I grew up in the beautiful rural setting of the Cascade Mountain foothills in Washington State. That in itself was a blessing. I was surrounded by nature--wildflower meadows, pristine forests and lush hillsides. I grew up trekking through the woods, camping, building a fort on the remains of an enormous old-growth stump and raising cattle with my dad. Some of my best memories of my growing up years were spent in the barn and in the fields. It was hard work to unload a truckload of hay, to wake up at four-thirty every morning to clean stalls and feed cattle and to do the same every evening, but it was a wonderful way of life. As a teenager, I was anxious to rush off to college and move to a big city. I wanted to brush the rural off me like out-of-fashion clothes and live a more sophisticated life. But what they say it true. You can take the girl out of the country, but not the country out of the girl. I live in a suburb now, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss those growing up years and the way of life I once knew. I miss cows mooing their greetings and offering their funny friendships. I miss riding a horse with the sun on my back and the wind in my face. I miss drifting the river on a hot summer day with no one for company but fish and birds and maybe a cow watching from the bank. I carry those experience with me through life and for a long time I have been wanting to write a series that draws on those memories.

That's how the Granger Family Ranch series came to be. It was created out of my love for raising cattle and built on the lessons I learned back then. Lessons of the rewards of hard work, of compassion and the ties binding families and small town communities. I have hidden so many memories on the pages of these books. In The Rancher's Promise, I have drawn on my real life. The rope swing into the river, Buttercup's personality is similar to my pet cow, Juice, riding horses to town, reading in the field with the animals, kamikaze humming birds (my mom to this day devotedly sets out hummingbird feeders), and small town festivals. The small town community, the ranching way of life and the pride of working cattlemen are some of the authentic pieces of what I value that I have incorporated into this story.

If you pick up a copy of The Rancher's Promise, I hope you enjoy the sweet reunion story of Rori Cornell and Justin Granger and their path to love. I hope you fall in love with the Grangers and feel like part of their family. Most of all I hope you are reminded that is it never to late for second chances and that love always leads you home.