Nancy M Bell is a proud Albertan and Canadian. She lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters. She works with and fosters rescue animals. Nancy is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. She has publishing credits in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. For the past three years she has been invited to read her poetry at the Stephan G Stephansson House event Poetry at Stephan’s House.
For more information about Nancy's books please visit her website:http://www.nancymbell.ca/
To purchase Nancy's books click the book covers
Laurel Rowan is excited and scared at the same time when she is offered a position of working student at a prestigious Three Day Event stable in Cornwall England, training under Olympic rider Suzy Wish. It will be a great learning opportunity, a chance to see her friends in Cornwall, and spend time with her long-distance boyfriend Coll.
Chance Cullen her long time friend in Canada is not so enthusiastic about the idea. Laurel loves working with the event horses and soaking in the experience. An accident sends her on a totally different journey than the one she expected. Adding to the drama is the fact Laurel realizes it is time to make a choice between staying in Cornwall with Coll or returning to the ranch in Alberta with Chance. Pulled in both directions it will take a major revelation to help her make the choice.
The story that began with Laurel’s Quest comes to a close in Laurel’s Choice.
Click to Purchase - Discarded, Canadian Historical Mysteries, Book 4
When the British arrived in Winnipeg in the 1800s it was convenient for the men to take Metis wives. They were called a la vacon du pays – according to the custom of the country. These women bore the brunt of ensuring survival in the harsh environment. Without them the British army and fur traders would not have survived the brutal winters. However, as society evolved it became accepted that wives must be white, schooled in British ways, fashionable in the European sense and married by the Anglican church. The Metis wives and their ‘country born’ offspring were thrown out and forced to fend for themselves. The unrepentant husbands continued to live comfortably with their ‘new’ wives. It was inevitable that some discarded wives did not accept their fate quietly and hard feelings on both sides were unavoidable. When the bodies of two discarded Metis wives, Marguerite and Marie-Anne, are found floating in the Red River, Guilliame Mousseau, sets out to get to the bottom of his sister Margueite’s murder.
Coming in December 2023
Laurel Rowan is excited and scared at the same time when she is offered a position of working student at a prestigious Three Day Event stable in Cornwall England, training under Olympic rider Suzy Wish. It will be a great learning opportunity, a chance to see her friends in Cornwall, and spend time with her long-distance boyfriend Coll. Chance Cullen her long time friend in Canada is not so enthusiastic about the idea. Laurel loves working with the event horses and soaking in the experience. An accident sends her on a totally different journey than the one she expected. Adding to the drama is the fact Laurel realizes it is time to make a choice between staying in Cornwall with Coll or returning to the ranch in Alberta with Chance. Pulled in both directions it will take a major revelation to help her make the choice.
The story that began with Laurel’s Quest comes to a close in Laurel’s Choice.
Click here to purchase Kayla's Cowboy
Kayla Dunbarton is in Las Vegas at the National Finals Rodeo for the sole purpose of promoting the sport of Dressage. She has no intention of getting mixed up with champion bull rider Rob Chetwynd. But circumstances conspire to throw them together and the sexy cowboy’s mix of ruggedness and vulnerability combine to slide past her carefully constructed defenses. Still smarting from a broken romance with a well to do fellow competitor, Kayla wants no part of a romantic entanglement with a rodeo man she’s never going to see after Las Vegas.
A spiteful move by another dressage competitor who is sponsored by the same group as Kayla throws a wrench into things. One ill-advised action, captured on film, threatens to ruin Kayla’s reputation, and could result in the loss of her sponsorship. Rob Chetwynd provides the answer to her dilemma, but is it a risk she’s willing to take with her heart?
THE ALBERTA ADVENTURES
Set in the south country of Alberta, Laurel Rowan and her friends become embroiled in some dangerous events. Laurel’s passion for the wild horses of Alberta are featured in Wild Horse Rescue, while in Dead Dogs Talk she stumbles into the world of illegal dog fighting. In this last book of the series, Chance Cullen, Laurel’s childhood friend who has been straying from the straight and narrow must come to terms with the demons that haunt him. He must also come to a resolution about his feelings for Laurel, and hers for him.
