MISSAdventure BRIDES Series: NEVER GIVE UP

My novella “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection is about a young woman who sets out to be the first woman to drive coast to coast in a automobile.

What’s a courageous young woman in 1904 to do when challenged to drive across the country? Accept, of course. Will the journalist tasked to tail her steal her heart? Or sabotage her efforts?

Zola faces many obstacles and struggles before and during her road trip. People’s opinions of what women are capable of was low. Both men and women felt women weren’t very capable outside the home.

The roads—when there were roads, which wasn’t often—were bad or nonexistent. Automobiles were a new novelty and broke down often. A lot of people did think they would catch on because of it. Who wanted to drive an unreliable automobile instead of using a reliable horse.

There were no gas stations. You had to buy fuel at a general store. There were no maps or road signs. When it rained roads turned to deep, thick mud. Other places were rocky and tore up tires. There were mountains to scale and rivers without bridges to cross.

It seemed as though everything was against the early motorist.

Even with all these obstacles and many struggles—including people along the way sabotaging her vehicle—Zola determined to do her best. It wasn’t easy, and she wanted to give up many times, but she didn’t.

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endures

in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” Christopher Reeve

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins

 — not by strength but by perseverance.” H. Jackson Brown

“Perseverance is stubbornness with a purpose.” Josh Shipp

Happy Adventuring!

This concludes my MISSAdventure Brides series. I'm taking the rest of the month and year off. I'll be back after the first of the year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MISSAdventure Brides Collection

Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures

Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Releases December 1, 2018

The MISSAdventure Brides Collection would make a wonderful Christmas present!

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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MISSAdventure BRIDES Series: ROAD TRIP!

My setting in “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection is the open road (where there were roads) and inside (and many times under) an early automobile. In my novella takes place in 1904, a courageous young woman, Zola, has taken up the challenge to prove women are as capable as men, and to prove this, she sets out to drive an automobile from coast to coast. My newspaper reporter hero, Allen, has been tasked with getting the story and is ordered to follow her.

When Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made his historic journey in 1903, there exited only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire United States, most of those in large cities. What roads there were in between cities were extremely primitive if they existed at all. There were no road signs, no road numbers, no road maps, and no gas stations. In the first decade of the 20^th century, a driver had the option of bad roads or no roads at all.

Within a few years of Dr. Jackson’s trip, an organized movement began in the United States to improve the roads across the nation to accommodate this new fangled device—the automobile. Higher quality driving surfaces were needed as well as a structured system of roadways, updated maps, in general, better ways for people in cars to travel wherever they wished to go.

By 1913, the nation’s first transcontinental motor route, the Lincoln Highway, had been created coast to coast through the center of the country. And by 1915, an automobile had raced across it’s entire length in just fives days time. This never would have happened without adventurous people like Dr. Jackson to forge the open country side before roads existed.

Happy Adventuring!

MISSAdventure Brides Collection

Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures

Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Releases December 1, 2018

The MISSAdventure Brides Collection would make a wonderful Christmas present!

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

Newsletter   Blog   FB   FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads  BookBub

MISSAdventure BRIDES Series: THE AUTOMOBILE: FAD, FOLLY, OR FUTURE

My novella “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection is about a courageous young woman in 1904 who attempts to be the first woman to drive from coast to coast. Zola has taken up the challenge to prove women are as capable as men, and to prove this, she sets out to drive an automobile across the country. My newspaper reporter hero, Allen, has been tasked with getting the story and is ordered to follow her.

In 1903, a man named Horatio Nelson Jackson, his chauffeur/mechanic, and his dog, Bud, traveled from San Francisco to New York City in a 20-horsepower Winton automobile, making him the first person to drive across the country. In 1903, when Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made his historic transcontinental trek, automobiles were still a novelty and most people didn’t trust them.

Automobiles were highly prone to breaking down. People didn’t think automobiles would last, that they were a passing fad.

Here is a “romance” song written back in the day about automobiles breaking down: 

1769: The first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. (I didn’t realize automobiles went back that far.)

1808: The first car powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen designed François Isaac de Rivaz.

1870: The first gasoline powered combustion engine built by Siegfried Marcus.

1885: A single cylinder four-stroke engine powered Karl Benz’s gasoline automobile. Because Benz made several identical copies, it’s considered the first “production” vehicle.

At the turn of the 20th century, electrically powered automobiles became a popular alternative. (Hmm, that sounds familiar. It only took another 100 years for them to come back into vogue.)

Automobiles were expensive and only the rich could afford them. With Henry Ford’s assembly line, automobiles became affordable for the ordinary person.

Happy Adventuring!

MISSAdventure Brides Collection

Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures

Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Releases December 1, 2018

The MISSAdventure Brides Collection would make a wonderful Christmas present!

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

Newsletter   Blog   FB   FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads  BookBub

MISSAdventure Brides series: “THEY’RE JUST FLIGHTY FEMALES”

My novella “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection is about a courageous young woman in 1904 who attempts to be the first woman to drive from coast to coast.

This was a time when most people, men and women, didn’t think women could do anything outside the home.

My villain in this story is my hero’s newspaper editor and boss, Mr. Ghetty. He, along with the newspapers and men all along the way, not only don’t believe a woman can make such a journey, but that they shouldn’t, and they don’t want her to succeed.

Mr. Ghetty informs the hero the day before the trip that he’ll be following the two ladies so he can capture their failure.

Since the villain or antagonist in a story is someone (or something) that gets in the way of the protagonist reaching their goal, this story has many. In addition to people, the bad and nonexistent roads, weather, the sheer length of the journey at this time, and even the automobile itself. Early cars were, at best, extremely unreliable and broke down often.

Even with all these obstacles and many struggles, Zola determines to do her best. It’s not easy and she wants to give up many times.

Happy Adventuring!

MISSAdventure Brides Collection

Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures

Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Releases December 1, 2018

The MISSAdventure Brides Collection would make a wonderful Christmas present!

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

Newsletter   Blog   FB   FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads  BookBub