Thursday, May 28, 2009

Montana Rose 4 Stars in Romantic Times Magazine


About a month ahead Romantic Times magazine posts ratings for upcoming titles.

Montana Rose, a historical romantic comedy, releasing in July, was in this month and it rated 4 out of 4 1/2 possible points. Very good.

I'm including a link but it opens a PDF file and that's slow and there's no real information there except the number. A review will appear later, but they hold back the reviews for a month or two online...so you'll subscribe to their magazine.

This is a nine page PDF file, the rating for Montana Rose is on page nine.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Of Mice. . .and Murder. . .and Elle


Drawing today on Petticoats & Pistols for a signed copy of Nosy in Nebraska, my latest release.
And I baby sat last Sunday for my granddaughter Elle. So, trying to pick which of those was most important to write about.......well, that's a killer. Because while it is true that I worked thousands of hours, chained to a computer, the sun rose and set without notice while I was immersed in plot, character murder, fear of mice and caffeine, and all that is very important, still, Elle's really cute. Read More Here

Monday, May 25, 2009

Susan Boyle makes the Semi-Finals



Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent.
I was hoping so much that she'd come through and she really did it. One of the judges said the world was watching and I think that's so close to true. So many people were wondering if it was a fluke or the perfect song choice. Could she do it again. It was absolutely beautiful.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dog Eared Books

I'm doing a book signing
in
Independence, MO
on
June 6th,
at
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
with
at
3625 S. Noland Rd. ~ Independence, MO 64055

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Terry Blain guest today on Petticoats and Pistols

Yes, I admit, my heroes have always been cowboys. My love of cowboys came from old western movies. Here were men who were larger than life, who stood up for what they believed in, who’s word was their bond, who were willing to do what had to be done. And when they fell in love, it was deep and forever -- even if they fought it at first.

Nothing surprised me more when I started to write, that I chose set my stories in the American frontier. Now, it wasn’t a surprise that I chose to write historicals –after all, I have a BA and MA and a second BA in History and taught US History and Western Civilization at the college level.
Read more on http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/

Friday, May 22, 2009

SARAH AND JEN T--NEWSLETTER WINNERS!!!




I was so excited to get my author's copies and that I was actually getting a newsletter together that to celebrate I drew two winners of a copy of my June release,



Sarah-Newborn butterfly and JenT


I've already talked with Sarah and Jen

and the signed copies of Nosy in Nebraska will soon be on their way.

My plan is to send out a newsletter every time a book releases

and give away a copy of the new release,

there will be other drawings, too.

And hopefully some fun along the way.

If you'd like to join the newsletter crew,

you can sign up on the left side of this blog post or go here:


By the way, just for fun, here are Jen and Sarah's blogs.
and
They're having more fun on these blogs than I'm having here, so if you go there and never come back........well.........I'll understand.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

American Idol--Shocker? Not to me

I've never watched American Idol before. We didn't get it in our remote location with our dinosaur satellite dish.

So it was all new to me.

So here's how it went. I rooted for the contestants for no good reason at all except I liked them. I don't know much about 'singing' talent, they all sounded pretty good to me, so I went on the assumption that they wouldn't have made that top cut if they weren't decent singers. After that, I think like all famous people, it's about luck, the package, the mood.

I just went with who I liked.

First I wanted Michael Sarver.
The oil rig guy.

He was, to me, the dream candidate.
He was the guy that made me think, "I could be up there."
He reminded me that I've gotten a book published, which is hard. And I actually managed it, something that I at once thought of as the Impossible Dream.

Pause here to hum that song.
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

There, that was nice, moving on.........

Then I switched to Scott MacIntyre because he was amazing. Playing that piano, blind. Can you imagine how talented he is to learn to play a new song every week without eye sight? And really, honestly it's not about being blind, though that's really compelling. It's about having a really abiding gift. Deep and real. Talent.

Again, bottom line, I liked him. I guess that's the kiss of death because BAM he's gone.


Now I turn to Matt Giraud...but honestly, once Michael was gone I quit caring mostly. The dream was over, the unreachable star was unreached. All I could think was, "At least Michael gets to go on tour. I hope he makes a fortune. AND was he back on that dangerous oil rig until it was time to go on tour? AND what about all those other guys on a oil rig? It's a dangerous job. AND my husband has a kinda dangerous job....what about him, why doesn't HE get to go on tour. True he can't sing much, but still........"

