Tag Archives: Tantor Audio

The McQuaid family saga continues as FALLING FOR THE COWGIRL releases on audio!

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cowboy4-WPFeature-300x224Colorado Territory.  June 1869.  A young woman disguised as a man.  A bounty hunter hiding his identity.  A dangerous war criminal pretending to be one of South Park’s own.  A love that will no longer be denied.  This ain’t no ordinary rodeo, folks – this is Colorado Cowboys, Book Four.  So excited to celebrate the audiobook release of Falling For The Cowgirl written by Jody Hedlund and published by Tantor Audio!

This fourth installment in the McQuaid family saga was so much fun to narrate!  I have adored the character of Ivy McQuaid since we first met her in book one,  and Falling For The Cowgirl centers squarely on the romance between Ivy McQuaid and Jericho Bliss, a romance that has been steadily gaining speed until it can no longer be contained.

Ivy McQuaid is no ordinary heroine … she’s a tomboy through and through, peppered with a whole lot of sass, and known as foolish, and impulsive and wild.  Paired with handsome, no-nonsense Jericho Bliss, a cowhand turned bounty hunter, sparks fly whenever these two get around each other.

Book four opens with Ivy, now almost nineteen, disguised as a man, in the middle of a cowhand competition – or what would be known today, as a rodeo. The problem is, it’s 1869 and women are not allowed to participate in this type of competition.  Never one to let a little detail like this stop her, Ivy disguises herself as a young school teacher, under the alias of Buster Bliss.  So far so good. This plan is working great.  That is … it was – until she spots her childhood infatuation, Jericho Bliss, at the competition.  Holy Saint Peter.  Ivy hasn’t seen Jericho for almost two years, not since he left town and took her heart with him … again.

Meanwhile, Jericho is also pretending to be someone he’s not.  Currently undercover as a bounty hunter, he’s tracking a dangerous war criminal, whom he suspects is hiding in South Park.  Things heat up a might when Jericho and Ivy’s eyes meet after she almost plunges to her death in a Roman-style riding competition!  Realizing he’s recognized her, and unable to take the risk of Jericho blowing her cover, Ivy quickly exits stage left, grabs her horse and hightails it out of there, hoping to escape a meeting with Jericho.  There is never any escaping, where Jericho is concerned, however … probably why he’s such a great bounty hunter!  He’s fuming at what almost happened to Ivy and chases after her with the intent of giving her a piece of his mind for putting herself in such danger.  But that’s the funny thing about the mind … it can quickly be overtaken by the heart.  And this love – a love that has been vehemently denied by both parties for years – well … it might finally, and ultimately, have its way …

Falling For The Cowgirl is now available on audio at Audible and Amazon.

Brody is back! Book Three – Colorado Cowboys: To Tame A Cowboy – Releases on Audio

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cowboy3-WPFeature-300x224Front Range, Colorado Territory.  May 1867.  A run-away bride. A soldier returning from war.  A woman who dreams of being a veterinarian.  A man who kept his life, but lost his soul.  One brother’s plea, another brother lost.  Fists wanting to fly.  Bullets begging to bite.  Memories wrapped in darkness.  Love beckoning in the light.  Wild horses straining to be free.  Giddyap. This is book three … and Brody is back.

Happy release day to Book Three – Colorado Cowboys: To Tame A Cowboy, written by Jody Hedlund, and available now from Tantor Audio!  In a rich world full of heart, grit and soul, the opportunity to voice this incredibly special cast of characters, in this beautiful book, was not only so much fun, but truly such an honor.

So let’s recap, shall we?  When we first met Brody McQuaid, it was briefly – at the end of Book One: A Cowboy For Keeps.  The year was 1862 and Brody had just turned eighteen and had been itching to join the Union army, so that he could help in the war efforts.  Despite the animosity between Wyatt and Flynn,  Flynn reluctantly decides that if moving west would save Brody, and prevent him from enlisting, then no matter what his estrangement with Wyatt was, he’d do it.  Unfortunately the move west comes a little too late, and at the top of Book Two: The Heart Of A Cowboy, we learn that even the best laid plans … can sometimes go awry.  The night before the McQuaid family is set to head west,  Brody sneaks off in the middle of the night to enlist.  We don’t see him again until eighteen months later, at the end of Book Two.  The chapter opens in a federal hospital in Philadelphia.  Brody has been wounded and is unrecognizable, having become a mere shell of the man he once was. Emaciated.  A heap of skin and bones.  His humanity, all but gone.  If it weren’t for the tiny hand of his infant niece, Flora, reaching out to him and holding on to him tight, he would have just allowed himself to slip further into the abyss that wouldn’t stop calling to him.  The next time we see Brody, in Book Three: To Tame A Cowboy, we learn that while he has healed physically, he might never heal emotionally.  Brody has tried to take his life, he is full of haunted memories and remorse.  Guilt and anger fuel his days – and now he lets his fists do all his talking.  Only two things keep him going – his love for his niece, and the love and companionship that he feels for the untamed wild horses that are currently being hunted on the land.  He longs to set them free, just as much as he longs to be free himself …

