Staying Dry At Sea by Zina Abbott

 

Oilskin Jacket

Once I started writing my book, Lighthouse Escape, I quickly realized I was no longer dealing with gold, silver, dirt, grass, horses, cows, buffalo, and cowboy gear. I was dealing with seamen. Whether the men worked on a river steamboat or one that plied the ocean, they were around water ― a lot. Not only was there water beneath them and river or ocean spray that blew up on them as they sailed and worked, there was often plenty of rain. Especially in the cooler climes, what did mariners in the nineteenth century wear to stay both warm and, hopefully, dry?

My first mental vision involved a yellow slicker with what is known as a Sou’wester hat. A little research revealed that the classic yellow oiled cloth neck to ankle coat and its accompanying hat with the back brim wider than the front was not developed until the end of the century. My book was set in 1881.

For starters, seamen in Ireland, Scotland, and other northern European countries have relied on wool clothing to keep them warm. An additional benefit was that the natural lanolin in the wool acted as a water repellent. Many fishermen and other seamen from colder climes wore heavy, tightly-knit pullover sweaters for that very reason.

Waterproofed cloth garments were in use from the late 1700s. Various methods of waterproofing were used over the years. Seamen also relied on cotton clothing coated with melted wax. Early innovations for foul weather gear was to wear oil-treated cloth jackets which used resin or fat to repel the water and keep their woollen clothing dry underneath.

 

Crab fisherman wearing Sou'wester hat

Some early Sou'Wester hats and rain capes were handmade of sailcloth waterproofed with a thin layer of tar. Traditional black or “tarred” Sou’Wester hats were developed in the 1800s. The tar was eventually replaced with linseed oil and lampblack.

 

Fisherman with Sou'Wester Hat- Vincent Van Gogh

 

Other methods involved canvas duck. Canvas duck, as opposed to regular canvas has threads that are more tightly woven. The term “duck” comes from the Dutch word for cloth, doek. This canvas was then coated with multiple applications of linseed oil and paint. These garments, although waterproof, were heavy and did not “breathe.” As dying processes became more available, many foul weather garments were made from yellow, orange, or red fabrics which stood out more should a man fall overboard.

Both of these methods of waterproofing. Although quite durable, did not possess the breathable qualities of the process developed by New Zealander, Edward Le Roy, in 1898. He used a mixture of linseed oil and wax to coat the fabric several times. Garments created using this process were called oilskins.

However, I know from reading numerous historical sources that oilcloths were made as early as the eighteenth century. Historically, pre-19th century, oilcloth was one of very few flexible, waterproof materials that were widely available. For some families, it was a home industry. Also known as enameled cloth or American cloth, its base was a close-woven cotton duck or linen fabric which was coated with boiled linseed oil to make it waterproof. The linseed oil was boiled with lead and manganese salts, known as metal salts. (Personally, now we better understand the toxic nature of lead, I’m grateful for my plastic tablecloths.) Sienna and umber pigments were used to create a cure more resistant to humidity.

With this understanding, in my story I referred to a oiled tablecloth my hero’s mother made into rain hats for her husband and sons who worked on the water. Here is an excerpt from Lighthouse Escape:

           John next found his yellow oilcloth cap with its down-sloping brim attached around the crown. He shook it to snap it into shape.

              “Bright yellow, huh?”

              John paused and his gaze met Jacko’s. “Before her death almost two years ago, yellow oilcloth hats from an old tablecloth were the last items my mother made with her Singer sewing machine. All four men in my family have one. Her belief was, people usually get injured or fall overboard in bad weather when fog and rain washes out the surrounding color. She decided that bright-colored hats would make us easier to spot.” Still holding the brim of the yellow hat in one hand, he pulled his watch cap snugly over his ears.

              Jacko cocked his head and lifted a shoulder. “Makes sense.”

              “Her other oilcloth tablecloth was yellow with red roses printed on it. We were grateful she did not sacrifice that one for her project.” John rolled his eyes and shook his head. “So, until the captain finds the lighthouse, we just follow the shoreline?”