So anyway, while I'm supposed to be rooting for someone, all I can do is free associate 'what if's' so that's not good. So anyway I switched to Matt because I really liked that he sat there at the piano. This is a double dose of talent.
I thought Allison Iraheta was incredibly talented, shockingly talented for someone so young, but with her I just kept thinking, "Go back to school. Just say no if one of those Hollywood weirdos offers you drugs. Where are your parents? Are they watching out for you? Are you keeping up with your homework?"

So Allison for me was fraught with danger. I'm a mother with her, not a fan.


Somewhere in there, about the time they were ejecting Matt I turned to Kris Allen. One week he sang a song with a four piece band (including him) and a guy sat behind him drumming on this weird hollow sounding wooden thing...

And I loved that wooden thing...but more to the point...I could see Kris being in a band. I could see him making that band his own. I could imagine him on stage and me in the audience. So I switched to Kris


I never rooted for Danny Gokey,
though I thought he was very talented
and loved his story and hurt for him losing his wife.
And Adam, I just can't see myself at a concert of his, just not my thing.
Of course I never go to concerts
and will no doubt never go to a concert held by Kris...
but I could imagine it.


So Kris was my choice...but after Michael was driven off the stage and sent back to almost certain death on the oil rig, I really couldn't care anymore. And they all sang just fine, don't they pretty much synthesize the voices of modern singers anyway???

That's me and American Idol......year one.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Historical Novels Review Magazine - Gingham Mountain

A nice review of Gingham Mountain in the Historical Novels Review Magazine, a publication of The Historical Novel Society.

GINGHAM MOUNTAIN
Mary Connealy, Barbour, 2008, $10.97, pb, 288pp, 9781602601413
Sour Springs, Texas. Last stop for the orphan train. Last hope for two orphans nobody wants. Nobody but Grant, that is. Once an orphan himself, he provides them with shelter, food, and clothes, but the most important thing he gives is love.
Hannah Cartwright assumes Grant is like other “fathers,” who just want children to work until they drop. When her attempt to keep Grant from adopting the children fails, she takes the job of schoolmarm to watch over the children. She has a knack for teaching, but not cooking or sewing, so Grant’s children concoct plans to help her and get her to like him. The only problem is that Shirt Lady, another newcomer, has designs on Grant herself, even though she hates children.
Set in 1870, this is a fast-paced, heartwarming story filled with humor and romance. There’s even a bit a mystery woven in, for Shirt Lady isn’t who or what she pretends to be. The only drawback is the occasional intrusion of characters from an earlier story in the “Lassoed in Texas” series, but Connealy eventually ties them into the main story. A delightful, entertaining book you’ll want to read again and again.
Cindy Vallar

Monday, May 18, 2009

My author's copies should be here any day!


I'm expecting my author's copies of Nosy in Nebraska any day.

In fact I always check my front porch the second I get home at night, hoping to see that they've come.

I'm planning to end the newsletter sign up contest at the end of May, which if those books aren't here by then I should be able to go buy one in the bookstore. YAY!

I'll send out a free book to whoever wins the drawing and, if I have your permission, I'll announce your name to the whole group

AND

If you want, take a picture of yourself with the book when it arrives and I"ll put it up here on my blog.
The newsletter is growing and I'm really excited about that.
I might be excited enough to actually SEND OUT A NEWSLETTER!!!!!


MAYHEM IN THE MIDLANDS-THIS WEEK

I'll be at
at the Embassy Suites
555 S. 10th St. Omaha
This weekend
I'm on several panels

Friday 9:00 AM A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crime: Humor in mysteries

Friday 10:30 AM Characters Wanted!: Creating believable characters

Saturday 10:30 AM Causes and Casualties: Issue-driven fiction
I'll be signing books for a while following each of these hour long panels

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Cowgirl Behind Cowgirl Dreams
In a scrapbook I have from my grandmother is a clipping from the Sunburst Sun (Montana) newspaper, Aug. 26, 1922, that reads:
Program
1:00 Parade of cowboys and cowgirls, headed by Cut Bank brass band
2:30 Tootsie Bailey will enter competition with entire field, riding wild steers with only one hand on cirsingle
Another clipping states “Tootsie Bailey won first and Mary (Marie) Gibson second prize in the steer riding.”
Marie Gibson was a well-known Montana cowgirl and won national awards for bronc riding.
Tootsie was my grandmother and she would have been 17 at that time.

