What do you get when you combine the plains of Texas, boardroom – and cattle – barons, and lots romance? THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS, of course! This long-running, best-selling continuity – one of the most popular in Harlequin Special Edition – started out in the late 1990’s with FORTUNE’S CHILDREN, which evolved over time into The Fortunes of Texas, featuring the members of the Fortune and Mendoza families finding love in the town of Red Rock, Texas – and occasionally uncovering a few family secrets along the way!
This month we’re thrilled to be introducing THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: WHIRLWIND ROMANCE, which introduces readers to the Atlanta Fortunes, a brand-new branch of the family who will bring their Southern charm to their Texas cousins! WHIRLWIND ROMANCE features some of Special Edition’s most popular authors – including two-time RITA Award winner Karen Templeton, USA TODAY bestselling authors Marie Ferrarella, Susan Crosby and Allison Leigh, and reader favorites Judy Duarte and Nancy Robards Thompson. The story kicks off with our January title, Fortune’s Cinderella. Local waitress Christina Hastings has sworn off wealthy playboys, but she’s forced to depend on handsome Southern bachelor Scott Fortune when she’s injured in a tornado that hits Red Rock. Will he turn out to be her knight in a Stetson?
There are plenty of tycoons, cowboys and, of course, lots of Texas-sized romance in these books, so don’t miss a single installment of this great series! Mark your calendars for these upcoming titles:
January 2012: Fortune’s Cinderella by Karen Templeton
February 2012: Fortune’s Valentine Bride by Marie Ferrarella
March 2012: Mendoza’s Miracle by Judy Duarte
April 2012: Fortune’s Hero by Susan Crosby
May 2012: Fortune’s Unexpected Groom by Nancy Robards Thompson
June 2012: Fortune’s Perfect Match by Allison Leigh
We hope you enjoy these new releases. Have you read the Fortunes of Texas series in the past? Whose story have you enjoyed in the past? Or is there a particular character who you’d like to see get their own story one day?
I love the Fortune family series.I try to never miss a new chapter.
I love reading the Fortune series, I’ve missed a few but found them at the library so I’m catching up on them.Can’t wait for the new series.
I know I have missed a few of these great Fortune of Texas books, but hopefully I will not miss out of these..
I’m so proud to have been able to contribute to this series, and work with all the other authors. FORTUNE’S CINDERELLA was a blast to write! Hopefully it’s still in stores at this point, but if not you can certainly get it right here, in print or as an e-book.
Hi Diana, Carole and Kathleen! Thanks for joining us and much appreciation for the good words about the FORTUNES OF TEXAS series. I wrote the fifth book in the new WHIRLWIND ROMANCE series. I hope you’ll have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Tanner and Jordana’s story really resonated with me. In Jordana Fortune’s quest for perfection – being the perfect daughter, cultivating the perfect life, finding perfect love– she almost misses out on “living.” That is, until fate blows her into the arms of Tanner Redmond and turns her belief system upside down.
I loved working with the other authors. We had to do a lot of preplanning because so much was riding on the setup of the tornado and its aftermath. Karen Templeton (<>) did a beautiful job laying the groundwork and the rest of us took it from there.
Here’s a question for the Fortunes of Texas fans – what do you love most about the series?
Hi, all! Nancy, speaking as a FAN of the Fortunes of Texas series, I love going to a familiar place. And speaking as an author of a few of the Fortunes books (including book 6 of the Whirwind series), I love going to a familiar place
Contributing to series such as these is so much fun as an author. There’s just nothing like brainstorming with people far more brilliant than I am. It’s a privilege being able to work with the tremendously talented women who contributed to Whirlwind. I just recently read Karen’s FORTUNE’S CINDERELLA and can’t applaud her enough for a wonderful, heartwarming story and a terrific introduction to the Atlanta Fortunes. And once again, as a fan, I can’t wait to get my hands on the books that follow.
I wholeheartedly second the love of returning to a familiar place, Allison. I also love to revisit characters. When I fall in love with a story, I fall in love with the characters, too. They feel like friends. Often I find myself daydreaming about them and imagining what they’re doing in their fictional world beyond the pages of the book. Okay, it’s a good thing I’m a writer, huh? Otherwise that might sound a little weird.
But seriously, a series like this gives the opportunity to keep in touch with your favorite characters.
I loved the process of sharing ideas and watching all the pieces of our individual books come together to complete the whole story. One of my favorite parts of writing FORTUNE’S UNEXPECTED GROOM was talking about flight schools with you, Allison. You were such a help with the logistics and specifics of the flight school my hero, Tanner, owns and operates. Your insight made the book a lot richer and more realistic. Thanks for that!
Today, I picked up a copy of FORTUNE’S VALENTINE BRIDE by Marie Ferrarella. Can’t wait to read it!
As a fan, I was thrilled to see more stories of this family coming out. I bought my first book that introduced me to the Fortune family at a Friends of the Library book sale four or five years ago…and as a reader that can’t read just one book of a series, that sent me on a search for the other books!! Then when I learned of all the spin-offs….it became an obsession to locate them all!!!! I hadn’t been able to find probably 8 or 10 of the books in the various series until about a month ago when I went into a favorite used book store in Tulsa and found EVERY book I was still missing!! I was so happy that day!! Sooo…I was planning on dragging them all out and rereading them in order…..and what do I find out….there’s a new series to collect!!! Somehow, I missed this series debut but I picked up the second book in the store yesterday.
Thanks to all you authors out there that keep me entertained!!
I love these books!! i have read them all but emily story. The major question i have will Mike Fortune have a book? In all the books you only hear about him in Scott’s story but i really hope that he has a story and love knocks him off his butt!!