              “Not that easy. Due to it being high tide, there’s a cluster of reefs—mostly submerged rocks surrounding that spit of land that holds the lighthouse. Some of them barely show above the surface when the tide’s out and the water’s calm. When the waves get this high, they can do a disappearing act, only to show up when we’re on top of them. A few have bell buoys anchored to them, but sometimes it’s hard to hear them in a storm like this. Besides, it’s what you’ll find several feet below those rocks that we worry about most.”

              “Sounds like a good place to avoid.” John donned his waterproof hat over his knit cap and tied the straps under his chin.

              “Didn’t figure you’d be this prepared.”

              “Rains on the river, too.” John pulled on his leather gloves. 

To find the book description and link for Lighthouse Escape, please CLICK HERE.

You might also wish to check out my other recently-published books on my Amazon account.

 

 

Sources: 

Wikipedia regarding oilskin, canvas, oilcloth, Sou’wester, and waxed cotton

https://epochs.co/features/epochs-guide-to-nautical-clothing

https://fisherynation.com/archives/tag/souwester-hats

https://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/fisherman-with-sou-wester-head-1883

 

Early Lady Lawyers of California- Mary McHenry Keith by Zina Abbott

 

In earlier posts, I featured two of the first lady lawyers who were admitted to practice before the California Bar. The first was Clara Shortridge Foltz, and very soon afterward was Laura de Force Gordon. Both of these women, intent on expanding their knowledge of the law after already passing the bar, applied to the Hastings College of Law (Now the University of California). They were denied admission based on their gender. After filing a lawsuit, they won their case. Unfortunately, due to financial and other reasons, neither completed the course of study and graduated.

 

The first woman who attended and graduated from Hastings College of Law was Mary McHenry. Graduatating in 1882, Mary McHenry practiced law for only a few years, although she used her law degree throughout her life to advocate social justice issues, specifically woman suffrage, opposing white slavery and prostitution, and animal rights issues.

Mary McHenry

Mary McHenry Keith was born in San Francisco, California on November 20, 1855 to John McHenry (1809–1880) and Ellen Josephine Metcalfe McHenry (1827-1922). John McHenry was a Judge and Louisiana Supreme Court Justice who moved to California in 1850 and continued to work as a judge in San Francisco. Mary had three siblings, Elizabeth Harris McHenry Lamare (1850-1907), Emma McHenry Pond (1857-1934), and John McHenry (1858-1935). She attended San Francisco's Girl's High School before pursuing a college degree.

Mary's father was not supportive of women's work outside the home, but did not stop her from attending college. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1879 at the University of California in Berkeley. Thanks to the efforts of the above-mentioned lady lawyers to make it possible for women to attend law school about the time she finished her undergraduate degree, and without telling her father, she enrolled in Hastings.

1883 Portrait of Mary-William Keith

For a short time after graduating from law school, Mary worked as a lawyer specializing in probates. She gave up being a lawyer in 1883 when she married prominent landscape artist, William Keith. Mr. Keith died in 1911, and Mary did not remarry.

Mary McHenry Keith focused activist work after her marriage. Her work in this area started when she was still a student and promoted the dress reform movement, which drew attention to the ways in which women’s clothing restricted the abilities of women to comfortably and effectively engage in the full range of activities available to male classmates. As a as president of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, she addressed the importance of women receiving an education.

By the early 1890s, Mary was a prominent lecturer and member of the Berkeley Political Equality Club, serving as its President beginning in 1902. With a membership of over 200, the Berkeley Political Equality Club was one of the largest suffrage organizations in California and throughout the West Coast of the US.

 

Mary Keith at 1911 Amendment 8 Campaign in San Francisco

 

Mary firmly believed that women should develop themselves to their full potential, and that they should fully participate in society. In 1895, she organized the Woman's Congress (held in Berkeley) at which time she met Susan B. Anthony and began a regular correspondence about suffrage and women's rights. After the dismissal of the campaign in 1896, Mary revamped and retargeted the movement; publicly speaking to the right and need for co-education, centralizing suffrage as a primary cause in women organizations across the state, and integrating modern devices, such as cars and telephones as a way to reach and democratize rural areas. her leadership in Northern California provided a key role in securing the passage of suffrage for California women in 1911.  

