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Jacob Garrison was a respected rancher who could deal with stampedes, blizzards and even range wars. But how was he supposed to handle his little girls falling in love? | Behaving Herself |
Forgetting Herself |
Proving Herself |
Explaining Herself |
The Rancher's Daughters is a series of historical romance novels from Leisure
Books, set mainly in turn-of-the-century Wyoming, about a group of sisters who
somehow manage to consistently choose exactly the wrong men--in their father's
opinion. Luckily for them, the men are exactly right for his daughters!
Maybe you've read one or more of these stories, or maybe you're coming across
them for the first time. Here is where you'll find overviews of the books, as
well as a lot of extra goodies you can't get anywhere else. Who was I
picturing as the hero, when I wrote each story? What are some of the scenes
that got left out in final publication? (I write long). And who is this
rancher who has such strong-willed daughters?
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 March 2000
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The
Rancher's Daughters #1: BEHAVING HERSELF
There were so many things that a girl shouldn't do, and for a teacher, there were even more. Miss Garrison was learning them all by doing them. No sooner had the hapless beauty escaped scandal in her Wyoming home by taking a Texas teaching job than she'd met up with "Handy" Jack Harwood--a handsome gambler who would surely do her reputation no good. She knew she could get on track, if only she could ignore the unladylike excitement he stirred in her. She'd gamble one last time--on the goodness of Jack's rakish soul and that they were meant to be together. After that, she'd start. BEHAVING HERSELF.
"It's easy to see why a woman would risk anything to win gambler
Jack's heart in Yvonne Jock's BEHAVING HERSELF."
--Romantic Times, on giving Jack Harwood a K.I.S.S. (Knight in Shining Silver)
commendation
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August 2000 |
The
Rancher's Daughters # 2: FORGETTING HERSELF
Cattle and sheep just don't mix--everyone in Wyoming knew that. So the favored daughter of one of the territory's most-respected cattle ranchers should have known better than to fall in love with Stuart MacCallum, the son of a local sheep farmer. Before, Mariah Garrison had always followed the rules; she'd known who she was and where she was headed. But after one forgettable kiss, the young beauty lost sight of everything except the rugged sheepman--and he did the same. And while it was hard to enjoy a proper courtship when her pesky papa wanted to kill her beau, in Stuart's strong arms Mariah couldn't help thinking that the best thing she'd ever done was...FORGETTING HERSELF. "This tender, sweet story carries a powerful message that readers will not be able to ignore... Readers will find themselves completely caught up in the emotional storm of the hate that divides a community and the lovers' desire for peace." --Romantic Times |
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The Rancher's Daughters #3: PROVING HERSELF The most tomboyish of all the Garrison girls, Laurel dreaded the thought of marriage--especially to a tenderfoot like Lord Collier Pembroke! If she loved anything, it was the Big Horn Mountains, the beauty of the foothills; if there was anything she desired, it was her own ranch with plenty of cattle. From the Land Office, she got just that. But as her father didn't trust her to survive Wyoming's treacherous winter on her own, a sham marriage to Pembroke was the sole solution. It was only when the experience proved Lord Collier more of a man than she'd thought--and herself more of a woman--that she began to silently thank her father. Then Laurel realized that her first step to joy had been in... PROVING HERSELF "With her singular brand of wit and warmth, Yvonne Jocks creates characters who leap off the page and into readers' hearts. PROVING HERSELF establishes Jocks as a not-to-be-missed historical voice!" --Deb Stover, award-winning author of NO PLACE FOR A LADY |
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The Rancher's Daughters
#4: EXPLAINING HERSELF Turn-of-the-century Wyoming didn't offer much mystery for a modern-thinking reporter like Victoria Garrison--not before a tall, dark stranger calling himself Laramie rode onto her father's property. Then Victoria had more mystery than she could handle! Why would her Papa need to hire a range detective? Why was Laramie so interested in local ranchers and a long-ago lynching? And why did she find this enigmatic cowboy--with his obvious alias and his rattler-fast draw--so compelling? The more Victoria uncovered about the haunted stranger, the more she feared her heart would be stolen. And if she kept the seemingly honest-to-gosh outlaw's secrets, let him steal her kisses, became an accomplice in his dangerous desires, the least of her problems would be... EXPLAINING HERSELF "Filled with characters from past romances and with enough action to satisfy any western reader, this is a most enjoyable read." SENSUAL.--Romantic Times "This story is full of secrets, desire, laughter and love.
