The Wrangler’s Christmas Gift

Dallas meets The Thorn Birds, anyone?

Don’t get the reference? Don’t worry, you probably don’t have grey hair yet! 

For those of my, ahem, vintage, THE WRANGLER’S CHRISTMAS GIFT is to my Malones series what the answer to “Who shot JR?” was in the 1970s TV series Dallas… with a touch of Colleen McCullough’s classic book The Thorn Birds. 

But the question I left for readers is: Who is JP Malone?

Did you figure it out? There were clues!

I’m so happy to offer the fourth and FINAL book in my Lost Malones of Grand, Montana series, to you today. Whoo-HOO! 

What’s is The Wrangler’s Christmas Gift about, you ask? 

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When movie wrangler Colt Boone plans a Christmas visit to thank foster mom Honey Malone for being the one bright spot in his tumultuous childhood, he learns she’s spending the holidays with her recently discovered biological children. He agrees to join her in Grand and film the reunion she hopes will be a new beginning. One problem—Honey’s foster daughter, Emmet Garcia.

Em fears this season of joy will be anything but. She and Honey have been a team for so long, it’s crushing to watch Honey embrace these strangers. Worse, Colt—who has plenty of explaining to do—is prying into old secrets, without sharing his own. The boy she once loved has become a man she can’t trust.

When Honey learns the truth about her beloved JP Malone, the mysterious cowboy who disappeared, leaving her pregnant, Em and Colt must work together to help the woman they love finally face her painful past. 

In this season of miracles, when the lost are found and strangers become family, can Em and Colt overcome their own wounds and forge a future together?

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BEFORE YOU BUY:

This is a book and a series about motherhood. If you are triggered by pregnancy loss, traumatic childbirth experiences, or stories of women being punished for their sexuality, this may not be your book.

However, if you are interested in reading about women triumphing over such experiences and finding true love, welcome.

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What inspired me to write The Lost Malones of Grand, Montana?

Heather and JP’s story begins in the late 1980s, when society was still recovering from the Baby Scoop Era. Between the 1940s and the 1970s (to the end of the 1980s in Canada) many single pregnant women were told that if they really loved their babies, the best thing they could do was relinquish them for adoption. In the USA during these decades, an estimated 4 million mothers surrendered their newborns, half of those during the ‘60s alone. Some women did this willingly but most were given no choice.

Today, the availability of DNA testing and genealogy research has resulted in a flood of real-life reunion stories. Women in their last decades of life are finally telling long-hidden truths and finding closure. This is what inspired me to write the Malones of Grand, Montana. Fiction is truth wrapped in story, and I wanted to tell the truth of many real women by wrapping it in the story of one imaginary woman who overcame this traumatic start to motherhood, and who didn’t just survive, but thrived, building herself a successful life and yes, even a family. I wanted to tell the story of the adopted infants and their search for identity. I wanted to show these different iterations of parents and children finding mature relationships built on honesty. And, of course, I wanted them all to find love.

I put my characters through hell, but the stories end with bright futures for all. I hope you enjoy the conclusion to my lost Malones of Grand, Montana series.

PS: This post is part of my Love Notes from the Lake newsletter. Sign up and never miss a post!