To Tame A Cowboy  sets the stage for this gripping historical romance, by opening on the night before Savannah Marshall’s fancy wedding.  Where, instead of pre-wedding bliss, the bride-to-be is feeling more and more like a corralled mustang by the minute.  Savannah has wanted her whole life to be a veterinarian, and to one day have her own practice.  If she agrees to this marriage of convenience that her father is pushing for, she knows that her days as a veterinarian are as good as numbered.  She just needs time to think . . . but the clock is ticking.   If she is going to flee – it needs to be now!  In the darkness of predawn, Savannah makes a life altering decision.  Pushing down her guilt, and hiding her traveling clothes and pack, she saddles up and rides out into the high country, while everyone on the plantation sleeps.  While she might not have all of this figured out quite yet, one thing she’s sure of, is that she can’t give up on the only thing she has ever wanted to do – heal and care for animals.  As she leads her horse out into the chill of the morning, she has no idea that a whole new life is about to open up to her.  One that not only includes the animals, she so desperately wants to help, but also perhaps, an untamed cowboy … who could surely use a whole lot of love and care, as well.

To Tame A Cowboy is now available at Audible or Amazon.

The Heart of a Cowboy – Colorado Cowboys, Book 2 – is now on Audio!

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Council Grove, Kansas.  May 1863. An icy cold river. A near drowning. Bandits. Horses. Wagons. A brilliant Botanist.  A brave Cowboy. A Bodyguard.  Get ready – this new historical romance literally starts off with a splash!  As in the rushing water splash … of the unforgiving Neosho River.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate the audiobook release of Book 2 of the Colorado Cowboys: The Heart of A Cowboy, written by the extraordinary Jody Hedlund, and published by the wonderful team at Tantor Audio. 

We first meet botanist Linnea Newberry in the river. Drowning. Literally. She’d been perched on the back of a covered wagon headed for Colorado Territory, completely immersed in her study of a southern cattail, Typha domingensis.  In the midst of her analysis, her wagon hits a large stone in the river bed and she is unceremoniously thrown into the rushing water of the Neosho River.  The current is strong from recent rains, and the muddy water immediately drags her under, aided by the weight of her heavy muslin skirt and petticoats.  Luckily for her, a lone rider is nearby and he and his sorrel horse waste no time, plunging into the river, in an attempt to pluck her from the river’s cold claws.  

The lone rider is a cowboy by the name of Flynn McQuaid.  We’ve met Flynn before. He made his first entrance at the end of Colorado Cowboys, Book 1:  A Cowboy for Keeps, when he receives a letter from our hero in the first book, Wyatt McQuaid, pleading for his brother to come out west with their younger siblings, to where Wyatt promises them a new life.  

Back at the river, once Linnea is rescued from the brink of death by Flynn, Linnea’s grandfather, who is lead scientist, hires Flynn to act as his granddaughter’s bodyguard, unbeknownst to Linnea, for the rest of their botanical expedition in order to ensure her safety.  Flynn is on his own expedition, albeit begrudgingly, driving Wyatt’s cattle across the Sante Fe trail.  He is desperate to provide a better life for his younger siblings and even though the last thing he wants is Wyatt’s help, he knows he needs to do something to start over and maybe, hopefully, he can finally start to dislodge the oppressive load of guilt that hangs heavy on his shoulders. He needs to get his life together and the last thing he wants, or has any time for, is romance. 

But hey, that’s perfectly fine because Linnea doesn’t have romance on her mind, either! Not in the least.  Linnea is desperately trying to make a name for herself as a respected and revered botanist, in a time where women were still not being taken seriously in the science world. The last thing she wants to do is get sent back home, or worse – fall in love and get off track. Oh no.  Her career is the only thing on her mind. 

However, sometimes our minds and our hearts aren’t always in agreement and when Flynn reluctantly accepts the charge to become Linnea’s bodyguard, an entirely new expedition … of the heart, ensues.

The Heart of a Cowboy is now available on Audible and Amazon. 

 

Jody Hedlund’s A COWBOY FOR KEEPS Releases in Print & on Audio!

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Colorado Territory. August 1862. Horses. Romance. A Stagecoach Robbery. A Mail-Order Bride. A Handsome Cowboy. Whoa.

I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the print and audiobook release of Jody Hedlund’s new book – A Cowboy For Keeps: Colorado Cowboys, Book 1.

