HHH Book Day

 

THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET

(The Quilting Circle 4)

By Mary Davis

Washington State, 1894

Geneviève Marseille has one purpose in coming to Kamola—stopping her brother from digging up the past. Deputy Montana has lived a simple life. But when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into his arms, his modest existence might not be enough anymore. A nemesis from Aunt Henny past arrives in town threatening her with jail. Will she flee as she’d done all those years ago, or stand her ground in the town she’s made her home? When secrets come out, will the lives of Geneviève, Montana, and Aunt Henny ever be the same?

 

THIMBLES AND THREAD

By Suzanne Norquist, et al

4 Love Stories Are Quilted Into Broken Lives

 

“Mending Sarah’s Heart” By Suzanne Norquist, et al.

Rockledge, Colorado, 1884

Sarah doesn’t need anyone, especially her dead husband’s partner. With four brothers to mentor her boys and income as a seamstress, she seeks a quiet life. If only the Emporium of Fashion would stop stealing her customers and the local hoodlums would leave her sons alone. When she rejects her husband’s share of the mine, his partner Jack seeks to serve her through other means. But will his efforts only push her further away?

 

“Bygones” by Mary Davis

Texas, 1884

Drawn to the new orphan boy in town, Tilly Rockford soon became the unfortunate victim of a lot of Orion Dunbar’s mischievous deeds in school. Can Tilly figure out how to truly forgive the one who made her childhood unbearable? Now she doesn’t even know she holds his heart. Can this deviant orphan-train boy turned man make up for the misdeeds of his youth and win Tilly’s heart before another man steals her away?

 

TITANIC: LEGACY OF BETRAYAL

By Kathleen E. Kovach, et al.

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection. Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart. Review: “I told my wife to move this book to the top of her reading list... This titanic story is more interesting than the one told in the Titanic movie... She will absolutely love it.”

 

THE FRUITCAKE SCANDAL

By Vickie McDonough

Pastor Clay Parsons waited a year to bring his fiancée, Karen Briggs, to his new church post. They plan a Christmas wedding, but in the meantime, Karen helps the church ladies with various projects, including a bake sale. But revealing her fruitcake recipe could spell disaster for her future with Clay and his congregation.

 

THE RED FURY

(Empire in Pine, Book Two)

By Naomi Musch

Peshtigo, Wisconsin ~ 1870

Spurned twice since the death of her true love, Lainey Kade has become the object of talk. To escape the gossip, she embarks on a journey that crosses her path with brothers Zane and Kelly Beaumont, Civil War veterans whose nightmares have never let them return home. She first pretends to be a married woman, but as the ties of their adventurous friendship tighten, Lainey denies love's rekindling spark. Now their attraction to Lainey may tear brothers apart, and as history’s deadliest fires rages toward them, Lainey may be burned by her own heart’s fury.

 

A HARVEST HEART

By Denise Weimer

Pumpkins, a corn maze, and Friday night football. Last day to pre-order at .99!

Hope Richardson puts her event planning career on hold to return to the Georgia foothills to help plan her twin sister’s wedding and jumpstart the tearoom Faith was supposed to run with their mother. Returning to Habersham County forces Hope to face the loss of her father—and, when Faith chooses Tucker Bradshaw’s family farm as her wedding venue, Hope’s unresolved college breakup with Tucker. When a harvest romance reignites, will Hope find the faith to live up to her name?

 

ROSE AMONG THORNES

By Terrie Todd

Forgiveness is the most powerful force on earth. “Thoughtful and timely. In Rose Among Thornes, Terrie Todd shows the difficult conditions faced by Japanese-Canadians in World War II―a topic rarely explored in novels―as well as the horrific treatment of prisoners of war. Both Rose and Rusty have reasons to hate, reasons never to forgive. Through their struggles, we see the cost of not forgiving and the blessings of forgiveness. A beautiful story that makes you feel―and think. Highly recommended!” ~Sarah Sundin, bestselling and award-winning author of When Twilight Breaks and the Sunrise at Normandy series

 

THE MYSTERY OF CHRISTMAS INN, COLORADO

By Donna Schlachter

Can Matthew and Edith save an old hotel—and themselves—or will they run out of time? Matthew returns to Christmas Inn to celebrate his anniversary, intending to join his beloved Sarah, who passed on to glory the previous January. He learns that the old inn will close its doors soon. Can he save the hotel—and his memories? Edith Cochrane, a widow, comes to Christmas Inn to escape her greedy family. Ever since her husband’s passing, she’s found herself at loose ends. A body in a wall and a kidnap attempt rejuvenate her. But will it be enough?

