The Shepherd’s
Daughter
Dry Bayou Brides, #1
by Lynn Winchester
Date of Publication:
September 27th 2016
Publisher:
Dragonblade Publishing
Cover Artist: Dar
Albert
Genre: Sweet Western
Romance
From The Book Junkie Reads . . . The
Shepherd’s Daughter (Dry Bayou Brides, #1) . . .
Sweet,
western romance quickie. Take that lunch break and enjoy a romance that will
take you back to the days of southern charm and western culture on the Texas
countryside in Dry Bayou.
Ray
was this super sweet, intelligent, well rounded young lady that felt she could not
have the man she wanted because she was just a simple shepherd’s daughter. She
had nothing to offer the man she loved over the beauty that arrived as his mail
ordered bride. But she did love him and have cultivated a friendship with him
for years. She knew this man.
Billy
was a man after all and he was not the totally blind or obtuse soul that he could
have been drawn out to be. This romance was certainly sweet and endearing.
I
got me a sweet, historical, western romance that was quick and refreshing.
Thank you Ms. Winchester.
BLURB
"Welcome to Dry Bayou, Texas, where
Southern Charm meets the Wild West..."
From author Jackson d'Lynne writing as Lynn
Winchester, a sweet and romantic western sure to warm your heart!
Ray MacAdams and Billy Ducharme have been
best friends since her family moved to his ranch fourteen years ago to start a
new sheep ranching operation.
Through thick and thin, good and bad, fire
and rain, their friendship has only gotten stronger—so strong that nothing
could possibly break their bond, a bond that for Ray has suddenly changed from
simply friends to something deeper… Something that makes her dream of days and
nights beside the man she loves, something that makes her wish she were more
than just the shepherd’s daughter.
Then Billy’s mail order bride arrives.
Rebecca DuCastille is everything Ray is not:
refined, well-mannered, and pretty as a porcelain tea cup. How can Ray possibly
compete for Billy’s heart when his new bride is everything he could want in a
proper wife?
Can the shepherd’s daughter convince her
childhood friend that their love for one another goes beyond friendship, or
will Billy marry the pretty interloper and leave Ray out to pasture?
Publisher Note: This is a
'sweet'/'clean' romance.
Buy Link: Amazon
“Billy Ducharme, you get your
good-fer-nothin’ hide down here this instant!” Ray stopped pacing long enough
to yell up at the hay loft from outside the large, red barn. “You got to be
done with your chores by now, it’s near midday!”
She and Billy were supposed to head
down to Clipper’s Creek for the fishing derby and she hated to be late. She didn’t
want to miss out on the prize for the biggest trout. She’d won it three years
running and she’d be pickled if she lost this year.
Where is that man? She stood on her
tiptoes and rocked back onto her heels, all while balancing her armload of
fishing gear.
She’d been looking forward to this day
for near six months. She even made sure she woke up a few hours before her
usual time in order to get a head start on her daily chores; tending the two
ewes who were lambing, mending the fence that was struck by lightning two
nights ago, and checking with the gauchos to recount the heads to make sure
none of the sheep were missing.
Thankfully, all were accounted for,
which meant she didn’t have to go hunting for a wayward ewe—that could’ve taken
all day. She didn’t have all day, not if she wanted to get to the derby.
Now, to get Billy moving so they could
get going.
The whinny of a horse caught her
attention and she stopped moving and stared at the tall, wide doorway that led
to the interior of the barn. A bead of sweat slid down her forehead, over the
bridge of her nose, and dripped off the end.
“Come on, you’re movin’ slower than
molasses and Lord knows I can’t stand the stuff!” She juggled the tackle and
poles in her arms and heaved a heavy sigh.
Her sigh of frustration turned to a
sigh of appreciation when Billy came into view from around the barn door. He’d
pulled his hat from his head and was brushing the straw from it. Ray had to
stop herself from staring like a ninny at his rich, chestnut hair, dark brows, and
smooth, tanned face.
