So what’s it about?
Sergeant First Class Sullivan Barlow has plans for her future and none of them include the guy she slept with in a night of weakness. Intending to forget the devastation of losing her best friend in Afghanistan, Sully woke the next morning still alone. Her only solace—she hadn’t told the man her real name.
A career soldier, Tate Murphy has three more years in the Army until he’s eligible for retirement. Seven weeks ago, he met a woman in a hotel bar and spent the night with her. He hasn’t been able to get her out of his mind and can’t believe his luck when he finds her again.
Then they discover their first night together resulted in something they never expected. She’s pregnant, and Tate immediately proposes. Pregnant, struggling with survivor guilt, the last thing Sully needs is to learn her best friend may have died, but hasn’t left yet.
Tate says, ‘sometimes courage is an act of survival’. Sully fears trust is a casualty of war. Will she and Tate ever find it again either by themselves or with the help of those who have passed on before?
7 Things to Know About Baker City, Washington
7. Seven Irish boys met on a ship bound for America and eventually established the town of Baker City. Most of the people who still live there are descendants of the O’Learys, the McElroys, the Sweeneys, the O’Connells, the Garveys, the O’Neills, and the O’Sullivans. In 1910, avalanches almost obliterated the town and sixty people died. It took months to dig out the bodies and the last funeral was for the teacher who still haunts the school.
6. Nestled in the Cascade foothills, the inhabitants of Baker City remember their history. They can’t help it since many of the old-timers are still there even if they aren’t ‘alive and kicking’ anymore. Love is real and so are the ghosts although most people can’t communicate with them. If someone does want to know what upsets the local spirits, they’ll visit the new O’Leary in hopes she’ll be able to tell them why they have a problem and how to resolve it.
5. Today, Cat O’Leary McTavish manages the ghosts who haunt Baker City and runs interference between the living and the dead. The town didn’t have a medium for a long time after her grandmother passed, but then Cat entered an essay contest and won Cedar Creek Guest Ranch. The last thing she expected was to discover the hero, Rob Williams, a soldier who died during the Vietnam War still “living” there. He was haunting his old family home and didn’t plan to leave. Their story is told in My Sweet Haunt, Baker City Hearts and Haunts – Book 1.
4. The setting furthers the story. Since I also love western romance, Baker City has a complicated past. It’s been a logging town, a silver mining boom town, and a destination resort area when the Williams’ dude ranch outside of town was open for guests. This means most of the books include some of my favorite elements, ‘smart-mouthed kids, horses and puppies.’ As new people move into the town, it brings it back to life and the ghosts will tell you that it’s about time ~ they may be dead, but it doesn’t mean they are willing to exist in Limbo or an abandoned, mountain village.
3. In fact, Ann Barrett, the heroine of More Than A Spirit, Baker City Hearts and Haunts – Book 2 rents a cabin at Cedar Creek Guest Ranch when she returns home from an Army combat tour. Because she doesn’t have a teaching position yet, Ann plans to work at the Army Reserve base in Seattle only to discover the job she wants went to a man instead. She considers this a minor issue. She’ll send him packing. However, he’s not alone. His long-time buddy provides ghostly system support and plays “Cupid” for these two stubborn, proud soldiers.
2. Ann and her best friend aren’t the only combat veterans who move to Baker City. In Family Skeletons, Baker City Hearts and Haunts – Book 3, Sullivan Barlow joins them. The three women are teachers, and they have dreams of changing and improving the world, one child at a time. They’ll have to come to terms with the original teacher in Baker City who doesn’t plan to leave her school yet.
1. These take-charge, fierce women warriors need heroes to match them and the men they love not only challenge them, but they also match them strength for strength. It’s Romance with a capital “R” and my heroines deserve men who love them, brooms, “flying monkeys” and all. That’s why I love romance, reading it, writing it, being it! And I’ll never stop.
AMILY SKELETONS EXCERPT
PART ONE ~ FEBRUARY 2019
CHAPTER ONE
Sullivan Barlow glanced from the handwritten—make that scribbled—disposition form in front of her to the typed version on the computer screen. She’d thought the high school students during her last practicum had crappy penmanship. So, did this guy. She squinted at the signature block again. Yes, it was Master Sergeant Tate Murphy. If she ever met him in person, she’d suggest he repeat third grade and learn cursive.
Oh, wait a minute. A lot of elementary schools no longer taught it. That couldn’t be the case with him. He had to be older than she was, and she learned it back in the day in Liberty Valley. So, she’d give him hell. She took a deep breath. No, she wouldn’t. She was a Sergeant First Class, an E-7, after all. She’d be polite and recommend he find a pharmacist to decipher his hieroglyphics.
Okay, it was official. She was definitely having a bad day. She pushed back from the desk and leaned down to rub her aching left leg. She’d worked in worse conditions than Major Harper’s office. For a moment, she remembered dust, sand, and overwhelming heat. Then, she shook her head.
No, Sully. Concentrate on the moment. Think about here and now.
The room was large with two desks facing each other. Weak February sunshine filtered through the mini-blinds on the windows to her right, laying patterns on the carpeted floor. The American flag stood neatly in the stand to her left, accompanied by the Washington state flag and the one for Fort Clark. Looking at the Stars and Stripes always reminded her of that last flight home and the tri-folded flag on her lap.