In 1912, Mary was elected president of California’s Equal Suffrage Association. In this role, she expanded her experience and suffrage support to other states, such work contributed to the 19th amendment's ratification in 1920. 

Mary Keith 1910

Mary was an advocate for animal rights. She saw connections between women's and animals rights, and her thoughts on animal rights are reported to have had a strong influence on John Muir. Her advocacy for animal rights led to her service to the Humane Society, the California Audubon Society, as an officer for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and as a trustee of the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education.

As a donor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and William Keith’s widow, she also was recognized for her work cataloguing, preserving, and exhibiting his collected works.

Mary McHenry Keith lived until the age of ninety-one. She died in Berkeley, California, on October 13, 1947.

This includes my trio of blog posts about early California lady lawyers. I’ve been interested in women and the law in California for years. However, my research for my romance, A Lawyer for Linton inspired my learning more about these women who pioneered professional careers and held leadership positions advocating for a better, more equitable society.

 

 

You may find the book description and purchase link for A Lawyer for Linton by CLICKING HERE.

 

 

My latest book to be released tomorrow (preordered purchases will actually show up on most readers’ Kindles late tonight) is Lighthouse Escape. What a delight writing this romance turned out to be. I hope my readers will enjoy reading. You may find the book description and purchase link for this book by CLICKING HERE.

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McHenry_Keith

https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/saint-marys-college-museum-of-art/mary-mchenry-keith-suffrage

Look what our authors published in July!

  Our authors have been busy writing and publishing books. Here is what we published in July:

 

Grace (Brides of New Hope Book 3)

By Jo-Ann Roberts

Widow Grace Donegan is no stranger to hardships. With winter coming on, and with the impending loss of her home as well as her job at the café in New Hope, Kansas, she has three options: give up her two children, join Miss Jennie’s girls at the Rhinestone Saloon, or condemn herself to a second loveless marriage. So when an opportunity to save her home arises, she agrees, never imagining her salvation would arrive with a set of broad shoulders, a charming smile, a kind heart, and a pair of blue eyes making her wish for things long forgotten.

Releases July 7

https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Brides-New-Hope-Book-ebook/dp/B096PKGC96/

 

Lightkeeper's Challenge (Keeper's of the Light, Book 12)

Linda Carroll-Bradd

Raised in a Pacific Coast lighthouse, Lisbet Dinesen hopes to follow family tradition and succeed her father as senior lightkeeper. Assistant lightkeeper Hale Warwyck feels he’s paid his dues by working the night shift for five years and deserves command of his own lighthouse.

Chief Lightkeeper Anders Dinesen announces the need for a substitute during his vacation time. Both Lisbet and Hale want to step in. A challenge is established to test their suitability and skills. Has Anders taken on the role of matchmaker for his eldest child? Will the competition drive a wedge into Lisbet’s and Hale’s budding attraction?

Released July 13

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0978JPSFM

 

Beau's Elegant Bride (Matchmaker's Mix-Up Book 11)

Marisa Masterson

Annalisa Caxton loses the security she's always known with the death of her guardian. By chance, she learns about a talented matchmaker and puts her trust in that woman to solve the problem of where to find a home, a problem no one prepared her to solve on her own.

With unexpected funds anonymously coming his way, Beau LeFevre packs a wagon with goods to establish a store in the mountains of Colorado. The funds come with one string--marry the bride ordered for him.

How can he make a marriage work with this spoiled woman? …someone made a mistake!

Released July 15

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091FSGCB2

Romancing the Weavers Book Collection One: A Collection of Sweet Historical Romance

by Kit Morgan

Everyone loves the Weavers!

Enjoy this collection of Weaver stories from Kit Morgan. Lucia, Arturo and Leonardo are Kit's first contributions to her series Romancing the Weavers. A multi-author series written with Ray Anselmo. In this Book Collection you will find:

Lucia - Lucia Cucinotta and Max Cooke

Arturo - Rayne O’Sullivan and Arturo Cucinotta

Leonardo Cucinotta and Parthena Cooke

Released July 27

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BDNTMR9

 

 Not all our authors put their books up on preorder. For those who do, advance sales go a long way to help their rankings on Amazon. Please consider buying before the book is releases.

