Somehow, it's happened...I've written all three books of The Brides of the Blue Ridge Rangers in four months. Good thing because the series will roll out on a rapid release schedule starting in May of 2027. I'm excited to bring these short but satisfying novels to readers. They're chock full of your favorite tropes, rich settings, adventures and dangerous journeys, groundbreaking heroines, and honorable heroes. Most importantly, they showcase the healing beauty of Western North Carolina's mountains during the earliest days of the Forest Service. I know a lot about that healing beauty myself, and it's been my pleasure to hike all over the hills as part of my restoration and research. I hope the series will invite you to do so as well.
In case you want to read the initial blurbs for the stories, here they are...
The Socialite's Secret and Her Reluctant Protector - Biltmore Forest, 1908
As one of North Carolina’s first rangers, shy woodsman John Sutherland patrols Biltmore and Pisgah forests for any danger that might threaten millionaire George Vanderbilt’s land. When John reluctantly agrees to his Biltmore Forest School professor’s request to serve as a guide at a fair showcasing forestry to influential businessmen, he never expects to meet the woman who will challenge his dedication to bachelorhood.
Alice Langley’s college degree would have opened the door to the independent life of a teacher…until her sister dies of tuberculosis. Now Alice’s adoptive parents expect her to wed her father’s stern business partner. But her sketches have caught the notice of the fledgling North Carolina Audubon Society. If she can draw rare birds during the Biltmore Forest Fair, she might prove she can provide for herself.
Then Alice receives a letter from a woman claiming Alice’s sister gave birth to a baby girl with the deathbed request that Alice find the child. Alice’s investigation reveals a coverup that shakes her world, changes her priorities, and aligns her fate with that of a handsome but guarded ranger. When the fight for valuable timber land and a revenge plot among powerful families unfold, she must rely on John to help keep her tiny niece safe. But how can she trust him when he was the reason her sister lost everything?
The Biltmore Botanist and Her Cherokee Guardian - Pisgah Forest, 1916
As the daughter of a Biltmore Estate gardener, Rose McCannon knows how to coax beauty from stubborn soil. But when an accident kills her father, she inherits a rambunctious ten-year-old brother, an unfinished mountain landscaping project, and one desperate dream: complete her father’s work at Biltmore’s Buck Springs lodge in hopes of being hired as the estate’s first female gardener. Failure could cost Rose her dream…and the only security she and Jed have left.
Snowbird Cherokee Charlie Ledford is determined to escape the lumbering company that controls his family’s future and earn his place with the Forest Service. His plans collide with Rose’s when a search for rare plants sends them into the rugged North Carolina mountains, where they face wild animals and railroad catastrophes. Forced into an uneasy partnership, Rose and Charlie battle prejudice, buried resentment, and an attraction neither can afford. Charlie never intended to fall for a sheltered white woman—or become the steadying influence her grieving little brother desperately needs.
When the catastrophic flood of 1916 tears through the mountains, Charlie must race to save Rose and Jed before the raging waters sweep away their hard-won dreams—and any chance at a life together.
The Lost Archeologist and Her Scarred Soldier - Nantahala Forest, 1919
She’s searching for an ancient treasure. He’s determined to keep his heart buried.
Helen Armstrong longs to be recognized for her skill as an archaeologist—not her beauty. Discovering a legendary rock etched with ancient glyphs in North Carolina’s Nantahala Mountains could be her chance to prove herself. But when illness interrupts her search, she finds herself dependent on a reclusive forest ranger who seems determined to send her packing.
Scarred by the Great War and haunted by his brother’s death, Arthur Walker has sought refuge in a remote mountain cabin. The last thing he needs is an ambitious young woman disrupting his solitude—and stirring feelings he thought he’d left behind in Europe.
When Helen’s parents insist on a marriage of necessity, her future becomes entangled with a man who refuses to let her close. Finding Burningtown Rock may be her only hope of saving her dreams. But the mountains conceal more than ancient mysteries, and her search draws her into the path of dangerous moonshiners.
With Helen’s life at stake, Arthur must decide whether protecting his wounded heart is worth losing the woman who could help it heal.