Kate, Jenny, and Mandy. Langston Lockwood’s daughters. His tyranny drove them away. His suicide draws them home. They inherit his land, his millions, and his mysteries. Meet the women of the Rocking L and the men who come into their lives. Together, they begin the journey to discover the truth about The Lockwood Legacy. From the pain of the past they find the strength to build a dynasty.
Welcome to my tour stop for Langston's Daughters by Juliette Harper. This is an adult contemporary mystery that is also very focused on family, small town and ranch life as well as some clean romance. This is the first in the series. It is appropriate for ages 16+.
The tour runs Feb. 23- March 6 with reviews, author interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for more information.
Excerpt
Kate held her tongue until the fifth suitcase hit the ground. "Mandy, for God's sake, how many clothes can one woman need?"
When her baby sister flashed her that award-winning smile, the one that had taken her all the way to the stage of the Miss Texas Pageant, Kate softened in spite of herself. Mandy was a clothes horse, but she was a thoroughbred clothes horse and far too sweet for her own good.
"I wasn't sure what to wear to the . . . service," Mandy said, her voice cracking a little.
"Baby Sister, since when do you not know how to dress for the Methodist Church?"
Mandy's eyes brightened a little when Kate came down the walk and picked up three of the bags. "Think you can handle the other two, or are you afraid you'll break a nail?"
"Oh, these are acrylic."
"Of course they are," Kate said wryly.
Just as they turned to go up the walk, the sound of tires on the rough road made them look up. Jenny maneuvered the rented SUV behind Mandy's car and cut the engine. The instant she got out Kate said, "You shut the gate?"
Jenny's nerves were already strained. "When have I ever forgotten to shut the gate?" she snapped.
"You live in New York City," Kate countered.
"I grew up in Texas," Jenny shot back.
Mandy angled herself between the two of them and held up her hands. "Now you all stop. Just stop it. Daddy's not even in his grave yet and you're bickering like we were all teenagers again. You didn't ask me if I shut the gate, Katie, and I'm the one who left it open my freshman year and let all the kid goats loose in the road."
Jenny and Kate exchanged a knowing glance and then all three burst out laughing. "And Daddy made you round them up," Jenny said.
"Try to round them up," Kate corrected.
"I can still see her out there in that short skirt," Jenny snickered.
"Oh, come on y’all," Kate whined, in a perfect imitation of her baby sister's voice. "Please go back through the gate."
"Well, Daddy never made me work the stock the way you all did," Mandy said defensively, but with a grin. "I thought if I asked them nice like."
"You got a car full of suitcases, too?" Kate asked, shifting the weight of Mandy's bags in her arms.
"No, just carry on."
Jenny retrieved her bag from the backseat of the SUV and the three of them crossed the yard and stepped up on the porch. The interior of the house was dimly lit, the shades drawn against the afternoon sun, stirring faintly from time to time when a breath of breeze came along.
Without a word they each walked to their old rooms. When Mandy turned the knob and took a step into the room, she gasped, "Nothing's changed!"
"What, you expected Daddy to clean out a room?" Kate asked, moving past her and putting the suitcases down at the foot of the white canopy bed.
Mandy moved over to the dressing table and tentatively touched a desiccated homecoming mum corsage. "I didn't think he'd just shut the door."
"That's all he was ever good at," Jenny said from the hall, "shutting doors."
About the Author
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. Like the characters of their debut series, The Lockwood Legacy, Juliette is a merging of their creative energies.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan from a long line of hardheaded Scots, knows the world of the Lockwoods like the back of her hand.
“We decided to write under a pen name because neither one of us by ourselves could have created Kate, Jenny, Mandy, and their world,” says Pauletti. “Juliette is a little bit of us both. We want to be her when we grow up.”
“Patti teases me that I just don’t want to own up to writing a book with romance in it,” Williamson adds, “but that’s not true. I like the Lockwood women and the way they tackle everything life throws at them. And before we’re done, they’ll be ducking a lot. I imagine coming into the office every day and saying, ‘Okay Juliette, what’s going to happen now?’ She tells us, and we get it down on paper.”
Giveaway
$100 Amazon Gift Card (INT)
Thank you so much for hosting a tour stop!
ReplyDeleteNo problem!
DeleteIt looks like an interesting read :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from Shout with Emaginette
It sounds fantastic to me (:
DeleteSounds really fabulous! Thanks for sharing it with us! :)
ReplyDelete~Jess