 

DARIA’S DUKE

By Linda Shenton Matchett

Will a stolen inheritance and false accusations thwart the chance for happily-ever-after? After the death of her father, Daria Burke is thrust into the role of a servant by her stepmother. Locked in her room one night, Daria watches as the woman and her daughters sashay from the house wearing her mother’s gowns and jewelry. Realizing she’ll never be accepted as family, she flees the house and applies to be a mail-order bride. Then the sheriff arrives on the eve of her wedding with an arrest warrant. Can she prove her innocence or will she go to jail and lose her one chance at happiness? (special launch price: $0.99)

UNDER THE TULIP TREE

By Michelle Shocklee

Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena. Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, but it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. Will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?

 

WALTZ WITH DESTINY

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

Waltz into the Big Band Era and the splendors of Detroit's ballrooms with Esther (McConnell) Meir as a story-book romance swirls into a battle for survival—.

Guys like Eric Erhardt remembers those days vividly: "The outside world all thought Americans were too soft, and not much more than playboys, and we wouldn't be able to fight—man, did we show them!

"…Waltz with Destiny is the crown jewel of the Destiny Series! Brakefield brings 1940s Detroit to life, along with the WWII battlefields of Italy...You won't want to put this one down!"

Finalist in 2020 Best Book Awards

 

THE CRYPTOGRAPHER’S DILEMMA

By Johnnie Alexander

A Cryptographer Uncovers a Japanese Spy Ring

FBI cryptographer Eloise Marshall is grieving the death of her brother, who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor, when she is assigned to investigate a seemingly innocent letter about dolls. Agent Phillip Clayton is ready to enlist and head oversees when asked to work one more FBI job. A case of coded defense coordinates related to dolls should be easy, but not so when the Japanese Consulate gets involved, hearts get entangled, and Phillip goes missing. Can Eloise risk loving and losing again?

The 150th Anniversary of America's Deadliest Fire - Peshtigo

I often write stories that involve lumberjacks. It comes with the territory of being a writer growing up among Wisconsin's woods and loving to explore my state's history. The long, tough job of lumberjacking coupled with the living conditions and the growth of the industry through state history, make for great story lines and, of course, interesting heroes.

Lumberjacking is still alive and well, although of course it now involves specialized big machinery and technology, not to mention, nowadays lumberjacks--or loggers, as we simply refer to them these days--go home to their own beds every night. They no longer spend their winter nights stacked like cordwood in bunkhouses surrounded by a crew of snoring men, their bedding crawling with lice, and the malodorous scent of crusty wool socks steaming around the wood stove. Eek!

While I love the historical details about life in the by-gone lumberjacking eras, there was also a very sweeping and tragic event that occurred at that time in Wisconsin history. That was the firestorm of October 8, 1871. The day of the Great Peshtigo Fire.

Have you heard of it? Very possibly not. Yet:

The fire was named for a tiny lumbering community in the northeast corner of Wisconsin. Peshtigo, a village of 2000 permanent residents, surrounded by forests and smaller communities of Native peoples and immigrants, was built on the forest products industry. Home of one of the nation's largest sawmills, the reverberating whine of the great buzz saw rarely quieted. The huge woodenware factory turned out mountains of goods from buckets to broom handles and every other imaginable wooden item useful for the home. Because of the plentiful supply of trees (the story goes that a squirrel could run all the way to Michigan without leaving the branches to touch the ground) everything was built of wood, from houses with their wooden shingles, to the corduroy roads and wooden sidewalks underfoot. Sawdust was piled everywhere and used for everything from packing down the mud in the street to stuffing mattresses. And the forest pushed right up against the town. To the west lay miles of thick hardwoods called The Sugarbush. 

A river ran through town--the Peshtigo River. Like hundreds of other rivers up north, it was used to carry logs to market. The previous year had been a dry one, and the drought extended into 1871. The Peshtigo was low, as were all the other rivers. Some wells had gone dry. Meanwhile, logs were piled high along the banks, waiting for the time when rain would fall and they could finally be sent downstream. But that day didn't arrive.

