99 cents sale! Such a deal! by Jan Scarbrough

There’s a debate about what constitutes a second chance romance. Is it when the same couple gets back together probably years later? Or could it be a person, who has lost her first partner, finds love again with a new one?

The idea behind my Bluegrass Reunion Series, for the most part, is that the same couple comes together again—a reunion. Sometimes I throw in a secret baby or a single mom—and of course, a horse or two.

In my March blog, I mentioned The Top 12 Most Powerful Tropes in Romance Novels. Second chance romance is one of the twelve. The Bluegrass Reunion Series gives you second chances and other familiar tropes.

Kentucky Woman
What is Jack willing to do to win the heart of this spirited Kentucky woman? (Marriage of Convenience)

Kentucky Blue Bloods
When Kentucky blue blood tangles with British blue blood, are they willing to take a gamble on love? (Enemies to Lovers)

Kentucky Cowboy
Will Mandy take a second chance with her Kentucky cowboy and risk her heart a second time? (Friends to Lovers)

Kentucky Rain
Carrying a torch is ridiculous. There’s no time like the present to move on. But does Scott really want to? (Friends to Lovers, Forced Proximity)

Recently, I’ve combined four of the eight series romances together into a box set. A couple stories have a thoroughbred horse setting. It’s Kentucky, of course. Kentucky Cowboy takes advantage of the research I did into professional bull riding. Yes, a professional bull rider can come from Kentucky. Kentucky Rain carries on some of the characters from Kentucky Cowboy.

Interested? You might be more so when you discover the box set is on sale for a limited time for 99 cents! Such a deal, such a deal!

Run on over to your favorite ebook retailer for your copy. Go here for links to Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, Google and more.

And as can be expected…my heroines end up as brides even if not in June!

Summer is sizzling with stories by Jan Scarbrough

Hot summer days are the perfect time for a cool drink, shade, and a beach read.

LAST CHANCE BEACH: Summer’s End

Look for the pre-release buy link soon. Only 99cents.

LAST CHANCE BEACH is the island paradise where dreams go to live again and wishes may come true. It’s Summer’s End on the island, and the cottages, condos, hotels, and bungalows are filled to capacity.

There’s still plenty of time to find summer fun and summer love, new romances and second chances; hot alpha males and heartwarming heroes, beach bunnies, dudes, and romance popping up when you least expect it.

Throw a log on the beach bonfire tonight and celebrate LAST CHANCE BEACH: Summer’s End, a special collection of 14 short stories from bestselling authors—all new, never published before—that will thrill the hopeful romantic in you. Some stories are sweet; some are sizzling hot. All will touch your heart and make you want to book a vacation to LAST CHANCE BEACH!

Hot August Night by Joan Reeves, NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Can a chef and a hot dog loving cop resist desire when they’re forced to share the same overbooked beach cottage?

Something New by Liz Flaherty, USA Today Bestselling Author
Their lives are all planned out--until they're not.

I Do…Again by Nancy Fraser, Amazon Top 100 Author
Can they re-ignite what they once had and take a last chance on love?

The Man in Gull Cottage by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Top 100 Author
Will the solution to her dilemma drive them apart or into one another's arms?

That One Summer by Maddie James, Amazon Top 100 Author
He's the one who got away. She's the one who couldn't commit.

Romancing the Spouse by Jan Scarbrough, Amazon Bestselling Author
Can she turn back the clock to save her marriage?

Blue Sky Summer by Kathleen Lawless, Amazon Bestselling Author
Of all the beaches on the coast, who does she see again? Him!

Hangover Husband by Bonnie Edwards, Amazon Bestselling Author
What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay there

One Last Shot by Marcia King-Gamble, National Bestselling Author
She can run, but can she hide?  Will love still find her?

Secondhand Hearts by Kathryn Hills, Award Winning Author
Life takes you down many winding paths. Will theirs lead to love on Last Chance Beach?

Perfume Paradise by Connie Vines, Award Winning Author
Fragrance and love cannot be hidden.

Dreams of the Past by Laura Hunsaker, Award Winning Author
Can dreams of the future erase her nightmares of the past?

Beach Kisses & Sunset Wishes by Nora LeDuc
She wants someone interested in a fling. He wants someone interested in a ring.

Can't Buy Me Love by Hannah Rowan
Things aren't always what they seem.

***

The Ghost Mountain Ranch

The secrets of the past still haunt the living…

My Ghost Mountain Ranch series is also part of the summer fun. So far, the books about Hank, Darby, and Slade are available at most ebook retailers. Kelsey’s story is on preorder for release July 17.

HANK

On Christmas Eve, Hank accepts the job of ranch foreman over the mountains in the Gallatin Canyon, Montana. But something dark is happening at the Ghost Mountain Ranch, where the past is reaching out in dangerous ways to haunt the living.

