He was determined not to have a girlfriend. But a wife on the other hand…

Maggie K. Black here! It’s my very first blog post and I’m remembering a fierce battle of wills I witnessed twenty years ago.

I’d never seen a young man teased so badly! Or handle it so calmly. I was twenty-one and I’d gone to a comedy club with a large group of fellow students. For some reason, the terrible stand up comedian decided to pick on the rather dashing and clean cut young man named Michael at the far end of our table.

Poor Michael. No matter how hard he tried not to get lured into a fight, the comedian goaded him, relentlessly, about the fact he went to church, was involved in politics and wanted to become a teacher. Time and again, the room would hold its breath waiting to see what jab would make Michael lose his temper. But instead he held his cool. And even though some of his views were very different from mine, I respected the way he handled himself with strength and respect. It even captured my heart.

At least, until the comedian asked him the fateful question, “Michael, do you have a girlfriend?”

“No Sir,” Michael replied. “And I’m not looking for one.”

My heart sank. Mutual friends introduced us after the show and we started talking. 

“I don’t want a girlfriend,” he said to me, earnestly, his green eyes wide. “I really mean it.”

But that was okay. We could be friends. We went to a movie a few days later and then I invited him over for dinner. He was fascinating, funny and kind, with the wonderful ability to discuss interesting topics while respecting the fact we didn’t always agree. I seem to remember our biggest fight was over the fact I wanted dogs and he didn’t.

Three months later, to my total shock, he proposed.

“I still don’t want a girlfriend,” he said. “But I want you as my wife.”

I told him to wait six months and ask me again. Which he did and I said yes! 

It definitely confused some people that we got married so young and so quickly. But, after almost twenty years together, I’m so very thankful for all the adventures we’ve been able to share. 

Now, he proofreads all my Love Inspired Suspense books, and says that when my heroes and heroines spar and argue in the face of danger it reminds him of us!

He’s been the perfect, steadfast hero for me to face down each challenge and battle that life threw our way. And while we each won and lost our fair share of disagreements, I did finally get my dogs.

Do you agree that opposites attract? Do you like the kind of book where the hero and heroine who have major differences, but love brings them together?

Welcome to summer! (and a giveaway)

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.

Today is officially the first full day of summer, a season associated with vacations, beaches, high temperatures and lazy days.  And true to form, I have some fun things planned for the coming weeks.

The thing I’m looking forward to the most is the family vacation we have planned – a trip to the Grand Canyon!  There’s a large group of family members going – twelve in all – so the planning has been a bit of a challenge.  But it’s coming together and I’m getting really excited about it.

Then in late July there’s the big Romance writers of America national conference. This is always  great event for not only the learning opportunities but also the chance to catch up with friends and industry professionals I only get to see face-to-face at this once a year event. And this year it's being held in Orlando so there may just be a Disney hop in my future...

And in August my mom, my sisters and I are planning a fun getaway to the beach for a few days – a really fun way to top off the summer!

So what about you - what are your plans for this summer?

I have a new book out this month, so to celebrate I'll be giving away a copy to one of the folks who leaves a comment on this post.

A TAILOR-MADE HUSBAND

From Bachelor Sheriff to Family Man 

Tired of pining for handsome sheriff Ward Gleason, seamstress Hazel Andrews plans to head East for a fresh start—until Ward finds an abandoned child. Hazel can't turn down his request that she watch the little girl while he investigates a spate of crimes. But spending time with Ward is sending local gossips—and Hazel's heart—into turmoil. 

Nothing in Ward's world is the same since he took charge of orphaned Meg…and that includes his growing feelings for Hazel. A fake engagement will allow them to care for the child together until Hazel moves away and finds someone more worthy. But with little Meg convinced she's already found her forever family, can Ward and Hazel dare to make her dreams come true, along with their own?

A Rose By Any Other Name

Patricia Davids here wishing you a happy summer and loads of beautiful flowers.