Chance Cullen has screwed up royally, and he knows it. He’s alienated his mother and sister, and the girl he’s been in love with his whole life, Laurel Rowan. The lure of alcohol calls him, and in the past, he’s found solace there…for a time. But life keeps blowing up in his face.
Chance desperately wants to be a top bull rider, but he needs a sponsor, and he needs to come to terms with taking responsibility and turning his life around. His abusive dad is in prison for a number of offences, including masterminding a dog fighting ring. Chance’s narrow escape from both the law and the unsavoury characters he got involved with through his father, have left him shaken. In his mind, his greatest crime was putting Laurel Rowan in danger.
He knows she doesn’t feel the same way about him as he does about her, but maybe, just maybe, he can win back her friendship. It won’t be an easy road, but Chance is determined to fight his demons. A cowboy needs to know when to cowboy up and Chance figures this is his time.
Little did Laurel Rowan know where the discovery of an injured dog would lead her. The dark world of dog fighting rings and the unsavoury characters who surround them are a stark awakening for the Alberta teen. Volunteering at a local animal rescue helps her come to terms with some of the things, but Laurel won’t stop until she’s done all she can to rescue those animals in danger. She’s horrified to find out her childhood friend Chance is involved up to his neck in the mess, but now he’s trying to get out and help Laurel all he can. Trouble is lurking around each corner.
Laurel Rowan is happy to be home in Alberta and excited that Coll Hazel is coming from Cornwall for a visit. She’s looking forward to showing him around the ranch.
The visit doesn’t turn out as she imagined when the plight of a band of wild horses comes to her attention. Laurel is angry and frustrated that her childhood friend Chance, the boy on the neighboring ranch, and his father are determined to round up the wildies and send them to the meat packers.
Laurel, Coll, and Chance’s sister, Carly, embark on a mission to rescue the horses and find a protected place where they can live wild and free.
The youngest
child of the local doctor and evangelical preacher, Annie Baldwin was expected to work hard and not protest. Life on a pioneer farm was tough so neighbors helped each other. George Richardson the underage Doctor Bernardo Boy, orphaned and shipped to Canada a few years earlier, is loaned to the Baldwins to help bring in the hay. Younger brother Peter Richardson was placed with another neighbor, so the brothers stayed in touch with each other. The Great War brought a lot of changes to life even in the back woods of Ontario. In spite of the differences in their social standing, George and Annie fell in love. When George departed for France they had an understanding and he promised to return to her when the war was over. Like so many others, Annie waited and hoped, carrying on as best she could. Only time would tell if her dreams would come true.
French edition also available in Digital and Print
Elsie Nuefeld loves to sit on her porch and watch the children grow in the Mennonite community near Landmark, MB. Returning to the area after moving to Paraguay for a time, Elsie is happy to be living on the wild rose dotted prairie of south-eastern Manitoba. Her granddaughters are growing up and getting married, it's an exciting time. Secure in her long standing marriage to Ike, Elsie is content to observe the community from the sidelines and rejoice in the joys of the young ones. She often walks with her daughters and granddaughters through the graveyard abloom with wild roses and shares the stories of the ancestors sleeping there. It’s important, she feels, for the younger generation to feel connected to those who went before. Elsie hopes when she joins those resting beneath the Landmark roses the tradition of honouring the memory of the forebearers continues.
In 1784, Englishwoman Amelia Latimer sails to the new colony of New Brunswick in faraway Canada. She’s to marry a man chosen by her soldier father. Amelia is repulsed by her betrothed, and refuses to marry him. Determined to defy her parent and cultivate herbs in this wilderness, she then meets the handsome Acadian trader, Gilbert, a man beneath her in status.
Gilbert must protect his mother, once attacked by an English soldier. He fights to hold on to their property, to keep it from the Loyalists who flood the colony—desperate men chased from the south after the American Revolution. In a land fraught with hardship, Amelia and Gilbert struggle to overcome prejudice, political upheaval, while forging an existence in a remote country where events seek to destroy their love and lives.
