The wait if finally over! Mary Connealy’s first book, Petticoat Ranch, came out over a year ago and I was almost rolling on my floor laughing through that book. Ever since, I’ve been waiting for another gut buster from my friend Mary. I met Mary at a CAN retreat about the time her first book came out and she is a hoot! I love hoots! 🙂 I also think Mary is my hero as I’ve heard through the grapevine that she completed 15 manuscripts before she sold her first book. Now she’s been discovered and I believe she has NINE new books contracted! Hello!!! She’s a walking grace lesson in my book…one who doesn’t dread the consequences resulting from absolute obedience to God’s command or calling.

I know, you want to hear about Calico County. Did it live up to my expectations? Was I ROFL? (Rolling on the floor laughing) Did I get caught up in a delightful story that implanted truth? Yes, yes, and yes!! At one point I laughed so loud my husband looked up from the newspaper and raised his brow. He’s not one to laugh at books. (I think he needs to find better books to read, huh?!) Anyway, all I said was, “This is Mary Connealy’s new book” and he nodded and went back to his paper as though I’d said it all. I have two of Mary’s books on my shelf now and I expect to see a whole line-up before I’m done. Calico County was a delight! The best news is that the third book, Calico Mountain, will release in February 2009!

About the Author ~

MARY CONNEALY is an award-winning author and playwright, married to Ivan a farmer, and the mother of four beautiful daughters, Joslyn, Wendy, Shelly and Katy. They live in Decatur, Nebraska. Mary is a GED Instructor by day and an author by night. And there is always a cape involved in her transformation.

Mary has also written Petticoat Ranch, Golden Days, and her latest, Alaska Brides that will debut in August.

About the Book ~

Let yourself be swept away by this fast-paced romance, featuring Grace Calhoun, an instructor of reading, writing, and arithmetic, who, in an attempt to escape the clutchs of a relentless pursuer, runs smack dab into even more trouble with the 6R’s – widower Daniel Reeves, along with his five rowdy sons. When a marriage is forced upon this hapless pair – two people who couldn’t dislike each other more – an avalanche isn’t the only potential danger lurking amid the shadows of Calico Canyon. Will they make it out alive? Or end up killing each other in the process?

Running from her Abusive foster-father, a man intent on revenge, the prim and perfectly proper Grace Calhoun takes on the job of schoolmarm in Mosqueros, Texas.

As if being a wanted woman isn’t bad enough, Grace has her hands full with the five rowdy and rambunctious Reeves boys─tough Texan tormenters who seem intent on making her life miserable. When, in an attempt to escape from the clutches of her pursuer, Grace is forced to marry widower Daniel Reeves, father of the miniature monsters, she thinks things couldn’t get any worse. Or could they?

Daniel Reeves, happy in his all-male world, is doing the best he can, raising his five boys─rascals, each and every one. Since his wife’s death in childbirth, Daniel has been determined never to risk marriage again.

When God throws Grace and Danielt together─two people who couldn’t detest each other more─the trouble is only beginning.

Will this hapless pair find the courage to face life together in the isolated Calico Canyon? Or are their differences too broad a chasm to bridge?

If you would like to read the first chapter go HERE