Montana Rose

My review and note about meeting Mary in Fargo are at the bottom of this post! Please scroll down and enjoy!

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Montana Rose
Barbour Publishing, Inc (July 1, 2009)
by
Mary Connealy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary's writing journey is similar to a lot of others. Boil it down to persistence, oh, go ahead and call it stubbornness. She just kept typing away. She think the reason she did it was because she was more or less a dunce around people—prone to sit silently when she really ought to speak up(or far worse, speak up when she ought to sit silently).

So, Mary had all these things, she want to say, in her head; the perfect zinger to the rude cashier, which you think of an hour after you’ve left the store, the perfect bit of wisdom when someone needs help, which doesn’t occur to you until they solve their problems themselves, the perfect guilt trip for the kids, which you don’t say because you’re not an idiot. She keep all this wit to herself, much to the relief of all who know her, and then wrote all her great ideas into books. It’s therapeutic if nothing else, and more affordable than a psychiatrist.

So then a very nice, oh so nice publishing company like Barbour Heartsong comes along and says, “Hey, we’ll pay you money for this 45,000 word therapy session.” That’s as sweet as it gets.

Mary's journey to publication is the same as everyone’s except for a few geniuses out there who make it hard for all of us. And even they probably have an Ode to Roast Beef or two in their past.

Mary has signed an exclusive contract with Barbour that will have her writing eighteen (18) books for them over the next four years! This book is the first in the Montana Marriage Series. The second book will be the Husband Tree, and the third will be Wildflower Bride



ABOUT THE BOOK


Fire up your love of romance with Montana Rose.

When surrounded by a mob of ill-bred, foul-smelling, women-hungry men, the newly widowed and seemingly spoiled Cassie “China Doll” Griffin has no choice. Marrying handyman Red Dawson seems the only alternative to Cassie’s being hitched to a brutal rancher. But can this “China doll” bear exchanging smooth silk for coarse calico? Red was reluctant to be yoked to an unbeliever, but sometimes a man has no choice. Will Red change Cassie’s heart by changing her name? Wade Sawyer is obsessed with saving Cassie from a marriage of convenience. How far will he go make her his own?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Montana Rose, go HERE

I met Mary in Fargo a couple of weeks ago at the Parable bookstore there, before I had actually finished Montana Rose... I had to put the book down to drive down there...but oh, it was so worth the trip to meet her. I had a great time! I was a bit shy, as all new and unpublished authors probably are, to talk about my current writing (which frankly, I haven't written fiction in way too long!). But she was so encouraging to me! I really appreciated her honesty, her humor, and her absolute love of all things bookish. (Can't wait to try those recipes, either!)

Later, I found her stalking me--er, I ran into her at another Large Chain Book Store after my girls and I ate dinner. She said, "HEY!" and startled me! I met her nephew when he came up and said, "HEY aren't you MARY CONNEALY???" and then laughed. THEN, while Mary was signing her books in the store, I literally ran into a friendly bookstore employee in the Christian fiction aisle, and told her Mary was there in the store. She went to see, and fortunately she--the employee, not our Mary!--was not limping too badly (just kidding! I didn't really hurt her...).

So...Montana Rose. I really enjoyed it! I think it's my favorite of all Mary's books thus far. I enjoyed the premise (a more humorous take on Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly), the characters, the struggles, the resolution...all of it! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves historical prairie romances. There's plenty of Mary's signature humor, and of course our hero and heroine have a long and winding path to True Love, but it's such a fun journey!