CORA LEE’S WAGER

Welcome Kara O’Neal to Book Treasure Tuesday!

Introduction

My name is Kara O’Neal, and I live in Texas with my sweet family. I am the Special Education Campus Specialist for a middle school, and I’ve worked there for 25 years. I enjoy singing, reading, and scrapbooking, and I love to travel. I have two children in college – yikes – and my youngest is a sophomore in high school. (I guess I’m showing my age. Ha!) I love to listen to Texas Country music, which is not played on the radio, and my favorite artists are Roger Creager, Turnpike Troubadors, Charley Crockett, Flatland Calvary, Kaitlin Butts, Curtis Grimes, Drew Kennedy, and a whole host of others. My favorite foods are – in this order – brisket, cheeseburgers, tacos, Bluebell ice cream, and chips and salsa. If we ever meet, I will ask you a ton of questions about your likes and dislikes, because I love to learn as much as can about the simple things.

I just released CORA LEE’S WAGER, which is book 3 in my GAMBLERS & GUNSLINGERS series. I was quite excited for this one because in this story, the heroine is the gambler. Cora Lee makes her home in Hell’s Half Acre in Fort Worth, Texas. She’s a professional gambler and is known as the “Angel of the Acre”. It was a lot of fun to write her.

Sneak Peek

OLIVIA’S TREASURE will be book 4 in my GAMBLERS & GUNSLINGERS series, and it should release in October of 2022

GENRE: Western Historical Romance // HEAT LEVEL: Warm

The Angel of Hell’s Half Acre makes the biggest wager of her life with the man who abandoned her. She can’t lose.

Cora Lee Walsh. The Angel of the Acre—Hell’s Half Acre—never intended to be a professional gambler. But her wealthy grandmother hadn’t wanted her, and, at fifteen, she was abandoned by the Tucker family who’d taken her in as their ward. She had no other choice than to make vice her life. Now, the eldest son of the Tucker family is on her doorstep, asking for an audience.

When Cora and Graham meet again, they both fight old feelings. And Graham finds himself across the betting table from her, making a wager he can’t afford to lose.

But more threatens the pair, and Cora finds herself needing Graham. Can she trust him? The young man who’d abandoned her? Or will she find herself a victim…again?

Excerpt

Cora let out a sigh, sank deeper into the rocker, opened her book and just enjoyed the morning. A half-hour had passed when she felt a presence to her right. She turned her head, and her breath flew up into her throat.

Graham!

He stood on the dirt lane that went by the side of her home, his hands in his pockets, a guarded expression on his face. Their past stretched between them.

In a second, every morning she’d ever spent with him flashed before her eyes. They’d both loved the dawn. Those quiet hours before the world started. And they’d shared them together in his father’s library or on the porch just beyond the French doors.

And he must’ve decided to take a chance and see if she still woke with the sunrise.

She managed to drag in a breath but couldn’t move. She needed to get inside, hide herself from the pain he caused her. But her feet wouldn’t listen.

With a tight jaw, he took a few steps, and now he was in her yard, but still on the fringes.

He didn’t want to get close to her, either.

Well…

He’d sent her away, hadn’t he? She shouldn’t be surprised he didn’t want to see her.

Available at Amazon

Research Tidbits

I had to research Houston society, which was quite interesting. While they had some money, they were still as rough and tumble as Texans usually are. And, of course, I had to learn everything I could about Hell’s Half Acre, which was quite a dangerous place. Many cities had an area of town named similarly, but Fort Worth’s was the bloodiest.

Interview Questions

Who is your perfect hero? And why?

Any hero who is calm, steady, intelligent, righteous, and confident. So that means Mr. Darcy, Gilbert Blythe, Captain Steve Rogers, and pretty much ANY hero I write. Sometimes they make mischief, but they are almost always, gentlemen.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please, tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step.

I was in college, and I had just finished reading a book that had an ending I didn’t like. Since books are like friends to me and the characters are real people, I went around the house perturbed and telling my sisters and brother all about it. Well, one of my sisters ordered, “Make up your own ending, Kara.” That shut me up. I did what she said and from there, other stories developed. I love answering the question, “What if…?” Now, I didn’t submit my first book until 2008, which was about ten years later. I got married and had children and couldn’t concentrate on writing until my kids were older. It’s quite surprising that I started writing. I never thought I would do this. It’s been one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

Is there anyone who really mentored or inspired you to keep writing until you were finally published?

I have a very dear friend. Her name is Jean. She read my very first book before anyone else did. And it was her encouragement, her honest critique, that made me believe I hadn’t wasted my time. She made me believe that even if I failed, I was failing at the right thing.

Social Media / Contact Information

Readers can contact Kara through her email! Which she welcomes gladly! Kara also has a newsletter and is also on Facebook and Twitter.

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