How ironic to be captured by an Indian when not one of the Shooting Star Ranch cowboys is available to race to her rescue.
City girl Tamara Dobbs lives on the ranch to be close to her friends and even closer to her gorgeous cowboys, but still she feels discontent, fragmented. From the minute she runs into the new guy-sexy, unflappable equestrian, Dakota Blackhawk-she runs from the intense emotions he evokes.
On first sight, Dakota knows nothing will stop him from claiming the brazen little princess as his own-heart, body, and spirit. He'll accept nothing less. While he would gladly take on the fight for her, she must face her own battle to become whole. Taking her out of her element is the only way he can help the sexy, stubborn woman.
Tamara may survive the emotional roller coaster ride, but she still must conquer the ultimate challenge…forgetting what others want her to be and becoming true to herself.
Reviews for the Corralled series
"All signs point to Corralled being a long running and innovative series." - Samantha Masters, Just Erotic Romance Reviews
"Nothing prepared me for the intensely emotional journey I would be undertaking while reading Tamara's story. I found myself carried away and couldn't put it down. It was just that perfect. Nicole Austin has a winner on her hands with Tamara's Spirit..." - Talia Ricci, Joyfully Reviewed
"Ms. Austin wrote a decadent and erotic adventure. Dakota is any woman's dream come true. Be warned this one is hot and steamy." - Robin, My Book Cravings
"I anxiously awaited the second installment in Ms. Austin's Corralled Series and I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed. Hurry up Ms. Austin, I can hardly wait for the next one to be published!" - Larissa Hayes, The Romance Studio
Read an excerpt from Tamara's Spirit
Visit Nicole Austin's web site
About Nicole Austin
Nicole lives on the sheltered Gulf Coast of Florida, where inspiration can be found sitting under a big shade umbrella on the beach, sipping cold margaritas and watching all the hunks at play. Nicole splits her time between working in a health care career and writing.
A voracious reader, she never goes anywhere without a book, but started looking for something more. Something hotter. Her passion for erotic led her to creation of sizzling characters and boundary pushing stories. Now she lives in an incredible world where fantasy comes to life in bold, vivid detail.
Backlist
From Samhain Publishing:
Mimosa Night
Margarita Day
Jesse's Challenge, Corralled Book 3
From Ellora's Cave Publishing:
Passionate Realities
Savannah's Vision
Spontaneous Combustion, Dreams of the Oasis, Volume I
The Boy Next Door
Rakahnja's Haven
Enough
A note from Nicole...
For more information about Nicole check out her website www.nicoleaustin.net.
Nicole loves to hear from readers and can be reached through email here: Nicole@nicoleaustin.net.
An Interview with Nicole Austin
By Holly Hewson, Marketing Director for The Romance Studio
HH: Nicole, welcome to TRS BLUE. Please tell us about your featured book, Tamara's Spirit.NA: Thanks, Holly! Its' great to be here.
Tamara's Spirit is the second book in the Corralled Western series. Tamara Dobbs is a bawdy woman who has faced adversity and managed to use past wounds to grow stronger. In a small southern Montana town, she's the proud owner of a bookstore. While she's building close friendships with local ranch owner Savannah Thompson and foreman Cord Black, along with four rough and ready cowboys who work on the Shooting Star Ranch, but Tamara still maintains an emotional distance, maintaining a protective barrier around her. A perfected attitude and wild nature keeps away the disturbing feelings she'd rather not express, choosing instead to share in pleasures of the flesh. At least until a new ranch hand, Dakota Blackhawk arrives at the ranch, turning her life upside down.
HH: This is the second book in your very popular Corralled series. Where did you get the idea from the series itself? NA: Westerns have always appealed to me. Growing up, I remember watching old John Wayne movies and episodes of Bonanza with my brothers. Watching the shows together brought us closer. Cowboys have stared in my hero fantasies for many years. A strong man, hard working and honest, carving a place out of the wilderness for himself. A man who will fight to protect his family. A hunk on horseback arriving just in the nick of time and saving the day. (insert deep sigh here) After a cross-country road trip across the wide-open spaces, I was hooked. The Shooting Star Ranch developed in my imagination and continued to grow until there was no choice but write the stories down.