 I have a passion for roses. I love the old-fashioned kind that grows in the back corner of my neighbor's yard and spills wonderfully fragrant blooms over the fence each summer. Sadly it only blooms once but it is worth the wait every year. Two large yellow rose bushes grace the front of my house. Sorry I don't have a picture of them.

I adore archways covered with climbing roses that beg me to sit and read poetry beneath them. I would happily share the space with a bee but more than two will send me inside.

Pictures don't do justice to these beauties in my mother's garden but they can sometimes remind me to stop and smell the roses. Things of beauty surround us and yet we hurry past without looking intent on our own troubles. I'm sure the roses don't mind.

If you aren't a gardener perhaps you enjoy the rose best when it come to your door as a nice surprise such as this "Get Well" gift from my agent when I was in the hospital last year. Nothing brightens the day for me like a yellow rose. I carried them in my wedding as my mother did before me.

I hope you've had a chance to read my latest book from Love Inspired. I'd love to hear what you thought about it, good or bad.

One Amish proverb says, "Don’t grumble because roses have thorns: rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."

Do you have a favorite flower?

New Releases for June from Our Love Inspired Suspense Authors

Jean C. Gordon here with new must buys from our Love Inspired Suspense authors. Just click on a cover to buy one. And to learn more about these talented ladies, click on their names.

Deadly Memories
by Mary Alford 

A WOMAN WITHOUT A PAST
Amnesia may be keeping Ella Weiss from remembering her past—but not from saving the little boy who's been her fellow prisoner the last seven years. After managing to escape her cell, all she wants is to find where little Joseph is being kept. Instead she runs straight into CIA agent Kyle Jennings. Kyle isn't sure if Ella is actually a kidnap victim or if she's working for the gunrunner he's been after. One thing he is certain of is her uncanny resemblance to the wife he thought he'd buried. To save a child's life and stop a terrorist from slipping through his fingers, he'll need to uncover the secrets of Ella's past—and whether or not she's really the woman he's never stopped loving.

Special Agent
by Valerie Hansen

SUSPICION OF GUILT 
When Special Agent in Charge Max West and his K-9 partner, Opal, look into a series of bombings in Northern California, horse trainer Katerina Garwood instantly seems suspicious. As the ex-fiancée of a man tied to the criminal Dupree family, Katerina may know more than she's letting on—especially since the infamous syndicate is targeting her. And Max isn't sure he can believe her when she says she knows nothing. Despite his reservations, though, he can't deny his attraction…or the impulse to protect her. And with the criminals closing in, Max must separate the truth from lies, or he and Katerina may not live to share tomorrow…

A Prayer for Fathers

God the Father, by Cima da Conegliano, c. 1515,
The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. [PD-US]

A PRAYER FOR FATHERS

On this day set aside to honor fathers,

We give thanks to God for the special men in our lives,

For our own fathers,

The fathers of our children,

And fathers within our

Extended families and communities.

Protect them, Lord, from harm,

Strengthen them in time of need,

And direct their steps that they

May always walk in holiness and grace.

Lord, we lift up those who mourn

The loss of their fathers

Or the fathers of their children.

May they find comfort in the promise

Of Eternal Life.

Amen.

Happy Weekend!

How I met my husband: the way a brilliant plan twists and turns

Danica Favorite here, and it's my turn to share my tale of how I met my husband. Or, basically, how God likes to laugh at my brilliant plans.

I'd been wanting to find a church for a long time, and when I was visiting a church I liked, they had a guest pastor come speak. I loved his message, so I decided to visit his church. Unfortunately, I kept getting distracted, and then one night, I made the decision. I'm going to visit that church next week. Fast forward a couple more weeks, and I FINALLY made it.

When I arrived at the church, this overly friendly guy was nice to me and tried to be my friend. My immediate response (mentally) was that I wasn't there for a boyfriend, I wanted time with God. So I blew him off. He was kind of cute, but I was not interested. (Side note: Had I gone originally as planned, he would have had a mullet, and I DEFINITELY would not have talked to a guy with a mullet: EVER.) After church, they had a meeting for people who wanted to volunteer, so I went. Guess who was there? Mr. Overly Friendly. Being an introvert, I find these people highly suspect. But he was persistent in his friendliness.

