Candace Carrabus, Author

Equine Fiction :: Horse Books for Grownups :: Mystery :: Fantasy :: Adventure :: Romance
 

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Meet Viola Parker of the Dreamhorse Mysteries (GIVEAWAY)

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest to win a free ebook. There are two winners: Toni Whitmire and Debbie Manber Kupfer.

Welcome to the Meet My Character blog hop. I was tagged by—and must thank—the wonderful (person and writer) Karen Anders, award winning, multi-published author, also known as her alter ego, Zoe Dawson. Her writing journey started with poetry and branched out into fiction. With a couple of college English courses under her belt, she penned a historical, then moved onto contemporary romance fiction. Today, she is happy producing romantic suspense, romantic mystery, and soon paranormal and urban fantasy novels. The words feed her soul and the happily ever afters feed her heart.

Website Facebook Author Page | Goodreads | Twitter: @ZoeDawsonAuthor | Pinterest | Amazon Author Page


For my portion of this crazy ride, I’d like you to meet Viola Parker, star of the Dreamhorse Mystery series. I’ll let Vi take it from here…


BullCropped4

Star? Did you just call me a freaking star? You know, I’ve got better things to do with my time then dodge paparazzi, so let’s get down to business.

First of all, what’s that bull doing here? You know I have a bad history with bulls, right?

Okay, so I’m stuck at Winterlight Farm in Missouri for a year because my crazy parents set up a trust fund for me. Would have been nice if they’d mentioned it a little sooner because it stipulates I must keep a job for a full year by the time I’m 30 and leave said job with a glowing letter of recommendation. Seeing as how I found out about all this just about a month before my twenty-ninth birthday, I had to scramble to get something set up. Actually, it was my cousin Penny who found the job for me. At the time, a change of scene sounded like a good idea, so I hauled myself, my dog, Noire, and my horse, Cali, from Long Island to the midwest. At Winterlight, I exercise the owner’s and boarder’s mounts to keep them fit for foxhunting, manage the horse rental side of things, take care of the critters, and do whatever else needs to be done on the farm. That includes putting up hay and spreading manure and fixing fence–but never, never do I do anything with cows or hogs. There aren’t any hogs, but I’m just saying…

on-the-buckle-candace-carrabusYou should know (maybe you already figured it out), that I have an attitude problem, or, at least, that’s what some of my former employers say. Hey, I quit before most of them could fire me. And I always keep a can of whipped cream close by to help me deal with the stress. But the point is, I’ve been out of work more than in, and it was getting so I could barely keep my horse in hay. What really matters is this. I share some sort of spooky connection with horses. When I’m in the saddle, we connect, and there’s not much we can’t do together. Problems occur when someone else–like the horse’s owner–gets on and tries to do the same stuff I do, and the horse just says no.

So, I came to Winterlight thinking I would keep my head down and my mouth shut, survive this year, get the trust fund and be on my way. That it would be a nice, boring year of riding on the buckle. That should have been easy, right? And by the way, there’s been no hint of how much this stupid fund is worth. Could be five dollars for cripe’s sake. Did I mention my parents dumped me on my aunt and uncle to raise so they could pursue ballroom dancing fame in Eurupe? No? Yeah, minor detail. Anyway, the fund better be worth more than five dollars because no sooner had I landed at Winterlight than Norman—the guy I replaced—turned his pointy cowboy boots toes up in the manure spreader.

I thought that was a bad day.

Then, it got worse.

First, I have to back up a couple of years ago. There was this horse. Wastrel. He was special. I loved him. Best ride ever. Right up until he decided to end it all by crashing into a big square oxer in a big grand prix at a big horse show with me aboard. They put him down right there, and I left the scene on a stretcher. Back to the present. Right before Norman took his turn for the worse, Wastrel visited me in a dream. A very vivid dream. In hindsight, he was trying to warn me about the manure pile, but I ignored him. He proceeded to haunt me with obscure messages that I eventually pieced together as clues that helped solve Norman’s murder, among other things. You’ll just have to read my first story, On the Buckle, to hear it all. If you enter the raffle down below, you might win an ecopy of that story.

kiltLegsThese days, I’m once again keeping it cool, still working off my year, trying to figure out my relationship with Winterlight’s owner, Robert Malcolm, a gorgeous guy who works around the farm in a kilt. Yep, totally hot. This shouldn’t be hard, right? He’s even single. But for me, nothing’s ever easy. Because no sooner had we settled into a quiet routine than he gets a phone call that there’s been a fire at his dad’s house…

SONY DSCAnd my parents—my parents—just showed up at our door.

Now, Wastrel’s back.

I really thought we were done.

I was so wrong.

And to top it all off, I’m out of whipped cream…

You’ll be able to read the whole story, called Wrong Lead, later this year.

Oh, and by the way, when my story gets made into a movie? Make sure you get Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting to play me. She’s super smart and really funny (and probably a much nicer person than I am), but most importantly, she knows horses.

She likes dogs, too, so she’s a keeper.


Thanks, Vi. That was…enlightening! As always. To keep up to date with new releases and other news, make sure you sign up for my newsletter–just enter your email in the upper left side of the page.


Next…

I’ve tagged two lovely fellow authors and super cool people:

Margo L. Dill is the author of the young adult novel Caught Between Two Curses (March 18, 2014 from Rocking Horse Publishing) and the middle-grade historical fiction novel, Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength at Vicksburg (October 2012, White Mane Kids).  She also has a picture book accepted by Guardian Angel Publishing and another by High Hill Press.

Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon Author Page

Lala Corriere is the author of four titles in suspense, with her most recent work, Bye Bye Bones, scheduled for release in late winter, 2014. Her credits include the endorsement and long-term mentorship from the late Sidney Sheldon, and blurbs from Andrew Neiderman [author of the Devil’s Advocate], J.Carson Black, Paris Afton Bonds, KT Bryan, and CJ West. Lala’s a desert rat. She nestles there with her husband of twenty-five years, two Teacup Yorkies, and an American Curl.

Goodreads  |  Amazon Author Page

Check out them and their books. You’ll be able to meet their characters on August 4th.


On August 11th, you’ll meet:

Debbie Manber Kupfer grew up in the UK in the East London suburb of Barking. She has lived in Israel, New York and North Carolina and somehow ended up in St. Louis, where for the last 15 years she has  worked as a freelance puzzle constructor of word puzzles and logic problems. She lives with her husband, two children and a very opinionated feline.

Peg Brantley is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Colorado Authors’ League, and Sisters In Crime. She and her husband make their home southeast of Denver, and have shared it with the occasional pair of mallard ducks and their babies, snapping turtles, peacocks, assorted other birds, foxes, a deer named Cedric and a bichon named McKenzie.

Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon Author Page


Use the raffle form below. You could win a free book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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5 Responses to Meet Viola Parker of the Dreamhorse Mysteries (GIVEAWAY)

  1. Pingback:Meet My Cursed Character: Julie from Caught Between Two Curses
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