Silver Bell Sweethearts and a Cookie Recipe

I had such a wonderful time writing the Silver Bell Sweethearts series.

It begins in 1876 with Gunder Birke, who comes to Oregon to better his future. He arrives in an ugly little silver mining town named Lovely, and finds the loveliest thing there is Risa Burke, the daughter of his coworker. He works for their mine, but begins repairing jewelry (skill from his mother's side of the family), and dreaming of crafting ornate bells (a talent inherited from his father's family). 

A Joyful Ring is Gunder and Risa's story.

Gunder and Risa's son, Caleb, continues the legacy of working with silver. He falls for Laramee Scott, a young woman running away from a Texas scandal. She finds refuge with her aunt and uncle (who is a horse trainer) while falling boots over saddle for Caleb in A Joyful Love.

In A Joyful Promise, Baylor Birke, Caleb and Laramee's son, works with silver, creating amazing western pieces. He falls in love with shy and sweet Bonnie McClure when she comes to Lovely to take care of her aunt, who has a broken leg, and help out her uncle, who is the community church's pastor. 

The final book of the series, A Joyful Home, is the story of Bo Birke, who has taken the family's silver talents to a whole new level, exhibiting her art around the world. Her favorite place, though, is Lovely and her two favorite people are Grandpa Baylor and her cousin Tanner. Then she meets Rafe Judson, son of a local rancher, and she's ready to add a third name to her favorite list. 

This recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies is old-fashioned and good, and something the Birke family would enjoy! 

Brown Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon molasses

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small mixing bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until combined, then add flour mixture, blending until combined.

Form the dough into walnut-sized balls and roll each ball in the granulated sugar, then place on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake about 8-10 minutes until the dough is set and just barely starting to brown. Remove from oven and cool in pan a few minutes before moving to wire rack to cool.

Yield: about two dozen

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield grew up on a farm where her childhood brimmed with sunshine, hay fever, and an ongoing supply of learning experiences.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

When this award-winning author isn’t writing or testing out new recipes (she loves to bake!), Shanna hangs out at home in the Pacific Northwest with her beloved husband, better known as Captain Cavedweller.


Connect with her on her website.

Courting Quilts on the Frontier — A Christmas Tradition Stitched With Meaning

 By Kimberly Grist

🪡 Courting Quilts on the Frontier — A Christmas Tradition Stitched With Meaning

On the 19th-century frontier, a quilt was never “just a quilt.” It was warmth, identity, skill, and storytelling—all sewn into something that could last for generations. Women stitched late into the night after the day’s work was done, creating pieces that marked hope, heritage, and sometimes even courtship.

While patchwork quilts and friendship quilts are well known, a quieter and deeply personal custom once threaded through pioneer communities: the courting quilt.


http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/quiltpartylg.htm

What Was a Courting Quilt?

A courting quilt was a special quilt made by a young woman preparing for courtship or marriage. Though the purpose varied by region, these quilts shared a more profound meaning: they represented hope, readiness, and the promise of a future home.

Young women across the frontier often filled their hope chests with handmade linens. Among these treasures was one special quilt—a symbol of diligence and homemaking skill—that would be displayed when a suitor called.

• A well-made quilt communicated qualities prized on the frontier:
• Industriousness
• Creativity
• Stewardship
• Readiness to marry 

Pictured below is the Sunburst Quilt, crafted in the mid-1800s. The circular insets and radiating arcs hint at the ring patterns quiltmakers would refine decades later into the famous Wedding Ring quilt design.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History — Sunburst “Sunburst Quilt,” c. 1850s, Public Domain.

⭐ The Family Blessing Quilt

Some courting quilts carried blessings from multiple generations. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and sisters stitched in symbolic patterns:

• Stars for guidance
• Crosses and diamonds for faith and endurance
• Path blocks for a new journey in life
• These quilts served as both art and blessing, piecing together a woman’s heritage stitch by stitch.

✨ Example: The Evening Star Pattern

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_642532

🎄 Quilts at Christmastime: Gifts of Love and Necessity

Christmas was one of the most meaningful times to exchange a quilt. Winter struck early across Montana and the western frontier, making quilts practical as well as sentimental.

• Families gifted:
• Comfort quilts for warmth
• Children’s quilts from repurposed clothing
• Best quilts intended for a daughter’s hope chest
• Courtship quilts were exchanged between young couples.