Fast forward a few weeks. Mr. Overly Friendly and I end up in a lot of church activities together. He wants my phone number. I say no. I finally accept his phone number so we can carpool to an activity. I call him to discuss the activity. Somehow, we end up talking most of the night. I still very grudgingly give him my phone number. We start talking A LOT and going to various church activities together with our group of friends. I like him, but there are a lot of reasons I am not interested in dating him. He becomes a very good friend, but I do my best to not encourage anything more. Especially because our pastor is giving a series on dating, and it convicts me that I do not want to date this guy.

And so, there we are, watching movies one night at his apartment. He kisses me. I am horrified, and let this be yet one more record that it was the worst first kiss in the history of kisses. He, of course, decides that based on our pastor's talk, that we must have the dating discussion. Aka... if you kiss, you're dating. I inform him that the kiss was a mistake, we will never kiss again, and we can only be friends. I have no plans to ever be with him. End of story.

Which leads us to the next evening, where we are at a function for his work and I am his plus one (as FRIENDS!), and to be clear, the name he gave for his plus one was some girl he had a crush on ten years ago. So we are clearly NOT DATING. At the end of the evening, somehow, he ends up kissing me AGAIN. As soon as the kiss was over, he says, "That's it. We're dating." I tried to argue with him, because dating is supposed to lead to marriage, and he was definitely not someone I wanted to marry, cue my very specific life plan that does not involve him. But he put his foot down (one of the few recordable times in our entire relationship this has happened) and told me we're either dating, or we're not friends anymore. Which made me sad, because at this point, he was one of my best friends.
So, I came up with a brilliant plan. I would date him long enough for him to realize that we were not meant to be, and then we could break up and be friends again. I know, I'm a genius. I just had to make the angle work. Because I could not lose him as a friend.

Fabulous plan, until the day came when I thought we were actually breaking up. We had a terrible fight, and he grabbed the soccer gear he kept at my apartment and left. Which is when I realized I didn't want him to not be a part of my life. What if I married someone else, and then that would be weird to be such good friends with this guy? Maybe I should have just worked harder to keep him in my life, and I don't know, maybe actually marry him.

We spoke later that night, and he did not think we were breaking up (to this day, he does not remember that fight, or remember a time when we were close to a breakup), so I charted the course to the goal: Marriage. That way, I would never lose him as my friend.

After 18 years, I can safely say, that plan has worked out pretty well so far. Even when there have been times when things were rocky, we've always found a way to remember our friendship. The picture is of us celebrating our 18th anniversary a little early at the U2 concert in Dallas.

About Danica:
A self-professed crazy chicken lady, Danica Favorite loves the adventure of living a creative life. She and her family recently moved in to their dream home in the mountains above Denver, Colorado. Danica loves to explore the depths of human nature and follow people on the journey to happily ever after. Though the journey is often bumpy, those bumps are what refine imperfect characters as they live the life God created them for. Oops, that just spoiled the ending of all of Danica’s stories. Then again, getting there is all the fun.
You can connect with Danica at the following places:
Website: http://www.danicafavorite.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danicafavorite
Instagram: https://instagram.com/danicafavorite/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanicaFavoriteAuthor

Most recent release:

Bound by a Child
Hoping to overcome her reputation as Leadville, Colorado's biggest gossip, wealthy socialite Flora Montgomery offers to help a miner care for an abandoned child. But her growing affection for the sweet boy's handsome rescuer could be a problem. Especially since her parents insist she must marry for money.

Undercover mine owner George Baxter is digging himself into a dilemma. The once-spoiled Flora has become a delightful, generous woman, and she'll be devastated by his deception. Yet if he can't discover who's sabotaging the mine, George will lose any chance of making a home for Flora and Pierre. Can the little boy who holds both their hearts help them lay claim to a new dream of family?

Introducing - Laura Scott

Good morning! This is my first post to the Ladies of Love Inspired Blog so I thought I’d start with an introduction.

