I have loved horses forever - I love love love the warm, summertime scent of a horse - in real life and in stories! I love feeding horses, working with them, watching horses and carriages trot past in historical-fiction movies, hearing the clop and snuffle of the wagon team at our local show. I find horses irresistible, with their soft dark eyes, tumbling manes and tails and questing noses.

My horsey friends over the years - Stormy, Kellidie, Sparky, Teddy, Glyn, Joe and old Ben (pictured) - have shown power, grace, beauty and personality... They've been tolerant, willing, gentle, curious, impatient and mischievous, sometimes all in a single day. When I'm working with horses - riding, driving, training, or just hanging out with them - I am never bored and I always learn something. Above all, I am in my happy place... So it makes absolute sense to put horses in my books!

If you love horses in your books, too... If you enjoy country settings, farmhouses, tumbledown barns and orchards, a view across mist-filled pasture with your morning coffee, you'll love Kate Dale's journey to healing in Come Back to Bed, Beautiful. In this story, she meets Linc Brady and his horses, a beautiful chestnut mare called Dash, and a young grey gelding who has to get almost to the end of the book before he is given a name.

You can access Kate and Linc’s story at https://books2read.com/Come-Back-to-Bed-Beautiful for Kindle, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, Hoopla and more. And look for more horses trotting through the pages of my next book - you know I can't resist them!