A handmade quilt was often the most treasured Christmas gift anyone could receive.

Star of Bethlehem Quilt, ca. 1830; Cotton, 95 x 95 ½ in.; Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alice Bauer Frankenberg; 59.151.7; Photography by Gavin Ashworth, 2012, courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

🪶 Native American Influence on Courtship Gifts

Many Native American tribes—especially throughout the Plains—incorporated courtship symbolism into handmade blankets, robes, beadwork, and quillwork. When a man presented a gift adorned with these patterns—whether in beadwork, quillwork, cloth patchwork, or as a soft, warm blanket made from animal pelts—it was a sign of respect, devotion, and a commitment to future responsibility.

Patterns often represented:

Protection

• Strength
• Courage
• Unity
• A promise of provision

These cross-cultural influences blended into frontier life, enriching quilt designs with geometric motifs and profound meaning.

A Tradition Woven into Ruby’s Christmas Escape

The symbolism of the courting quilt plays a special role in my new release, Ruby’s Christmas Escape. In the snowy mountains of Montana, Ruby carries her own history—stitched together from hardship, hope, and the longing for a home where she truly belongs.

As her path intertwines with Elijah Hawkins—a man as guarded as the winter landscape around him—the meaning behind a cherished quilt becomes more than a tradition. It becomes:

• A bridge between cultures
• A link to the past
• A promise for the future
• A tender sign of the growing bond between two wounded hearts

Every quilt square holds a story, much like the moments between Ruby and Eli, which come together in unexpected and beautifully redemptive ways. 

The story I’ve been working on all year is Available now!

Connect with Kimberly:

Author Kimberly Grist

Sign up for my newsletter: https://kimberlygrist.com/contact/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kimberly-grist
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FaithFunandFriends/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GristKimberly
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Grist/e/B07H2NTJ71

Fans of historical romance set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries will enjoy stories that combine history, Humor, and Romance, with an emphasis on Faith, Friends, and Good Clean Fun.

Christmas in Clear Creek and the Arrival of Doc Drak

Christmas in Clear Creek

As we head into a brand-new December, I thought it might be fun to revisit one of my favorite Christmas stories from Clear Creek—Christmas in Clear Creek, where the town prepares for its first annual Christmas play… and where a reluctant “bad boy” healer wanders straight into the middle of it all.

Here's a an excerpt from the book...

Clear Creek, Oregon Territory, November 28th, 1858

 

Bowen Drake had a gift. Unfortunately, he didn’t want it.

Not that it was a bad gift, mind you – most would say it was in fact a very good gift, even a great one. But it hadn’t served Bowen in the manner in which he’d hoped, and had left him wandering for years as a lost soul, looking for someplace to belong. Though it didn’t help that he’d been looking in all the wrong places – on purpose.

What drives a man to want to be bad?

Well, Bowen had his reasons. He and his father didn’t get along well anymore, owing to Bowen blaming him for his mother’s death. After all, if Franklin Drake M.D., a prominent Philadelphia physician, hadn’t been out treating and saving everyone and their grandmother from influenza in the winter of ‘48, then perhaps he’d have had time to save his own wife (and Bowen’s mother) from the disease. But no, Doc Drake was never home to help her – too busy being a hero to the city.

To compound the problem, Mrs. Drake’s death was as hard on the doctor as it was on Bowen. Dr. Drake took to drinking to cope with the loss – and perhaps his own guilt – which led Bowen to take to leaving. Bowen was greatly gifted in the area of healing, some said divinely so. But the break between father and son had been dramatic, and traumatic. 

How could the man preach to others to turn away from the evils of drink, Bowen asked himself, only to destroy his own body with it every night? How could he prescribe that cleanliness was next to Godliness when he himself stunk to high heaven for lack of bathing? How could he admonish others to take care of what they had, when he had squandered everything he had since Bowen’s mother died? “Physician, heal thyself” indeed!

And it wasn’t just his father who’d set a bad example. In the process of staying away from his father, he’d spent even more time at school – specifically Harvard University – learning medicine under the tutelage of Drs. George Parkman and John Webster, famous physicians in their own right. So imagine his shock on a morning in November 1849 when he first heard the news that Parkman, who’d almost become a substitute father to him, had disappeared … and then on Thanksgiving Day, watching the police haul away his mentor Webster after charging him with Parkman’s murder.

