Round the Bend is available as eBook and paperback.
For the rest of March and all of April, the eBook will be $2.99 before it goes up to $3.99 the first of May.
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Blurb:
In 1851, Independence, Missouri, a big wagon train waits to begin the 2200 mile trek
to Oregon. Seventeen year old Amy Stevens shares her excitement
at the journey with her best friend-- only to face disappointment at his less
than enthusiastic reaction. When he kisses Amy, who has fancied herself a
bluestocking, she angrily tells him he is ruining everything. Changes are
coming, but surely not for the two of them.
Three years older, with too
many hard experiences, Matt shares none of her illusions as to what lies ahead.
He also has seen how the train’s scout, Adam Stone has looked at her-- and it's not as a friend. He’s torn
as to what he can do about it.
Matt has worked hard to earn enough for the supplies needed for the westward trek. His father and brother, both damaged by alcohol and hate, begged him to take them. His brother claimed he wanted a second chance. Except, what exactly does Morey mean by a second chance?
Matt has worked hard to earn enough for the supplies needed for the westward trek. His father and brother, both damaged by alcohol and hate, begged him to take them. His brother claimed he wanted a second chance. Except, what exactly does Morey mean by a second chance?
Round the Bend, book one in a series of four, is
the story of the way west told through two families-- the Stevens and the
Kanes—families as different as light and dark. It is a story of the purest of
love and the most driven of hate. Most of all it is the story of how a man’s
highest ideals can change his life and that of others. Heat level (with 1 least and 5 most) is ♥♥♥♥.
The Oregon series is four books following the Stevens family
through sixteen years, four romances, and the settling of Oregon; each novel stands alone.
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The following is a snippet showing the dilemma Amy is facing as she tries to work out what will make her happiest.
The moon still shone through the narrow opening of the tent, where she and her sisters slept, lighting up the area, making it hard to sleep. At best Amy slept restlessly when the moon was full. Tonight, her thoughts were bursting. She gave up and by moonlight wrote in her journal.
‘I left things in Missouri home, friends, all the life I knew but that was nothing to me. What lies ahead will be opportunity, adventure, new ideas, new places, new friends, new freedoms. Leaving my books was hardest when Father said I could only bring four. How does one narrow all beloved books to four? I chose small volumes by Wordsworth, Tennyson, Browning, and Shelley. Can anything soothe one’s soul better than poetry?’
Restlessly, she bit on the end of her pen before she added, ‘More than my books, I realize I left my childhood there.’ There was another thing she'd left there, one she refused to write about, as it would make it real. Only in Missouri was her friendship with Matt. The tears the laughter, all gone. He had ruined everything.
Although her own ambivalence over marriage and the limitations it would entail didn't leave her eager to accept the courtship of any man, if there had been a man, Adam Stone would have been the perfect one. He was Lancelot and Apollo rolled into one. Mentally she listed his qualities-- his confident way of talking, kind manner with people, the square jaw, the black curly hair, the soft buckskins, which emphasized his muscular frame. He was a man who would fit any girl's dreams. He had told her what he wanted. Why did she feel so miserable?
There was one reason. To be happy, she had to make peace with Matt, make him see their friendship was more important than his silly ideas of... well, something else. She'd grown up believing there was nothing she couldn’t do by confronting it directly. It was intolerable to have someone she loved angry with her.
She put away the journal and lay back on her cot. She did love Matt-- like a brother. She would talk to him, and it would be all right. After that, she could consider Adam's courtship more seriously... Matt could find a girl to love and— She stopped at that thought, unable to finish it, unable to face her feelings if that did happen.