DARBY

Thirty years ago, Darby Heston fled her family’s Montana dude ranch. Now she must return to help her father. Would the boyfriend she’d abandoned still be there? Hank Slade has never stopped loving Darby, but is he willing to risk his heart again? Secrets tore them apart once. Given a second chance at love, will more shocking secrets from the past destroy their hopes for the future?

SLADE

Slade Heston is spending the summer as a hired hand at his grandfather’s dude ranch, trying to figure out life, not fall in love. Laurie Chastain is supposed to write promotions for the ranch, but she has a secret goal. What did a 1970s radical resistance group have to do with her grandfather? Laurie’s only clue leads her to Ghost Mountain Ranch. Will their growing attraction be enough to protect Slade and Laurie from the ghosts of the past?

KELSEY

Kelsey Heston’s using the skills learned at her family’s Kentucky horse farm to improve tourism at her grandfather’s dude ranch. But what is her old college sweetheart doing here? Max Lee has come to Ghost Mountain Ranch searching for a missing woman. Instead, he finds Kelsey. But old secrets are stirring, secrets someone might be willing to kill to keep. Can they finally lay the old ghosts to rest, or will the echoes of a decades-old murder destroy their second chance at love?

July's Rafflecopter draw runs from July 1^st  through the 31^st.  Who couldn’t use an Amazon Gift Card?

New Release: Ghost Mountain Ranch by Jan Scarbrough

Sometimes a simple suggestion leads to a two-year writing project. That’s what took me and my character Hank from the setting of the McKenna Ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana, into Gallatin Canyon which is across the mountain. It didn’t hurt that my husband and I had spent three days at the Covered Wagon Ranch in 2016.

To gather the back story for my series, I read a few books. One had the long title of Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence by Bryan Burrough. I’m not going to say any more about the back story, because it will ruin the plot.

So, now my series is finished. I wrote the lead in book in 2017. At the end of the Christmas story, Hank, the McKenna’s wrangler, gets a job at Ghost Mountain Ranch where he grew up. This sets the scene for reuniting with his old girl friend Darby. They’re older now and both need second chances.

Darby’s twin children “star” in the other two books. Slade, the first of these books is on preorder, and the last one Kelsey will be available soon.

Thirty years ago, torn by shock and guilt over the death of her mother, Darby York fled the dude ranch where she’d grown up in Montana. In her new life in the bluegrass of Kentucky, she’d become a horse groom, an artist, married a wealthy Thoroughbred owner, raised twins, and been widowed. But now, with word her father is growing feeble, Darby has to finally face the truth: no matter how far you run, the past has a way of catching up. Her father hadn’t been the only man Darby had left behind. Would the boyfriend she’d abandoned still be there?

Hank Slade, wrangler at Ghost Mountain Ranch, has never stopped carrying the torch for Darby. Her vibrant red hair may be tinged with gray now, but the natural, unsophisticated look about her remains—a look that speaks of home and comfort to Hank. But is he willing to risk his heart with Darby again?

What is the truth behind the death of Darby’s mother? When the past once again intrudes on the present, will Darby do what she’s always done—what her mother did—and run away? Grief and secrets had torn Darby and Hank apart once. Given a second chance at love, will the revelation of more shocking secrets from the past destroy their hopes for the future?

Darby: Ghost Mountain Ranch Book 2 is available at most ebook retailers:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2AExEb7

More Universal Buy Links: https://books2read.com/Darby

My book Secrets is FREE on KindleUnlimited today through Saturday!

Don’t forget our Amazon Gift Card Monthly Giveaway.

Romance in Bloom by Jan Scarbrough #RomanceGems

Our theme this month is romance in bloom. Guess what? I married a guy with the last name Bloom! LOL. Bill and I have been married twenty years, so I think we’ll keep each other. After all, we’ve survived the Covid-19 quarantine—so far!

I believe in second chances, because—although I had the best of intentions—I didn’t get it right the first time. But I had another chance and Bill came into my life as a blind date. We talked about kids and computers. We had plenty in common.

I write stories about second chances. My upcoming book is called Darby. It’s book one of a trilogy I call Ghost Mountain Ranch. Darby is a forty-something (well almost fifty-something) widow who goes home to Montana after thirty years. Her hero is Hank, a secondary character from a series Maddie James and I wrote called the Montana McKennas. Hank has his own novella called Home for the Holidays. It sets up his move to the Ghost Mountain Ranch in the book Darby.

That’s all I’ll tell you right now. Darby: Ghost Mountain Ranch (Book 1) will go on pre-order at most retailers by the end of May. I’m frantically writing the third book, and because there’s sort of a mystery in the trilogy, I want to finish it before making the other books available.