Preorders for August Releases:

 

Shoo-fly Pie By Selah: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Book 2

By Kimberly Grist

Selah Anderson agrees to participate in a matchmaking service organized by her pastor and the orphanage's matron, where she spent most of her life and become a mail-order bride. The man of her dreams will share her love of creating delicious confections and running a successful bakery. People will come for miles to purchase her specialty-shoo-fly pie.

Stagecoach driver Emerson Clark isn’t looking for love. But he knows life is better with a partner by your side- like a good team of horses supporting one another around the ruts in the road and along the narrow paths. As long as she’s practical, he’ll be happy.

Can his mail-order bride handle the diversity that comes with her husband’s dangerous vocation? Together will they blend their opposing desires to create a recipe for love?

Released August 2, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09645C3MP

 

Lighthouse Escape (Keeper's of the Light, Book 13)

By Zina Abbott

  Stina Dinesen loves her older sister but felt relieved once Lisbet and her new husband moved away from the Crystal Beach Lighthouse. ...She wants to move to town where she can have neighbors and enjoy a social life.

  Much to Stina’s dismay, as the sky darkens during the day of what promises to yield the first big storm of the season, her father informs her a passing ship sent a Morse code message that they have a man overboard. ...With a wrenched shoulder, Arend Dinesen cannot man the rescue boat alone. He will hold the light and help, but he needs his daughter, Stina, to row.

  John Andersen felt lost at sea long before he left his Oregon home on business to sail to San Francisco. Now, he is in the water with a twisted ankle, clinging to a rock miles from shore, ...The first hint he might survive comes when he sees a glowing lantern and realizes it is being held by someone on an approaching boat.

  Is it the light that promises a bright future, or could it be the young woman plying the oars?

Releases August 10

http://mybook.to/LighthouseEscape 

 

Charm Cake by Charity: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Book 3

By Annee Jones

    1889, Chicago.
It’s Christmas and Charity DeWitt is celebrating her engagement to recent medical school graduate Dr. Fox Skilling with a Charm Cake – a cake that contains symbolic charms crafted by her father at his jewelry store. When her slice contains a fleur-de-lis, she’s certain the tiny silver symbol of new beginnings has to do with her upcoming wedding to Fox – or does it? When he announces his plans to go out west to open a medical clinic, she journeys with him to Oregon where she meets Peter Abrams, a schoolteacher partially paralyzed after being thrown off his horse. Why is she so drawn to Peter and his books? Is it just because she’s never learned to read? Or could it be more?

Find out as you read this heartwarming holiday romance set in Sunset Hills, Oregon!

Releases August 16, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0965XD6ZQ

 

Alastair: Romancing the Weavers, Book 13

by Kit Morgan

She has to protect her sister.
He has to find a wife.

If Alastair Weaver wanted a wife, then he saw no other choice but to send for a mail-order bride. Selena Manning saw no other choice but to become one. Perfect, right? But when Selena shows up with more than her carpet bag, Alastair must decide what to do, and lucky for her, he still wants to marry her. Despite the fact she has her younger sister in tow. But as far as Alastair's concerned, if his father could do it, then so could he. After all, his mother, brought her seven siblings into the Weaver clan when she married his father. Alastair could handle one, couldn't he? But Selena and her younger sister have suffered a horrible tragedy and Alastair isn't sure how to help them heal after losing their parents to a house fire. Worse, Selena doesn't think it was an accident...

Enjoy this sweet historical romance full of love, laughter, and a bit of mystery.

Releases August 16

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BLX1P2V

 

Lemon Pie by Lucinda: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Book 4

by Marisa Masterson

Two ladies named Lucinda.

Lucy never uses her real name and is surprised when Rev. Caldwell calls her that at the pie auction. She's even more surprised when Ty Goodson bids on her pie. He's never shown her a bit of interest, and whoever wins her pie will share the dessert with her.
What follows is a series of misadventures and a night spent in a cave. That night with each other leads them into a forced marriage—a shotgun marriage with Ty’s father doing the forcing.

How will Lucy win the love of a man who longs for a different Lucinda? And what about the thieves Ty and Lucy witnessed burying something? Will they return?