HH: How does this book pick up where the first left off? NA: In Tamara's Spirit, we catch up with the characters in time for Cord and Savannah's wedding. The ranch is undergoing change, each of the characters finding their own niche, but there is also an effort being made to keep things the same. Savannah has found a way to keep the tight-knit group of friends together, binding them to the ranch. The situation creates the restless need to escape in Tamara. Dakota has very different ideas for his spirit mate. By taking her out of her element and forcing Tamara to face the past, he sets her on an emotional roller-coaster ride with the potential to tear them both apart.
HH: What do you like best about Dakota? NA: Dakota is a study in contradictions. He is a Native American cowboy who has set out to find his destiny. An injury altered his path, taking him from the life of an Olympian to an unemployed horseman with a dream. While he has physical strength, he also has limiting weakness. Dakota possesses wisdom and a spirit beyond his years, yet is very down to earth. I think the quality that draws me to him the most is his patience for one little hellcat. Even though Tamara tests that patience frequently, he never gives up or loses his cool with her.
HH: What can you tell us about the third book? NA: The third book, Jesse's Challenge, takes the reader off the ranch on Jesse's journey into the business jungle of Denver, but the ranch and his friends are never far from his mind. He doesn't belong in the city. At the soonest possible opportunity, he'll trade the stifling suits for jeans and return to the land he loves. Only fate has put a roadblock in his way in the beautiful form of Kate Davies, consummate city girl with a solid business plan. Jesse is not one to give up easily, and this cowboy is ready to do whatever it takes to keep Kate by his side, even if it means living in the city. It started as a voyeuristic flirtation with a powerful business woman looking to give up control in the bedroom and hell-bent-for-leather sex, but all that will change when Kate manages to lasso Jesse's heart.
HH: What are you working on at the moment?
NA: Where to begin? I have several projects in varying stages of completion brewing. Brock's Hellion, book four in the Corralled series, is in the works but not cooperating at the moment. I'm in the process of rewriting one of my first stories, a contemporary suspense tentatively titled Handyman Special. A fantasy ménage with a fae heroine titled, Out of the Mist. Also in the works are a shape-shifter trilogy, a military-based anthology, and a paranormal with a warrior heroine. Then there are all the other half-formed ideas demanding my attention. Whew, a writer's work is never done!
HH: What do you have in store for readers in 2008?
NA: Two books are scheduled to release so far. One is a short contemporary interracial, Restless, the sequel to Enough. The other is an edgy erotica BDSM ménage, Trip My Switch. I'm waiting to hear about a completed anthology submission. After taking a brief break for the Romantic Times Convention, I'll be right back at work for my readers who can be rather insistent taskmasters. I hope to complete all of the works in progress mentioned above, as well as start on a few of the other stories clamoring to be written.
HH: How did you get your start as a writer? NA: I gave up on being a career student after earning a bachelor's degree only to find myself with lots of free time and some pretty persistent characters racing around in my mind. I started the first story in an attempt to quiet the voices, and while this worked, new ones stepped up to fill the gap. I also started writing because romance novels left me frustrated after taking me along as the tension between a couple built, but then locked me out of the bedroom for the best parts. The two combined to create an unquenchable passion for sizzling erotic stories.
HH: What motivates you to write each day now as a popular and well established author? NA: Talking with readers through email and a variety of chat groups helps keep me motivated and inspired. My readers are a great source of story ideas. Out of thirteen completed books and three free stories, twelve have scenes sparked by readers. While I try to write every day, life doesn't always sit meekly by and allow me to follow my muse. Hearing that readers enjoy the books and are anxious for the next one helps me to stay focused.
HH: What goals have you set for yourself this year? NA: I want to become more disciplined and find ways to make the most of my writing time. I've also set a goal of completing, or making a major dent in, my many works in progress. Unfortunately, my primary personal goal works against my writing goals. I want to find more opportunities to disconnect from the author in order to devote more time to family.
HH: Thank you!
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