Spotlight & Giveaway: Cowboy Up by Michelle Beattie

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Michelle Beattie to HJ!

Hi Michelle and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Cowboy Up!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Cowboy Up is the first book of my Tangled Up in Texas series. It features Dallas Granger, eldest of the five estranged Granger brothers, who come together at the family ranch in Last Stand, Texas, when their father falls critically ill.

A very black and white kind of guy, Dallas owns his own construction business and is used to calling the shots. But he’s in for the ride of his life not only with his brothers, who aren’t taking any shit from him this time, but also with Ashley Anderson, the beautiful, take-no-guff woman he meets through a work project. A project he’s forced to contribute to when one of his employees lands Granger Construction in legal trouble.

Ashley Anderson knows Dallas’s type. Cocky and handsome, he looks down on thrift-store shopping single moms like her. That’s fine who wants him anyway? However the longer she works with him, the more she realizes he’s not just a hot body and a sexy voice. But as she gives him more of her heart, she can’t help fearing he’ll let her down as every other man in her life has.

Burned in the past by a woman who only saw him for his money, it takes a while for Dallas to admit Ashley is different. But when it looks like his business is once again compromised and all signs point to Ashley, Dallas has no choice but confront her.

By the time he realizes he may have made the worst mistake of his life, he’s lost her. If he wants her back, he’ll have no choice but to cowboy up.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“You’re shitting me, right?”
It probably wasn’t a good idea to talk to the San Antonio Police Department that way, but Dallas was so surprised by the officer’s statement the words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Initially the working title was “The House That Built Us” because it was by working on the house project that the hero and heroine came together.
• Dallas was inspired by country music singer Kip Moore. The smile, the hair, that gravelly voice… sigh.
• Although I’ve never worked on community housing projects, we did build our own home about 12 years ago and I was involved in every step of the process so it was fun to go back there with this book and relive the excitement of building a home. Like the heroine, my favorite part was seeing the sheetrock go up. Then I could really envision each individual room.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

I always loved the idea of a man with a bit of a chip on his shoulder getting taken down a peg or two by the heroine. Not that Dallas is a jerk, he’s just got some preconceived notions that are skewed by his experiences. He struggled and sweated to make his business successful. He fought tooth and nail to get what he has despite what it cost him. So, he’s justified in his thinking.

I liked the idea that Ashley, who is getting some community support and help, would be the one to show him that things aren’t always as they seem. That just because she needs a helping hand, doesn’t mean she’s looking for handouts. That she too, is working tooth and nail for what she wants. Just in a different way than Dallas is doing.

And I LOVE that Dallas is man enough to see that and admit he’s wrong.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

The first time Dallas and Ashley meet we’re in Ashley’s head. So we already know when she sees the handsome construction worker get out of his truck she’s thinking holy hell, he’s hot! But she’s also thinking he’s likely too good to be true. So this snippet is a few minutes later. Dallas and the foreman on the project had things to discuss and Dallas asked Ashley for privacy. So now she’s coming back outside and we’re in Dallas’s head for the first time since he saw her. I like the first meet as there are always so many undercurrents and nuances and it takes skillful actors to show more than just the initial attraction the characters feel toward each other.

SNIPPET:

Since he preferred his own tools, he went to fetch his tool belt out of his truck while Rick went inside. Dallas was just securing the belt when the woman stepped out the back door.
It had been a long time since he’d felt a hitch in his gut just looking at a woman, but it hadn’t been so long he didn’t recognize it when it hit him.
It didn’t hurt that her gaze went to his tool belt first. Went and lingered. His lips twitched. He didn’t know what it was, but uniforms and tool belts seemed to do it for women. Which was good news for him, Hudson, and Gage. Not nearly as good for Ryker and Cam. Although they had the whole cowboy thing going for them, so likely they weren’t suffering either.
“I’m sorry if I was rude earlier. It’s just that it was private business between me and Rick.”
Her shoulder rose in a shrug. There was no anger or resentment in her eyes.
“You’re entitled to your privacy. No need to apologize.”
A sensible woman. Been a long time since he’d met one of those as well. Dallas closed the distance between them. Extending his hand he introduced himself.
“Dallas Granger.”
“Ashley Anderson.”
Her firm grip both surprised and impressed him. It was his experience that most women had a light touch and it usually felt like he was holding a delicate flower he was scared to hurt. But Ashley’s was strong. Confident. Sexy as hell.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