Read More

Friday, May 15, 2009

Newsletter Give-Away

I'm giving away a free copy of my soon to be released romantic-comedy cozy mystery
To one new subscriber to my newsletter.
YOU HAVE TO SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER TO BE ELIGIBLE!
You can sign up for the newsletter by putting your email address
in the space on the right side of this blog (scroll down a bit).
I promise NOT to sell your information.
Better than that, there's a good chance....
I'll never even SEND YOU A NEWSLETTER!
So sign up with no fear.
Today.
Sales pitch of the year, huh?
If you don't win
Nosy in Nebraska
is available for pre-order on Amazon
And it will be in bookstores, June 1st

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cover for Cowboy Christmas!


COWBOY CHRISTMAS

Coming in September

Elijah Walker's lost his father at the hands of a deceitful woman.
Citified Annette Talbot is on the run from something but all Elijah knows is she's lying.
Annette will choose death over betraying her faith, but she may be forced into choices more horrible than death.
Walker steps in to protect her despite her secrets, but he will never trust her with his heart.
As danger draws near and Christmas approaches, they get one special chance to heal old heartbreaks and follow their own star.
I just got the final cover for it and I LOVE IT.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Artificial insemination-and that’s NO BULL




To my surprise I mentioned to some friends (well, FORMER FRIENDS, the wimps) that I came home the other day and there was semen on my front porch.
Their reaction – a cross between horror, amazement and extremely tasteless jokes—made me think this might make a good topic for Petticoats & Pistols. Come find out more...if you're not AFRAID.
Petticoats & Pistols

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Montana Rose-coming in July-first review



Publishers Weekly reviewed Montana Rose


Here are some selected passages.

Christian novelist Connealy (Petticoat Ranch) writes to tickle the funny bone and tease heartstrings with the first in her newest series, Montana Marriages.

In the Montana Territory of 1875, sweet and naïve Cassie Griffin's abusive husband dies, leaving Cassie no choice but to choose a new husband the same day she buries her first. With women scarce and lawlessness abounding, Cassie reluctantly agrees to marry Red Dawson, also reluctant, who offers to marry her only to save her from an immoral scoundrel who's been stalking her for months. Immediately traveling to Red's ranch, Cassie realizes how little she knows about life, love and faith. In turn, Red quickly realizes how brutalized his new wife was by her first husband. Slowly, sometimes painstakingly so, Cassie learns to trust her instincts and begins to blossom.


Mary again: The only thing missing from that summary of Montana Rose is the comedy. They don't mention that while Cassie is trying to obey a husband who will NOT give her orders, she pretty much destroys his ranch. Think Lucille Ball dealing with long horn cattle.

It's not released yet but it's available for pre-order on Amazon.

Friday, May 08, 2009

FACELIFT!!!!!

No not me.
Who sez I need a facelift?
SHUT UP!!!!
But my website, now that, yeah,
I'd say a nip and tuck are called for there.
My website is different than my blog.
Full of facts and details about my books.
I shifted around the books to feature the next release
but there are a few other fun things there, too,
including the greatest
"How I got my first book contract"
story of all time.
They ran a contest about it.
I won.
I can't remember exactly who ran it or when.
But still, I'm sure I won.
Stop by and take a look, see what's coming, read my story.
Take a quick nap if the site inspires that in you.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Review of Nosy in Nebraska



How fun is this? First review I've seen of any of the books in
Nosy in Nebraska.
They reviewed Pride and Pestilence On Faith Webbing.
They liked it too.
YAY!!!!!!
Releasing in JUNE.
Go see what they had to say by CLICKING on the book cover.
Or click here: Faith Webbin
Click to buy

Monday, May 04, 2009

Where Do You Get Your Ideas

The eternal question writer's get.
Today I answer it on Seekerville.