Lumberjacks had been used to clearing forest and burning the brush left behind. Railroad construction crews did the same thing. Likewise, the farmers burned stumps and brush when clearing the land to put new fields to the plow. It wasn't uncommon for some of those brush fires to be left unattended to burn themselves out. But during the early fall of 1871, a recipe for disaster awaited.

A low-pressure front from the west rushed in. The season, along with being very dry, was also very warm--unusually warm for northern Wisconsin. But as the low pressure system met the hot air and rose to cool, it created hurricane-force winds which caught those flagrant sparks and fanned them, conflagrating into a firestorm described as nature's own nuke. Raging at 110 mph, temperatures inside the whirlwind reached as much as 2000 degrees. Goodness! I can't even imagine it!

The fire swept through forest and farmland and finally Peshtigo, decimating everything in its path. Trees and buildings went up like roman candles. Fireballs sailed through the air. The air was so hot, and the monster so intense, people fleeing in its path had difficulty opening their eyes. Their clothing caught fire, their hair, their wagons. Some ran toward the river, while others ran away from it. Many couldn't escape. The noise was like a thousand trains, while actual trains were tossed into the air and their steel wheels melted. It was chaos. Most horrific were the stories of human spontaneous combustion.

By the time the fire was over, 1.2 million acres had burned, an area 50% larger than Rhode Island. The fire ate through sixteen other towns, but Peshtigo and the nearby area suffered the worst. The city was gone in about an hour, and nearly half the population of the city lost their lives. In all, estimates are that between 1500 and 2500 people died in the Great Fire, though exact numbers are uncertain, as all records in the city were lost to the flames. Nothing remained.

Today, you can visit the Peshtigo Fire Museum, housed in a former church that stands next to a cemetery where some of the victims were buried. Nearby, a mass grave holds the remains of many others. 

But what may come as another surprise is that:

While the world focused on "the Great Chicago Fire" resources were rushed to aid, including everything from food to blankets sent by Wisconsin's governor to Chicago. Meanwhile, up north the world burned, but no one knew until about it until after the fact. Although six or seven times as many lives were lost up north, little attention was given to the huge fire because of its rural location. 

Yet the stories remain, and generations later, the souls lost there are remembered.

Next week, October 4-10, you can get my novel The Red Fury about that event on sale for .99c. Don't miss this story called "An absolute must-read!" (Review)

The Red Fury, Empire in Pine, Book Two

Peshtigo, Wisconsin ~ 1870
Spurned twice since the death of her true love, Lainey Kade has become the object of talk. To escape the gossip, she embarks on a journey that crosses her path with brothers Zane and Kelly Beaumont, Civil War veterans whose nightmares have never let them return home. She first pretends to be a married woman, but as the ties of their adventurous friendship tighten, Lainey denies love's rekindling spark. Now their attraction to Lainey may tear brothers apart, and as history’s deadliest fires rages toward them, Lainey may be burned by her own heart’s fury.

The History of Breakfast (with giveaway) By Donna Schlachter

Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels

Breakfast—who doesn’t love the smell of bacon and coffee in the morning? Makes the whole getting up part of the day worthwhile. Of course, not everybody favors this meal, and in some cultures, they don’t even celebrate the sunrise or the new day ahead by digging into a platter of food.

So how, then, did breakfast come about?

Actually, the word “breakfast” didn’t come into common usage until the 1400s, when the term meant breaking the fast. Prior to that, eating food in the morning was called "partaking of the morning meal".

Photo by Rachel Claire from Pexels

 

In Ancient Egypt, bread made from wheat, falafel, fava beans, onion, and other spices comprised their daily meal, usually in the morning, before they went to work. Yes, the peasants ate but once a day.

Later, in Greece, Homer mentions a meal eaten shortly after sunrise, particularly by laborers eager for something light to start their day. Barley bread dipped in wine, sometimes accompanied by figs or olives, fed the body if not the soul. Pancakes of varying recipes, topped with honey, sesame, and cheese, came later.

In Rome, everyday staples like bread, cheese, salad, and meat left from the previous night were consumed, along with wine mixed with honey and spices. At some point, two other meals were added per day.

 

Photo by Miquel Rosselló Calafell from Pexels

During the medieval period, breakfast lost favor when the time spent around the table was reduced to twice a day, midday and evening. Children were often the exception, as well as the elderly, the sick, and heavy laborers, who might be granted a morning meal of a piece of bread and a bit of cheese.