Speaking of blooms, one thing I’ve been doing during social distancing is working on my flowers. I don’t have a good flowerbed, so I’ve bought two large flower boxes from a local youth organization. In them I’ve planted milkweed for monarch butterflies and marigolds to try to keep the aphids away. I’ve scattered seeds for hummingbirds and bees. If they don’t come up, I’ll have to go shopping again. This year in Kentucky we’ve had a beautiful, wet spring. Last year we went straight from winter to summer. I prefer this way. So, have you been outside during the shutdown? Have you walked or planted flowers?

I tell you what I miss the most—my horseback riding lessons! It’s been a long time since my horse fix!

Don’t forget our Monthly Giveaway. I know our gift card winners always appreciate them. Good luck!

Blooming Romance! by @BonnieEdwards #RomanceGems

In May, everything's in bloom, including love. Spring fever is another euphemism for the desire to get outside, to meet people, and fall in love after being cooped up all winter.(or for weeks of a pandemic)

Yesterday a grandson told me they'd seen a broken Robin's egg on the ground under a tree. Spring and baby birds are here!

Today is a SURPRISE day on the blog, where we don't have a scheduled post and I thought maybe readers would like to know that while love is blooming and life is renewing this month, so are romance books.

So, surprise! I have a couple of stories priced at only 99c that you may have missed.

First up is a novella that has a warm place in my heart because I was invited to write it by a stellar group of ladies to have it included in a boxed set.The set is no longer available but Whole Lot o' Love is still a fun, happy romance.

If you haven't read my work before, I'd like to introduce you to Ashlee Branton and Brick Harcourt, two young lovers torn apart by his family when they were too young to fight back.

She's strong now. She's capable now. And no one can make her run away again.

Amazon Exclusive

Ashlee Branton’s lottery win is enough to give her and her son a new, settled life back home.

Except that returning to Blaine, Washington means facing her son’s father, Brick Harcourt, in a most unsettling way.

But Ashlee has two pasts now, one with Brick and one with an ex who wants to crash their reunion.

Will she run again or stay and sacrifice money for love?



I love reuniting past loves as a writer. When characters know each other in ways the reader doesn't, it makes for a deeper connection than expected. There are shared memories, good and bad.

Next up is a short story, Long Time Coming that was borne of frustration because I couldn't make the idea into a full-length novel. There just wasn't enough "meat" on the bone and I don't like to write books without depth. BUT, as a short story, Long Time Coming is fun, sexy and again, brings two people together who deserve to be after years of being apart.

Available Everywhere!

Kurt McCord has waited far too long to see Leigh Douglas again.

Once, they’d shared a foster home but at 16, he knew it was wrong to want her the way he did.

But that was another time and today, he has Leigh right where he wants her: in his home with her eyes full of promise.

Can they shake off the shackles of the past and finally have all they’ve ever wanted? In a short story that sizzles with heat first love can be a long time coming. . .



Don't forget to enter our Monthly Giveaway for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Our Monthly Giveaway is in full swing!

Second Chances at Love by Jan Scarbrough #RomanceGems

Most of my books are about second chances from a non-traditional Gothic novel like Tangled Memories to my upcoming release Ghost Mountain Ranch: Darby. My characters make the most of their second chances.

Second chance at love is a popular romance trope. An article in the reedsyblog defines “trope.”

Tropes are plot devices, characters, images, or themes that are incorporated so frequently in a genre that they’re seen as conventional…. At their core, tropes are really just things that are familiar. And people enjoy the familiar.

In my Bluegrass Reunion stories, my heroes and heroines have another opportunity to make things right for themselves and learn to love again.

  

Kentucky Cowboy—She dumped him in high school, because he was a risk-taker.

Kentucky Woman—She loved him when she was a teenager, but they never connected.

Kentucky Flame—She had his baby, but he left not knowing the truth.

Kentucky Bride—She rejected him once, but he’s willing to try again.

Kentucky Rain—She’s divorced and moves next door to handsome guy from high school.

Kentucky Blue Bloods—She dumped him, and he wants revenge. 

As the old saying goes, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Human beings have a huge capacity to learn from mistakes. Maybe that’s why this trope resonates with me. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve also fixed my screw-ups, tried again, and made things better for myself. I’ve grown up. I’ve matured.

This year I celebrate my twentieth year of marriage to my second chance Bill. Thank you, Bill, for putting up with me for twenty plus years. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. 

Our February Rafflecopter has another month of Amazon Gift Card prizes. Be sure to enter often to improve your chances of winning. Please tell your friends about Romance Gems—our Authors, our books, our blog posts, and our monthly giveaway.

Surprise! #FREE Book by @BonnieEdwards

Throughout the month, we have what we call Surprise Days, which mean there's no post scheduled.