It’s been a long time coming, but Michelle Wilson and Dr. Cale Benjamin are finally ready to tie the knot. Of course, there’s the usual pre-wedding mix-ups, and matchmaker Mary Cassidy seems to have her finger in everyone’s pie.
Michelle is wrapped up in wedding plans and worrying over her barrel horse’s impending surgery. On top of all that she’s hoping that her old flame’s new wife can keep him from falling off the wagon and disrupting Michelle’s wedding.
Even though they say true love never runs smooth, what happens on the way to the church throws a wrench into the happy couple’s plans.
Michelle Wilson has the world by the tail. Cale loves her and she loves him. Storm is happy and healthy. To top it off, Michelle has qualified for the Calgary Stampede. She can’t wait to barrel race for a chance at $100,000 on Showdown Sunday. All her dreams are coming true; nothing could possibly spoil her happiness. Could it?
Shelly, her brother’s new girlfriend seems a tad too interested in her old friend Cale Benjamin. And what’s with Michelle’s ex-fiancé Rob who keeps popping up in the most unexpected places. Why can’t his brand new wife Kayla keep a tighter rein on that cowboy?
The only thing bigger than the storm in Michelle's heart is the blizzard raging across the Alberta prairie outside her window. Finding an injured stray dog is the last thing she needs. Add to the mix the handsome new vet who is taking over her beloved Doc’s practice and peace of mind is not in the picture. Cale Benjamin is too nice to be for real. Michelle is still smarting from being jilted by her high school sweetheart fiancé and not in the mood to trust any man, let alone one as drop dead gorgeous as Dr. Cale Benjamin DVM. The injured stray, Storm, keeps putting Michelle in Cale’s path whether she likes it or no. She is distressed to find that the handsome young vet is sliding past her carefully erected defenses and into her heart. A few well placed nudges from Doc’s match maker wife, Mary, help the young doctor’s cause, but will it be enough to make the lady rancher allow him into her life?
Previously published as Christmas Storm
~~ Christmas Storm won fourth place in the 2013 Oklahoma Romance Writers of America International Digital Awards in the Contemporary Novel category ~~
Audiobook edition also available:
Storm's Refuge Audio book https://www.audible.com/pd/B07S5QH3N6/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-152491&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_152491_rh_us
Young Adult series, The Cornwall Adventures
A trip to England sounds like a grand adventure, but Laurel Rowan can’t escape from her true reality. Her mother is terminally ill, and her father needs her to go so he can spend his time at the hospital. On a train to Penzance, Laurel meets a new friend, Coll. On the property of her host, she stumbles upon a magical spring. There she meets the White Lady, who offers her a chance at gaining her heart’s true desire, if only she can solve a riddle.
Legend says that land once stretched from Lands End in Cornwall as far as the Isles of Scillies, thirty miles out in the Atlantic. To this mythical land Gort Treliving escapes when his Uncle Daniel beats him senseless. He steps away from his corporeal body and walks into the mist of oblivion, seeking only to escape the pain. To Gort’s surprise, he finds he is Sir Gawain, one of King Arthur’s knights. He is also the partner of a wonderful grey war stallion who can telepathically speak to him.
Laurel Rowan is determined to find her estranged grandmother. She wants answers to some question she has after her visit to Cornwall. Laurel needs to know why her father is so angry with Gramma Bella. Arriving in the hamlet of Bragg Creek, Alberta, Laurel is disappointed to find the person she is seeking isn’t at home. A Christmas visit to her friends in Cornwall seems like a good idea, after all that’s where all the questions started. What she finds there is both exciting and disturbing and sends Laurel and her group of friends off on another adventure over the windswept moors and down the narrow winding streets of Cornish villages. The biggest question is: Where is Gramma Bella?
Also from Nancy M. Bell and N.M. Bell
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Nancy M. Bell and Pat Dale
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