My name is Kim McMahill. I grew up in Wyoming, which is where I developed my sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. I’m a writer, caregiver, reader, gardener, and travel junkie, who apparently has a very active imagination.
I decided to leave my career of over twenty years with the National Park Service when my husband retired at the end of 2019 so that we could hit the open road in our van and wander the backroads of America. Well, seldom does anything turn out quite the way we plan. COVID hit, and then family needs arose that have kept us mostly grounded for the past four years, but it has given me the opportunity to focus on my writing, and it has forced us to explore the hidden gems closer to home.
Despite the unavoidable change in plans, we’ve been able to weather multiple storms hunkered down in our hometown which is located among stunning mountains and millions of acres of public land for recreation. Aside from my caregiver duties, I’ve grown a large garden each summer, become an avid “sports aunt,” took short but amazing trips to Iceland, Portugal, and a whale watching expedition near San Ignacio in Mexico, and completed the first five novels in The Beartooth Chronicles (more on that later).
My garden has always been my happy place, my refuge. It’s where I find a brief respite from all the unpleasant things life inevitably throws one’s way. I love sowing seeds in the ground and watching as green shoots push through the dirt, and tiny plants grow into something delicious. I enjoy watching bees and butterflies searching for blossoms to pollinate. I’ve been able to grow enough to enjoy fresh produce all summer, share with family, friends, and neighbors, and I have experimented with various preservation techniques and recipes. I’ve frozen a lot of produce, dehydrated tomatoes, made and canned zucchini relish, roasted and froze chilies, made my own sauerkraut, and last summer we even pressed the grapes we grew and attempted our first batch of wine (this will need some more experimentation).
But one constant in my life for nearly three decades, no matter where I’ve lived or whatever season it may be, is my love of story-telling. I started out writing travel and human-interest articles for magazines, but I now focus solely on dystopian, adventure, romantic suspense, and crime fiction novels where I use my experiences to create settings that entice the reader, and characters who possess the characteristics and strengths needed to survive in extraordinary circumstance.
I hope you will join me in my real-life and fictional adventures by checking out my novels, and visiting me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KimMcMahillAuthor/ or on my blog at https://www.kimmcmahill.blogspot.com. My blog functions as my website where I use pages to include all the usual website stuff. I post my newsletter on the first Friday of each month, or you can sign up for my newsletter to come to your email through my blog. And, I would love to connect with followers on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimmcmahill/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimmcmahll
Title Refuge from the World (The Beartooth Chronicles, Book 1)
Author Kim McMahill
Genre Dystopian Adventure
Publisher Fire & Ice Young Adult & New Adult Books
Book Blurb
Ashley McPhee arrived in Beartooth with her mom, Sara, when she was three years old. Ever since Ash can remember, life has been simple and peaceful. She enjoyed a carefree childhood, tending honey bees with her mom and spending time with her best friend, Caleb Solomon. But, life in their idyllic mountaintop community is changing.
After learning of the government’s plan to use a geoengineering process to cool the planet, Ash and Caleb realize they need to step up and take an active role in the community. Along with fear for how the process might impact their food supply, Ash learns her mom’s health is failing.
Sara doesn’t want Ash to face an uncertain future alone and nudges her and Caleb into marriage. Even though they have known each other most of their lives, Ash and Caleb’s relationship has changed drastically in a short period of time. They embrace the challenges of learning about each other, dealing with tragedy and grief, protecting their community from deadly predators and ruthless neighbors, and experiencing epic adventures, while trying to find solutions to a rapidly changing environment and deteriorating world.
Excerpt
Ash listened to the radio a little bit nearly every day. Clearly, life was dangerous in the cities. Corruption ran rampant throughout all levels of government. People fought in the streets, stole from each other, lied and cheated at nearly everything, killed those who got in their way, and looked out only for themselves. After over two decades of peace, the citizens of Beartooth would be ill-prepared to survive in that kind of environment.