This system gives the Gems some leeway when we have a special promotion going on and that's what brings me here today.

All week, my sexy, fun novella Body Work (which kicks off the trilogy, The Brantons) has been free.

Today, Friday the 30th is the last day you can get it. This Amazon exclusive is here: https://books2read.com/Body-Work

Can first love turn into a second chance romance?

Lisa Brady Delaney left Tyce Branton and the trailer park in her rear view mirror. Years later, he’s the only one who can help her fulfill an important promise. After that, it's rear view mirror time again.

Tyce hates that he wants Lisa again at first sight, but can he keep his hands off when he’s a hands-on kind of man? And when she leaves again, will she take his heart with her? Because she did that once and he can't deal with it again...

Please stay tuned to Romance Gems as we gear up for another exciting month of giveaways for September!

And Happy Reading!

Craving Jake Cover Reveal! by @BonnieEdwards #RomanceGems

Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we need to duck or be hit in the head, or the heart. That's why I'm two weeks late with my post. My heart is quivering in fear for a loved one. On my regular blog date (the 15th) I couldn't even think about posting about a happy-ever-after romance.

This week things aren't any better, in fact they're worse. But, travel plans have come together and I feel more centered and accepting of the changes to come.

Everyone goes through peaks and valleys with loved ones. We learn to ride those peaks and valleys.

Unless we don't. Unless we react in dark and dangerous ways.

Sorry! I can't provide a buy link yet.

My next book in my Return to Welcome series is about a person who can't quite roll with the punches. A person who won't let go, can hold on too tightly and even become unbalanced.

Here's a sneak peek from the opening of Craving Jake, Return to Welcome Book 3.

* * *

Stalking wasn’t always a bad thing, Brianna Bowler told herself. Not when it happened by accident. Seeing Jake Morrow from afar three times in one month could be called a coincidence, couldn’t it?

But this was the first time she’d seen Jake with his girlfriend. From across the street, Brianna froze in shock as they stood in front of the fire station together.

Jake had always been easy on the eyes and fifteen years hadn’t changed that. Jake had black, untamed curls and deep blue eyes, and if she were close enough she’d see his spiky black eyelashes that looked like ink starbursts. Women would kill for those eyelashes. In fact, they paid swank prices for extensions that looked just like the ones Jake grew on his own. Wasn’t fair.

But she was distracted from the real reason she stood numb and still at the open trunk of her mom’s car.

Jake’s girlfriend was petite and slim and looked like a chirpy little sprite in her skin-tight active wear cropped pants and her kicky cross-trainers. And her dark curling hair made her look like a little sister or cousin. She’d just bet the gorgeous specimen of femininity also had blue eyes.

Not to mention she looked much, much too young for him, even from across the street and up the block Brianna could see she was a very young twenty-something. Young and fresh and pretty and perfect.

Brianna had already heard they lived together. She tried not to scowl, but Jake should be ashamed of himself. He was over thirty and this girl-child was an entire generation behind.

She shook off her dark emotions and bent to her task. And yes, her chest always clenched when she hefted bags of dog food and dumped them into a car trunk. Her eyes always smarted and her breath always caught. Four bags later, she dusted the kibble dust off her hands and closed the trunk lid.

She studiously kept her eyes away from the fire station’s open front doors, where Jake and his perfect girlfriend stood, probably talking about what to have for dinner together or what shows they’d be binge watching tonight. The ordinary stuff of lives lived together.

She didn’t miss that part of a relationship, not at all. She’d left Anthony behind in Seattle and he’d been content enough to be left. Whatever they’d shared had run its course and she was free now. Single again, and not looking at Jake Morrow and his cheerful, chirpy child-sized girlfriend.

* * *

Craving Jake is still in the editing phase and this opening may change a bit. But the story is set in my mind and the editing will continue. Expected month of release is August. I'd hoped for early in August, but life has tossed me a grenade, so this book may have to wait. I'm sorry about that, but when the heart is broken, it needs time to heal.

I love this small town series. Welcome, WA is not the cheery, sweet place that most romance small towns are. Welcome is full of nasty rumor, ugly gossip, and long-held grudges. People have long memories and are loathe to let others move on.

Returning to Welcome takes fortitude and guts and my returning heroes and heroines have what it takes.

The first people to learn when Craving Jake will be released will be my newsletter subscribers. You can sign up here: Bonnie's Newsy Bits

Next month we'll have a whole new contest and theme for Romance Gems, so please stay tuned...

Happy Reading!

An update: Since writing this blog, I've lost my sister to complications from epilepsy. Please remember, not every disability is visible and chronic illness takes a lifelong toll. Please think twice before judging...you never know what a person is struggling with.