Releases August 30

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0968KLJNV

 

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Preorders for September Releases:

 

Madeline: Cowboys and Cupids Book Book 14

By Zina Abbott

Madeline Denham realizes something doesn’t add up. More than with her siblings, her parents are very careful about who they allow to socialize with her. After graduating from normal college, she accepts a teaching position close to Knights Ferry. Much to her dismay, during a community social, a well-dressed man she's never met before asks her to dance and then forces a kiss upon her. Rather than being flattered, she feels ruined.

After purchasing land east of Oakdale, James Hennessy, like his Italian mother’s side of the family, finds growing fruit trees and a small table grape vineyard competes with his love of practicing law. At a dance, he meets a delightful woman who reminds him of his Italian heritage. When he realizes she is the object of unwanted attention, the fiery Irish from his father’s side comes to the fore. He steps forward to rescue her. He soon finds himself representing members of her family in a cause important to his own interests—stopping the hydraulic mining that is clogging the Valley’s rivers and streams that provide the water the farmers need to irrigate their crops.

Madeline hires James to uncover the secrets that plague her. However, will what they learn drive him away? Fortunately, she has two young twin brothers, who, like their oldest brother, want to become cowboys. For now, they’ll settle for corralling a good husband for their big sister, even if they have to rope and hogtie Madeline and James to get them to the altar.

Releases September 1, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096WNPH59/

 

A Bride for Devlin: The Sheriff's Mail Order Bride Book 6

By Zina Abbott

Searching for her sister, Dolly, who left behind a letter stating she was traveling to Wyoming to marry a rancher, Carrie Watson travels to Baggs Station. She learns, except for a few items of clothing she packed in a tow sack, Dolly left her trunk behind at the station for safe-keeping and departed with a man who claimed he was sent to bring her to her intended.

Carrie asks to be directed to the sheriff, only to learn the Carbon County sheriff is seventy-eight miles away in Rawlins. However, the Little Snake River Valley ranchers, frustrated by the increase in cattle rustling, pooled their funds and hired their own local sheriff, Devlin Anders, to track down the culprits.

Devlin Anders, frustrated over his lack of success in locating the rustlers, is ready to quit and stick to running his own ranch. Then, his friend, Jesse Hardin, begs him to help search for Jesse’s missing bride. They travel to Baggs Station, the last place she was spotted.

The last thing Devlin needs is an upset, headstrong woman from the East demanding help to find her sister. However, when he learns Dolly left on the back of a horse behind a man Devlin has been trying to catch up with for months, he knows it is time to raise a posse and go after both Lem Coker, suspected cattle rustler, and Jesse’s missing bride.

If only Carrie did not insist on trailing behind them…

Releases September 10, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097QGBC93/

 

Ace’s Tenacious Bride: (Matchmaker's Mix-Up Book 13)

By Kimberly Grist

Can a spirited pastor’s daughter up the ante, causing a card-playing, cigar-smoking workaholic to wager his heart?

Mercy Fairchild, a sheltered pastor’s daughter, is ready for adventure. She’ll comply with her late father’s last wish—to obtain the help of a matchmaking service and find her a young pastor out west to marry. Yes, she wants God’s perfect plan for her future, but she hopes it will be an exciting plan. Perhaps a missionary in a new territory?

Widower Ace Caldwell’s unruly children make keeping a housekeeper impossible. The last one left in less than a week! If he could only be as good a father as he is a card player! But with his job as a railroad detective, he can’t be home more than a day or two each week. At least a wife would be legally and morally vested to remain. Wouldn’t she?

Releases September 15, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0952D79QX

Hearts of the Sierra Nevada: A Sweet Historical Romance Set in the Sierra Nevadas

By Kit Morgan

Three sisters in danger.
Three men willing to help ...

When the Barrett sisters inherit their aunt's small hotel in Nevada City, California, they quickly discover others in town not only want it, but will do almost anything to get it. The question is, why?

Out of work, Bram Forsyth and his cousins Sterling and Wellington travel to Nevada City looking for work. Lucky for them the new owners of the Barrett Hotel are looking to hire. But the three men didn't expect such lovely employers or the fact someone was trying to run them out of town. They were cowboys, not guns for hire. Could they resist the Barrett sisters, now in danger, from capturing their hearts? A better question was, could they afford such a distraction while trying to protect them? Find out in these sweet historical romances full of hope, love and a little danger!

