All Gabe Bravo wanted was to convince Mary Hofstetter to sell him her land. But the young widow had barely told him to hightail it off her property before going into labor. Being an honorable Bravo bachelor, he stayed by her side, even after her little bundle of joy appeared.
There was no denying Gabe had declared himself permanently single—and proud of it. But with his feelings for Mary growing deeper, he was suddenly torn: walk away from mother and child, or do what he’d sworn he’d never do—get hitched!
Have you any idea how long I’ve been writing romance?
If you say “too long,” well, at least I can’t hear you. 🙂
The answer would be: a very long time.
Before romance, I tried everything from poetry to plays to short stories and self-help books. But once I wrote my first romance, I was hooked. I’ve been a romance writer since my lone Harlequin Temptation first hit the stands—back when Ronald Reagan was president. I’ve written across lines and imprints, but the majority of my books have been for Silhouette Special Edition.
And the majority of my Special Edition books have been about the Bravo family. I started with the Bravos back at the end of the last century. Seriously. I did. There were only supposed to be three Bravo books—the first three, THE NINE-MONTH MARRIAGE, MARRIAGE BY NECESSITY and PRACTICALLY MARRIED. My plan was that I wouldn’t get all bogged down in a never-ending series of stories about the same group of people the way I had with the wild and woolly Jones Gang of North Magdalene California.
So much for my plan. There were ten Jones Gang books. At the time I started with the Bravos, ten seemed like a lot. Now, though, not so much. As of today, I’m writing number twenty-seven in the Bravo family saga, with three more to go in the branch of the family I’m working on now, the new Texas Bravos.
And when I get done with the new Texas Bravos? There will be more. Many more. They’re way prolific, those Bravos. And so am I.
This month brings the release of THE BRAVO BACHELOR, Bravo family story #24, in which family “fixer” Gabe Bravo arrives at Mary Hofstetter’s ranch to convince her to sell her land to BravoCorp. Gabe can coax the toughest customers around to his point of view. But not Mary. She’s a special kind of woman, one who knows what matters in life and is not letting any smooth-talking rich guy change her mind.
Jane of Dear Author liked this story. You can read her review here.
If you haven’t given the Bravos a try, I hope you will. If you like them, there are plenty. And more coming. Many, many more.
And now we’re on the subject of you, well, what about you? Do you enjoy series? Which ones? Or do you prefer your books totally stand-alone?
And if you’d like a taste of the Bravos, just leave a comment here between today and Sunday to win a signed copy of Bravo family story #23, THE STRANGER AND TESSA JONES, which came out this past January. Fatin will draw three winners on Sunday evening.
After being dumped by her boyfriend, Tessa wasn’t taking nonsense from any man. But how could she turn away this injured stranger who’d stumbled onto her property in the middle of a blizzard? A man who didn’t know who he was or how he’d ended up in the California Sierras…
He couldn’t recall his name, but there was no mystery about his tender passion for the woman who’d saved his life. With no memory of the past—only recurring images of a Texas ranch—what could he offer Tessa? Just a life together, if she was willing to take a risk on the future, no matter where it led….
Good Luck!
CHRISTINE RIMMER
I enjoy a good series just as much as books that stand alone. Since I am a fantasy girl at heart a series is do close to my heart 😉
And ever since I discovered paranomal books that grew even more.
But I still love both just as much 😀
I adore series books and this one is great; but I also like stand alone books.
Some of my fav series are: SEP Chicago Stars, Susan Mallery’s Buchanan, Sweet and Marcelli, Maurenn Child’s Candelloni, Nora Roberts Dream, Robyn Carr’s Virgin River and thank goodness it is continuing. Am sure I am forgetting a lot; my mind went blank.
Hi Christine. Good to see you here. I enjoy series and stand alone books too.
Good morning, everyone! Thanks so much for dropping in.
Blodeuedd, just finished Cry Wolf by Patrica Briggs. I’m a total Briggs fangirl!
Pat L., Okay, going to brag. I plot in Vegas twice a year with both Maureen Child and Susan Mallery. They are so brilliant. Love them–and their books. 🙂
Crystal B., Glad to be here. I’m with you. Series or stand-alone, both are great.
