Happy 2025!

       2025 is a year I never dreamed in my youth that I would ever see. I also never dreamed I would be 80 years old! I am so grateful to still be healthy, and overall, I am happy with how life has turned out for me. I am especially grateful to God for my gift of writing and for all the 75(+) books I have had published over these many years. I have been published for 42 years and actually writing books for about 46 years, not counting the poems and articles I wrote over many years before I tried books. I am grateful for all my readers who have kept me going, grateful my brain and fingers still work just fine so I can write a few more books, and I am so grateful that so many of my stories have been reissued and are still selling after all these years. I am grateful that, through my books, my name will go on for quite a while after I leave this earth, and yes, crazy me still believes I will meet some of my characters in the hereafter because they are so real to me that I feel as though their spirits are what inspire me to write their stories, as though they whisper them to me.

       Valentine's Day will hopefully bring the reissue of THIS TIME FOREVER. I am proofreading the digital conversion now, and am hoping that it will come out in time to relieve the "Winter doldrums" and that let-down that always comes after New Year's Day is over with. What could be better to look forward to than cozying up in a comfortable chair with a mug of hot cocoa and rediscovering an old friend -- or reading one of my early books for the first time? Meanwhile, here is the new cover! Some people have asked why this book will have a new cover, since the text is the same as it was in the original 1989 printing. That's because, even though I was able to get the rights back to the story, the original cover (and back cover blurb) still belong to the original publisher, and for me to use it again would be a violation of their copyright.

       For those of you who haven't already read it, THIS TIME FOREVER is about an independent, brave woman who is orphaned on her way to the US from Scotland and travels west with a Mormon family. (She is not Mormon herself.) It's a beautiful depiction of the fortitude of pioneer women, and my heroine's ability to survive the harsh realities of a woman alone in a rugged land. It also one of my foreign "hits" -- it has been translated into Norwegian and reprinted at least four times in French!

       On the writing front: I am having a few problems with IF I LOVED YOU. Some stories come harder than others, and often the normal events of real life get in the way. It doesn’t help that characters from DANCING BENEATH YOU and, of course, Jake himself from my Outlaw series keep haunting me. Some characters just won’t leave me alone.

       Speaking of Book #77, IF I LOVED YOU was inspired by the song by the same name from the 1945 musical CAROUSEL. I find this a bit ironic because I didn't know when I picked the title that it came from a musical that was popular the year I was born. I just knew and loved the song. When I hear it, I picture two people from two extremely different worlds who fall in love but are kept apart because of their very different lifestyles, beliefs and customs. I love stories about how love can bring and hold two people together against all odds. That is the kind of story you will find in IF I LOVED YOU, bringing a well-educated and well-mannered young woman, Margaret Phillips-Gaines, into the wild and challenging world of a Cheynne Dog Soldier named Thunder Spirit. Both characters suffer shattered hearts for very different reasons. Being faced with a love each knows is impossible to keep for the other makes that love an even bigger challenge because neither is sure their hearts can bear more hurt and loss. But you know me. I don't even know yet how this story will end or how I can "fix" the difficult problems these two face, but I will find a way.

       I see IF I LOVED YOU as one of my best love stories, not just because of impossible odds, but because it also involves Thunder Spirit's five-year-old son, Little Owl, the only child left of Thunder Spirit's family after the Sand Creek Massacre. Little Owl will win your hearts as he becomes the catalyst that gives Margaret and Thunder Spirit hope for a relationship that never should have survived. I just know all of you will love this story.

       After that I will be writing either a sequel to DANCING BENEATH YOU or the next “Jake” book, which will zero in on Lloyd and Katie. I also need a story about about Young Jake as a grown man. I might combine their stories. I do know Young Jake will have his grandfather’s personality and that “wild side” that will often get him in trouble. I think his parents, Evie and Brian, will have to bail that young man out of jail more than once. But along will come a young woman who will help change his life … the kind of woman Young Jake has always searched for … someone who is as faithful as his Grandma Miranda was to Jake. The story will also get Young Jake involved in World War I.

       The ideas never end! I pray every night for the health I’ll need to continue writing. My goal is 80 books before I am gone from this earth. SHADOW TRAIL is number 76, so I have a good start! I appreciate all of you so much. You are what keeps me going, so keep reading, and as long as the Good Lord allows my brain and fingers to work, I will keep writing!

        If you are new to my writing -- or even if you want to replace old favorites -- please see my Books in Print page for a complete list of all my books, with most recent covers, publication histories, and Amazon.com ordering links. Eventually, I want to have all of my backlist available for both new readers and long-time fans who have reread the original print versions so many times that the pages are worn out! If you prefer the convenience of e-books, check out my E-books List, where you will find ordering links for electronic versions of my books in several different e-book formats.

       Brand new Bittner titles are distributed through Amazon.com. But locally in Southwest Lower Michigan -- my books are available at Hardings Market and Linda's Antiques in Coloma and Back On the Rack in Watervliet! You'll find my new books there, as well as an assortment of my older titles. I am excited to have such great outlets for my work right here in and near my own hometown. (Plus, Email mefor a personalized autograph.) You can also check with your local library or book store and ask them to order any of my books you’d like to read.

       And if you want a print book personalized for yourself or before you “gift” it, just e-mail me privately at rosannebittner17@outlook.com for mailing information, and I will pay the postage to send the signed books back to you! Or, if you prefer, I can autograph a label for you to stick into your book.

       I'm hearing from more and more men who enjoy my books because they are packed with action, western history, and solid family values as well as heart- felt romance. Yes, "real" men really DO enjoy reading my books!

       Many thanks for your continuing e-mails and notes. YOU keep me going back to the computer to write more books. Many of you tell me that reading my books got you through something physically or emotionally traumatic -- well, WRITING those books does the same thing for me! Keep reading, and I will keep writing!

Rosanne

Because of the large number of requests I receive for full lists of my books, the Books In Print section of this website is frequently updated to reflect my latest releases, as well as listing all of my past works. I have also added a My Books Now Available in E-Reader Formats page with ordering links for all e-reader formats. You can also use the "Search" link below to find new, used, and Kindle versions of my books on Amazon.com!