by Kathleen Scheibling, Senior Editor, Harlequin American Romance

I love family drama. No, I don’t mean when my crazy uncle announces he’s in love with a house plant at the Christmas dinner table. I’m talking about watching and reading about other’s people’s families, and finding out what makes them tick. For years I was obsessed with The Sopranos, in all their bizarre domesticity. And I love shows like Modern Family, which shows familial dysfunction at its finest. It’s way more fun to look through the window at other people’s problems than deal with my own!

There’s one show I grew up watching that still sticks with me. On Dallas, the Ewings taught me about family rivalry, forbidden love, how money drives people, and about the imposing figure of the patriarch. I loved that show. Now they were fun to watch! And I still can’t get that theme song out of my head…

For a long time I thought about doing a big family drama in American Romance. Our books are all about family, after all. And since we love our western stories, I knew the family should live in a place as untamed, majestic and dramatic as I imagined their story would be. And so, American Romance brings you The Codys: The First Family of Rodeo.

This series is full of drama, wild western settings, and most important, heartwarming romance. John Walker and Anne Cody have raised five children on The Cottonwood Ranch in Big Horn County, Wyoming. Their offspring have all been brought up with a love of the rodeo. And even though they may have other professions, each of them regularly competes in rodeos all over the American west. And amid the horses and the dust and the glory of their events, they find the loves of their lives. And believe me; it’s going to be fun to watch.

Six incredible authors have created the Codys – a family with as many ups and downs and crazy times as any you’ll ever see. In Walker: The Rodeo Legend, you’ll meet a war veteran who finds redemption through rodeo, and through the love of a good woman. In Dexter: Honorable Cowboy (July 2010) and Dusty: Wild Cowboy (August 2010), you will read about twin rivalry at its best, while the brothers fight over women and spar with the rest of the family. Mark: Secret Cowboy (September 2010) brings the whole Cody story to a head – and we’ll find out what secret almost tears the family apart. Elly: Cowgirl Bride (October 2010) shows how the Cody women can hold their own at the rodeo, and lasso the man that’s right for her. And in Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy (November 2010), we wrap up this part of the Cody story with a dramatic one-two punch.

I love this miniseries, and I hope American Romance readers do too. Thanks to our wonderful authors – Rebecca Winters, Marin Thomas, Cathy McDavid, Pamela Britton, Trish Milburn and Lynnette Kent – and thanks to you, for letting the Codys in to your lives. Enjoy the drama…and enjoy the romance!

Note: visit the Cottonwood Ranch today and meet some of the Codys in Her Unexpected Cowboy, a FREE online read by Trish Milburn! Here’s a sneak peek:

After the tragic deaths of their parents, Madison Gray had to become a mother to her fourteen-year-old brother, Jason. But the boy’s grief has led him down the wrong path, and Madison will do anything to steer him right. So she takes her friend, Elly Cody, up on her offer to visit her family in Wyoming, hoping a dose of ranch life will do them both good. The last thing she needs is the kind of complication that comes in the sexy form of Elly’s cousin, Callum!

by Jayne Hoogenberk, eHarlequin Community Manager

I’m back with a great line up of romances to help warm up your Spring and keep you turning the pages til we hit the beach with our summer time must-reads.  Our editors recommend you check out the following favorite authors and new miniseries and continuities, and I can’t wait to talk about them with you in our blogs and forums!

First off the block is Maureen Child’s Man of the Month story for Silhouette Desire, The Last Lone Wolf. Maureen is known for her provocative stories, family sagas and strong sexy heroes, and she’s been giving us some backstory on her hero Jericho and how Daisy Saxon plans to rock his world in the Silhouette Desire Author blog on eHarlequin.  Maureen says “I loved this book and it wraps up a quartet about the latest batch of King (of California) brothers! Oh, there will be more, but Jericho King is one of my favorites, so I’m excited to see him out on the shelves….”  you can read more of her blog here.

Of her new series in Silhouette Special Edition, fan-favorite author Marie Ferrarella says, ”Here we are with the second installment of Matchmaking Mamas. This time it’s soft-spoken Theresa Manetti who is trying to find a mate for her workaholic daughter. Kate has only ventured out into the dating field a handful of times. The last time was not the charm, inasmuch as she became engaged to a high-profile criminal lawyer who enjoyed more than his share of “undercover” work, the undercover in this case being sheets. After that disaster, Kate dedicated herself to building up her career and completely ignoring her personal life.”  Ha! We just know THAT won’t last, but you’ll have to read Fixed Up with Mr. Right? to say I told ya so!

You also won’t want to miss New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Brenda Jackson’s romance double-header this month with Spontaneous (Harlequin Blaze)and Hidden Pleasures (Kimani Romance).  Of Spontaneous she says, “I’ve been anxiously waiting to be able to write Duan Jeffries’s story—and I’m thrilled to introduce him in my very first Blaze novel. My readers first met the Jeffries clan when Reggie Westmoreland fell in love with Olivia Jeffries in my Silhouette Desire book titled Tall, Dark…Westmoreland! Since then, I couldn’t get Olivia’s two older brothers, Duan and Terrence, out of my mind. Terrence made his debut in my Kimani novel Temperatures Rising, and now, finally, it’s Duan’s turn.”  Read the first chapter here. (bring ice!)

And Harlequin American Romance is launching a 6-book continuity miniseries from June (available in May on eHarlequin) to November, called The Codys: First Family of Rodeo. The Codys’ are a wealthy ranching family with strong ties to the rodeo. Six siblings compete in rodeo events and find love in various western settings.  This miniseries is full of drama, emotion, family secrets, pregnancies and babies, weddings, and hunky cowboys! I know, I had you at rodeo, right?

The first three books are:
Walker: The Rodeo Legend by Rebecca Winters (June)
Dexter: Honorable Cowboy by Marin Thomas (July)
Dusty: Wild Cowboy by Cathy McDavid (August)

If Suspense & Adventure is more up your alley, then you’ll be wanting to check out the all-new trilogy from Harlequin Intrigue, Texas Maternity: Hostages kicking off with Delores Fossen’s The Baby’s Guardian and don’t miss Kerry Connor’s emotional and gripping Shivers miniseries title,  Stranger in a Small Town of which she says, “All of my characters mean a great deal to me, but I especially felt for these two people, two lost souls who find a connection when neither expects it.”  Read more here.  Kerry and Delores often blog at eHarlequin and you can catch up with on the Intrigue Author blog.

On a girls weekend in Las Vegas, best friends Alex, Molly, Serena and Jayne (sadly NOT me) are supposed to just have fun and forget men, but they end up meeting their perfect matches in Harlequin Romance’s new Girls’ Weekend in Vegas miniseries.  Check out Book One, Saving Cinderella! by Myrna Mackenzie, followed by Vegas Pregnancy Surprise by Shirley Jump (July), Inconveniently Wed! by Jackie Braun (August) and Wedding Date with the Best Man by Melissa McClone (September).

I promise to be back with more NEXT week, until then, tell me more of what you like to read and which stories you’re looking forward to most!

Happy Reading,

Jayne

Community Manager
eHarlequin.com