Webster had, indeed, murdered Parkman, after Parkman had demanded Webster pay back some money he owed him. Two great medical men, one dead, the other to be hanged the following year, and all over what? A handful of cash. The scandal made national headlines, and tore apart the city of Boston and the town of Cambridge, where Harvard sat. But it did just as much damage to the heart of the young medical student Bowen Drake.

So while young Bowen did eventually complete his medical studies and earn his M.D. degree – with highest honors, for what little that was worth – he had already rejected even the possibility of practicing medicine. As far as he was concerned, doctoring was nothing but a joke upheld by hypocrites of the worst sort, such as his own father and the late, unlamented John Webster. This son would not be following in his father’s footsteps; the student would not pursue the calling of his teachers.

Instead, he’d decided to give his father (and peripherally, his professors) a good dose of his own medicine and do the opposite of everything his father wanted. Maybe that would shock him into reality. Maybe he’d return to being the man he was before the death of Mary Drake, the beloved wife and mother he’d abandoned to the grave.

So after graduation, Bowen took to drinking just like his father. He soon found his sensitive stomach wouldn’t last, so he gave it up – but let his father think he hadn’t. Games of chance were another option, but after a few weeks in the various gambling hells of the area, he found himself growing bored, not to mention insolvent.

Instead of finding a nice respectable girl to marry, he tried womanizing, but that was even more disastrous. The women kept leaving before Bowen had the chance to break their hearts. Worse yet, they all seemed to wind up with someone perfect for them, get married, and live happily ever after – all while thanking him for his superb matchmaking skills. As far as he knew, he had none – he’d just happen to mention a gentleman he knew, drop a name, and like magic they would show up in town. They’d meet, and off she went. So that was a dead end.

Clearly, he would have to try harder to disappoint his father, punish him for letting his mother die. He hit upon the idea of seeking company of the acutely undesirable – surely that would be enough!

Unfortunately, Bowen’s gift for doing good followed him. He headed west and joined an outlaw gang, but within two weeks of joining, half of them came down with a bad case of “the guilts” and turned themselves in! The other half were none too happy to have to disband to save their hides from their blabber-mouthed ex-partners, and correctly blamed Bowen for their plight.

It didn’t stop there. He joined another gang and, while trying to rob a train, saved a baby instead. This did nothing to improve his already damaged image in the outlaw world. Nonetheless, Bowen found another gang to hook up with … but within a month managed to get them all arrested during a stagecoach robbery in which he appeared to save the stagecoach drivers and passengers (one of which was the niece of the owner of the stage line). He even got an honorary mention in the local gazette for his “heroism.”

Now brought even lower – and decidedly persona non grata in the criminal community – he figured it couldn’t get any worse if he pursued crime as a solo career. Wrong again. His one attempt to rob a bank went awry due to a wagon he’d set aflame as a distraction. Because of a shift in the wind, the local gambling house caught on fire as well, and he wound up on the fire brigade along with everyone else in town. The gambling hell was destroyed, which was a darn shame for the gamblers, but the local Ladies’ Society for Godly Living rejoiced that their prayers had been answered and their husbands were now home at night.

So that’s where things sat on the third-to-last day of November, the year of Our Lord 1858. Bowen James Drake: frustrated, depressed, unsuccessful at outlawry, with no prospects, no place to go, very few resources and nothing to belong to, not even an outlaw gang.

And to make things worse, he’d heard from an acquaintance back home. Turns out his father had been

elated every time he found out about Bowen’s heroic exploits – and not only did he let everyone in Philadelphia society know about them, he would get stinking drunk to celebrate. Some of his professors at Harvard, the same ones who had claimed Webster’s innocence even as the murderer was led to the gallows, were bragging about their former charge as well.

He’d run as far as he could, as far west as possible to get away from his hypocritical father and the horrendous loss of his mother, from the profession he’d grown to loathe. But he couldn’t get away from his special gift, no matter how much he hated it, no matter how little he cared whether he lived or died. Things always worked out for the better where others were concerned when in his company … but they never seemed to work out for him.

He still hated his father for letting his mother die.

He still thought his father was a horrible hypocrite.

He thought medicine was a dodge for charlatans and the two-faced.

He still didn’t want anything to do with doctoring as a lifelong vocation.

And he still, just once, would like to see something go wrong with everything around him just to let himself know he was “normal,” because at this point he was beginning to feel like a freak of nature. He actually even said to pray for it to come about.