Hi Christine, I read your book THE STRANGER AND TESSA JONES, I loved it. I’ll be getting your new one love the cover too.
Penney
Ohh I love series. Soo very many of them in fact. Too many to list.
Love the cover the books sound good.
I will say I prefer series that allow me to read out of order to those that follow one storyline, unless the books are released close together.
If the books are released within weeks of each other I love a continueing storyline but if I have to wait a year to get another part of the story, and then another year for the next and another year and so on, I get a bit irked.
Now take for instance Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters while the timelines follow each other and overlap at times, to me they are self-contained stories does that make sense?
hugs,
WendyK
I like series as long as each book can stand alone because I always start in the middle for some reason.
Welcome, Ms Rimmer!
I confess that I haven’t ready anything by you yet (for a long time I read very few, if any, categories) but I have been waiting for the Bravo Bachelor after reading a review at Dear Author.
I like series as long as the author keeps the writing fresh–I don’t want the same characters with different names, really. I tend to be a tad obsessive and try to read them in order, but I like knowing I can read a book in the middle of one without being hobbled by ignorance of previous characters and storylines.
So… I guess a balance 😀
Best of luck with the new book, and have a great weekend.
Now that is an impressive amount of books for a series! I do enjoy reading series, but I have not had the pleasure of reading your books. I look forward to adding you to my list of authors to read! 😀
Hi Christine!!
I love series and I love the Bravo series…….I’ve been trying to collect the older books and have done really well so far!!!
Hi Christine,
Congrats on the new release. I’m looking forward to reading about the Bravos. I enjoy reading series. Some of my favorites include Lisa Kleypas’ Wallflowers and Stephanie Laurens’ Cynster series.
I love reading series, I have many favorites. The one I’m going through right now is the Stephanie Plum series, can’t believe I waited so long to start this one!
Hi Christine, thanks for visiting with us! 🙂 Ooo I haven’t read the Bravos series but it’s going on my list! As for series, I liked them a lot – but these days I notice a lot of them getting pretty long, and wandering. I think my favorite are quartets, and I’m going to point to Lisa Kleypas as one of my favorites. I love the interconnected books and cameo appearances, but I love how each stands alone. Also a number of trilogies in the Harlequin category lines. Of course, I do love books that stand alone, and recently read one by Sarah Mayberry that I loved.
Happy Saturday morning, everyone… 🙂
Hi Penney, Thanks for dropping in and saying hi!
WendyK, your point is well taken. I do like it better when I can read books in a series in any order and still get a good read. Especially a looong series.
Maureen, I hear you! With my series books, I try to make it so the reader can pick up any one and always get a complete story.
Hi Azteclady—good points. And I am so appreciative of Dear Author that they get out there and try the category books, give them a chance. I’ve been writing a long time—as I said in my post—and do my best to keep it fresh. Maybe I don’t always succeed, but it’s not for lack of a hell of an effort. I love how the romance sensibilities have changed over the years, too. When I started writing, the readers of contemporary series wanted virgin heroines. I was like, hey, I was raised in California in the 60’s. Virgins??? But I wrote me some virgin heroines. And had fun with the challenge. I mean, for me, it was a challenge. Now, it’s much more wide open and readers are so sophisticated. I like that a lot.
Colleen, thanks. I hope you enjoy if you give my books a try…
Blanche, thank you! And I know, sometimes our series books have the shelf life of an avocado sandwich. But there are places out there where you can find the older ones. I’m honored that you have tracked mine down.
Hey, cyclops8. I see you have excellent taste in your series reading. Kleypas and Laurens are the best!
TeresaW, the Stephanie Plum books are so good! Happy reading.
Limecello, hey! So glad you dropped by to see me. I am hearing major buzz about Sarah Mayberry. She’s on my “buy” list. I know what you mean about how a long series can wander. I try to minimize this with the Bravos by doing branches of the family as their own series-within-the-series. And sometimes I’ll take an issue—like oh, having a pscho-dog polygamist dad—and carry the effects of that on the psyche of his children. In the San Antonio Bravos that I’m writing now, both parents of these Bravo heroes or heroines are still alive and very committed. But there’s a secret in the past of their marriage AND a family feud that has repercussions through several of this 10-book section. Still, as I said in my earlier comments, I do my best so each book can stand alone.