By the 1400s, however, meat was now included, and the rich indulged in breakfast, making it a more common practice. By the end of the 1500s, breakfast was now customary, including coffee and tea, which were believed to aid in evacuation of “superfluities”.

Most cultures consume some kind of meal in the mornings nowadays, reflecting the local products available. In Africa, fruit and vegetables in season, along with milk and meat, comprise the meal. In Europe, the croissant originated in Vienna in 1863, and by 1875, had become standard fare in French breakfast.

As with most things, warnings abounded in the early 1500s that breakfast wasn’t healthy since dinner wasn’t yet digested. However, by the latter part of that century, public and medical opinion contended that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

In the United States, waffles were introduced by pilgrims from the Netherlands. Pioneers consumed breakfasts featuring cornmeal-based breads and cereals, cooked in various manners such as corn pone, johnnycakes, and corn dodgers. After the Civil War, ham-and-egg sandwiches were popular but not relegated to the morning meal. The first breakfast sandwich recipe was published in a cookbook in 1897.

Hot and cold cereals have been popular in America since the 1800s, caused by a movement that contended that the consumption of eggs, pancakes, bacon, and coffee was too indulgent. Canned juices became popular in the 1900s after the discovery of vitamins, with orange juice the favorite overall.

Most of the heroines I’ve written about struggled with cooking, usually because they weren’t taught to cook when they were living with their mother. Many of our own breakfast traditions arise from our family experiences, although I’m always game to adopt a new dish, so long as it isn’t too spicy.



Giveaway: leave a comment to enter a random drawing for an ebook copy of “Hollenberg Hearts”, my latest Pony Express release.

About “Hollenberg Hearts”:

Catherine Malloy escapes a poor past in response to a mail order bride ad her best friend answered. However, Margaret dies before meeting the man who owns horses and property in Kansas.

Benjamin Troudt works for the Hollenberg family at their way station in Kansas, and owns nothing but the clothes on his back. Unbeknownst to him, his pastor is corresponding with a potential wife from back East for him.

When Catherine, now calling herself Maggie, arrives, Benjamin knows nothing of the pastor's match-making, and rejects her. However, a seriously ill pregnant woman needs tending. Perhaps Maggie can prove herself useful.

Not only does she do just that, but she finds herself attracted to the very man who is looking for ways to send her away.


About Donna:

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 40 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of several writing communities; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; blogs regularly; and judges in writing contests.

 

 

 

 

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Living history, almost.

By Jennifer Z. Major

I had a post all planned, then as we all know, something came along to shove it aside.

And what would take precedence?

Actual "living" Canadian history.

But a very special living history. 

Let's set up the story, shall we? 

Source: Wikipedia

In 1870, in Belleville, Ontario, a boarding school was opened. The Ontario Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. (I know, and I cannot stand that word) That was the name they used until 1913, when it was changed to The Ontario School for the Deaf. It kept that name until 1974, when it became The Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf.

Early on, the common "professional" approach for teaching deaf students was to teach (force) them to learn to read lips, and learn to speak. Even though many deaf children had no speech capabilities, that was how it was done, and what was expected. Sign language was completely frowned upon, as it didn't look "normal". And back then most hearing "experts" felt that assimilation was the key to a better life. 

As in many situations, assimilation wasn't exactly a successful method of education. I'm not sure when American Sign Language became the standard method of communication, but it is a vast improvement over teaching students to use a language they cannot hear.

So, back to the living history...but let's start with a bit of Major Family history.

On December 26th, 1916, a baby boy was born to Elizabeth and Horace Major. 

Major Family collection-taken in 1917

Look at that face!!

Horace was a military veteran of the Boer War and the Great War. With the arrival of little John Albert, he was now the father of 12.

Yes. Twelve.  

Yes, Elizabeth was his second wife.

Major Family collection-taken in 1919 or 1920

Unfortunately during her pregnancy, Elizabeth contracted German Measles, and little John was born deaf, which they wouldn't have realized for months. His 11 older siblings doted on him and he was loved and adored by his entire family, and despite his challenges, he was a happy little boy. 

But, a happy countenance or not, for most of the next 99 years, John Albert Major would not hear a single sound.

When it came time to educate little John, there was only one place, The Ontario School for the Deaf. This was a school with a good reputation, and the family sent Johnny there, although I'm not sure exactly when he started. He did graduate from the school in either 1933 or 1934. 

