Here’s the hotlist I’m referring to in this post: The Happy Ever After blog post featuring the Smaswords Hotlist: Weekly indie romance bestsellers and hot preorders is at this link.

This came as a surprise.  I didn’t expect The Bargain Mail Order Bride to be one of the featured preorders.  The other authors featured are exceptional storytellers, so it’s a humbling honor to see one of my books there.

Click here to reserve your copy today!

The Chance At Love Series has four books total.  The Convenient Mail Order Bride is Book 1.   The Mistaken Mail Order Bride is Book 2.  The Accidental Mail Order Bride is Book 3.  The Bargain Mail Order Bride is Book 4 and completes the series.  (It’ll be hard to say good-bye to these characters.  I loved all of them, even meddling Ida Conner who couldn’t keep her mouth shut to save her life.)

Anyway…

I contacted Carl Richie to tell him the news since he is the hero of this book, and he agreed to stop by the blog to talk about it.

Carl: so sure this whole thing is a joke that he isn’t even getting out of bed for the interview

Carl Richie: Is this a joke?

Ruth: A joke?  No.  I wouldn’t go through all the trouble of making this blog post when I should be writing to bring you in here if this was a joke.

Carl: In my experience, nothing has ever gone in my favor.  My father brought me to the Colorado Territory to live in the mountainside when I was a kid.  He then betrayed my mother by taking a mistress which ended up being the reason she killed herself.  Then my father forced me to marry a woman who made me miserable until she was murdered.  All I want to do is find the gold in that stream Abe and I keep fighting over so I can get out of this place.

Ruth: I didn’t bring you in here so you could depress us.  You need to be happy.  Originally in this series, you were supposed to be an unredeemable bad guy, and those tend to end up getting shot.  But then when I was writing the scene where you and Abe were duking it out in the barn, I realized you believed that your father had favored your half-brother, Abe.  It was at that moment, I knew you had a good side to you, and I knew I would be writing your book (The Bargain Mail Order Bride).  This is the book, by the way, that made the list in the Happy Ever After blog post.

Carl: So what you’re saying is that if I hadn’t been such a jerk in Book 1, then you wouldn’t be getting the fame of being in that blog post?

Ruth: Carl, this isn’t about me.  You are the reason people want to read the book.  They’re interested in seeing you get your happy ending.  This is all about you.

Carl: I don’t know.  It just seems like it’s too good to be true.

Ruth: Maybe this happened to show you that good things can happen.  And besides, you will be getting a happy ending.  This is a romance, not a horror novel.

Carl: I heard you plan to kill someone in this book.

Ruth: That person isn’t you.

Carl: Is it Abe?

Ruth: *gasps*  How could you even ask that, Carl?  Abe is the hero of the first book in this series.  I never kill off my heroes.

Carl: But if you got rid of him, I wouldn’t even have to get another wife in hopes I can have a child so I can hold onto that stream.

Abe, Carl’s half-brother, stops by to pay a visit.

Abe Thomas: You think Carl is redeemable?  Really?  He would be happy if I died.

Carl: And you were hoping I killed my first wife so that I could face the hangman’s noose, thereby allowing you to get the stream.

Ruth: Neither one of you should want the other to die.  You two are half-brothers, and more than that, by the end of this series, you two will be friends.

*Carl and Abe start laughing because they don’t believe me.*

Ruth: I’m serious.  You two are going to finally make amends. It’s the one thing the people who’ve been reading this series want more than anything else.  It’s time for you to bury the hatchet.

Abe: The only hatched that should be buried is the one that goes right into Carl’s back.  Make his book a horror novel.  No one will mind.  His first wife can come back from the dead and get rid of him.  Or the new wife can do us all a favor and continue her life of crime and kill him for the gold once he finds it.

Carl: You see what I have to deal with, Ruth?

Abe: Don’t tell me you didn’t hope that my wife would go psycho at some point and kill me.

Carl: Ruth, I will never be friends with Abe.  I won’t even go anywhere near his cabin.

Ruth: Sure, you will.

Carl: The only way I’d step foot into his cabin is if I’m dragged there against my will.  And even then, I’d run out of there.

Abe: And you wonder why I picked this for Carl’s picture in the Booklaunch page for my book, The Convenient Mail Order Bride.  All he does is whine.

The picture that Abe uses to portray Carl, and this bothers Carl to no end.

Carl: Not only are you posting that picture that looks NOTHING like me, but you’re also trying to promote your stupid book.

Abe: See what I mean?  Whine, whine, whine.

Ruth: Both of you are disappointing me.  I started this post in an attempt to celebrate the good news about the Happy Ever After blog post, and you two are going off into this horrible tangent.  How are people supposed to want to read The Bargain Mail Order Bride with all of the mudslinging that’s going on?  Let’s bring in the heroine of this book to see what she thinks of this exciting news.  Juliet, are you happy about this announcement?

Juliet, the heroine of The Bargain Mail Order Bride

Juliet Gilbert: I was happy about it until I read through this post.  Are Carl and Abe going to act this childish in the book?  Because if so, I might have to reconsider picking Carl’s mail-order bride ad.

Carl: *whistles*  That’s what Juliet looks like?  I had no idea she was such a babe.  Okay, sign me up.  We’re doing this book!

Ruth: If I had any idea it was going to be that easy to make you stop arguing with Abe, I would have had her jump into the post sooner.

Carl: This book does contain sexual content, right?

Ruth: It does, but you’re not exactly the most sexually enthusiastic hero I’ve written.

Carl: Did you make me impotent?

Abe: *laughs* That would be hilarious!  Please say you did this.

Ruth: I didn’t do that to Carl, but he has his reasons for not wanting to be in bed with Juliet right away.

Carl: Right away?  Then I do get to enjoy lovemaking with her at some point, right?

Ruth: It’s a romance, Carl.  There’s a guaranteed happy ending.

***

I’ll end the interview on that note.  But I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who’s stuck with me through the years.  It’s because of you I’m still publishing books.  Believe me, that blog post wouldn’t have been possible without you.  🙂

***

Photo Credits:

Carl in bed with computer: ID 35032645 © Wavebreak Media Ltd | Dreamstime.com

Abe Thomas: ID 43759300 © Artofphoto | Dreamstime.com

The picture of Carl that Abe picked out: ID 42649795 © Svetlana Dodukh | Dreamstime.com

Juliet having second thoughts about her role in the book: ID 11312418 © Candybox Images | Dreamstime.com