hot off the press

Yesterday the cover for Bundle of Joy (Steeple Hill, Oct. 2008) arrived via USPS, and now, much to my surprise, a hot off the press copy of Wagered Heart (Zondervan, June 2008) was delivered by UPS. I was originally told Wagered Heart wouldn’t go to press until May with a ship date of 5/18. Looks like the book could be in stores a week or two earlier than at first thought.

Pardon me for my excitement, but I’m so in love with this cover. Totally different from the adorable little baby on Bundle of Joy, of course, but perfect for the historical romance that it is. You can read an excerpt of Wagered Heart on my web site, but here’s the blurb:

When Bethany Silverton left the genteel life of Miss Henderson’s School for Young Ladies back in Philadelphia for the raw frontier town of Sweetwater, Montana, she had no idea how much she would enjoy the freedom and danger of this wild country.

A conservative preacher’s daughter, Bethany can’t resist the challenge of charming the most attractive cowboy in town into attending her father’s new church. She never dreamed that the cowboy would charm the lady.

But Hawk Chandler isn’t the only man vying for Bethany’s affections. Ruthlessly ambitious Vince Richards thinks Bethany is perfect for him: attractive, gracious, just the woman to help him become governor. And he is determined to get what he wants at any cost.

Drawn to one man, an obsession of another, Bethany’s quiet life is thrown into turmoil. She wagered her heart on love. Now she has gotten more than she bargained for—and the stakes are about to become life and death.

To top off both of these pleasures, the writing on MW is going well. Yea!!! At this stage, possibilities abound. The setting for the story is 1915 which is a fun period to write about. The one bad note in all this is that I wish I had back some of the research books I gave away prior to my move last year. I could use them now. C’est la vie!

-rlh-