The importance of admitting when you’re wrong. And how it’s just as important for your actions to show you’re sorry as it is to say the words.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I just finished revisions for book 2 of this series, Gage’s story, currently titled Cowboy True which will be released in January and I need to get started on book 3, Cam’s story, ASAP.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Ebook of Cowboy Up by Michelle Beattie and Tule swag

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In the snippet above we see Ashley’s reaction to the tool belt Dallas has slung low on his hips. Later, at the ranch, she’ll see him in a Stetson sitting on a horse. While I personally both are super sexy, which do you think is hotter? A hunky construction worker with a low-slung tool belt or a man with a cowboy hat sitting a horse?

 
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Excerpt from Cowboy Up:

Dallas had a love/hate relationship with the Diamond G. Situated in the Hill Country of Southwest Texas, there was no shortage of beauty. No shortage of variety. Cliffs and plateaus. Rolling plains and prairies surrounded by craggy hills made of granite and limestone.
As a boy, he’d had canyons, rivers, and live oaks tall and thick enough to keep him and his brothers entertained and out of trouble. He had more than one scar from a tumble over rocks or a fall from a branch he shouldn’t have reached for.
He’d loved it.
Loved riding his horse over the land, camping out with his brothers in the hills. Loved the nighttime campfires and lying beneath the stars while coyotes yipped nearby.
But then his mom got cancer and his dad had fallen apart. And no matter how much Dallas tried to keep the family together, to keep some semblance of normal, bitterness and resentment had sunk its teeth into the Diamond G. Anger at his dad for secluding their mom away into a bedroom where he wouldn’t have to see her and the effects of her illness. For forcing Dallas into the role of guardian.
Then it was resentment from his brothers because it had been left to Dallas to be the hard-ass, the disciplinarian. The one who made sure there was no playing or partying until homework and chores were done. Which, more than once, had meant there was no going out at all. With only two years separating each of them, there’d been more than one fistfight over why they should have to listen to him.
His mom’s death only made things worse. Their dad, who hadn’t been any help during the illness, drove himself even harder. Distanced himself even more. The times Joe did deign to talk to them it was all criticism. They hadn’t done this or that right. They were taking too long to get the work done.
But his brothers hadn’t needed constant supervision and when the chores were done Dallas had needed something else to do. Something for himself, away from his brothers and father. Something that would allow him to relax, to quiet his thoughts. Something that fed his soul and mind.
Something that would allow him to be his own person instead of just the one struggling to keep the family together.
He’d found more than refuge in woodworking; he’d found his passion. What started out as small shelves for the barn, or a new desk for Gage, soon turned to big dreams of houses, sheds, decks. His own business.
And, somehow, despite his dad being absent for everything else, he’d caught on to Dallas’s skills, to his desire for more. And he worked him that much harder so he’d have less time in the small shed he’d cleaned out to use as his workshop.
“The ranch puts food on this table. Don’t you forget it,” Joe had growled.
How could he? Joe reminded him at every meal. Reminded them all. Dallas put up with it as long as he could but eventually he’d felt trapped on the Diamond G, like he was slowly suffocating. He’d spent the bulk of his teen years tied to a ranch and a house, to responsibility he hadn’t asked for but had taken on because it was needed.
Because he’d never abandon his brothers.
But when he hit twenty he was done. Gage, the baby of the bunch, had been twelve and with Ryker and Cam still at home, and Hudson about to graduate, Dallas felt they’d be fine without him. Besides, Joe was still there to work the ranch, so it wasn’t like his brothers would be out of a home or have to go without food.
Dallas had tried talking to his dad but to Joe there wasn’t anything but the Diamond G. At every turn, he belittled Dallas’s dream, warned him if he left he could kiss the small acreage his dad had set aside for him goodbye. It didn’t matter that Dallas had kept the family together when his dad failed to. None of that mattered to Joe. All that mattered was his eldest son wasn’t willing to work the ranch.
So Dallas left. Oh, he visited on occasion, usually only around the holidays despite as stilted and cold those visits were. Not once did his dad ever ask how business was. Not once had he said he was proud of what Dallas had done.
Not once had the man ever thanked him for doing what he should have.
And that was where the hate came in.
Maybe hate was too strong a word, even if some days it didn’t feel like it. However, those were usually the days he got to look at the Diamond G through his rearview mirror. A visit with his dad typically had that effect.
Not today, though. Not unless his dad was conscious.
Dallas slowed as he rolled into the town. He bumped across Hickory Creek and drove north on Laurel until he came to Gordon C. Jameson Hospital, or what the locals just referred to as Jameson Hospital, on his left. Seeing Ryker’s dark blue pickup, he pulled in next to it.
He scanned the dusty pickups and shiny cars in the lot. Though the sky was a mass of dark gray clouds, Last Stand apparently hadn’t gotten the deluge San Antonio had. Other than Ryker’s, Dallas didn’t see any other vehicles he recognized. Since he didn’t see Gage’s Jeep, he figured he’d gotten there in the ambulance. Dallas’s gaze lingered on a souped-up copper-colored truck.
Four by four, shiny chrome trim, extended cab. The thing screamed new and expensive. Dallas smirked as he walked under the portico. Someone was compensating.
His smirk withered when the glass doors whooshed open. There was nothing more depressing than the smell of a hospital. Antiseptic. Sickness. Worry and grief.