My name is Laura Scott and I write for Love Inspired Suspense. I’m a registered nurse by day and a suspense author by night (and weekends, lol). I am so blessed to be a Love Inspired author and thrilled to be in the company of other authors whose books I’ve enjoyed so much, like Lenora Worth and Terri Reed (waving madly). My May book Sheriff is the second book of the wonderful Classified K-9 series. I was so honored to be asked to join the continuity story line. 

Little more about me - I’ve been married to a wonderful man for the past 32 years and we have two adult children. My son Jonathan is still in college working on his nursing degree, (taking after his mom!) and my daughter Nicole who is getting married to a great guy in August of 2018. No grand-babies yet but I remain ever hopeful! Granted it would be great to have the wedding first...

I write romance because there’s nothing better than a good love story. True story: I met my husband on January 21^st of 1984 and he proposed on Valentine’s Day Feb 14, 1984. Yes, that’s barely three-and-a-half weeks. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to propose although I did tell my sister that this was the man I was going to marry. The rest is history and while I can't say that it's been perfect, we've had a wonderful adventure and still love each other thirty-two years later. How's that eighties white tux look? Hee hee.

Writing brings me joy and I hope that my stories reach out to touch a few of you as well. Thanks again for coming to visit, I hope we can meet again, soon.

Laura Scott 

Have you ever toured a castle? In April, my husband, three sons and I visited the Czech Republic. My husband is a native Czech, and his parents, sister and extended family still live there. This was a long overdue chance to spend time with them and for our boys to get reacquainted with their heritage. While there, we had the opportunity to travel into the southern part of the country—a land of lush rolling hills and quaint villages—and visit the Lednice Castle. The area passed into the hands of House of Liechtenstein, from Austria, in the mid-thirteenth century. This current structure is built in the English Neo-Gothic style and is so large, there are four separate tours to cover everything. As a historical author, I found myself trying to imagine what life was like when families actually lived there.

Touring this grand castle and the beautiful grounds put me in the mood to read royal romance. What about you? Do you enjoy reading about princes and princesses?

Hazy, lazy, quiet days of summer? Not with a canine summer camp in my house!

Roxanne Rustand, here, wishing you all a wonderful summer!  Honestly, it's hard to believe it's here already.  It seems like just a moment ago, when we were waiting for the trees to bud and thinking hopeful thoughts about packing away our winter coats.  Have you had any summer adventures yet? Any special plans for some fun?

Our daughter Emily and her husband recently sold their home along the Gulf and have moved in with us while they house hunt. We are completely thrilled to have them staying with us, though things were a wee bit crazy at first, with our two rescue dogs plus their two (Zane, a super tall Dobie and Ziggy, a brindle rescue dog who is mostly a southern breed you might not have heard of--Mountain Cur--and part who-knows-what.)

Just like characters in a book, each dog has a very individual personality, and it has been so interesting to see them all adapt to each other.  Playtime was pretty wild in our house, until the newcomers got their new radio collars and could join the other two out in the yard (kept in by an Invisible Fence.)  But as much fun as they all have with their dog toys and chasing each other around, Ziggy's world pulls to a halt with every squirrel sighting. He'll freeze. Stare up at the tree branches, and then actually try to climb the tree in pursuit. Wikipedia says these Curs were bred for treeing squirrels and other small game, and true to his DNA, he clearly knows his role in life!

He's a bit like good fictional characters, who are created by an author, but once they come to life in a book, then think and react according to who they are, or they will come off as forced and unbelievable.  Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Are there some who have stayed in your thoughts long after you finished a book?  What qualities made them the most memorable for you?

Have a wonderful summer!

Roxanne Rustand

USA Today Bestselling Author

FALLING FOR THE RANCHER
Love Inspired --out now!   June 2017

AN ASPEN CREEK CHRISTMAS
Love Inspired   November 2016

THE SINGE DAD'S REDEMPTION
Love Inspired July 2016


www.roxannerustand.com
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