Tyler (Montana Creeds Series) » (Original)

In 2006, New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller left the Arizona horse property she's called home for the past five years and listened to the call of her heart. Packing up her dogs, Sadie and Bernice, and her four horses, the author of more than seventy novels bid farewell to her home in the desert and returned to the place of her birth, Spokane, Washington.

The daughter of a town marshal, Linda grew up in Northport, WA, a community of 500 on the Columbia River, 120 miles north of Spokane. Her childhood remembrances include riding horses and playing cowgirl on her grandparents' nearby farm. Her grandparents' spread was so rustic that in the early days it lacked electricity and running water.

As delightful as this childhood was, Linda longed to see the world. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, she left to pursue her dream at the age of eighteen. Because of the success of her writing career, Linda was able to live part-time in London for several years, spend time in Italy and travel to such far-off destinations as Russia, Hong Kong and Israel. Now, Linda says, the wanderlust is (mostly) out of her blood, and she's come full circle, back to the people and the places she knows and loves.

Before Linda begins her writing day, she takes her first cup of coffee while enjoying the scenic view of the wooded draw behind her new home. The first morning there, a snowfall blanketed the pine trees, something she had missed in the desert outside Scottsdale. Still enamored with the people she came to love in Arizona, she says she will still set books in that starkly beautiful area, and, of course, Washington.

Devoted tohelpingothers pursue their dreams, the author will launch her seventh round of the Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women in May 2007. A talented speaker, she donates all her speaking honoraria to her scholarship fund. The stipends are awarded to women who seek to better their lot in life through education.

It's no wonder the protagonists in Miller's novels are women her readers admire for their honor, courage, trustworthiness, valor and determination to succeed, despite overwhelming odds. "These qualities make them excellent role models for young women," Miller explains. "The male leads possess equally noble traits that today's woman would be delighted to find in her life's mate."

The author traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she made her first sale.

Whether winning championship belt buckles or dealing with Hollywood types for endorsement deals, former rodeo star Tyler Creed can handle anything. Except standing on the same patch of land as his estranged brothers. Yet here they are in Stillwater Springs, barely talking but trying to restore the old Creed ranch—and family.

Lily Kenyon knows all about family estrangements and secrets. The single mom has come home to set things right, to put down roots for her daughter. What she doesn't expect is Tyler Creed, whom she's loved since childhood. Now the handsome, stubborn cowboy who left home to seek his fortune just might find it was always under the Montana sky.…

Kristin Ramsdell - Library Journal

Winding up a delightful, feelgood trilogy about the estranged, hellraising Creed halfbrothers, who hail from Stillwater Springs, MT, this volume brings broncriding star Tyler, the youngest and most prickly of the trio, home from the rodeo circuit to rethink his life and sort out his future. When Ty discovers an abused teenage boy who could be his son hiding out in his cabin, his future, including his tentative, renewed relationship with childhood sweetheart Lily, swerves in a whole new direction. This warm, sometimes rowdy, gently humorous romance ties up a number of nagging loose ends, heals old wounds, and brings the Creeds together as a family, once again.

Although each story stands on its own, it makes sense to read them in order. Montana Creeds: Logan(Feb. ISBN 9780373773534. pap. $7.99) features lawyer, entrepreneur, former rodeo star, and eldest brother Logan, who returns to reclaim the longneglected family ranch and try to mend the rift with his two farflung brothers. Gambler and former bullrider Dylan (Montana Creeds: Dylan. Mar. ISBN 9780373773589. pap. $7.99) heads home with his twoyearold daughter and finds himself falling for librarian Kristy Madison, the girl he'd loved years earlier. All three titles should appeal to readers who like their contemporary romances Western, slightly dangerous, and graced with enlightened (more or less) badboy heroes. Miller lives in the Spokane area.