Giddyap for the Ultimate Western Blog Tour. The Tour Schedule holds lots of guests posts and fun for you. Then click the photo above to enter to win a cowgirl getaway for you and some friends. But not before you read the Special Guest Post I have from Trish Milburn.
The Birth of a Couple
Guest post by award-winning author Trish Milburn
One of the questions authors are most often asked is “Where do you get your ideas?” My answer is always “Everywhere.” And sometimes I’m not even looking for them. They seemingly waltz into my life when I’m busy doing other things. Such was the case with the inspiration for the heroine in my March 2016 Harlequin American Romance, Home on the Ranch, part of my continuing Blue Falls, Texas, series. Ella Garcia came to life after my best friend, fellow author MJ Fredrick, mentioned how much she loved watching a show called Junk Gypsies. It’s about these two sisters in Texas who have built this incredible home décor business which had its beginnings in junking. They would take things that many people would consider junk and envision something stunning, then make it. For example, old lumber in a field becomes a shabby chic headboard for a bed.
Somewhere in the midst of binge watching the show, a character started to form in my mind. Ella was the type of cheerful, hardworking person people like to be around. And she subscribes to the philosophy of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. She hates waste and will find a way to repurpose things others would toss in a heartbeat.
Romance novels have heroes and heroines who have some sort of conflict keeping them apart before they find a way to overcome it to achieve their happily ever after. So who could I pair Ella with? Who would be at odds with this loveable, fun, resourceful heroine? How about a guy who is a minimalist? And why is he in favor of having the least amount of stuff possible? Because he was raised by hoarders, living in a house where he could barely find a path to walk through. Thus, Austin Bryant was born. After the death of his grandparents, who raised him, he hires Ella to clear out the mountains of stuff in their house so he can sell the family ranch. But to Ella, it’s not piles of junk to be hauled off to the dump. It’s a goldmine!
At the beginning, these two might be physically attracted to each other, but they certainly don’t understand each other. It’s the journey toward understanding and love that makes the story a fun one to tell and hopefully a fun, romantic one to read. And it’s not just each other they come to understand; Austin finds his way back to the person he was when he was young, the person he was meant to be in the place he was meant to be that person – a rancher on his family’s land.
About Home On The Ranch: Austin Bryant has come back to Blue Falls to get his grandfather’s ranch ready to sell. Years ago he escaped to Dallas, and now his life is exactly the way he likes it—orderly and neat. He can’t stand all the junk his grandparents collected, and he just wants it gone.
When Ella Garcia is called to haul away the trash from the Bryant ranch, she’s thrilled. Her business is turning one person’s trash into another’s treasure. But Austin’s attitude is a mystery to her—he seems anxious to throw away his family’s memories. Ella notices how at home Austin is on the ranch—and how good he looks in a cowboy hat—and she wonders if there’s more country in this city boy than he realizes.
About the author: Trish Milburn is a freelance journalist, lives in the South, and is a big fan of the outdoors and U.S. National Parks. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, nature photography, reading, traveling, watching TV or movies and surfing the web. She’s also a big geek girl, including being a Browncoat and a Whovian, and has been known to cosplay at Dragon*Con.
There are lots of cowboys – and girls – to love in the tour so be sure to hit all of the stops through the end of August.
The fun is thanks to TLC Book Tours.