Though Jameson Hospital had seen upgrades and modernization over the years, there wasn’t enough pastel paint and potted green plants in the world to make an emergency room cheery. To make it anything but what it was—depressing. Though some of the art decorating the walls looked fancy enough to be in a gallery, Dallas wasn’t in the mood to give it the appreciation it deserved.
He approached the emergency room desk.
“I’m looking for Joe Granger. I’m his son.”
“The doctors are still with him. You’ll have to wait there.”
“There” being the waiting room. Dallas looked around. A couple held hands; the woman’s head rested on her husband’s shoulder. Another man sat forward, head bent, hands hanging between his spread knees. A woman rocked a crying baby. Though brash fluorescent lighting lit the room and sunlight filtered between the yellow plastic slats of the vertical blinds, gloom filled the space.
“You made good time.”
Dallas turned. His brother was in full EMT uniform. Had he been the one to bring in their dad?
“You did tell me to get my ass over here right away.”
Gage’s gaze hardened. Since he and his brothers all hovered around six feet he looked Gage square in the eye.
“You aren’t one for following orders. You’re usually the one giving them.”
It was an old argument and one Dallas refused to get into in the middle of the emergency department. Besides, he couldn’t go back and change things and, even if he could, he’d do the same thing. Someone had had to step up and take care of the family when their dad had fallen apart. Dallas hadn’t enjoyed it any more than his brothers had. In fact, he’d hated it.
More, he’d hated what it had done to his relationships with his brothers. They’d been close before their mom had gotten sick. Before Dallas had had to step in and be the hard-ass. That had ruined things between Dallas and his brothers.
And once Dallas had stood up to Joe to say he didn’t want to work the ranch, it wasn’t long until Cam and Hudson had done the same. Which had built fractures between the rest of them. Joe had told Dallas more than once it was all his fault.
A sentiment shared by his brothers.
Despite the fact his “defection” had made it easier for Cam and Hudson to do the same, it didn’t stop them from resenting him for the dates he’d refused to let them go on, for the homework he’d forced them to do. For raising them, dammit, even when it was the last thing they’d all wanted.
Dallas blew out a long, troubled breath. This was exactly why he only visited when he had to.
“Were you the one that brought him in?”
Gage scrubbed a hand over his clean-shaven jaw. “No. I’d just gotten off shift when the call came in.”
“Do we know what happened?”
“Looks like a heart attack or stroke right now. We won’t know more until they finish running tests.”
Which meant a shit ton of waiting. Great.
“All right, then. Why don’t I go get us some coffee? Is the cafeteria still—”
Just as he was asking, Ryker came around the corner carrying two to-go cups. Like Dallas, he wore jeans, boots, and a T-shirt and, like Dallas, sported a hat head because he too must have left his hat in his truck. Although Ryker preferred a cowboy hat to Dallas’s ball cap. But then they all did.
“Look who showed up,” Ryker said as he ambled forward. His gaze stayed on Dallas as he handed Gage one of the cups he carried.
“Ryker. I saw your truck in the lot. Every time I see it I’m surprised you’re still driving that old thing.”
“Yeah, well, when something matters, you don’t just walk away from it.”
Figuring he might as well take all the punches at once he looked past Gage and Ryker.
“Any sign of Cam?” he asked.
“I left him a message,” Gage said before taking a tentative sip of his coffee. “He was supposed to be heading this way, last I’d heard.” He met Dallas’s gaze over the rim of his plastic lid. “He promised to come help with the haying.”
Which, of course, Dallas hadn’t done. But then, he hadn’t been asked.
“What about Hudson? Did you get word to him?”
“No point until we know more. He’s only got six weeks left of his deployment. Hopefully, Dad will be all right and Hudson can finish it without taking an early leave.”
Dallas nodded in agreement. “I guess I’ll go get myself a coffee while we wait.”
Despite there not being any warm feelings to rush back to the waiting room for, Dallas didn’t linger in the cafeteria. Mostly because, even though it was midafternoon, the smell of lunch still hung thick in the room. It was a mixture of greasy burgers and tuna and it was enough to convince Dallas that if he was still here come supper, he was going to get takeout.
Cautiously, he took a sip of the coffee. If it tasted anything like what the rest of the room smelled like…
It was surprisingly good and strong and Dallas took a bigger drink. Maybe he could wander the halls for a bit, at least until he’d finished his drink. Then he could get another one before going to back to the waiting room. If he was going to sit with his brothers for the rest of the day he was going to need more than one cup of coffee.
He opted to call his foreman instead. “Ken, it’s Dallas,” he said when the call was answered. “Any word on Richard?”
“Yeah. X-rays came back. Luckily, it’s just a bad sprain. They’re still at the hospital, but Richard will be out of commission for four to six weeks.”
He made a mental note to text Richard later, check in and reassure him he’d get his benefits ASAP, and if he was tight in the meantime, Dallas could advance him a loan.
“We’ll make it work. Danny’s got the paperwork?”
“Not yet, but he will. And he’ll drive Richard home. Later, we’ll get his car back to his place.”
“Sounds good.”
Dallas rearranged his work crews in his mind, shifted things until he had a plan to keep on target with his projects.
“Any word on your dad?”
Dallas walked to the window, looked out over the courtyard. The multicolored flowerbeds, ornamental trees, and park benches were a pretty sight. A shame they didn’t open the windows. The floral smell and fresh air would go a long way to clearing the odor in the large room.
“No. Not yet. They’re running tests.”
“Whatever you need, let me know. I’m sure I can handle what comes up while you’re with your dad.”
“I know you could. But, hopefully, it won’t be necessary. I’m still planning on being there in the morning.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
