Friday, June 26, 2015

Guest Post: Sarah M. Anderson and Bad Dates


WELCOME BACK TO THE BLOG, SARAH! :) 





Award-winning author Sarah M. Anderson may live east of the Mississippi River, but her heart lies out west on the Great Plains. With a lifelong love of horses and two history teachers for parents, it wasn't long before her characters found themselves out in South Dakota among the Lakota Sioux.  She loves to put people from two different worlds into new situations and to see how their backgrounds and cultures take them someplace they never thought they’d go.


When not helping out at school or walking her rescue dogs, Sarah spends her days having conversations with imaginary cowboys and American Indians, all of which is surprisingly well-tolerated by her wonderful husband and son. You can learn more about Sarah at www.sarahmanderson.com.

Sarah, Donna and Jenna are all very, very thankful they don’t have to go on bad dates anymore! Find out more about them and the NotMy1stRodeo novellas at NotMy1stRodeo




Where to Find Sarah:






Bad Dates



Bad dates. We’ve all had them. Somehow, we’ve survived them—but not without a few stories!


In the new series NotMy1stRodeo, an anthology of novellas by me, Donna Alward and Jenna Bayley-Burke, all of our characters have been married before and are trying to find love again. They’ve all signed up for NotMy1stRodeo.com, a dating site geared toward ranchers and cowboys that have done this before—it’s not their first rodeo!


But before our characters can find their princes (and princesses) some of them have to kiss a lot of frogs!


In Something About a Cowboy, my hero Mack hasn’t been on a date since he was a teenager—he married young and has been widowed for a while. But his date, Karen, has been divorced for a few years and some of her dates since then have been awful:



“I had another bad blind date that one of my best clients claimed would be perfect for me.” She couldn’t help it—she shuddered at the memory of Ryan. “He offered to cook me dinner at his place, which turned out to be eating pizza in his filthy apartment while he watched a World War II documentary. I’ll spare you the rest of the details.” No one else needed to know about how he’d taken off his socks and picked at his toenails while she was still eating. No one.




That date was taken from real life—thankfully not mine, though. One of my best friends went on this exact date. To this day, we still refer to that guy as “the toe-picker.”



My own worst date happened when I was in grad school. I was working at a beer garden for outdoor concerts to earn money on the side and one of the bouncers took a shine to me. I should have said no—he answered to the name Creature!—but he was really a nice guy and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt his feelings. Sadly, we had nothing in common beyond being carbon-based life forms—and he took me to The Cheesecake Factory, where the food was so rich I got sick. There might have been explosive gas. It was a disaster.


Donna Alward had this to say about dating in her novella, Nothing Like a Cowboy: “My hero’s divorced, and I’m not really sure he remembers what dating is like. He and his wife got together in college, and he hasn’t exactly dated since she flew the coop. The heroine signed up for the site and has been on some doozies. My favorite was the one where the date showed up fresh from the barn to take her to lunch—and still smelled like the cows. Eeew! Needless to say, there wasn’t a second date.


One of my own worst dates was because I ended up feeling embarrassed. It was my first time downhill skiing, and this guy asked me to go with a whole group of people. I rented equipment, and he *tried* to show me what to do on the bunny hill. First of all—I kept falling off the T-bar. Then, when I finally got to the top, I started with the snowplow. But then I couldn’t get stopped. I kept telling him to get out of the way and he kept insisting I could do it…and I ran straight into him. Not only that but I bent his very nice, somewhat expensive ski pole.

I felt like an idiot, he was slightly unhappy, and said he’d come back to check on me later. By the end of the day I was skiing down the easy trails, but yeah…pretty much by myself. Not my finest date by a long shot.”


Jenna Bayley-Burke had this to say about her novella Anything For a Cowboy: “Jacy's dating disaster
inspirations came from books, actually. Ray's were from my brother's experience—yes, he swears one woman MUST have used a picture of her daughter!”

  

~Sarah M. Anderson



Something About a Cowboy by Sarah M. Anderson
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (June 23, 2015)
Series: NotMy1stRodeo.com, 3
Genre: Contemporary Romance

He’s a man of his word…and she’s gonna take him up on it.

A NotMy1stRodeo.com Story

After six years working his ranch and raising his boys, widower Mack Tucker is staring down the barrel of another long, lonely winter. Until his grown-up sons decide it’s time for him to move on. They not only sign him up for an online dating site, but also screen the first batch of interested parties.

Mack is furious—until he spots one of the profiles. He’s intrigued. Intrigued enough to drive three hours to Billings to meet Karen Thompson.

Burned by her ex, Karen isn’t interested in diving into another marriage, but she wouldn’t mind dipping her toes back in the dating waters. But this time, things will be different. What could be more trustworthy and honest than a strong, silent cowboy?

Their first date gets steamier than either of them intended, and Mack fears it may be too much, too soon for him. Torn between the past and the present, Mack has to cowboy up or lose the possibility of a future with the woman who makes his broken heart beat again.


Warning: Contains skinny dipping in public, sensual biting, gratuitous use of roses, and a red lace thong. Sometimes all at once.



Where to Buy*:
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Reviews of Anderson's Previous Books:








Something About a Cowboy by Sarah M. Anderson
Excerpt



“You must have some tragic war stories.” They crested the top of the ridge and Ray turned the horses towards the new barn, the sweet smell of warm hay fields swirling around them.

“War stories?” Jacy sat up higher, taking in the set-up.


“You know, flakes you’ve dated, exes you’ve shed.”

“Ah, I refer to those as tales of woe. You have no idea what it’s like to show up at a restaurant to find the man you’re meeting is wearing more makeup than you. And jewelry. And tighter jeans.”

He nodded in camaraderie. “It’s the women who seem to have put up pictures of their daughter and not themselves that freak me out.”

“And the ones who have been drinking the crazy sauce, or who try to get grabby.”

“I apologize on behalf of all men.”

She shrugged. “I usually wind up having to apologize, or administer first aid. With four brothers, I don’t exactly hit like a girl.”

He pulled Joe to a stop beside the working pens and Jacy circled Hoss around until she was facing him.

“Too much? I tend to over share.” She sat up taller in the saddle, her hazel gaze wide and clear. “If it helps, I’ve never done any permanent damage. And by the looks of your nose, you’ve broken it before, so you know a bloody nose looks worse than it is.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “This is the standard issue Mitchell nose.”





Thanks for stopping by today, Sarah! I look forward to this series, it sounds very fun. 

So, do you have a bad date you want to share with us? 



Enjoy!



Until Next Time,

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  *TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!

2 comments :

Lover Of Romance said...

oh this author sounds great!! And you know how I love those sexy cowboys.

The_Book_Queen said...

Oh, definitely pick up Sarah's books if you haven't already! Her Men of the White Sandy series in particular are *soooo* good. :)