She choked on the rising lump in her throat. She’d sat and held that flag on her lap on the entire flight, refusing the meals and beverages the overly sympathetic flight attendants offered.
I wish things were different. I want a do-over. If I could only go back in time… Oh, Raven, I’m so sorry.
She closed her eyes for a moment, blinked hard before she focused on the computer screen again. She always tried to avoid glancing at the U.S. flag and the glassed-in bookcases behind the stand. File cabinets lined the wall that held the same door to the hall and the break room where she could find a cup of coffee. That was if she wanted to try walking that far when her ankle throbbed in its own rhythm, pressing against her combat boot.
Okay, she’d upgrade the day from being bad to officially sucking. Her leg hurt. She had a stack of reports from a moron to type. She repeated her mantra. Don’t complain, things can always be worse. At least nobody is trying to kill me.
“Haven’t you finished those reports yet? You’ve been typing for three days.”
Sully looked from the stack of paperwork to the blonde fashion plate in front of the desk. She was slipping. She should have heard the click of high heels in the hall before Anise Tyler, the civilian clerk in charge returned to the office.“It’d go faster if you helped instead of disappearing to the breakroom every hour.”
“Speaking of that, it’s a mess.” In a clinging light blue dress that matched her heels, the civilian liaison sauntered across to her desk and eased into the leather chair behind it. “I told Mr. Edwards you’d clean it up. You’ll find the mop in the utility closet at the end of the hall.”
“Excuse you.” Sully counted silently to ten, the advice one of the other sergeants in her company had given for dealing with idiots. It didn’t work this time. “You’re joking, right?”
“Do I look like it?” Anise smiled, but it didn’t touch her pale blue eyes. Pleasure filled the lovely face. “You can go clean it now. Then come back and finish those reports.”
“I don’t think so.” Sully rose to her feet, leaning on the desk for support and pinned Anise with an icy glare, hoping the other woman didn’t see the actual physical weakness in her stance. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Ms. Tyler. I am a Sergeant First Class. I’ve done three tours in the sandbox and I was reassigned here for light duty when they no longer needed me in the Finance section. I don’t scrub floors, wash windows, or take out your trash. I don’t give garbage. I don’t take garbage. I am not in the garbage business. I’ll do your correspondence. I won’t do your dirty work. Got it?”
The sound of slow applause drew Sully’s attention to the door and away from the sputtering woman on the other side of the room. A tall, dark-haired man in camouflage fatigues stood in the doorway. Oh crap, Sully thought. She was in for it now. She should have remembered she was here temporarily and controlled her temper, not actually told the full-time office manager where to go. Of course, there’d been an audience.
I never catch a break. What a hell of a time for the major to arrive.
From his smile to the dark blue of his eyes, she knew she’d seen that ruggedly handsome face before. Where? A memory fluttered. A deep voice rumbling with laughter, a strong hand reaching across her to pour two glasses of golden Chardonnay, a sweet wine kiss, then another, deeper. She shook her head. She was losing it. He was a stranger. He had to be a stranger. And he was a rude one too. He hadn’t even come into the office. He just stood in the doorway staring at her like she was the most entertaining show in town.
“And you are?” Sully asked.
“Master Sergeant Murphy. Are you the person who has been transcribing my reports and emailing them back to me? I didn’t recognize your initials, ‘sb’.” His smile faded and he looked toward Anise. “You did check her security clearance before passing on my notes, didn’t you, Ms. Tyler?”
Red mottled under her makeup as Anise gulped for air. She hadn’t followed procedure and the three of them knew it.
Pity stirred in Sully and she cleared her throat. “I am qualified to type these bloody reports in every way, Master Sergeant Tate Murphy but I have to say it would be much easier if you’d learned to scribe a coherent hand.”
SERIES READING ORDER:
- My Sweet Haunt (Baker City: Hearts & Haunts Book 1)
- More Than A Spirit (Baker City: Hearts & Haunts Book 2)
- Family Skeletons: A Paranormal Military Romance (Baker City: Hearts & Haunts Book 3)
Time for the giveaway!
…Her plan to restore the destination resort to its former glory hits a snag when she learns she has the ‘O’Leary Gift’ and can talk to the dead man who still resides in her house.
Former Army Ranger, Rob Williams always planned to run the family guest ranch after completing his military service. Instead, he “bought the farm with his life” when he died in Vietnam, but being dead doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere. Encountering someone who “sees” and “hears” him is a welcome change…
How to enter for a chance to win it?
Just leave a comment below, (or better yet, tell me your favorite reclusive hero) and by 10pm EST, Sunday March 28th 2021, I will randomly select one lucky commenter as the winner.
The winner will be contacted and will have 48hrs to respond confirming their email address, so if you are picked, do not delay or you will lose your chance. The ebook will be sent to the winner directly by the author.
Giveaway open to International!!! 
Josie Malone Bio
Josie Malone lives and works at her family business, a riding stable in Washington State. Teaching kids to ride and know about horses since 1967, she finds in many cases, she’s taught three generations of families. Her life experiences span adventures from dealing cards in a casino, attending graduate school to get her master’s in teaching degree, being a substitute teacher, and serving in the Army Reserve – all leading to her second career as a published author. Visit her at her website, www.josiemalone.com to learn about her books.
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Sounds like an awesome book!
Oh i love a good Irish man romance!! Bring it on!!
The Baker City: Hearts & Haunts series sounds intriguing. Thanks for sharing.