Already a fan of Hedlund’s wonderful writing, it was such an incredible joy and honor to narrate A Cowboy For Keeps, published by the amazing team at Tantor Audio. 

A Cowboy For Keeps begins with a bang . . .  pun intended! We dive in from the get-go with a stagecoach robbery in progress, where we are introduced to the beautiful and strong-willed heroine, Greta Nilsson, who is traveling to Colorado as a mail-order bride.  Greta did not become a mail-order bride on a whim. This wasn’t a romantic notion. She has thought long and hard about this, has saved and planned. Greta’s eight year old sister, Astrid, suffers from consumption, and it was thought, during this time in history, that wide open spaces in the country could offer relief, and possibly extend the lives, of those who were struck with this illness. The only way Greta can think of, to help Astrid, is to offer herself as a mail-order bride to a wealthy man, who could provide for her and Astrid. However, things do not go as planned. At the hands of bandits, Greta loses every penny of her savings, only to then discover, that the man she’s come west to marry . . . is dead.  Jobless, penniless, with an ill sister, and knowing no one, Greta has to make a decision and quickly.

Enter Wyatt McQuaid. A handsome cowboy.  Wyatt wants to start a cattle ranch but he doesn’t have the money needed to get the ranch up and running.  The mayor, who has promised to help Greta, offers Wyatt the most unlikely of bargains. He will invest in the cattle Wyatt needs for his ranch. . . on one condition – that Wyatt help the town become more respectable, by getting married. And the mayor just happens to have the perfect bride in mind . . .

A Cowboy for Keeps is now available at Audible or on Amazon.

ECOPIETY – Releases today on Audio!

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Releasing today on Audio! Ecopiety: Green Media and the Dilemma of Environmental Virtue written by Sarah McFarland Taylor and published by the wonderful team at Tantor Audio!

“It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake…” Ecopiety begins with a prophetic excerpt from spoken-word poet and filmmaker Drew Dellinger’s poem Hieroglyphic Stairway.  In the poem, he describes waking up in the middle of the night haunted by his great grandchildren’s questions…. They want to know of him, “Surely you did something as the seasons started failing? As the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying?” The children press deeper demanding, “Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?” “Their final question hangs heavy in the air as a haunting refrain of accusation: “What did you do once you knew?” 

What will we do? What can we do? Ecopiety opens our eyes to this question, propelling us to action by holding a mirror up to this very real problem that we all share – the fate of Earth and our role in its future.

By examining the intersections of environmental sensibilities, contemporary expressions of piety, while skillfully incorporating examples from American popular culture through the likes of the eco-pious Christian Grey of Fifty Shades of Grey and the socially conscious vegetarian vampires in True Blood, Taylor shows us how to move from mere environmental ideals into significant response.

Now available on Audible and Amazon.com!

Hear Priscilla’s Story – Now on Audio!

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What would it be like to step into the sandals of the biblical character, Priscilla, wife of Aquila? I got to do just that when I had the opportunity to record Priscilla: The Life of an Early Christian written by Biblical scholar Ben Witherington III and published by the awesome team at Tantor Audio!

I think what was especially fun for me as the reader, was that Witherington has written Priscilla as a historical novella! So while it was so interesting to learn about Priscilla’s life, we get to do so by seeing through Priscilla’s eyes as she looks back on her life, now as a woman in her 80s.  At the insistence of Priscilla’s adopted daughter, Julia, and with the pressing urgency to have others learn of her story, Priscilla begins to recount the details of her extraordinary life, as Julia takes down every word!

This imaginative work of historical fiction was such a joy to work on! I’m so happy to celebrate the release of Priscilla: The Life of an Early Christian into the world, across all platforms – in both Audio and Print!

To hear Priscilla’s story please visit Audible or Amazon.com.

 

 

 

 

The Awful Mess … A Love Story – Releases on Audio!

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THE AWFUL MESS … A LOVE STORY written by Sandra Hutchison is now available on Audio!  I had so much fun recording this witty, fun and heartwarming book.

Hutchison is an incredible writer who creates a complex and realistic world filled with believable, engaging and oh-so-funny characters that were an absolute joy to bring to life!

Published by the awesome team @tantoraudio.

The Awful Mess is now available at Audible and on Amazon.com.

Rebel at Work: Rebelliously Releasing Today on Audio!

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Who wants to follow all the rules? Rebel at Work: How to Innovate and Drive Results When You Aren’t the Boss is a smart and sassy business book by Natalie Neelan, published by Tantor Audio, that I had so much fun narrating!

Neelan writes from an unconventional perspective, geared toward the employee rather than the executive. What I loved about Rebel at Work is that it’s a really fresh take that doesn’t just cover the same old ground in the same old way. Now, I’m a rebel too!

Releasing today on Audible and Amazon.com.