And like his three Major grandsons, he made the varsity hockey team. Can you find him? 

 Ontario School of the Deaf Hockey Team-early 1930s

John married Stella (who is also deaf) in 1946, and they were married for almost 70 years when he passed away on February 1, 2016. They had 6 children, 13 grandchildren, and as of August, 9 great-grandchildren.

The family is now preparing for Stella to "go be with Jesus and your father", as she tells everyone. She's 95, and her heart and lungs simply cannot keep up with her tenacious will. As I write this on September 20, she is still with us, and my husband is in Toronto with his sisters, spending the precious time with her. 

But we don't know what tomorrow will bring. 

Stella is now is a special care home for the deaf. The family has been packing up her house in Toronto and going through an abundance of old photographs, which lead us to the hockey photo above, and many more. 

One of the topics that the siblings (in Toronto)were discussing is the Deaf school, so I got curious and went to Google. 

And promptly had one of those spine-tingling experiences where one just loses all the cool and makes the frantically excited phone calls ...

I found this: 

Library and Archives Canada

A silent film from 1925 about the Ontario School for the Deaf!! 

So, I watched it, looking for a familiar face, knowing he was there in 1924, when this film would've been made. He would've been 8 years old.

I was starting to lose hope, then at 31:48, during the scene of a birthday celebration, a sweet smile caught me by the heart and took me to 1924, which is a faraway time and place that of course I've never been, but that I was entirely familiar with. 

Why? The bright smile.

The smile he gave Stella and his family all the time.

Stella and John on a boat cruise, 2014

There he was!!

I was undone. Just entirely undone. 

I immediately sent the video to my husband and told him to scroll ahead and watch from 31:48. On the phone together, we watched the little birthday celebration over and over and over. 

I sent the video to as many family members as I could. They all lost it.

My husband (and his siblings) could see his father as a little boy, sharing his friend's birthday cake and playing with a balloon. In his joy and inaudible laughter, we saw our sons. 

We both choked up. He showed his sisters. Then the next day, he showed his mom. She made him play that scene over and over. 

Here's the thing, how many of us even have family who were alive in 1925? And how many of those were captured for all time, in a silent movie? 

That film is a gift, especially at a time when we're preparing to say goodbye to a woman wasn't even born when her husband and his schoolmates made their film debut in a hand cranked silent movie? 

Yes, hand cranked. Watch the scene where the little boy is eating his cake, and you can see the shadow of the cameraman's arm as he cranks the camera. 

Now, I'll leave you with this. John Albert Major was born into total silence on December 26, 1916. As he lay dying on February 1, 2016 (an amazing 99 years, 1 month, and 6 days later) he was surrounded by family. 

That day, and into the night, as he weakened, he stopped signing and started to mouth words. 

Sometime in mid-evening, he turned to Stella and mouthed "I can hear now...I love you."

Then he died.

So to have this treasure, this absolute gift of a film? Well, there are no words, no signs, to fully explain our joy. And yes, I did contact Library and Archives Canada, and talked to a very sweet man who was kind of stunned that I found a family member in a silent film!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jennifer Z. Major is a West Coast girl living in Atlantic Canada with her husband, their youngest son, and a felonious Black Lab named Bear whose favourite food is socks.

Jennifer writes both contemporary, and historical fiction, and can be found at www.jennifermajorbooks.com, and on Twitter at @Jjumping, Instagram at @Jennifermajorwriter, and on Facebook at @JenniferMajorWriter.

And They Call the Thing Rodeo

By Cindy Regnier 

It’s bulls and blood
It’s dust and mud
It’s the roar of a Sunday crowd

At least that’s how Garth Brooks describes it and I guess I’d have to agree. Do you enjoy rodeo? Ever wonder how it got started? As one of my favorite sports (next to my alma mater football) I’ve always been interested in its beginnings. Let’s delve into it and see what we can find out.

You may be surprised to learn that rodeo is a little more complex than boots, cowboy hats and fancy belt buckles. Rodeo is actually a unique of blend of cultures and traditions with its roots in Spanish origin. Modern day rodeo in our country dates back to the cattle industry of the American West, but it was greatly influenced by Spanish conquistadors in the 1700s.

