Vic is a broken set of bones after Barnacle pushes her down the basement stairs. Thankfully, Tubs knew how to set bones without surgery and Dr. Connors knew how to make plaster casts.

Turns out Vic’s feral dog baby likes to chew on her casts.

So what were the health implications for consuming calcium sulfate, the main ingredient of a plaster cast?  Gas and bloating.

Which makes it a whole lot safer than drinking from a Late Victorian baby bottle. So don’t fret for the Cannonball when you read that he likes to chew on Vic’s cast below. He’ll be fine.

 

While Xavier’s plan to take a holiday in Europe for Vic to have her baby incognito works well enough, complications during the birth almost takes both mother and child. Dr. Connors performs his first cesarean ever. While successful, it Vic takes months to recover. A prisoner to the bed, she spends her time encouraging marriage between two of their employees. Unfortunately, Xavier’s original negotiations with Tubs prevents the giant from acting upon his heart. While Xavier chases ladies enjoying the sun, Vic convinces Tubs to resign his service.

When Xavier and Vic return to England, the head of Scotland Yard awaits them at the dock. A great change in Parliament has occurred due to the fallout of their last investigation. England is crumbling beneath an outbreak of crimes and their help is desperately needed before lives are ruined and jobs are lost.

Vic stared at her butler, feeling as if Christmas had come early. “Gregory, are you telling me I have my own carriage and driver?”

He nodded.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Gentlemen do not hug,” he scolded. “And you are welcome. I realized it was ridiculous for you to be carted about in a rented carriage, when your carriage sat unused at the other house.”

“Won’t Claire need it?” The last thing she wanted was Claire arriving at the door calling her a thief.

“No, Mr. Brown has bought an automobile, so they no doubt will appreciate the removal of two horses and the second carriage from the stable.”

“I can’t wait to see David’s car,” Vic said and remembered Claire still didn’t know for certain she was back from Spain. While she had seen Xavier, Vic had managed to avoid her thus far. And the reason for the continued secrecy was presently chewing on her ankle cast. She reached down and stroked Cannon’s giant head.

 

 

Book 5

Pack of Trouble

Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited

 

Need to catch up?

Book 1

The Troublesome Apprentice

Book 2

The Missing Partner

Book 2.5

A Right to Love

Book 3

The Mesmerist

Book 4

Well Kept Secrets

 

All Xavier & Vic books are Free with Amazon Unlimited

Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved normally. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous romances. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.

You have been warned.

Mostly humorous books by Liza:

Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)

Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.

A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)

Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.

Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.

Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.

Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.

The Hardest Love — Is to love oneself. Sam’s story.

The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)

The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.

The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.

A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam?

The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.

Well Kept Secrets — Far too many secrets are being kept and as we all know, secrets have a way of coming out.

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

The Irresistable Blog Award

I never thought to get a blog award, but here I am, nominated by http://jennajaxon.wordpress.com for this “ahem,” prestigious award. Thank you, Jenna. I only hope I can return the favor sometime.

The requirements for this illustrious award are 1) Have a blog; 2) Post seven random facts about yourself that will only get you in a small amount of trouble with the powers that be; 3) Pass the award along to seven more worthy vict…fantastic bloggers; and 4) Be sure to tell everyone who nominated you by linking back to moi!

Since http://ridingwrite.blogspot.com is a blog, I have fulfilled the most strenuous requirement for this award. Requirement #2 is below.

1. I like cats better than dogs

2. I would like to retire to the mts of Arizona

3. In my teenage years, being kidnapped by an Arab sheik was my fave fantasy

4. I am going to marry Vince Gill ... someday

5. I have a secret passion to sing on a contest show like American Idol or the Voice, although I can't carry a note with two hands.

6. I have helped pull a calf stuck in the birth canal

7. A Colorado canyon is named after my family

And now for requirement number 3: And the Winners Are–

1. Kristi Knight http://www.kristinaknightauthor.com/

2. Cj Clark www.ripplesinastream.blogspot.com

3. Avery Flynn www.averyflynn.com

4. Mart Ramirez www.MartzBookz.blogspot.com

5. Shawn Dalton-Smith http://paranormal-perks.blogspot.com/

6. Sara Walter-Ellwood sarawalterellwood.wordpress.com

7. Paty Jager www.patyjager.blogspot.com


Thanks for playing!

Not A Hero For Me

My brother-in-law, Tracy.











My friend, the historical author, Julia Ross, once contacted me for my opinion on some horse stuff. She was speaking at a RWA nationals workshop, and she wanted my take on a few things.

Can you say flattered?

She rides classical English; I ride only western.

My expertise comes from a lifetime of riding and coaching horse knowledge bowl teams. Julia is an accomplished horsewoman herself, even taught community college classes on horses. But I digress...

We talked about the differences between English and western riding...colors of horses, styles of riding, etc. But we agreed completely on one thing-- all good horsemen have some things in common, whether it be riding in an dressage saddle or an old roping saddle.