He was tall, lean, walked like a man
who knew his business, and had a face she wouldn’t throw a dead frog at…unless
he was cracking a joke about her.
Ray didn’t know when, exactly, her
thoughts about Billy Ducharme turned from sweet and annoying little sister-like
to mushy and silly and... Well, not sweet nor sisterly. But she wasn’t going to
let her sudden mental ailment mess up her chance to win the derby.
“There you are. Shake a leg so we can
get to the creek before they call the last round.”
Her urgent tone didn’t get him to move
any faster. He actually slowed down, slapped his hat back on his head, and gave
her a big, too-handsome smile.
She hated it when he smiled like that.
She fought to ignore the melting sensation in the pit of her stomach and
growled at him. “Don’t you dare, Willem!” She only ever used his full Christian
name when she was annoyed at him.
He only smiled bigger and walked
slower.
She narrowed her eyes and bit her lip
to keep from yelling at him again—it wouldn’t be proper to yell the things she
wanted to say to Billy at this moment.
By the time he stood before her,
looking down into her overwarm face with a mischievous grin and glimmering blue
eyes, she was fuming—‘bout ready to toss the fishing poles on the ground and
wallop him.
“Whoa there, Ray. You’ve got to learn
patience one of these days or you’re liable to get so worked up you’ll have a
fit.” Ray held her breath. “Now, if you had a fit and fell to the ground like a
startled heifer, I’d have to sell tickets. Lots of folks ‘round here would pay
good money to see that.” He laughed, his deep chuckle breaking through the
cloud in her head.
“Why you—” she reached out to slap his
arm, but dropped her armload of fishing supplies, instead. “Ugh!” she called
out in frustration, staring down at the now scattered and tangled lines, poles,
and bobbers.
Chuckling louder, Billy stepped
closer. Ray stopped moving, thinking, breathing—he was much too close for
comfort.
Buy Link: Amazon
MY INTERVIEW WITH
LYNN WINCHESTER
How would you describe your style of writing
to someone that has never read your work?
Poetic,
humorous, lush, descriptive, fun, and emotional.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need
to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project
or just free writing)?
It all
depends on the story. Sometimes the story spells it all out in detail, and
sometimes it just flows out like a waterfall through a water hose. Before I can
put my mind on writing, I have to clear everything else off my desk. If my mind
or desk is cluttered, the muse refuses to cooperate.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do
you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do
you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character
during story creation?
I build
on my character as I am writing them. Sometimes they change completely before
the story is finished. That’s when revisions come in handy.
Have you found yourself bonding with any
particular character? If so which one(s)?
I
REALLY love Ray from The Shepherd’s Daughter. She is so open and honest, and
she thinks a lot like I do. I hear her voice in my when I need some commonsense
in my day.
Do you have a character that you have been
working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
One
character, Perez Cantana, has been BEGGING for a THE END on his story. Also,
Rebecca DuCastille is telling me her whole life story, and I cannot wait to
write it down…after I write all the other books in the series.
Have
you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control?
If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
Sometimes
I cannot control the thoughts of “am I go enough’, but who doesn’t? I overcome
those thoughts by rereading my books or loving all over my kiddos. I get warm
fuzzies that dispel those ickies.
Author Info
Lynn Winchester is one of the pseudonyms of a
hardworking California-born caffeine addict, now living in the wilds of
Northeast Pennsylvania. Lynn has been writing fiction since the 5th grade, and
enjoys creating worlds, characters, and stories for her readers.
When Lynn isn't writing sweet historical
romances, she is writing spicy paranormal romance as Jackson D’Lynne, and YA
Sci-Fi/Thrillers as DJ Sorber. When is isn’t writing at all, she is running a
successful editing business, reading whatever she can get her hands on, raising
her four children, making sure her husband is happy, and binge watching shows
on Netflix.
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