Obviously, no one had told Bowen the old saying, “be careful what you pray for.” Or he just hadn’t listened.

 

 A Character I Still Love

Doc Drake remains one of my favorite characters to write. He wants so badly to be the villain of his own story—grim, dangerous, untouchable—but his God-given gift for healing refuses to cooperate.

And Clear Creek?
Well… it has a way of softening even the hardest shells.

A town Christmas play, a community that welcomes him, and a heroine who sees straight through his scowl all combine to turn Doc Drake’s life upside down in the best possible way. And when his old gang catches up to him, Bowen has a chance to redeem what little bad he did manage to pull off, and do something good.

Every December, I find myself thinking back on him—his stubborn heart, his reluctant goodness, and the way Clear Creek embraced him long before he was ready to embrace himself.

 Wishing You a Beautiful Start to the Season

As we move into the Christmas season, I hope Bowen Drake's unlikely journey brings you a smile. Whether you’re revisiting Christmas in Clear Creek or discovering it for the first time, may it bring warmth, laughter, and a touch of frontier holiday joy.

You can find Christmas in Clear Creek here:

Amazon

Merry Christmas,
Kit Morgan

A THANKSGIVING SLEIGH RIDE? by Marisa Masterson

 

Imagine the mounds of snow. Crisp air hits your lungs as you breathe. The horse waits, shifting so that the sleigh bells sound.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Designer-Greetings-
Winter-Sleigh-Ride-Vintage-Christmas-Card/706102857

One man described this exact scene to celebrate Thanksgiving. Yes, that holiday--not Christmas. Jingle Bells by James Lloyd Pierpont is really a Thanksgiving song.

Why a sleigh ride on that day? According to legend, Pierpont wanted to write a song to commemorate his town's annual sleigh race. 

And consider that setting. This is not a fun, leisurely ride. It is an intense race:

https://www.metmuseum.org/es/art/collection/search/380479

 

Go it while you're young

Take the girls tonight

Sing this sleighing song

Get a bobtailed bay Two forty for his speed

And hitch him to an open sleigh

And you will take the lead

If you think of a sleigh race, the last line of the above quote makes sense. "Take the lead", as in pull ahead of the other races.

Because the song never once mentions Thanksgiving, it lends itself well to Christmas. It beccomes a nostalgic glimpse into holidays past, to a time long gone.

A great source to learn more--https://unrememberedhistory.com/tag/medford-massachusetts/

A New Release! 

Can they go beyond being compromised to becoming committed sweethearts and a family?

• Marriage of Convenience at Christmas
• Secrets Exposed
• Old West Adventure and Suspense
• Happily-Ever After
• Clean, Wholesome Romance

Click here to discover your next great read!

Look what our authors published in November!

  

Our authors have been busy writing your next favorite story.

Look what we published in November!

A Joyful Ring: Wholesome Holiday Western Romance (Silver Bell Sweethearts Book 1)

By Shanna Hatfield

A rugged freighter, a hopeful dreamer, and a Christmas they’ll never forget.

In 1876, Gunder Birke leaves the daily struggle of Pittsburgh behind, determined to build a better life in the rough-and-tumble mining town of Lovely, Oregon. Hired as a freighter to haul dangerous explosives for the local mine, Gunder faces ongoing danger—but nothing as treacherous as the risk to his heart when he meets the beautiful and spirited Risa Hoffman.

After losing her mother and siblings, Risa has spent most of her life on the move with her father, never knowing what it means to have a real home. When she convinces him to settle in Lovely, the remote, uninviting town is far from the idyllic refuge she imagined. Still, Risa pours her hopes into building a future, working at the boardinghouse while dreaming of a finding a husband who can offer stability and comfort.

But when Gunder’s steady kindness and quiet strength awaken feelings she never expected, Risa must choose between the security she’s always longed for and the love that rings true in her heart.

As snow begins to fall across the rugged Oregon landscape, two souls discover that sometimes the most beautiful gifts come wrapped in hope, faith, and the promise of love.

A Joyful Ring is the first book in the wholesome holiday Silver Bell Sweethearts series.

Release date: November 13, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FW8NZJ25

A Joyful Love: Wholesome Holiday Western Romance (Silver Bell Sweethearts Book 2)

By Shanna Hatfield

One spark of hope. One act of courage. One joyful love.

