Title Please?

As you may or may not know, I’m working on a novella for the Wild Rose Press’s Honky Tonk Hearts series. I  won’t bore you with all the ins and outs writing a series, but the main criteria is that the story has to have at least one scene that takes place in the Lonesome Steer, a roadhouse just outside of Amarillo and located on old Route 66.

Those of you who know me well know that I L-O-V-E Amarillo. Ten Reasons Not to Date a Cop is set in Amarillo. But I digress.

So I’m working on this short and getting ready to submit it to the editors in charge of the line/series, and I realize that the title doesn’t fit the story anymore.

If you read author’s posts at all, I’m sure you’ve heard all about the quandaries of titles. They  are next to impossible to come up  with, yet the story has to have one. So as authors we agonize over the title, only to have the editors change it. Well, a lot of the time. But in any case, a writer can’t submit a story without a title.

And this is where you come in. I need your help coming up with a title for my novella. Here’s the unofficial blurb–

Shelby Patterson has worked hard her entire life to achieve the dignity and decorum others enjoy. With an unconventional mother and an unknown father, Shelby is proud to be engaged to a man with political aspirations. Her fiancé will lend her the respectability she so desperately desires. Well, he will just as soon as she gets a divorce from her first husband.

Ritt McCoy married Shelby in high-school right after they found out they were having a baby. It was the honorable thing to do. But honor flew out the door when she lost the baby and his parents paid her mother to take her away from Texas.

Now, seven years later, Shelby’s back in Randall demanding her freedom. But Ritt’s not ready to let her go. He’s certainly not ready to see her walk down the aisle with another man. He loved her like crazy then and still does. Now that she’s back, he’ll do everything in his power to show her that they are meant to be together. But can he convince her that she’ still in love with him before she flies to coop again?

The original title was Two Weeks in Texas. But as I started writing, I realized Shelby wouldn’t be able to stay in Texas for two whole weeks. She’s only there for five days.  Five Days in Texas doesn’t have the same ring to it. Or does it? Well, let’s add it to the list for good measure.

Here are some titles I came up with. Please vote for your favorite. Or, heck, come up with a new one. Just help me decide what to call this book so I can submit it to the editors!

It’ll be a while before it comes out (taking for granted I’ll contract it. Pleasepleaseplease let me contract it!) but I’ll hold a drawing for everyone who votes and make sure you get a copy of the story.

Here’s what I have so far–

Five Days in Texas

Back in Love

Her Texas Husband

All My Exes

Just like a Texan

Lone-star Bride

Blame it on Texas

Just Can’t Get Enough

As I write this, My favorite is Blame it on Texas. But tell me what you think. Please and thanks!

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