"Hope is a good thing . . ."
By Charlene Whitman
Hope.
It's such a powerful thing. I'm reminded of the ending lines of one of
my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption—a movie all about hope:
"Hope is a good thing. It may be the best thing. And no good thing ever
dies."
We've
all heard the saying "Hope springs eternal." There are probably
thousands of saying about hope, but one really comes to mind when I
think about my novel Colorado Hope:
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12).
When thinking up the plot for Colorado Hope (since
I already had the title and, of course, the theme), I tried to imagine
what might be one of the most hopeless situations I could put my lovers
in.
And
what could be worse than losing the man you loved? Well, I decided there
might be something worse—losing him . . . only to find him again but
not be able to have him back in your arms.
Can
you imagine how you'd feel if the person you loved more than anyone else
was swept away in a flood (or vanished due to some other disaster:
earthquake, explosion, etc.)? There is nothing more horrific and
despairing than the loss of a loved one.
And can you imagine the elation you would feel to learn your loved one hadn't died at all but survived—and is safe and whole?
You
would jump for joy, cry tears, your heart pounding hard as you envision
the sweet reunion and those warm arms around you again. Your hope would
soar.
But .
. . what if you ran to the one you loved, and you were met with
confusion and rejection. Worse—what if you saw your beloved on the arm
of another, realizing in shock that you'd been entirely forgotten—and
there wasn't a thing you could do about it.
This
is the predicament I gave Grace Cunningham, with the challenge of
creating a story that would show the hopelessness of such loss. Anyone, I
believe, would despair so greatly, they would lose all hope.
But
Grace never let's go of hope. She knows it's the anchor that she must
hold on to. And while it seems utterly hopeless that she'll be reunited
with Monty, she never gives up. She has faith that somehow, one day, his
memories will return and he will be back in her arms and come to know
his little son, Benjamin.
Here's the synopsis for Colorado Hope.
It's a story like no other, and not at all your typical romance. For
the hero and heroine are already married, and, in a way, Grace must woo
Monty all over again.
1875 ~
Beset by a sudden spring storm on the Front Range, newlywed Grace
Cunningham watches in horror as her husband, Monty, is swept downriver.
Pregnant and despairing, she stumbles into Fort Collins and tries to
make a life for herself, praying that one day the man she loves will
walk into town and back into her life.
Montgomery
Cunningham wakens on the bank of a river with no recollection of who he
is or how he got the gash on his head. A woman named Stella, who claims
to be his fiancée, nurses him back to health. Plagued by images of a
faceless woman who he is certain is the key to his past, Monty concedes
to Stella’s pressure to marry him and move to Fort Collins, but he
quickly regrets his actions.
A
year after Grace’s tragic loss, Monty walks into the dress shop where
she works—with a woman on his arm. Shocked that Monty has no
recollection of her, Grace is determined to win back his heart. Somehow
she must help him regain his memories and his buried love for her—and
not just for her sake but for the sake of their infant son, Ben.
Monty,
miserable in his marriage to a woman he hardly knows, is inexplicably
drawn to Grace. Every time he’s near her, memories surface, but they are
hazy and troubling. He’s torn between his vows and the desires of his
heart, for he cannot stay away from Grace.
Grace’s
hope is sparked when Monty starts recalling glimpses of his past. But
when murderous outlaws come to town, she is thrust into grave danger.
Monty risks his life to rescue her, only to face even greater perils in
the treacherous mountains. Can she truly hang on to hope when she is
about to lose all she loves?
This
full-length Historical Western Romance novel takes readers on a
heart-wrenching journey of love, loss, and hope amid the dangers and
challenges in Colorado Territory’s wild frontier.
The author of “heart-thumping” Western romance, Charlene Whitman
spent many years living on Colorado’s Front Range. She grew up riding
and raising horses, and loves to read, write, and hike the mountains.
She attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins as an English
major. She has two daughters and is married to George “Dix” Whitman, her
love of thirty years.The Front Range series of sweet historical Western romance novels (set in the 1870s) includes Wild Horses, Wild Hearts, set in Laporte and Greeley. Colorado Promise, set in Greeley, Colorado; Colorado Hope, set in Fort Collins; Wild Secret, Wild Longing, which takes readers up into the Rockies, Colorado Dream (Greeley), and Wyoming Tryst, set in Laramie, WY.
WEBSITE and SOCIAL LINKS:
Two ranching tycoons. A decades-old feud. A sheriff bent on ridding the town of lawlessness . . .
In the midst of the trouble brewing in Laramie City
in 1878, Julia Carson yearns to be free of her parents’ smothering and
wonders whether she’ll ever find a man worthy to love in such a violent
town rife with outlaws.
But
when Robert Morrison sneaks onto her ranch the night of her sixteenth
birthday party, Cupid shoots his arrows straight and true. Aware that
their courtship would be anathema to their fathers, who are sworn
enemies, Robert and Julia arrange a tryst.
Yet,
their clandestine dalliance does not go unnoticed, and forces seek to
destroy what little hope their romance has to bloom. The star-crossed
lovers face heartache and danger as violence erupts. When all hope is
lost, Joseph Tuttle, the new doctor at the penitentiary, is given a
letter and a glass vial from Cheyenne medicine woman Sarah Banks.
The way of
escape poses deadly dangers, but it is the only way for Robert and Julia
to be together. It will take the greatest measure of faith and courage
to come through unscathed, but love always conquers fear.
ORDER YOUR COPY BELOW:
 |
| Click on Amazon graphic to purchase |