Excerpt, Guest Blog and Giveaway: Big Sky Country by Linda Lael Miller

BIG SKY COUNTRY

by Linda Lael Miller

HQN Books; May 29, 2012

384 pages; $7.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN.

ISBN-13: 978-0-373-77643-6

www.LindaLaelMiller.com

Thanks for joining me on the Big Sky Country Tour today, I have today's excerpt, a guest post from Linda Lael Miller and a giveaway for you.  Also be sure to check out the tour website found here for more stops and for a Cowboy Charm necklace giveaway.

Excerpt

Name your price. Slade knew he ought to accept the deal, and just be glad John Carmody had seen fit to claim him, albeit posthumously. All he had to do was say yes, and he could buy that little spread he’d had his eye on for the past couple of years, pay cash for it, instead of depleting his savings for the down payment. But something prevented him from agreeing, something that ran deeper than his utter inability to act on impulse.

Indirectly, John Carmody had, at long last, acknowledged his existence. He needed to be with that knowledge for a while, work out what it meant, if anything.

“I’ll get back to you,” Slade finally reiterated, climbing up behind the wheel of his truck and putting on his hat. “In the meantime, I’ve got a county to look after.”

With that, he shut the truck door.

Hutch thumped the metal hard with the heel of one palm, then turned and stormed away, rounded the hood of the Whisper Creek pickup, yanked open the door and jumped into the driver’s seat.

Guest Post: Do you prefer Slade or Hutch? 

 Well, heck, that’s a hard one, because I’m crazy about both of them.  Slade is the strong, silent type, physically patterned after a young Rob Lowe (I had his shirtless Vanity Fair cover framed and kept it on my desk throughout.)  He’s big on honor and integrity, and he’s really gun-shy because of a love gone wrong.  Hutch is strong, too, but he’s outspoken and reckless.  Where Slade will examine an issue from all angles, Hutch tends to jump right in and worry about the details later.  Because they’re both LLM heroes, they have certain qualities in common: they want a woman who is an equal, and a partner, they love kids, they love animals, and they will always try to do the right thing.  Like “real” people, they sometimes get it wrong, despite all their good intentions.  They both have a sense of humor, Slade’s being dry and understated, while Hutch’s is more wisecrack dependent.  They never look for a fight, but they never run away from one, either.  I’m often asked if I wish real men were like my heroes—truth be told, I think there are a lot of very fine men out there, doing their jobs, loving their women, raising their children to be good citizens. 

 

BIG SKY COUNTRY

 June 2012

 

“With engaging characters and lovable animals, this second story in the Creed Cowboys trilogy is a sure hit for the legions of cowboy fans out there.”

—RT Book Reviews on Creed’s Honor

                                                                                                                  

Two hostile half brothers—one legitimate and one not—are each left half of their deceased father’s prosperous ranch, but even this sprawling estate isn’t big enough for these two feuding cowboys.  They’re headed for one big final showdown—winner takes all.  BIG SKY COUNTRY (Harlequin HQN, June 2012, $7.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN.), is the first book in the new series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller, set in Parable, Montana—where rugged cowboys and feisty cowgirls abound.

It’s the secret that’s not much of a secret in the small rural town of Parable, Montana—that County Sheriff Slade Barlow is the illegitimate son of wealthy rancher John Carmody. But Slade’s existence has never once been acknowledged by his father, who lavished all his resources and attention on his legitimate son, Hutch Carmody, while Slade grew up barely scraping by with his mother in a small trailer attached to her hair salon, the Curly Burly. With the town’s whispers fueling their hatred, Slade and Hutch have spent their whole lives brawling with each other.

So when the half brothers are notified upon their father’s passing that according to his wishes the very profitable Whisper Creek Ranch and the fortune that goes with it is to be divided equally between them, both are left stunned.

But Hutch has no plans of sharing anything with his half brother. After all, he’s the golden boy who’s been groomed since birth to become master of Whisper Creek and he’s determined to get his way. He makes Slade a whopper of an offer for his share of the ranch, but Slade is in no hurry to give in to Hutch, who’s always had everything handed to him on a silver platter, including the attention of the beautiful Joslyn Kirk, former town prom queen and spoiled brat who slunk out of Parable years ago in disgrace but now is back….

Parable is the one place Joslyn Kirk swore she’d never set foot in again. She was a self-centered little rich girl back then until her stepfather cheated everyone in town out of their savings and she and her mom were forced to slink out of Parable in the middle of the night like criminals. But Joslyn spent years working to secretly pay back—out of her own hard-earned money—everyone her stepfather had bamboozled. Now Joslyn is home to face the people she ran away from years ago. But people in Parable haven’t forgotten the past and aren’t so accepting.

Slade wants to convince Joslyn that she’s not responsible for her stepfather’s mistakes. She has nothing in her past to apologize for. But Slade isn’t so comfortable with his own family issues.

Why doesn’t he sell the ranch to Hutch? Is it because he wants to claim his birthright, or is he just making things difficult for his half brother? Either way, Hutch is going to force Slade’s hand. These cowboy brothers are heading for a final Wild West showdown in front of the whole town with everything riding on the outcome.

Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than one hundred historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West. Raised in Northport, Washington, the self-confessed barn goddess now lives in Spokane, Washington. Linda hit a career high in 2011 when all three of her Creed Cowboys books—A Creed in Stone Creek, Creed’s Honor and The Creed Legacy—debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  To learn more about Linda, visit www.LindaLaelMiller.com.

 

Giveaway

BookTrib is offering one US/Canada reader a copy of Big Sky Country.  Just fill out Rafflecopter below.  Open through 6/14/2012.  This book will be mailed from the publicist.  Thanks to BookTrib for offering this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway