![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.kirstenlynnwildwest.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/WTB-Fire_Eyes_Cheryl_Pierson_Final_medium.jpg\" "\\"WTB-Fire_Eyes_Cheryl_Pierson_Final_medium\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nRenegades… Lawmen… Love’s healing power… Wounded by sadistic renegades who rule the borderlands, U.S. Marshal Kaed Turner understands he faces certain death. Then Fate and a war party of Choctaw Indians intervene, delivering him instead to an angel with the skill to heal him. Jessica Monroe has already lost a husband and a brother to the outlaws who tortured Marshal Turner. As the rugged lawman lies bleeding on her bed, she faces a difficult decision. Can she afford to gamble with her heart one last time? For when Kaed recovers, he is sworn to join in the battle to wipe out the renegade gang\u2014once, and for all. When vengeance is done, will Kaed keep riding? Or will he return to claim his future with the beautiful woman the Choctaw call Fire Eyes?<\/p>\n
KIRSTEN\u2019S THOUGHTS:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 I read FIRE EYES in January 2011, under its original publisher and cover (which is probably a good thing since I\u2019m not sure I would have made it past this hot cover, I mean I\u2019ve been sitting here staring for the past half hour). \u00a0But seriously, I fell in love, with Kaed, with Jessica, with baby Lexi, and the other Marshals, and with Cheryl\u2019s style of writing.\u00a0 As you\u2019ve probably noticed I like gritty Western romances. That\u2019s how I write Westerns and how I like reading Westerns, and Cheryl provides just enough grit to make it real mixed with enough sweet and tender to capture your heart.<\/p>\n I had been writing for only months and finished a couple romantic suspense manuscripts, and though I loved them, there was something missing. Three authors and three stories inspired me and showed me where my heart was these were Stacey Kayne\u2019s, MOUNTAIN WILD; Ellen O\u2019Connell\u2019s, EYES OF SILVER, EYES OF GOLD and Cheryl Pierson\u2019s, FIRE EYES. I decided then and there that\u2019s where my voice was, where my roots were\u2026the West. And I wanted to bring the same raw emotion stirred in me when reading FIRE EYES, and write characters like Kaed and Jessica with whom readers have a real gut attachment.<\/p>\n So, I\u2019m not going to give any further information about the story than the blurb and what Cheryl provided, because anymore would just be giving away the story, and not giving it justice\u2026plus after you read the excerpt Cheryl provided no other words will be needed. There will be fire across your keyboard, you\u2019ll be typing so fast to snatch up a copy.<\/p>\n But Kaed and Jessica will be in your hearts just as soon as you meet them on the page. Their connection is so intense and just what each needs it\u2019s hard to believe they meet for the first time under such horrible conditions and haven\u2019t known each other all their lives.\u00a0 And even as Jessica is healing Kaed they are healing each other.\u00a0 Neither expects life to be easy, why should it start being easy now, but they trust they can face what the world hurls their way together.<\/p>\n Jessica\u2019s spirit is what captures your attention, just like it captures Kaed and even the notice of the Choctaw Chief. Not just that she\u2019s strong and feisty, but her spirit for healing and providing a balm just by being present.\u00a0 Her calming presence provides solace in a story with evil and darkness threatening any peace. \u00a0There\u2019s something very comforting when Jessica is around, and believe me Kaed is a man who needs solace and peace as relief from his inner and outer wounds. Cheryl provided a heroine who\u2019s real in her sorrow and strength, but just as real in her unearthly talent to heal Kaed\u2019s broken heart, as well as his broken bones.<\/p>\n Kaed\u2026let me pause to catch my breath. \u00a0Kaed is strong, sure, hardheaded and not a man to find yourself on his bad side, or at the working end of his revolver.\u00a0 He\u2019s also sweet, tender, funny, and hotter than a fire in July.\u00a0 I love a hero who uses their strength and character to build up others encouraging them to find their own strength and honor and that\u2019s what Kaed does so well, not just with Jessica, but with the other Marshals. \u00a0He\u2019s a hero who deserves the respect he receives without us having to be told we should respect him. From page one; you just admire Kaed\u2026a natural hero.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thrilled Cheryl \u00a0re-released FIRE EYES giving us the expanded version and the opportunity to see the whole story things that I read that brought me even closer to Kaed and Jessica and revealed more about what motivates them and made them into the people they are when Kaed is dropped, literally, at her door.\u00a0 And scenes that if I would have known they existed the first time, I would have demanded their inclusion. \u00a0So, even if you\u2019ve read the first version, I highly, highly, highly recommend you pick up this version<\/p>\n CHERYL\u2019S LOOK AT FIRE EYES\u2014PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n Fire Eyes<\/strong> is always going to be the \u201cbook of my heart\u201d\u2014most special to me for several reasons.\u00a0 By the end of my writing career, it may not be said that it\u2019s my best work, but it will always remain the most memorable, because it was my first one.<\/p>\n I know e-books are the wave of the future, but I\u2019m old fashioned.\u00a0 I love to hold a real book in my hands and read from paper.\u00a0 And when that first box of print books arrived at my doorstep, I was elated.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how long I sat and fondled the books as I took them out of the box.\u00a0 BEAUTIFUL! My husband wondered if I was going to \u201crub the paint off\u201d the covers. But there is nothing to compare with receiving your first box of YOUR OWN BOOK and opening it up\u2014the smell, the feel , the excitement of finally bringing your story to life for others to enjoy.<\/p>\n Writing Fire Eyes<\/strong> happened by accident.\u00a0 I had written a much longer \u201csaga\u201d type novel, Brandon\u2019s Gold<\/strong>, and had queried for it.\u00a0 I received several letters of interest back from agents, finally settling on one that I thought would be a good fit for me and for my book.\u00a0 His first question to me was, \u201cDo you have anything shorter?\u201d\u00a0 Through other responses received from my queries, I knew that Brandon\u2019s Gold<\/strong> was far too long for a first novel; far too long to be commercially viable, so I wasn\u2019t surprised.<\/p>\n I had already started working on another novel after finishing Brandon\u2019s Gold<\/strong>.\u00a0 But halfway through that second novel, the idea for Fire Eyes<\/strong> occurred to me.\u00a0 I set my WIP aside and started writing Fire Eyes<\/strong> instead.<\/p>\n The story of Marshal Kaed Turner and Jessica Monroe unfolded quickly, but as I wrote it, I couldn\u2019t keep from developing subplots that I feared would eventually make it too long, as well.\u00a0 Finally, I gave myself permission to just write the story and get it polished enough to send it out.<\/p>\n Eventually, Fire Eyes<\/strong> was contracted through The Wild Rose Press.\u00a0 I had a wonderful editor there, Helen Andrew, who literally made my dream come true.\u00a0 We worked on that manuscript and cut and edited until I sometimes wanted to cry. She really explained in detail why certain things couldn\u2019t stand and had to go or be changed. \u00a0But the end result was wonderful, and it couldn\u2019t have happened without her. A lot of very hard work had gone into that story, not just from my perspective, but also from many other people who were involved in one way or another.<\/p>\n Fire Eyes<\/strong> was a 2010 Epic Award Finalist, and received many wonderful reviews, including a 4 star review from Romantic Times Magazine.\u00a0 It also received the \u201cReviewers Top Pick\u201d award from PNR reviewer Karen M. Nutt.<\/p>\n Three years later, in April of this year, I asked for my rights back to Fire Eyes<\/strong>. I loved that story, but I wanted to put it out the way I had written it in the beginning. It was a great story, even with the edits, to be brought out in the TWRP romance line. But part of what \u2018had to go\u2019 for the TWRP guidelines was important to the story, in my mind. There were company guidelines to be followed when Helen and I had worked so hard three years ago to make it \u2018fit\u2019, and neither of us could change that. So we\u2019d worked together to find a way to take out the parts that made it more \u201cwestern\u201d than \u201cromance\u201d and still came out with a fine story.<\/p>\n But I wanted to put it back together again, like I\u2019d intended. I submitted the story to another small publisher who has an imprint for westerns and western romances, WESTERN TRAIL BLAZER.\u00a0 I was able to re-edit the book and add in much of what I\u2019d had to take out or rewrite in the first version. It was released again, May 15, just three years shy of my first release date, with a brand new Jimmy Thomas cowboy cover and lots of renewed interest.<\/p>\n The e-book version is available now at Amazon, Lulu, Monkeybars, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Apple, as well as many other e-book retailers.<\/p>\n Here are the links for Smashwords and Amazon:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.smashwords.com\/books\/view\/162817<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Fire-Eyes-ebook\/dp\/B0083JYET8<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The print version is also available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, among other retailers. \u00a0I\u2019m very happy about breathing new life into this wonderful story. I\u2019ve ordered my print copies, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll sit on the floor and \u2018rub the paint off\u2019 again when they arrive. And I\u2019ll be grateful that I\u2019ve had two chances to get my story out there\u2014another thrill, a second time around!<\/p>\n Future plans for Fire Eyes<\/strong>? Evidently, many of my secondary characters in that story have piqued interest and requests for those characters to have their own stories.\u00a0 One of the younger deputy \u00a0marshals, Travis Morgan, intrigued me so much I felt the same way! He needs his own story\u2026and he\u2019s going to get it. In Fire Eyes<\/strong>, Travis has been mentored by Kaed Turner, the main character of the story. He\u2019s learned a lot during the time he\u2019s been riding with Kaed, but he\u2019s still relatively young and pretty arrogant.<\/p>\n The more I thought about Travis, the more I wondered about where he\u2019d come from and why he\u2019d decided to become a U.S. Federal Deputy Marshal in the first place\u2014it was a thankless job; dangerous, and not well-paying. Why would he do it? And what would ever make him give it up, once it became the way of life he was familiar with?<\/p>\n A WOMAN, OF COURSE! And one that he never suspects will steal his heart. That\u2019s what will be coming up in the sequel to Fire Eyes<\/strong>. I\u2019ve also written another book, Gabriel\u2019s Law<\/strong>, that I\u2019m still looking for a publisher for, that has Travis as a character as a young boy, so we can see where he came from and gain a bit of insight into his character and the man he becomes later on.<\/p>\n I will keep you posted on the follow up book to Fire Eyes<\/strong> as well as Gabriel\u2019s Law<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Thanks to everyone who stopped by today to read. Please don\u2019t forget to comment! I\u2019ll leave you with an excerpt from Fire Eyes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n EXCERPT FROM<\/strong> FIRE EYES<\/strong>:<\/p>\n THE SET UP:\u00a0 Marshal Kaed Turner has been deposited on widow Jessica Monroe’s front porch by a band of Choctaw Indians with orders from the chieftain:\u00a0 “Do not let him die.” But can she save him?\u00a0 He’s been severely beaten by a band of renegades that run the borderlands between Arkansas and Indian Territory.\u00a0The last man they brought to her doorstep died.\u00a0 What will become of Marshal Turner?\u00a0 Can she save him? <\/strong><\/p>\n FROM FIRE EYES<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The bath could be put off no longer. Kaed lay quietly, watching Jessica’s nervousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Jessi.” When she looked at him, his bones liquefied. She wanted him.<\/em> All question of how the night would end were answered as their eyes met and held over an achingly sweet moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jessica sank her teeth into her lower lip, her fingers moving to the tiny row of buttons at the front of her day dress. She slowly began to work them open. “Kaed, would you, um, I mean, well, I need to get my bath now.”<\/strong><\/p>\n “I suppose that means I need to at least turn my head.” His mouth was dry. It was hot in the cabin all of a sudden.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Uh-huh.” She kept right on unbuttoning the buttons, caught in his gaze. “And close your eyes.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, well it wouldn’t matter if he did<\/em><\/strong>. He’d still see the picture she burned in his mind as she stood there opening those buttonholes.<\/strong><\/p>\n Her fingers hesitated at the button just above the rich swell of her breasts. Kaed wet his lips, not turning his head or<\/em> closing his eyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Kaed?” Her voice was a husky whisper. That<\/em> made him close his eyes. The sound of his name on her lips had him imagining doing all the things that a man did with a woman. All the things that were soon to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n God. The heat was unbearable.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Huh?” He slitted his still-swollen eyes open and saw she had released that button and moved down to the next one. He gritted his teeth.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Turn\u2026your\u2026head.” A teasing smile played about her mouth, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, what he was imagining.<\/strong><\/p>\n Turning away would be a good thing right about now.<\/em><\/strong> If he could only persuade his neck to cooperate.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah. Okay.” He turned his face toward the window. Sort of.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “I’m trusting you.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Kaed sighed, frustrated. “I know.” It was the one thing she might’ve said that would have kept him true to his word, that part about trusting. He couldn’t betray that. “I’ve gotta move slow. Hurts.”<\/strong><\/p>\n “Don’t\u2014” The dress whispered to the floor.<\/strong><\/p>\n “I won’t,” he gritted, the words bitter in his mouth. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n OH MY! I wonder what happens after that bath?<\/em><\/p>\n Thanks for having me today!\u00a0 Please leave a comment.\u00a0 I love to hear from readers and other writers! For all my books and short stories, go to:<\/p>\n Cheryl’s Amazon Author Page:<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/author\/cherylpierson<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0WHOO-EEE!! *wipes sweat from brow*\u00a0 Don\u2019t know about y\u2019all but I need a long soak in a tub full of ice and more sarsaparilla than the law allows after that excerpt!\u00a0 \u201cCookie! Doggonit! Get me a dozen fans and a cool drink!\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ll leave y\u2019all to comment for a chance to win, or to rush on over to Amazon and pick up a copy of FIRE EYES before ya melt dead away! I\u2019ve gotta go find a cold mountain lake to sit in! \u201cCookie!…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Boy Howdy, Folks, the boys scoured the territory and they done brought back one of the first authors kind enough to brave the campfire, Cheryl Pierson!\u00a0 My heart is beatin\u2019 like a horse hooked to a runaway stage at the … Continue reading