Dallas disconnected the call, slid his cell into his back pocket.
“You know most normal people don’t work around the clock, right?”
Dallas turned from the window. The second youngest of the Granger boys, Cam, stood hipshot, his arms crossed over his button-down western-style shirt. His usual cocky grin was solidly in place.
“And most normal people grow up when they’re approaching their thirties.”
“Now where’s the fun in that?”
Cam tipped up the brim of his cowboy hat. He was never without it. Like Burt Reynolds’s character in Smoky and the Bandit, Dallas suspected Cam only ever took it off for one thing.
“It can’t all be about fun, Cam.”
“Well, you’d know. There hasn’t been much fun about you in over a decade.”
Dallas rubbed his forehead. He wasn’t prone to headaches but every time he came to Last Stand he got them.
“Ryker and Gage didn’t tell me you were here. I figured you were at some rodeo.”
“I was. I was passing through Austin when I got Gage’s call. I’ve actually been here for a while.” His mouth curved into a shit-eating grin. “I would’ve gone straight to the emergency room but I bumped into an old friend and we had some catching up to do.”
Dallas shook his head. “Of course you did.”
Cam’s laughter rang through the empty cafeteria. “I was just coming in for one of those.” He tipped his chin toward Dallas’s coffee. “Is it worth bothering or should I get a soda out of the vending machine?”
“Actually, it’s decent.”
“Great. Wait here and I’ll get one.”
With coffees in hand, they navigated the few short hallways back to the emergency room. The couple had gone, as had the mother and child, but the lone man remained. Only now he held a cup between his bent knees. Dallas cut his gaze to Gage. His brother’s hands were empty. There was a reason Gage had gone into the line of work he had; he had an endless capacity of kindness. And while they weren’t close anymore, Dallas had no doubt if one of them was ever truly in need, Gage would be the first to step up and offer help.
Cam’s appearance didn’t incite quite the same hostility Dallas’s had, but then Cam was known to stop in between rodeos and give a hand on the ranch.
Figuring this was going to be a while, Dallas settled into one of the yellow vinyl chairs. One by one the others sat. Gage wandered out from time to time, checked in with nurses and doctors. He never had much to report other than their dad was alive and unconscious and they were waiting on test results. They’d sent Joe for an EKG and a CT scan and were running a grocery list of blood tests.
Dallas checked in with Sherry at four thirty. She sounded tired. He told her to lock up early, put the calls on forward to him, and go get some rest. Then, still planning on being at work come morning, Dallas told her he’d see her tomorrow.
Once he’d finished his calls, Dallas realized how hungry he was. He offered to run out and grab something to eat. For once, his brothers didn’t take exception to his suggestion. But then, who in their right mind would if they had a choice of takeout or hospital food?
Dallas was back within the hour with takeout from Hutchinson’s BBQ Market, or The Hut for short. Dragging three chairs together, Dallas set out the containers of smoked brisket, beans, fried okra, dill pickles the size of hot dogs, and corn bread.
The smell of barbecue sauce filled the waiting room, which was now empty except for the four Granger brothers. The scrape of plastic knives on Styrofoam and the gulp from soda cans were the only sounds any of them made.
At the desk, doctors and nurses came and went. Files were read over and exchanged, calls were taken, and instructions were given. Finally, once all the containers were put in the trash and the cans into the recycling bin, the doctor came into the waiting room. The four of them came to their feet.
“I’m Doctor Fletcher,” she said. “I’m the cardiologist on staff. Your father has been admitted into the ICU. He went into cardiac arrest earlier today. He’s currently stable and resting, but remains in a coma. The good news is it doesn’t sound as though he went too long without spontaneous circulation.”
“English, please,” Cam said.
“It means breathing on his own,” Gage explained.
“That’s right. It sounds as though he was revived very quickly and was here within the hour.”
“Then why is he still unconscious?” Ryker asked.
“It’s not uncommon for patients who suffered cardiac arrest to remain in a coma.”
“For how long?” Dallas asked.
“Can be hours, days, weeks. There’s no way of knowing. The good news is your father has many things working in his favor. He’s under sixty, he’s not overweight. The time between arrest and the restoration of spontaneous circulation was relatively short. He’s also showing pupillary light response, which means brain damage due to anoxia should be minimal, if there is any.”
“His eyes are dilating when they shine a light in them and his brain wasn’t without oxygen long enough to cause severe brain damage,” Gage summarized.
“Exactly.” Dr. Fletcher turned to Gage. “You can see him, one at a time and just for a few minutes, but I’d say to go home and get some rest. I don’t expect any changes tonight. If there is, we know how to contact you.”
She left on silent rubber soles, leaving Dallas and his brothers standing in a semicircle.
“I’ll go first, if that’s okay,” Dallas said. “Then I’m going to head out. Gage, if there’s any change you’ll—”
But it wasn’t Gage who answered. It was Ryker. And he was pissed.
“You can’t escape this, Dallas. Not this time. This isn’t all just going to ‘work out’ because you want it to.
“I’m not running the ranch on my own.” Ryker’s narrowed gaze raked them all. “If something happens to Dad the Diamond G gets split five ways.”
“Not five,” Dallas corrected. “Just four.”
Ryker ignored him. “It means we all have to pitch in. Not just me. And Gage on his days off. And Cam between rodeos. And you,” he snarled at Dallas, “once or twice a year when you can fit it in.”
Dallas’s back went up. “It’s not as though I live down the street. And I do have a business to run.”
“Yeah, yeah. Same old shit. But guess what? I have a life too. And I’m just as busy as you are so make the damn time, Dallas.” Again his gaze raked everyone. “You all better make time. Because as of now, we’re all working the Diamond G.”