Releases September 17

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098R8PQPR

 

Romance at Rinehart's Crossing: A Sweet Historical Romance Set on the Oregon Trail

by Shanna Hatfield

Life on the Oregon Trail will never be the same . . .

Tenner King is determined to make his own way in the world far from the overbearing presence of his father and the ranch where he was raised in Rinehart’s Crossing, Oregon. Reluctantly, he returns home after his father’s death to find the ranch on its way to ruin, his siblings antsy to leave, and the women in town completely infatuated with a mysterious poet. Prepared to do whatever is necessary to save the ranch, Tenner isn’t about to let a little thing like love get in his way.

♥ Austen – After spending her entire life ruled by her father, Austen Rose King certainly isn’t going to allow her bossy older brother to take on the job....

♥ Claire – Two thousand miles of travel. Two thousand miles of listening to her parents bicker about the best place in Oregon to settle.

♥ Kendall – Anxious to escape her mother’s meddling interference, Kendall Arrington leaves her society life behind, intent on experiencing a Wild West adventure.

Releases September 17

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098RFJMM3

 

Pumpkin Pie by Patience: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Book 5

By Annee Jones

    1890, Baltimore.
19-year-old Patience Sutton has never been praised for her cooking – in fact, she burnt the pumpkin pie at her family’s last Christmas celebration. As the youngest of 10 children, she’s tired of always being the baby and longs to grow up. When she spies an ad in the paper from Oregon banker Jefferson Cooke seeking a mail-order bride willing to travel out west and who “must love children,” Patience jumps at the chance for a new life. With children of her own to take care of, maybe she’ll finally get some respect! Right?

Releases September 27, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0965W2PCJ

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Preorders for October Releases:

 

A Bride for Dun: The Sheriff's Mail Order Bride Book 9

By Marisa Masterson

If you read A Bride for Boss, you'll want to find out the rest of Dun's story--

Dun, a former Pinkerton agent settles into a sleepy Wyoming town. Danger should be far behind him now. The worst he faces is drunken cowhands on Saturday night.

He finally has what he considers a hometown. All that is missing is a bride. Easy to fix! He simply writes away for one.

There's no way he could know the wild adventure she brings with her. And will he believe what he learns about his own birth?

Releases October 1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098B7X5ZD

 

Cranberry Cake by Cora: Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Book 6

By P. Creeden

When Cora Sullivan's father moved out west to Kansas City in order to help his bank start a new branch in a different state, she hadn't realized just how much she would miss her old home. Now Christmas is coming, and what she misses more than anything else is her dearly departed mother's cranberry cake. But out west of the Mississippi, cranberries are almost as impossible to find as friends. At least she has is Jonas, the one man who travelled all the way to Kansas City with her and her father to remind her of home, but he still thinks of her as a child, when she really wants him to notice her as something more. And when Jonas is accused of stealing money from the bank, she needs to put her own needs aside to help Jonas and clear his name before Christmas.

Releases October 11, 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096RJP36T

 

Ginger Cake by Glynna (Old Time Holiday Kitchen book 7)

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

              Astoria, Oregon--Fall, 1876
Baker Glynna Shaughnessy wants to bolster sales for her struggling bakery almost as much as she wants to revive her drab personal life. A baking competition in commemoration of the city’s incorporation offers a chance at making the shop’s name known…until she’s accused of cheating. According to the competition’s sponsor—a roguish man who sets her heart aflutter—Glynna can only remain a contestant if she invents a brand-new recipe…something she’s never done before.

Hotel manager Ritter Anton has six months to boost patronage at his grandfather’s Anton Grand Hotel. He accomplished success with the family’s Cheyenne hotel and he’ll succeed here then move to the next. The baking contest he invented sparks controversy with the entry of a baker who others claim has an unfair advantage. Ready to reject her, he can’t say no when the auburn-haired beauty pleads her case. How will he remain neutral as a judge when all he can think about is Glynna?

Releases October 25. 2021

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0964XJ1PN/

 

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