The Rancher’s Family, a sweet contemporary romance, from Barbara White Daille

Please help us welcome Barbara White Daille to the blog today. Barbara is here to share her new upcoming release, The Rancher’s Family. The Rancher’s Family is a sweet contemporary romance. Welcome, Barbara! We are all excited to have you here today and we can’t wait to hear about The Rancher’s Family.

Thanks to Maddy for inviting me to visit the blog!

I’m happy to be here and thrilled to share with you that we’re in the countdown to the book birthday of The Rancher’s Family, debuting on September first. This sweet/clean contemporary romance is my first book from Harlequin Heartwarming.

Interview with Barbara:

Where is your favorite place to write?

I’m lucky enough to have a home office—well, really, a very small bedroom now overflowing with a desk, multiple file cabinets, and piles of books. The closet fills in as my office supply cabinet. Also lucky for me, since I’m a creature of habit, this room has become my favorite place to write a book.

Why do you write romance and why your genre of romance?

Romance novels give us hope. They show us how other people—real and fictional—can work through issues and resolve conflict. They help ease stress and lessen struggles. Best of all, romance novels, or at least the ones I love to read and write, guarantee a happy ending, which gives us all something to aspire to in our own lives.

I write short contemporary romance because it’s among my favorite kind of romance to read. My books are either on the sweeter side or clean romance because I like to focus on the action of the story and the characters’ thoughts and emotions rather than their physical relationship. I want to see and show what brings the hero and heroine together and how they beat the up-front odds against them and commit to each other.

What are you working on next and when can we expect to see it?

I’m working on my second Harlequin Heartwarming, which is another book in the Hitching Post Hotel series and features Wes’s brother as the hero. I’m also writing the third Snowflake Valley story from Entangled Books, telling the story of the third “bad-luck Barnett” sister.

Titles and publication dates have yet to be determined but will be announced as soon as I know anything.

What would you do if you couldn’t write?

Become unbearable to live with! : )

Writing’s been a part of me for almost my entire life. More on that coming up next.

Fun Facts from Barbara:

  • Since getting my driver’s license when I was seventeen, I’ve driven a car, a bus, a taxi, a fire engine, and an original Model T Ford. No, I’m not that old—even then, the car was an antique. 🙂
  • My favorite food is anything chocolate.
  • I once bowled a score of 287—in a tournament, no less! (For the non-bowlers among you, a perfect score is 300.) This was unbelievable, because my average at the time was about 145. And naturally, I’ve never been able to come close to that high score again.
  • If you count scribbles on construction paper, I’ve been writing since about the age of five and—again speaking “officially”—wrote and “published” my first short story when I was nine. Handwritten and illustrated by the author, it had a limited print run of one edition.
  • My first full-length novel, a mystery starring two teenaged girl sleuths a la Nancy Drew, was typed on my grandfather’s ancient Underwood typewriter when I was in the eighth grade.
  • Since then, I’ve become the author of three series from Harlequin—Flagman’s Folly, The Hitching Post Hotel, and a two-book mini-series set in Dillon, Texas—and a fourth series from Entangled Bliss called Snowflake Valley. While the books within each series are connected, they all stand alone as far as the hero and heroine reaching their Happy Ever After by the end of their story.

About The Rancher’s Family:

“Are you my new mommy?”

She certainly hopes so…

After a devastating loss, Cara Leonetti’s dreams of a husband and children are on hold. But Cowboy Creek’s local matchmaker thinks otherwise! And Cara finds herself unexpectedly entangled in the day-to-day family chaos of widower Wes Daniels and his two small children. She’s falling hard, but the strong, silent rancher doesn’t trust in love. Can Cara put her own fears aside and show Wes that they’re stronger together?

An excerpt from The Rancher’s Family:

Wes scuffed one foot on the floor, wanting to kick himself for blurting out that remark about charity. Why give the woman ideas?

“The Garlands are good friends. And I imagine Andi’s plans are on the level,” he admitted, “but I wouldn’t put it past Jed to… Never mind.” He would see Jed himself. From the time he was a child Mark’s age, he’d looked up to the man. That wouldn’t keep him from calling him out on his interference. Jed had a reputation for knowing everything that went on in Cowboy Creek. Not one-hundred-percent true. There were things his old friend didn’t—and would never—know about him.

“I’ll show you Patty’s craft stuff before I head out,” he told Cara. “We’ve got a spare bedroom. Patty converted it into her office and stored everything there. It’s at the far end of this hall.”

He hesitated at the office doorway. It had been more than a year since he’d set foot in here. If he had his choice, he wouldn’t enter it again. Coward.

As though someone had shoved him between the shoulder blades, he shot through the door and didn’t stop till he reached the center of the room.

When Cara followed, he gestured toward the multiple storage chests and dressers, the stacks of boxes, the closed but—as he well remembered—overflowing closet. “Everything’s packed full. But I don’t know much about what Patty stockpiled in here.”

Her eyes widened. “This is all inventory she’d planned to sell?”

He nodded. “As I said, she spent a lot of time on her crafts.”

“I can see that. Mind if I browse?”

“That’s why we’re here.” He leaned against the doorframe, watching her check out the contents of half a dozen boxes and bins.

“Amazing. If all the rest is like this, Andi should be thrilled to have it for her start-up stock, if you’re interested.”

“That’ll work.”

“Great. Then once I finish up in your bedroom, I’ll start making an inventory in here. It’s going to take time, though less of it if I can work from an existing list. I’d guess your wife made one.” She glanced around the room. “Do you have a computer?”

“Not me. Patty did. A laptop. I’ll get it out when you’re ready for it.”

“Since you said you’ll be gone most of the day, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at it before you go. The sooner the better, don’t you think?”

“You read my mind,” he said truthfully. Just as he’d read the look in her steady gaze. Her eyes held the same sympathy they had the night before. He’d seen too much of that from too many people this year.

Somehow, last night, he’d imagined he could accept her help. That with her being a stranger, her sympathy wouldn’t bother him. Now he wished he’d never opened the door this morning.

Buy Links for The Rancher’s Family:

About Barbara:

Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest. Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom. Barbara also loves writing, reading, and chocolate. Come to think of it, she enjoys writing about those subjects, too! Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest in her writing life:  https://barbarawhitedaille.com/newsletter.

Find out more about Barbara and her books:

 

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