Explaining Herself should be at the top of every romance lover's list for
it's sure to be a satisfying cure for Spring Fever." |
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And What About Those Other Daughters? Bad news for anyone anxiously awaiting more Rancher's Daughters books. Leisure has declined to publish any more of them in the near future. Does that mean they won't get written? Absolutely not! Especially since I made sure to keep rights to all the characters, when I published the first four. But it pushes them onto the back burner. I have plans for three more Rancher's Daughters books. Most clear in my mind is the one I think of as SURPRISING HERSELF--and instead of a daughter, it will be about the rancher's daughter-in-law! Evangeline Taylor may have dreamed of living like one of the Garrison girls... and oh, how she's dreamed of the lawyer, Thaddeas Garrison. But he barely notices her existence. Besides, Thad's job as a lawyer and his prospects in politics would keep him from considering the daughter of a prostitute, even if his old-fashioned father couldn't sway him! But that's before the "sudden wedding" (already mentioned on p. 357 of BEHAVING HERSELF, for those of you paying attention). How's that happen? I haven't got all the details, yet, but I know Evangeline's less-than-honorable mother plays a role, and that Evangeline and Thad's quiet discovery of one another, and of Evangeline's hidden strengths, will make for a powerful story. It will also involve the whole Garrison family--including Jack Harwood, there to marry Audra! Despite that Elise is still very young, her romance must be very powerful, because I can see it coming already. Her story would finish out the main series, in fact! Possibly called REDEEMING HERSELF (because Elise will have played merry hell with the family by then), it will be the only story in which Jacob Garrison is protesting the marriage out of concern for the GROOM! Who? Alex Cooper, well-traveled son of Benj and Alexandra Cooper and heir to half of the Circle-T. How's all this happen? As Alex gets older, he starts begging to spend summers on the ranch, and he becomes something of a surrogate son for Jacob. For a long time, everyone believes that he will marry Kitty. But in the end, Kitty can't bring herself to marry him. Kitty loves him as a brother, not a lover. She dreams of something more exotic--something she doubts she can ever have, especially since she still has a limp from the attack in EXPLAINING HERSELF, and is treated as if she's sickly or handicapped from then on. Sadly for Elise, by time Kitty and Alex call off their wedding, she has already eloped with an older man. It's a bad decision, and not just because of the scandal of an elopement. Worse is that she ends up divorcing him! It's the first divorce in the Garrison family, and causes quite an uproar. Because of that, both of the youngest Garrison girls are well into their twenties before their romances start. Kitty finds a respectable way to indulge her fantasies by playing the piano at Sheridan's new moving-picture show, providing accompaniment for silent films starring handsome heroes. I'm still not 100% sure, but I'm starting to think her hero is a silent film actor who is going to move from playing pirates to playing cowboys... and flies a bi-plane to Wyoming looking for inspiration. Shall I call it AMUSING HERSELF? ACCOMPANYING HERSELF? I'm not sure. I do know that Kitty is happily caught up in an exciting new life where nobody cares about her limp, by time Elise and Alex realize they can no longer deny their attraction... not even for the concerned Jacob Garrison. Along with these future Rancher's Daughters books, Benj Cooper and Lady Alexandra Ellis Stanley are also inviting me to write their story from the 1880's. It's certainly an interesting one, as hinted at in PROVING HERSELF. And as for Jacob and Elizabeth Garrison--although I've not published their story, which is actually a series of four books (two and a half of which I've written down so far), they're the heart of the stories--the anchor for me to the rest of this world. Some of you already know the secret to their unusual relationship. For the rest of you, just pay attention to how very progressive Mrs. Garrison is.... |
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So where DO my ideas come from? In the case of the "Rancher's Daughters" series, I was already so caught up in the as-yet unpublished story of Jacob and Elizabeth Garrison that I could not let them go, despite that their own story may not be as "marketable" as it would need to be for publication at this time. I've written the first two of their four-book series, but just for fun, I decided to look in on how they were doing some years later. That was the first time I ever found out just how many daughters they would end up having--and a few other details, as well! Also, Elizabeth's choice of names (she chose all the first names, by the way) provides another hint into the secret behind her progressive attitudes.... Click here for a copy of the previously unpublished scene/story in which we see more of Jacob and Elizabeth, and meet the Rancher's Daughters for the first time. After that, feel free to check out a short Christmas overview I wrote for the publication of Behaving Herself, or the Timeline I've written for my own organizational purposes....
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The Garrison Family
TIMELINE:
(Note: All ages are approximate to within one year to either side, since a
daughter born in, oh, January 81 and one born in December 82 would be listed
as one year apart when really they're two years apart, and stuff like that.
Or, circumstances could change. 'Kay? 'Kay. This also assumes that in
OVERTIME, when Jacob and Elizabeth marry, Elizabeth is 26 and Jacob is 39.
Rancher's Daughters elements will be in GREEN.
Historical elements will be in BROWN.
The non-fiction parts of this timeline owe a great deal of credit to: The WYO
Room at the Sheridan Library; literature from the Sheridan Inn; and
information from THE AMERICAN WEST: YEAR BY YEAR (ed. John S. Bowman),
SHERIDAN'S FIRST STREETS (by Terrill Foster), and SHERIDAN MAIN STREET
DISTRICT WALKING TOUR (by Christy Love, Molly Mooney, and Rebecca Thomson).
For more bibliographic information, to the
Research Page.
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