Instead of going first, Dallas ended up going last. By the time he walked past the nurse’s station headed for his dad’s room, he was the only one left in the emergency room. After each of his brothers had taken their turn, they’d filed straight past him and out the front doors.
That was fine. Dallas knew where to find them. Ryker had made it clear they were all to meet at the ranch after.
Dallas stopped at the door, which already bore his father’s name on the nameplate next to it. Funny, he’d been sitting in a hospital most of the day and he hadn’t prepared himself to see his dad lying in a hospital bed.
His dad had always been larger than life. Even when he’d shut down emotionally with his wife’s illness and then death, he’d worked like a dog, putting in sixteen-hour days. He was strong as a mule and equally stubborn. Nobody told Joe Granger he couldn’t do something.
Dallas scoffed. He supposed they had that in common.
Joe was robust and could work circles around most men. To think of him weakened to the state of coma was incomprehensible. And yet just on the other side of that door was proof of that.
He eased open the door. Though his mom had died at home, seeing his dad lying there was still eerily similar. His body lay as still as hers had been.
Although physically there were many differences. Hours working in the sun meant Joe’s face wasn’t as pale as hers had been. Though his work-roughened hands were limp at his sides, they still looked capable of lifting hay bales like Lego blocks. Muscles corded his forearms and his shoulders were still the width of a linebacker’s.
Unlike his mom, who’d looked frail as an eighty-year-old, even though she’d only been in her mid-forties. There’d been no muscle tone left, nothing but papery skin over bones. She couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds when she’d died. Lying there, she’d looked like a ghost.
He jumped when someone brushed past him.
“Sorry,” the nurse said with a warm smile. “I just need to check his vitals.”
Dallas stayed clear of the bed while she took Joe’s temperature, blood pressure, and checked his eyes. She recorded everything into his chart before sliding it back in the slot at the foot of his dad’s bed.
When they were alone again, Dallas moved to his father’s side. He hadn’t thought when he’d left at Easter that the next time he’d see his dad the man would be in a coma after suffering cardiac arrest.
Dallas dropped into the one chair in the room. Once again the weight of responsibility fell hard onto his shoulders.
Oh, it wasn’t as though his brothers were children anymore. Even Gage, as the youngest, was in his mid-twenties. They could take care of themselves. He could always hire an extra hand or two to take his place.
But despite only pitching in at the ranch a few times a year like Ryker accused him of, the truth was every time Ryker called to ask for help, Dallas showed up.
So though he had no idea how he was going to squeeze it in, and that working alongside his brothers in Last Stand was going to be anything but easy and enjoyable, Dallas was going to do it.
He just hoped at the end of it, his dad wasn’t the only one to come out of this alive.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He’d never mixed business with pleasure…until now