     Caleb Birke once believed adventure waited somewhere beyond the horizon. But after wandering the world, he discovers the one place his heart longs to be is right where he began—home in Lovely, Oregon. Now devoted to preserving his family’s legacy of fine silverwork, Caleb lovingly crafts everything from heirloom sleigh bells to western saddle silver, each piece carrying stories of the past and hope for the future.

     A routine delivery trip to Baker City becomes anything but ordinary when he meets Laramee Scott—a lively, sharp-witted horse trainer who steals his breath and quickly claims his heart.

After fleeing a scandal in Texas, Laramee is grateful to find refuge with her aunt and uncle in Eastern Oregon. The land, the horses she loves, and the freedom to rebuild her life are exactly what she needs—until one unexpected encounter with Caleb makes her wonder if she wasn’t running from her past, but being led toward her future.

     As Christmas draws near and snow begins to fall on the high desert, Caleb and Laramee discover that love—like silver—can be shaped, refined, and polished into something lasting. But only if they are willing to trust their hearts... and believe that sometimes the greatest gift of all is the courage to love.

     A tender, heartfelt holiday romance, A Joyful Love is filled with family legacies, jingling sleigh bells, and the timeless hope Christmas brings.

Release Date: November 20, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZLY7S2H

Kringla by Kelci: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen book 40

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

     Kelci Odell yearns to be a newspaper reporter and is caught upstairs at a saloon, dressed as a man. Her wish was to interview the ladies and expose their plight in an article that would land her a job…instead of making cheese on the family dairy farm. But her conservative Norwegian family is scandalized. The solution: send Kelci to her cousin Ritter’s Astoria, Oregon hotel until the gossip dies down. Being in a new location doesn’t quash her curiosity.
     Even though Hauk Stefanssen spends his days on a fishing trawler, he hears about the schemes of a new arrival in town from his chatty younger sisters. The woman’s spoken with Peder at the fire safety council and Eryk at the family’s cannery. Feeling ignored, he seeks her out and is bowled over by her assertive personality. After reading her articles, he sees through the brashness to the compassionate woman inside and vows to become better acquainted. But what does an easy-going fisherman have to offer this dynamo?

     This is a clean romance containing wildly opposite personalities, community events, and the swoon-worthy trope of he falls first.

Release date: November 24, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/Kringla-Kelci-Timey-Holiday-Kitchen-ebook/dp/B0FV73HBT3

To Marry a Rancher (Debutante Brides of Miserly Creek Book 1)

By Kit Morgan

A Stranded Debutante
A Rough Rancher
And a town that's more than, well, Miserly.
     Hyacinth Fairchild never imagined her parents would ship her clear across the country to find a husband. But what’s a New York society couple to do when they can’t seem to marry off their debutante daughter? Hyacinth suddenly finds herself bound for San Francisco with five other hopeful young ladies.     Each dreaming of San Francisco’s charm, culture, and eligible suitors among the city’s elite.
Those dreams don’t last long. When their train derails in the Sierra Nevada, all plans for marital bliss go up in smoke, leaving six stranded debutantes at the mercy of the mountains and the little town willing to help them.
     Calvin “Cal” McAllister has more than enough on his plate running a remote ranch with his mother. The last thing he needs is a high-class debutante underfoot. Especially one who can’t tell a milk cow from a mule and eyes his ranch like it might bite her. Maybe volunteering to take one of the stranded women in was a terrible idea.
     But practical arrangements have a way of shifting. And soon, stolen glances turn into late-night conversations, unexpected loyalty, and a connection neither of them can deny.
As dangers creep through the mountains and long-buried wounds come to light, Hyacinth and Cal must choose. Cling to the lives they knew, or reach for a love bold enough to bridge the distance between their two worlds.

Release Date: November 24, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3T6C7HD

Christmas Brides of Harmony

By Jo-Ann Roberts

     This anthology contains three standalone, yet inter-connected, books based in Harmony, Kansas. It’s nearing Christmas and the Circle of Friends Quilting group is planning the Annual Christmas Quilt Giveaway. Here, the quilts are stitched with love and where the quilter weaves dreams into reality, one thread at a time.
     Noelle
  A widow reluctant to love again…
  A deputy determined to win her heart…
With Christmas looming, will the growing attraction between Noelle and the deputy reveal the gift of a second chance? Or could a stranger from the deputy's past threaten the man who captured her heart?
     Hope
   He was the most stubborn and prideful man she’d ever met.
   She was a busybody who stuck her nose in his business at every turn!
As Christmas approaches, will they look beyond each other’s faults and see a future blossom from a special, once-in-a-lifetime friendship?
     Ivy
   He was the town bully.
   She was his target.
   Had anything changed?
    Was Ivy Sutton willing and able to forgive the boy who made her childhood unbearable?
   Can Grady Walsh make up for the reckless actions of his youth?
   Or will another steal her away before they have a chance to discover a kind of love that might heal the pain from the past?