Today’s rodeo developed many of its practices from Spanish ranchers and their Mexican ranch hands, or vaqueros. The word “rodeo” itself is derived from the Spanish word “rodear” meaning “roundup,” in reference to the roundup of cattle. As pioneers from the East interacted with the Spanish, Mexican, Californian, and Texan cowboys, they took on many of the vaqueros’ styles and traditions of ranch life.

The blending of Anglo and Spanish-Mexican cultures led to the birth of the American cowboy era in the 1800s. Breaking horses to ride and catching cattle for branding, doctoring, and sale required roping and riding skills on the frontier ranches. In the 1820s and ’30s ranch-versus-ranch contests began to spring up with cowboys and vaqueros testing their skills against each other.

Branding

It wasn’t until after the Civil War, however, that the cowboy era truly began, as ranchers from the Southwest organized cattle drives to deliver cattle to trains where they would be transported East. At the end of a drive, cowboys would hold informal competitions against each other to see which group had the best skills in riding and roping. These events soon became competitions on for public display at race tracks, fairgrounds, and festivals.

Some folks believe the first official rodeo was held in 1869 in Deer Trail, Colorado, when two groups of cowboys from neighboring ranches met to settle an argument over who was best at performing everyday cowboy tasks, including breaking wild horses, which is today’s saddle bronc riding event. Over the years, a culmination of skills and techniques from Spanish-speaking cowboys, vaqueros, and cowboys from the East combined to bring us today’s modern rodeo. 

Many others claim to be the first rodeo in the U.S., including Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1872; Winfield, Kansas, in 1882; and Pecos, Texas, in 1883. Still, these early contests were primarily simple displays of riding and roping skills and not the organized events now standard in today’s rodeo industry.

From the 1880s through the 1920s, frontier days, stampedes, and cowboy contests were the most popular names of what we now call the rodeo. Buffalo Bill Cody 

Buffalo Bill

and his Fourth of July Wild West show in North Platte, Nebraska, in 1882 was the first competition to offer prize money, with Prescott, Arizona, claiming to hold the “first formalized rodeo” on July 4, 1888. From there, Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1897, the Pendleton Round-Up in 1910, and the Calgary Stampede in 1912 followed as popular rodeo venues.

Initially, rodeo was a fairly nondiscriminatory sport, often including Hispanic, African American, Native American, and female contestants in an era when race and gender discrimination were commonplace. Women competed in many events at mixed-gender rodeos well into the 1930s. During this time, ladies often competed against men and won in a variety of rodeo events, including bronc riding and steer roping, as well as trick and fancy roping and riding.

One of the more well-known female competitors was Phoebe Ann Moses Butler. Butler grew up in a poor family in Ohio, where she took up hunting to provide for her family after her father died. From those marksman skills developed as a hunter, she earned the nickname “Little Sure Shot” and joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show as Annie Oakley in 1885.

Annie Oakley

In 1929, two events occurred that changed the course of rodeo history:
1.Well-known cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll died in a bronc riding accident at Pendleton, Oregon, leading many rodeos to drop women’s contests.

Bonnie McCarroll

2.The Rodeo Association of America was formed by rodeo organizers, and not the cowboys themselves, to standardize rules, establish a point system, monitor judges, and establish fair prize money. In large part because of McCarroll’s death, the RAA was organized as an all-male entity.

1945 marks the year professional cowboys officially adopted the term “rodeo” for their sport. The PRCA went on to sanction the events and rules for saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and steer roping.

Women realized it would be up to them to get back into the mainstream of the sport and in 1948, the Girl’s Rodeo Association, now the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), was started by a group of Texas ranch women. The WPRA was highly successful in restoring cowgirl contests to PRCA rodeos. Barrel racing was the most popular WPRA contest, and it spread rapidly throughout the country. It is now the only women’s event standard at PRCA rodeos and often ranks second only to bull riding in popularity.

It’s boots and chaps
It’s cowboy hats
It’s spurs and latigo
It’s the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo

Rand Stafford isn't looking for true love. He'd ridden that trail leaving behind a shattered heart. He only needs a wife to help him care for his orphan nieces.
Fleeing her former employer, a newspaper advertisement reads like the perfect refuge to Carly Blair. Escaping the city to hide herself on a cattle ranch in Kansas is her best shot for freedom. But its sanctuary comes with a price—a husband. While marrying a man she doesn't know or love means sacrificing her dreams, it's better than being caught by the law. Or is it?