When Dallas Granger left his family’s Last Stand, Texas, ranch, he hadn’t planned on returning. But when a medical emergency calls him home and a legal matter affects his business, suddenly his family isn’t the only thing in need of a re-build. Unfortunately his new project involves building a house for a woman who not only awakens his desires, but also his fears. But if he wants to claim her as his own, he’ll have to tear down the walls he’s built around his heart.

Single mom Ashley Anderson knows all about juggling. Between an assortment of part-time jobs and raising her sixteen-year old daughter, she doesn’t need a hunky construction worker with an attitude as a distraction. Even one who steps in to help her when she needs it most. But life has taught Ashley that when the going gets tough, she’s on her own. It’s going to take a man with a Texas-sized heart to show her that this cowboy isn’t going anywhere.

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Meet the Author:

Award-winning author Michelle Beattie began writing in 1995, almost immediately after returning from her honeymoon. It took 12 long years but she achieved her dream of seeing her name on the cover of a book when she sold her novel, What A Pirate Desires, in 2007. Since then she’s written and published several more historical novels as well a contemporary. Her pirate books have sold in several languages, been reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly and Romantic Times. Two of her independent self-published works went on to win the Reader’s Choice Silken Sands Self-Published Star Contest.

When Michelle isn’t writing she enjoys playing golf, reading, walking her dog, travelling and sitting outside enjoying the peace of country life. Michelle comes from a large family and treasures her brothers and sister as well as the dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins she’s proud to call family. She lives outside a tiny town in east-central Alberta, Canada with her husband, two teenage daughters and their dog, Ty.
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