The books range on length from novels (60-130,000 words) to novellas (20-40,000 words). My books do have sex between consenting adults. The novellas are mostly ♥♥♥. Novels are ♥♥♥♥. There is some violence and mild profanity.

------holding hands, perhaps a gentle kiss
♥♥ ---- more kisses but no tongue-- no foreplay
♥♥♥ ---kissing, tongue, caressing, foreplay & pillow talk
♥♥♥♥ --all of above, full sexual experience including climax
♥♥♥♥♥ -all of above including coarser language and sex more frequent

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Today's guest author-- Paty Jager



 Today's guest author is western historical romance writer, Paty Jager as she shares how she created her series about the Halsey family. 

Farther down, you will find more information, as well as a blurb and excerpt from her latest book, Laying Claim, the newest Halsey family book--  as well as info on Paty's giveaway in celebration of this new release.

How I built a family one book at a time.
By Paty Jager

Rain, Thank you for having me on your blog during my blog tour.

The Halsey family wasn’t even in my head when I started writing Marshal in Petticoats. It was the sixth historical western romance book I’d written and happened to be the first book to get published.

Marshal in Petticoats was about an accident prone young woman, Darcy Duncan, who ended up in a down-on-its-luck town in the middle of gold country. I was looking for a place to put this story when I read a book about the area I planned to use as the setting. When I discovered a town that had its post office, building and all, stolen in the middle of the night by disgruntled miners who didn’t want to walk down the mountain to check for mail, I knew I had my setting.

After establishing the heroine and the town, I gave the heroine a younger brother so that her actions had merit for why she dressed like a young man and accepted the job of marshal. She had a strong family commitment, which meant the hero, Gil Halsey, wouldn’t, or at least thought he didn’t deserve to be in a family. He’d left home at a young age believing his brothers blamed him for the deaths of their parents and younger brother.

Gil had been a drifter until he met Darcy. When the subject of his brothers came up as I was writing the story, I thought a minute and gave them each a name: Ethan, Hank, Clay, and Zeke. And the next thing I know, Darcy drags Gil home and a reunion takes place. The four older brothers are determined to help Gil clear Darcy’s name, and they all ended up as secondary characters in the book. Once readers had a taste of the brothers, they asked for more Halsey books.

Since Zeke was mooning over a school marm in the first book, he and the school marm were the main characters in the next book, Outlaw in Petticoats. To keep Ethan, the oldest from being shut out of married life, I made the third book, Miner in Petticoats. Ethan as the eldest is determined he has to make the family mine take care of all the growing families. He’s come up with a way to make money for the family and help the other miners, but he needs land from the Widow Miller. She’s not about to sell. In that book, Clay is injured and that sets him up for his story with Dr.Rachel Tarkiel in Doctor in Petticoats.  And last, poor Hank, he had to wait until everyone else was happy before he could go after his dream and in the process fall in love with a very unlikely match. Not only is Kelda handy in the kitchen, but she’s handy with a whipsaw as well. At the end of Logger in Petticoats, I set up the possiblity of continuing the Halsey saga with younger members of the cast, by mentioning Jeremy, Darcy’s younger brother, had gone to Alaska to seek his fortune.

When I finished the five books, I took a break from the Halsey family, but I kept receiving emails asking for more Halsey books. I thought on it a bit and decided I could do a trilogy with the young men who were brought into the Halsey family through marriages. First Jeremy Duncan, Darcy’s brother, then Colin Healy Miller, stepson to Ethan, and the third will be the blind boy, Donny, who was befriended by Clay and brought to Sumpter to help him with his buisness. 

These three books will be the Halsey Homecoming Trilogy. Each one will have been away from home and are coming back. Jeremy’s story is, Laying Claim. Below is the blurb and exceprt.


Giveaway
This post is part of a week-long blog tour. I love to give, and you could be the winner! I will be giving away an e-copy of my Christmas novella, Christmas Redemption, to one commenter at each blog stop where there are at least ten commenters. You can find the blog tour hosts at my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com or my website: http://www.patyjager.net

Laying Claim Blurb:
Jeremy Duncan commits to haul one last load of supplies across the great interior of the Yukon before heading home. But, he has to trade his pack animals for sled dogs and leave Skagway in the middle of a blizzard due to one strong-willed, business-minded beauty.

Determined to find her older brother, Clara Bixbee doesn’t care how she gets across the pass, as long as she does, and soon. Hiring handsome pack guide Jeremy Duncan seems to be her best choice. Especially after she saves a young girl being beaten by the local gang leader and needs to escape Skagway fast.

Excerpt:
Someone roughly shook Clara. She shoved her arms out of her sleeping bag and opened her eyes. The lanterns were glowing, backlighting the dark, furry head so close she could smell his sour breath.
“Get away from me!” she said loudly. Where is Jeremy? She shot a glance to the floor. His sleeping bag was empty.
“What have you done with Jeremy?” She sat up, forcing the body looming over her to have to back up.
“We decided you ain’t goin’ with him.”
She stared at the man in front of her. It was one of the first men they’d been introduced to. And one of the men who’d made her nervous the way he stared at her.
“You have no say over what I can and can’t do.” Inside her body quivered and her stomach squeezed with fear. Outside, she scowled and clenched her fists. Working at the warehouse, she’d learned to be strong on the outside no matter what she felt on the inside. Men always thought they could bully her.
Clara dropped her arm over the side of the cot and groped the floor for something to use as a weapon. Her trusty umbrella was packed in one of the sleds.
“It ain’t right for a young thing like you to be goin’ into the wilderness. You could get ate by a bear or worse.” The man nodded his head.
Several voices behind him agreed. She looked beyond the man in her space and spotted four more. Panic clamped her jaw shut. Jeremy, where are you?
Her hand found something long, round, and cold. She grasped it and pulled Jeremy’s rifle onto her lap. Before the man could move to take it from her, she swung the business end toward him.
“Back off!” She glared at all of them. “All of you. Get back.”
They all backed up, apologizing and glaring at the back of the man she held the rifle on.
“Where is Jeremy? Did you do something to him?” She quickly scanned the room. “Where’s Snooker Pete?” She clicked the pointy thing on the top of the rifle just like she’d watched Jeremy do when he prepared to shoot a rabbit on the trail.
“Don’t go shooting me. They’re both fine.” The bearded man’s eyes moved in his head like bubbles in a pot of boiling water.
Clara nodded to the others. “Bring Pete and Jeremy here, or in five minutes I’m going to shoot this man in the foot.” She let the end of the barrel drop enough to see the man’s big boot.
They others scattered out of the tent, leaving her with the rifle aimed at the man’s foot.
“There’s no reason to be so ornery,” the man said, his voice shaking.
“There was no reason for you to meddle in my life. That’s one thing I don’t take kindly to— men meddling in my affairs.” She glared at the man and hoped Jeremy arrived soon. She didn’t know how to keep the gun from firing.

BUY LINKS:

Who is Paty Jager?
With sixteen published books, three novellas, and an anthology, award-winning author Paty Jager is never at a loss for story ideas and characters. Her rural life in central and eastern Oregon and interests in local history and the world around her keeps the mystery and romance ideas flowing. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.  
You can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and twitter;  @patyjag.