small town in the valley. When she’s assigned a greenhorn to help her in the barn, she learns that city boys know nothing about anything useful in the California mountain wilderness. And he has to live down mocking her for wearing trousers.

      Orphaned young and in a Chicago gang by age twelve, Dixon Lombard counted himself saved when he attempted to steal the wallet of a well-dressed man and was caught. That man recognized skills in this street-wise youth and schooled him in additional ones. Years later, Dixon is disillusioned with being a Pinkerton detective and the types of jobs he’s assigned. Being shot on an undercover sidelines him, and he is invited to spend the summer with his uncle at a national park. He figures he’ll get a lot of reading done. But Uncle Sprague expects him to earn his keep and assigns him to assist with chores in the barn.

      Coming from totally different worlds, Pinna and Dixon struggle to communicate but she grudgingly teaches her boss’s nephew the essentials. On a foraging expedition, they run into some men living in a cave. Dixon recognizes a bank robbery gang from wanted posters of a five-year old crime. To keep Pinna safe, Dixon employs all his detective skills. Can he count on the independent woman to go along with his ruse? Will his skills be enough to save them?

      This kisses-only historical romance features hidden identity, fish out of water, and opposite attract tropes.

Release date: January 16, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G9BGS7QK

New Year's Dilemma

By Kit Morgan

A desperate young woman
A cowboy on a mission
And one simple rule…
      After The Sisters’ Mail-Order Bride Company lost their trusted assistant—to marriage, of course—they found replacing her far more difficult than expected.
The first replacement didn’t last long. She married a client. After that calamity, the sisters decided they needed rules for any future assistants. Strict rules.
Most importantly: No fraternizing with fellow employees or clients.
       Enter Ivy Goodhart, a desperate young woman who needs this job, and intends to follow every rule to the letter.
      But when the sisters also take on Caleb Hartwell, following those rules suddenly isn’t so easy. Because some rules are fragile things, and when working closely together begins to blur professional lines, both soon discover that the heart has a will of its own.
Release date: January 24, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GJNC51P2

     Not all of our authors make their books available on pre-order. For those who do, those advance sales go a long way to help their book ratings.

Below are some future books.

February Releases:

The Rancher on a Pennsylvania Farm

By Marisa Masterson

Who really inherited the farm?
     Jack Poston believes he has found a safe haven for his pregnant wife, Caroline, on a farm in Pennsylvania. But when Caroline's stepmother refuses to leave, Jack begins to question if he truly belongs on this unfamiliar land.
     As mysterious accidents start to occur, Jack must fight to protect his wife and uncover the truth behind the dangers. Will he be able to keep his family safe and hold onto their new home, or will they be forced to leave once again?
     Set against the backdrop of the quaint farms of Pennsylvania following the Civil War, "The Rancher on a Pennsylvania Farm" is a gripping tale of love and survival. Note: While this is a continuation of the story begun in The Bride on the Shawnee Trail, it can be read as a standalone story.

Release date: February 10, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/Rancher-Pennsylvania-Farm-Marisa-Masterson-ebook/dp/B0FW53SC6L

 March Releases:

No Finer Dream

by Jo-Ann Roberts

“Your journey doesn’t have to end in disappointment.”
      Lila Hartley had waited for hours on the frozen train platform, a mail-order bride no one came to claim, her trunk beside her like a tombstone. The man who'd promised her marriage, a home, and a future, left her stranded two thousand miles from Boston with nothing but the clothes on her back and a heart full of shattered dreams.
      Just when hope was fading, a man cowboy emerged from the white curtain of snow like an apparition, took off his coat, and changed her life.
      Clay McCallister viewed every woman who had taken a chance on the frontier as the sister he’d failed…a woman who’d risked everything for the possibility of something better, much like the woman standing on the platform in the bitter cold.
      Sometimes warmth doesn’t always come from fire — sometimes it comes from the heart.

Release date: March 6, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FY12R2SX

Brady's Burden: Mountain Men - Echoes of Thunder

By Kimberly Grist

       Where storms end, and thunder falls silent, could love find its beginning?

       Haunted by battlefield memories and sleepless nights, former Union officer Brady Holt carries scars he can’t name or outrun. Now guardian to children who have already lost too much, he lives in a state of vigilance—cautious, alert, and convinced that peace ended the day his hope did.

       He is silence, storms, and sharpened edges.
She figures he’s more stubborn than a mule and not nearly as friendly.

      A spirited bootlegger’s daughter from the South, schoolteacher Eden Murphy has nowhere left to run. With danger close on her heels, she heads west with only faith, grit, and a fragile hope    for a new beginning.

      She is warmth, wit, and wildflowers, with a soft Southern drawl that stirs up memories he’s spent years trying to bury.
He’s confident she’s just another burr working its way under his saddle.

      He wants solitude. She needs a fresh start. Could this unexpected connection calm the storms within and lead them to redemption?

Release date: March 31, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2NRSBZK

April Releases:

 

Bringing in the Sheaves: Sweet Historical Romance

By Marisa Masterson

     Kristin Gundersen's heart is torn in two. On one hand, she knows her father's crop is their only hope for survival. But on the other, she can't bear to see the threshers return, not after one of them hurt her. And when she meets Archie, the struggling pastor of a Swedish-speaking church, she can't deny the strong pull she feels towards him.

       But life is never that simple. As Archie puts all his faith in an excellent harvest to save his struggling church, he becomes entangled with Kristin. And as their relationship deepens, disapproval grows within his congregation. How can he follow his heart's desire when it goes against the beliefs of his church? And can a bountiful harvest truly solve the troubles within his congregation and within himself?

      If you enjoy heart-tugging stories of love and faith, you won't be able to put down this novel.

Release date: April 8, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4WMQZPC

The Bride Who Shoot Arrows: The Bride Who series Book 16

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

       Mayde Shelley has completed everything her parents asked: finish teachers’ seminary, make applications for a respectable post, and prepare to settle down. But what she really wants is to teach archery and maybe enter competitions— a pursuit no proper lady should love as much as she does. When a plea for help arrives from an uncle in Colorado, Mayde sees her chance for adventure before duty sets in.
       Life on the McPherson Ranch is rougher than she imagined—and so is Garek Rowland, a brooding horse tamer who’s never stayed anywhere long enough to call it home. He’s itchy to ramble and considering where to head…until he finds Mayde practicing her sport beneath the wide western sky. She’s stubborn, spirited, and everything he’s sworn not to want.
       But when drought and wildfire threaten the ranch—and whispers about their friendship spread through Spur Springs—Mayde must choose between her family’s future, her dream of teaching, and a man who won’t stop running. Can love blossom in a heart that refuses to put down roots?
Release date: April 9, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKQTR45D

May Releases: 

Rigby's Roar: Mountain Men-Echoes of Thunder

By Marisa Masterson

      Rigby had a dream job studying plant life in the beautiful Colorado mountains, but when the river turns yellow and the plants start dying, he knows something is wrong. Determined to uncover the truth, he heads to the nearby mine to investigate. But what he finds there is chaos and tension bubbling beneath the surface.
      As a professor from New York, Rigby is already a target for the angry miners, and now he must navigate the dangerous waters of a polluted river and a potential marriage to a stranger. Will he be able to protect his beloved mountains and his own future?
      Join Rigby on this thrilling journey filled with western romance and rugged adventure. Fans of action-packed stories and heartwarming love will not want to miss this captivating tale. And for those who enjoyed "Heart of the West" by Penelope Williamson, this book is a must-read. Don't miss out on the excitement.

Release date: May 12, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4XTWLZZ