Release date: November 26, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZD1M9QR

A Joyful Promise: Wholesome Holiday Western Romance 

By Shanna Hatfield 

He crafts silver. She stitches dreams. Together, they discover a joyful promise that could last a lifetime.

     Baylor Birke has always known where he belongs—at the silver bench in his family’s shop in Eastern Oregon, crafting Western heirlooms that honor a legacy that is generations strong. Spurs that jangle, bridles that shine, and saddle silver that elevates cowboys into kings makes his work feel both satisfying and meaningful as he labors in the place he loves. But when a shy, talented young woman arrives in Lovely, Baylor begins to wonder if life has more to offer than tradition… perhaps even a joyful promise he never expected.

     Bonnie McClure has spent her life preparing to take over her family’s department store in Heppner, but the world of inventories and invoices has never stirred her passion. Her true calling is in the artistry of embroidery, turning simple cloth into something beautiful with every graceful stitch. Sent to Lovely to care for her injured aunt, Bonnie anticipates a quiet holiday season … until she crosses paths with the handsome cowboy who caught her eye in Pendleton at the rodeo.

     As Christmas approaches and they are thrust into helping with the church program, Baylor and Bonnie find themselves caught between obligation and longing, expectations and dreams. The magic of the season whispers of possibility— but only if they dare to follow their hearts.

     Will the holidays bring them a joyful promise of love and a future stitched together with hope?

      Discover a wholesome holiday romance filled with small-town charm, heartfelt tradition, and the timeless magic of Christmas.

Release date: November 27, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G168G4TT

    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.

December Releases: 

A Compromised Christmas

By Marisa Masterson

How had she lost her way?
      Gracie Williams only wants a private moment away from the other stagecoach passengers. Somehow, she wanders into the wilderness, and the forest refuses to allow her to leave—or so it seems to her as branches close in as she tries to push through them. She is completely lost until she hears a noise.
      Ezra Rafferty—Rafe to the few friends he allowed into his life—hums as he returns to his cabin. The hunt was successful, and he anticipates the warm fireplace in his cabin as heavy snow begins to fall. Yes, he savors the quiet life. Being alone suited him fine, especially after the incident.
     But he does not remain alone. A wild-eyed woman bursts onto his trail. She clutches his coat and begs for help. What’s a man to do? He takes her to his home for shelter during the storm.
      He does not plan to keep her. Plans have a way of changing…
      Rafe has set in motion the events that will unwind a scheme and bring to light secrets that reverberate all the way to the East. All because a woman wanders off the trail.

Release date: December 2, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FL12C122

Ruby's Christmas Escape: Mountain Man's Substitute Bride

By Kimberly Grist

When disappointed hopes collide – Will a resilient mail-order bride muster enough resolve to pursue her dreams of love and soften a reclusive mountain man's heart?

     Abandoned as a child and raised in a children’s home, Ruby knows that romantic dreams are mere illusions. After aging out of the orphanage , she follows her pastor's advice and applies to a matchmaking agency. While practical in her approach, deep in her heart lies a flicker of hope, a dream of her own happily ever after, where she longs for a place to belong and a husband to cherish. As circumstances would have it, her future groom is also short on time. Praying that is a good sign, she accepts a proposal of marriage and heads west to a land where the streams are said to flow with milk and the heavens rain down a supply of honey.
     Disheartened by love and rejected by his mail-order bride, Jonas Vann, a former army scout, is determined to protect his heart and keep the world at bay. Fortunately for him, knowing he needs help caring for his family, his friends and neighbors intercede on his behalf. As winter approaches, they take matters into their own hands, accepting a substitute mail-order bride on his behalf.
     The unyielding force of destiny is as strong as the power of attraction. Will an arranged marriage, a ready-made family, and the spirit of Christmas be the catalyst to fulfill all their dreams, or will their newfound love collapse under the weight of the challenges ahead?

Release date: December 3, 2025

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4DY169F