Autumn in Texas by Heather Long

Texas autumn is a lot like Texas summer, crazy weather flavored with pumpkins, candied apples and the chance for a happy scare or two as we count it down to the annual trick or treat festivities on Halloween.  While I wasn't born in Texas, I've lived here on and off most of my life and I can honestly say that I love our crazy, oversized state with its passionate love affair with football, tailgates, cowboys and hot days.

In honor of the Paranormal Romantics Halloween Blog-a-Thon, I wanted to share my top ten things you have to know about a Texas autumn. 

·         If your costume is skimpy, Halloween will include a blue norther to chill your lady bits for the night.

·         If your costume is heavy, you can expect the Texas heat to notch it back up for the night, giving you a whole new definition to a steamy autumn evening.

·         Chocolate melts.  If you plan to leave a cauldron of Hershey's treats on your porch, understand that if the teenagers don't get them, the heat will. 

·         Pumpkins mold if it's too warm, so no matter how sexy that cowboy looked when you carved him on a Jack-o'-lantern, don't put it out before Halloween night

·         Texans are armed, think twice before jumping out and yelling boo -- a .32 caliber slug is not the best treat to take home

·         Autumn is not really a season in Texas, it's a state of mind.  We enjoy purchasing those multi-colored leaf decorations, because we have two colors green and dead

·         Autumn is Cowboys season.  Think big, sexy football players, not hot guys in chaps.  Not that some of the football players wouldn't look hot in chaps

·          Tailgate parties are great for Halloween, football games, Sunday brunch and a lot more. Think community, not climbing up someone's tail while you're driving (do note, remember that Texans are armed)

·         Halloween happens on Halloween.  Doesn't matter what night of the week it is, we don't set up special 'community' night Halloween trick or treating for the convenience of parents and children.  Nope, send them out on a school night and sugar them up.

·         Finally, if they promise you a storm, it will be sunny, if it's partly cloudy, you might get rain, if they promise it will be temperate, you're going to freeze your ass off and if you're still not sure what to do, go back to the top of this list

The great thing about Texas, no matter how conservative she looks on the surface, she's a wild, unpredictable one who refuses to be locked into the expectations of others.  Oh and before I forget, if you immigrated to Texas from one of the other 49 states, we're sorry that we don't do things like everyone else.  We wouldn't be Texas if we did.

Happy Autumn!

Oh and before I forget, since we're chatting up Texas, I'm offering a fun treat combo for one lucky commentator to warm up your autumn nights:

One copy of Marshal of Hel Dorado, an 81,000 word paranormal western romance set in Texas of the 1850s and a ten dollar gift card to Starbuck's where I highly recommend the hot pumpkin spice latte to sweeten your palate while you snuggle up with my Kane brothers and their wild west challenge.

About Heather Long

Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.  Keep up with her latest news and releases at her website: http://www.heatherlong.net

About Marshal of Hel Dorado

In the shadows of the old west, the untamed land live bands of outlaws and outsiders. In a time when fevers could fell whole towns, these few survivors are marked. Marked…and forever changed.

Sam Kane is the oldest brother, the steadfast son and the confidant marshal.  He’s never met a problem to hot to handle until a gang behind a string of robberies across the territory set their sights on his town.  Now with the bank’s gold inexplicably missing from a locked safe, the town hunting the elusive thieves and a passionate redhead with a fiery secret in his jail, Sam has his hands full.

Scarlett Morning Star lived in seclusion in the mountains of West Texas most of her life.  She longs for adventure, but with seven very protective older brothers, adventure is hard to come by.  When she tags along uninvited on their latest escapade, she is left behind during a bank robbery and finds herself in the custody of the very sexy town marshal.

The town wants to lynch her, the Marshal wants answers and her brothers want her back, can Scarlett keep it together or will her explosive secret burn them all?

Her life.  His badge.  Their fight.