Happy Back-to-School Holiday to all the Mama's out there! I love my children dearly but BTS is by far my favorite non-holiday. Summer is always a whirlwind around here but this one was a doozy! Shortly following the Memorial Day tornadoes (two of which missed our home by less than half a mile), we had a second foster child join us, a student from Japan on an exchange program for two weeks, and my cousin had twins (doing well despite arriving 12 weeks early - which makes children #9&10 for their family). Oh, also, I swear I've begun my mid-life crisis.

So… yeah… it's kind of nice to have a slightly quieter house as I polish Adam's story for the second installment in the West Farm's series.

For those of you who read the acknowledgments (you over-achievers, you're my kind of people) at the end of The Farmer's Daughter, you might remember me mentioning this story has been a work in progress for around twenty years. Obviously, I'm a bit attached to Adam and Becca at this point! It’s very important to me that their story is just right!

Also, I've tentatively assigned this as a “tortured heroine” because… well, Becca's been through a lot. She’s hiding some dark secrets and deep pain behind a lot of sarcasm. With some heavy ups and downs, balancing her emotional journey turned out to be rather tricky.

Sooooo…. With all of that in mind, this is my plea for help! I'm currently looking for a few good people to join me in Birchwood for an exclusive first look and a bit of conversation. In exchange for feedback you would receive a FREE early copy of Along the River. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, click here for more details or visit www.hollylakes.com/beta-arc-signup. I'll be reaching out individually to each responder with info soon!