One thing she said that I took away from that conversation and carried with me ever since is about heroes in romance novels.

Julia said, "A hero who abused a horse would abuse the heroine, if even off camera."

I agree.

I hadn't thought of it until that conversation, but I have never liked a hero (or heroine) who whips, spurs, yanks or jerks on a horse in any way.

Romance authors often use the abuse of a horse (not intentional) to show their characters' angst. You often see a fuming gallop, a hard yank, a spur to make the horse whirl because the character is upset. While this is good for drama, it turns me off.

A lot.

It makes the book an instant wall-banger for me.

While the author probably has no idea how bad that makes her hero or heroine look, any of the above actions are extremely abusive and leaves me with no sympathy for the character. In fact, I generally detest them from that point on.

It's funny, authors often use cats and dogs to show their characters' softer side, and they would no more have their character yank a dog's leash or kick a cat than spit at the moon, but that same author has no problem jerking, spurring or galloping a horse hard.

Odd when you think about it.

Changing Horses

This is Cinnamon (L) and Fawn (R).

They aren't related.

Fawn is 20 years old. Cinnamon is 4.

Fawn is my baby, my girl. My trusty mount for trail rides, moving cows, anything. When I need a horse I can trust, I turn to her.

Cinnamon was meant to take the burden off Fawn. When I bought her, my dad was cowboss on a large cattle ranch. I helped him out a lot, and I rode Fawn every day, except the summer she got hurt, and then I rode Dad's sorrel gelding, Gary. But that was before I had Cin.

Two summers ago I got Cinnamon going, with my dad's help. She was started well, going good. I rode her on a three day packtrip, rode her all over the mountains on trail rides. She wasn't finished because I didn't finish her reining and we never loped.

Then this last summer I got sick and didn't ride at all. Neither mare. Not Fawn and not Cin. Not even once.

But this fall, I began to recover and I wanted to ride. Bad. So, reasonably, I would grab Cin, right? Pick up where I left off?

Nope.

Trusty old Fawn was the mount of choice.

I didn't even Catch Cinnamon.

How does all this relate to writing?

Because I have manuscripts kind of like my mares. Old and trusty, and new and fairly untried.

I'm in a quandary with them. Work with the old one (Mississippi Blues), or turn my energy to the new (Branded)?

I'm talking specifically about contests. I have a limited amount of money this year for contests, so I need to decide which ms to devote my energy to. The old one, or the new, untried one?

I put Ms. Blues in two contests last year, and it finaled both times.

But I have a new ms I'm dying to try out. But it doesn't have a finished rein. Or a lope. It's not finished. But it's new, shiny and has a whole bunch of potential, I think.

It's kind of like trying to decide which of my lovely mares to ride this upcoming year...Fawn, who I enjoy so much, or Cin, who might buck me off.

Shoeing a horse? Nah, Writing a Book

This is my husband, Wes. He shoes my horses. Saves me a ton of money. But this post isn't about that.

Writing is a lot like shoeing horses.

Huh? you say.

Well, think about it. You start with a bare surface. You bend and shape the hoof and shoes to fit just like your characters bend and shape to the story.With a horse, you rasp off the rough edges, sounds a lot like writing to me.

You sometimes have an unwilling victim (horse, characters) who don't want to do what you want them to do.

It can be backbreaking, holding up a 1,000 pound horse's leg. It can be backbreaking, sitting at a computer chair for hours.

Nails hold the shoes on; if you've done your job right, you've nailed together a bunch of words that equal a book.

When done, you have a horse that's ready to ride, you have a manuscript that's ready to show editors or agents.

To me, shoeing a horse and writing a book is alot alike.

Getting Back on the Horse

Welcome to Ridingwrite, a blog about my connection between riding and writing.

This summer, I didn't do much of either. I can blame illness, and it's true, I was very sick most of the season. But, truthfully, I didn't feel like doing much of either, and it didn't have anything to do with health issues.

I didn't want to ride, and I didn't want to write.

There, I said it.

Last summer, I rode a lot. This is Cinnamon, my filly, pictured. She was a three yr old last summer, and once I got her started, I rode her a lot. At least three times a week. I had to commute over 50 miles one way to do so, but it was worth it. Every time out, Cinnamon learned a little more, got a little gentler. It was exhilerating.

But since last summer, I haven't touched her, not even once.

My writing hasn't been quite that bad, but it hasn't been good. I just don't have the pressing desire to get a manuscript done. I have worked with a couple, but not with the usual summer rush I usually do.

For the first time in I don't know how long, I don't have a finished manuscript at summer's end.

I don't know what's wrong. I haven't lost my desire to write, and I haven't lost my desire to ride....but I don't feel that old push to get the saddle out, or the urge to cram every free minute with words on the screen either.

Hopefully next summer, I will get fired up again.