Love Under Two Outcasts Blog Tour! (+$25 Bookstrand GC Giveaway!)

Title: Love Under Two Outcasts

Author: Cara Covington

Series: Lusty, Texas #24

Pages: N/A

Date Published: December 2014

Publisher: Siren Publishing

Format: ebook

Genre: Romance

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:
Charlotta Carmichael is mostly not ashamed of the way she paid for her college degree. Mostly. As an exotic dancer at a gentlemen’s club, she earned enough to get her degree in psychology.

But sometimes the scorn she’s suffered in the past comes back to haunt her. She fears a similar reaction from Jesse and Barry Benedict. Will they still think she’s good enough for them if she tells them the truth?

Jesse and Barry know all about past mistakes and regret. Feeling like outcasts, they left their Montana home and headed to Lusty, hoping to make a new start. Once they understand that Charlotta is their soul mate, they confess their sins of the past—because they want their relationship to have a solid foundation.

As Jesse and Barry rush to save Charlotta from a stalker, they all soon learn that moving on is easier said than done—and requires a bigger leap of faith than they’d ever imagined.

~Guest Post!~

The Lusty, Texas series now stands at 24 books and counting, and the fact that it came into existence at all was just a fluke.

I had been asked by my publisher, Siren, to participate in an historical series, “The Lost Collection”. At the time, I was writing for Siren only under my first pen name – Morgan Ashbury. Since there were only to be a limited number of books in this collection, I was honored to have been asked to write two. There were only two stipulations: they had to be historical of the American west, 1870s to 1890s; and I had to choose a new pen name, one that would, by contract, be a secret.

It was a challenge, as I had never written an historical, though my husband and I are both students of history. So, loving a challenge, I said yes. I was nearly finished the second of the two books I had been asked to write, when I spoke with my publisher. I wanted to know, what did she think the trends were? It was near the end of 2008, and since I’d been pretty well focused in the 1880s, I had no idea what I should do next. Her response was that small town romance seemed to be the newest trend.

Right then and there, I had a “what if” moment. I had fallen in love with my two sets of protagonists. So I asked my publisher, what if I created a small town for the setting of a new series, and what if some of  the heroes and heroines were the descendants of the characters I had created in my two Lost Collection books: Love Under Two Gunslingers, and Love Under Two Lawmen.

My publisher really liked that idea, and so I got to work.

I still couldn’t reveal that Morgan Ashbury and Cara Covington were one and the same. That came later. I sat down and I worked out some “family trees” and I came up with enough characters that I could write a lot of books – maybe even twenty! But I was certain that this series would be maybe 6 books, if I was lucky. I had already, as Morgan, written a couple of three book series: Magic and Love, and Song of the Sirens.

I had no idea this series would do so well.

Along the way I got to know another Siren author, Heather Rainier, author of the very popular Divine Creek Ranch series. We wondered, how far was it from Lusty, Texas to Divine, Texas? The answer was a few hour’s drive. So we decided to cross our series with two books each year (one from each of us), that would share a couple of scenes and make the reading experience that much richer for whoever read them both.

Love Under Two Outcasts is book number 24, counting the two historical novels, and I have recently refined my family trees, and I realize have easily another twenty stories left to tell—if not more.

I hope you truly enjoy reading Love Under Two Outcasts—and that book’s “cross-over” partner this year, Absentminded Angel by Heather Rainier.

There is only one reason the Lusty, Texas series is so popular, and that’s the readers. I hear from so many of you, and I love that. I answer every e-mail. I have a rocking street team that is the best street team, ever. 

So thank you, readers, for loving the town of Lusty, Texas—for taking so many of her citizens from Grandma Kate on down, into your hearts. I hope you keep coming back for a visit to the quaint little town with the very appropriate name.

~Try an Excerpt!~

The sound of high heels on the marble floor echoed in the reception area. Jesse realized belatedly the feminine footsteps were coming their way.

“Gentlemen, I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

Jesse knew the voice from the two telephone conversations he’d had with the doctor. He looked up—and had the surreal sensation that in that instant, with that simple tilt of his head, his entire life had just changed. One quick glance over at Barry, and he knew his twin was experiencing his own personal epiphany.

Jesse got to his feet, his gaze taking in her piled high blonde hair, soft grey eyes, and the way her beige silk blouse and trim brown skirt displayed her made-for-sin body.

He met her gaze, pleased when he read in hers that he and his brother weren’t the only ones to get gob smacked with a flood of pheromones.

She’d extended her hand and Jesse wasted no time in clasping it in his. The zing of electricity shot straight to his groin, and it took supreme will to keep his wood from tenting his jeans.

“I’m Jesse. And you have no need to apologize, ma’am. We’re here at your service.” He saw the double entendre hit its mark and liked the humor he read in her eyes.

And then he appreciated her ability to give as well as she got, when she said, “Well in that case, please follow me to someplace a little more private.”

~Meet Cara!~

Morgan Ashbury, also writing as Cara Covington, has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.

Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.

Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.

Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing—writing full time.

Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.

Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.

Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, an eight pound Morkie dog who thinks he’s a German shepherd, and her husband of forty-two years, David.

Website:

Cara’s Facebook page: 
Cara will be awarding a $25 Bookstrand GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.

a Rafflecopter giveaway