Today it’s my pleasure to welcome Karen Hulene Bartell and share her latest historical Western romance, Wild Rose Pass.

Cadence McShane, free-spirited nonconformist, yearns to escape the rigid code, clothes, and sidesaddles of 1880s military society in Fort Davis, Texas. She finds the daring new lieutenant exhilarating, but as the daughter of the commanding officer, she is expected to keep with family tradition and marry West Point graduate James West.

Orphaned, Comanche-raised, and always the outsider looking in, Ben Williams yearns to belong. Cadence embodies everything he craves, but as a battlefield-commissioned officer with the Buffalo Soldiers instead of a West Point graduate, he is neither accepted into military society nor considered marriageable.

Can two people of different worlds, drawn together by conflicting needs, flout society and forge a life together on the frontier?

Excerpt:

Reining his horse between catclaw and prickly-pear cactus, Ben Williams squinted at the late summer sun’s low angle. Though still midafternoon, shadows lengthened in the mountains. He clicked his tongue, urging his mare up the incline. “Show a little enthusiasm, Althea. If we’re not in Fort Davis by sunset, we’ll be bedding down with scorpions and rattlesnakes.”

As his detachment’s horses clambered up Wild Rose Pass, the only gap through west Texas’ rugged Davis Mountains, Ben kept alert for loose rocks or hidden roots, anything that might trip his mount. A thick layer of fallen leaves created a pastiche of color shrouding the trail from view. He glanced up at the lithe cottonwood trees lining the route, their limbs dancing in the breeze. More amber and persimmon leaves loosened, fell, and settled near the Indian pictographs on their tree trunks. When he saw the red- and yellow-ochre drawings, he smiled, recalling the canyon’s name—Painted Comanche Camp.

“How far to Fort Davis, lieutenant?” called McCurry, one of his recruits.

“Three hours.” If we keep a steady pace.

Without warning, the soldier’s horse whinnied. Spooking, it reared on its hind legs, threw its rider, and galloped off.

As he sat up, the man groaned, caught his breath, and stared into the eyes of a coiled rattler, poised to strike. “What the…?”

Flicking its tongue, hissing, tail rattling, the pit viper was inches from the man’s face.

A sheen of sweat appeared above the man’s lip. “Lieutenant—”

Get your copy here:

Amazon eBook: https://amzn.to/2vQP41r

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2VCtCYy

Barnes & Noble NOOK Book: https://bit.ly/32zhDfZ

Barnes & Noble Paperback: https://bit.ly/2T1V3JM

Let’s meet the author!

Author of the Trans-Pecos, Sacred Emblem, Sacred Journey, and Sacred Messenger series, Karen is a best-selling author, motivational keynote speaker, wife, and all-around pilgrim of life. She writes multicultural, offbeat love stories that lift the spirit. Born to rolling-stone parents who moved annually, Bartell found her earliest playmates as fictional friends in books. Paperbacks became her portable pals. Ghost stories kept her up at night—reading feverishly. The paranormal was her passion. Westerns spurred her to write (pun intended). Wanderlust inherent, Karen enjoyed traveling, although loathed changing schools. Novels offered an imaginative escape. An only child, she began writing her first novel at the age of nine, learning the joy of creating her own happy endings. Professor emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin, Karen resides in the Hill Country with her husband Peter and her “mews”—three rescued cats and a rescued *Cat*ahoula Leopard dog.

What’s your favorite part of the writing life?

The best part of writing for me is the space to be creative, to let my imagination soar. I’m five years old again, and whatever I imagine “comes to life”—at least, on the page.

What does your writing space look like?

I write on a French Provincial desk I finished myself. The keyboard slides into a drawer, and the computer screen overhangs it. Two orange-striped cats are stretched out, covering half the desktop. An open travel brochure is within sight, calling to me for when the quarantine ends, and my WIP—Kyoto: Tale of the Fox—covers the desk’s other half.

Do you have any particular writing quirks?

I do my best writing in the early morning. I rise at 3:30 or 4:00 am because my mind is the clearest, and the thoughts come the quickest then. By the afternoon, I can only edit or work on marketing materials. The creative part is spent for the day.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Write every day. Besides instilling good habits, it keeps the storyline going in your imagination even when you’re not writing. Some of my best ideas come to me when I wake, which leads me to believe my mind has been working on the plot while I’ve slept.

What makes you put down a book without finishing?

Nothing makes me put down a book faster than formulaic alpha males, either as the protagonist or the protagonist’s love interest. To hold my attention, I need three-dimensional characters, not cardboard stereotypes—and especially not swaggering muscles without a brain.

Connect with Karen:

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/611950.Karen_Hulene_Bartell   

Website: http://www.KarenHuleneBartell.com/  

Email: info@KarenHuleneBartell.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/karenhulenebartell  

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BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/karen-hulene-bartell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenhulenebartell/

AUTHORSdb: https://authorsdb.com/community/17847-karen-hulene-bartell

Banner image by RENE RAUSCHENBERGER from Pixabay