Black Friday: Gemma O’Donnell by Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown

BlackFriday.2012Black Friday is here and we’re discussing the season with Carolyn Brown’s Gemma O’Donnell from Just a Cowboy and His Baby.

She’s Got Her Eyes on the Prize…
Gemma O’Donnell wasn’t the first woman to win the ProRodeo buckle for bronc riding, but she was darn well going to be the second. What she didn’t count on was her main competition sweeping her off her feet.

He’ll Do Whatever It Takes To Win…
Trace Coleman isn’t really after a title—he needs the cash prize to buy his dream ranch. But one sexy, determined cowgirl keeps getting in his way. In his effort to take her out of the running, he risks losing both the title—and his heart.

They’re Both in For a Little Surprise…
Everybody’s world is turned upside down when a pint-sized bundle of joy gets dropped right into Trace’s lap…and suddenly all the stakes are higher.

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Gemma O’Donnell

CBrown-Just a Cowboy and his BabyMerry Christmas! Got all your shopping done and the presents wrapped? Gemma O’Donnell from Just a Cowboy and His Baby has been so wound up in getting ready for the final rodeo in Las Vegas that, bless her heart, she hasn’t gotten anything done. She and Trace did get the tree all decorated but there it stands, beautiful and yet lonely because there are no presents under it.

She has said that we could follow her on a day long trip to get every bit of her shopping done. She knows that I’m a sucker for maple iced donuts and cinnamon rolls so she’s promised to have plenty on hand if I’ll just stick around after the shopping business and help wrap presents.

Okay, buckle up! First stop is the western wear store. She pushes inside the doors, goes straight for the circular belt rack, hands me a dozen to drape over my arm and stands back to look at them. The one with the flashy crystals on the buckle and all the glitter bling is for her sister, Colleen. The fancy tooled one with a horseshoe on the big silver buckle goes in a gift box for Colleen’s husband, Blaze.

While I’m hanging the rest of the belts back on the rack, she’s looking at flannel shirts. Black and red plaid for her older brother Rye and a cute plaid in the same colors for her sister-in-law and her little niece, Rachel, that she absolutely adores. She picks out a lovely lace shawl for her grandmother and a leather billfold for her grandfather.

Then it’s off to the jewelry section for earrings for her mother and her sister-in-law, Liz. She knows her family well and doesn’t take forever deciding what they’d like. Until she gets to Dewar on the list she’s carrying around.

“What he needs and what he’s seeking for is a bride,” she said. “He doesn’t have any idea that he’s looking but he is and I wish I could wrap one up for his Christmas. But bless his heart, when he does find one, she’s going to have to knock him in the head just to get his attention.” She picks up a book of Cowboy Poetry and lays it on the counter. “What do you think, Carolyn? You know him better than anyone else outside the family.”

“I think he’ll love it and maybe it’ll make him see that he needs a good woman in his life,” I tell her. What I can’t tell her is that there is one on the way about to take his breath away and at the most unexpected time. I’d love to blurt it all out but I’m sworn to secrecy until next August when his story gets told.

We leave the western wear store with several bags, including new boots for Trace and too many size baby outfits to even count. But, hey, I’m guilty of showing the baby section to her when she’d finished buying for her family and Trace’s.

From there we both get a little wild in the toy store. There are Wil and Pearl’s twins to shop for as well as Holly, Rachel and then there’s the ones who will be born before the next Christmas in the family. What fun we had even if our credit cards did moan when the lady rang up all our purchases.

Now it’s off to the blue light specials at Wal-Mart! I’m not sure I’m up to this but hey, Gemma wants to go and she’s been a good sport through the writing of Just a Cowboy and His Baby so I owe her a couple of hours at the blue light special afternoon.

An announcer with a bull horn stands on a platform and yells that the next blue light special starts in five minutes and it will be in the baby department. So everyone in the whole store pushes their carts in that direction. Gemma has tunnel vision when it comes to baby things so everyone else takes one look at that red haired chunk of dynamite and lets her take the lead. Turns out that the special is all toys hanging on a particular rack are one dollar for the next three minutes.

The women go after those toys like a herd of hungry heifers attacking a hay bale but when it’s over Gemma has eight toys in her hand and a big smile on her face. The bullhorn announces that the next blue light special will be in the Christmas section. Dear hearts, I’m the one who is going to be responsible for wrapping so I grab that cart like a Granny’s walker and dare anyone to get in my way.

We make it to the Christmas aisle just as the bullhorn says the special is all wrapping paper is half price and I dive for the floor, crawl through jeans, boots and even a couple of pair of panty hose clad legs until I reach the bin where the paper is displayed. Gemma waits at the back side and catches whatever I lob like rockets over the tops of gray hair, blonde hair and a wig or two. I can’t see her but I do hear a couple of women saying that next year they’re doing it my way. Maybe I should teach a workshop in blue light shopping strategy being somewhat like meeting a deadline at next year’s RWA Conference.

It is dark when we get home but before midnight that tree has presents all wrapped and ready for the families to arrive the next day. Gemma is happy because the rodeo is over. I’m happy because Just a Cowboy and His Baby is on the bookshelves for my readers right here at Christmas time and…do I hear jingle bells and a faint “ho, ho, ho” coming from the rooftop?

Merry Christmas to all my readers, family and friends! May your holidays be filled with joy, laughter, good books to read, lots of wonderful food and family!
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Meet Carolyn Brown!

New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author and RITA® Finalist, Carolyn Brown, has published more than sixty books. She and her husband, a retired English teacher who does not read her works before publication because she can’t afford a divorce, have three grown children, enough grandchildren to keep them young and two tom cats that rule the back yard. Two of her romances have been published as Japanese Manga books. Brown writes cowboy romance for Sourcebooks: The Lucky Trilogy, the Honky Tonk Series and now the Spikes & Spurs Series. She has also written more than forty sweet romances for Avalon which include several historical series as well as contemporary stand alone romance novels. Sourcebooks will publish her debut women’s fiction novel, The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee, in March, 2013.

Carolyn BrownContact Info
Website: website
Social Media: Facebook | Fan page

Want to purchase Carolyn’s novels?
Spikes & Spurs

  1. Love Drunk Cowboy
  2. Red’s Hot Cowboy
  3. Darn Good Cowboy Christmas
  4. One Hot Cowboy Wedding
  5. Mistletoe Cowboy
  6. Just a Cowboy and His Baby

Luckadeau

  1. Lucky in Love
  2. One Lucky Cowboy
  3. Getting Lucky

The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee (March 5, 2013)
Billion Dollar Cowboy (June 4, 2013)
Absolution(December 18, 2012)
The Wager (December 18, 2012)

Please help spread the word: Tweet: Celebrate the madness with 32 authors while #giveaways ensue during #BlackFriday (Nov23-Dec24) http://tinyurl.com/LEBlackFriday2012 #paranormal #fantasy

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

1 Comment

  1. Good mornin’ everyone! It’s a real pleasure to be here today. Have you got your shoppin’ done? Are you a last minute rush around, get the adrenaline flowing shopper, an arm chair shopper who loves the shopping networks, or were you one of those folks who had everything done before Halloween?

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