She had been just three when her mom moved them here, so it was the only home she had ever known. Ash thought about Caleb and his bows and arrows, everything her mom just told her, and the news from the radio. She was scared for the future for the first time, but she had no doubt that if the need arose, she’d do whatever it took to protect Beartooth, the people she loved, and everyone who lived here.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Amazon ebook-https://amzn.to/3wwE9ZV
Smashwords- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1531094
Nook Press-Barnes and Noble- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/refuge-from-the-world-kim-mcmahill/1145008600?ean=2940186040781
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kim_McMahill_Refuge_from_the_World?id=UeT4EAAAQBAJ
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/refuge-from-the-world-the-beartooth-chronicles-book-1-by-kim-mcmahill
Author Biography
Kim McMahill started out writing nonfiction, but her passion for adventure, stories of survival against the odds, and speculating about the future of humanity and our planet, soon turned her attention towards fiction. She has published twelve novels, over eighty travel and human-interest articles, and contributed to a travel story anthology and a cookbook. Growing up in a beautiful mountain west community, traveling the world, and enjoying a rewarding career with the National Park Service, has given her the opportunity to live in amazing places, experience incredible adventures, and witness many changes in our world, all of which have helped shape her stories.
Social Media Links
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/KimMcMahillAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimmcmahill/
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kimmcmahill
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kim-McMahill/e/B007IK0EJW/
Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/849945.Kim_McMahill
Title A Dose of Danger (Risky Research Series, Book 1)
Author Kim McMahill
Genre Romantic Suspense/crime fiction
Publisher Pelican Book Group
Book Blurb
When researcher Grace Talbot and her team discover a possible solution for weight loss, they are targeted by a group out to controlling the diet product industry worth billions. Her unsanctioned testing methods bring tragedy to the family ranch and the attention of the local sheriff’s deputy. With her colleagues either dead, missing, or on the run she soon realizes she must trust the deputy with her life, but can she trust him with her heart?
Excerpt
Grace Talbot gripped the steering wheel of her white, four-wheel-drive truck. Every muscle in her body tensed as she leaned closer to the windshield, straining her eyes, searching the blowing snow for the reflector poles, which lined the road, or for any tire track, which would indicate someone else had driven through recently.
Traveling the remote rural Wyoming road in a blizzard was risky, and she would have avoided such a stupid act if her Uncle Moss wasn’t in the hospital fighting for his life and Butch, his only hired ranch hand, wasn’t dead.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-dose-of-danger-kim-mcmahill/1122032480?ean=9781943104086
If you enjoy A Dose of Danger, the next three novels in order are: A Taste of Tragedy, A Foundation of Fear, and A Measure of Madness
Title Marked in Mexico
Author Kim McMahill
Genre Romantic Suspense
Publisher Pelican Book Group
Book Blurb
When hostages are taken at one of Mexico’s most popular Mayan ruins, an idyllic Caribbean vacation turns deadly. The kidnappers believe the abduction will be a simple way to negotiate the release of a colleague from a Texas prison, but matters become complicated and the stakes much higher when they realize one of their hostages is the daughter of a powerful U.S. Senator and another is an ex-Army Ranger who has no intention of playing by the rules.
Excerpt
Under any other circumstance the words, “kill another person,” at the end of a sentence would have terrified her, but the way Jack said it only made her heart ache. He had killed before, but it clearly hadn’t been easy, and he obviously hadn’t gotten over it.
Jessica took his hands in hers and turned them over. They were large and rough. He’d carried no weapon, so he obviously could have killed the man with his bare hands. Whenever he touched her, he was so gentle she just couldn’t believe it was possible. There was clearly much more to Jack than he had shared, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the rest of his story, but felt the need to truly understand his pain.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marked-in-mexico-kim-mcmahill/1108229485?ean=2940013745520&itm=1&usri=kim+mcmahill
Title Big Horn Storm
Author Kim McMahill
Genre Action Drama
Publisher Pelican Book Group
Book Blurb
Niki Garat tolerates her job and the city, but she lives for her summer vacation with her grandfather at his sheep camp in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming—until this year. When the U.S. comes under attack, including an aggressive attempt by foreign invaders to locate nuclear missile silos scattered throughout remote western lands, the serenity of her mountain refuge is shattered. As area ranches are commandeered, neighbors and friends, including Deuce, her childhood infatuation, band together. Throughout their struggle to stay alive, Niki begins to understand what came between her and Deuce, but before past mistakes can be corrected, they must endure a terrifying manhunt and a desperate fight for survival.
Excerpt
The ranch seemed unnaturally quiet for late summer. There were no shouts from wranglers, no hum of machinery, and no dogs barking. After being in the city for so long the silence was a little unnerving, but the beauty of the mountains cradling the ranch and the familiarity of everything around her swept Niki away from the present and made her feel ten again.
“It’s too darn hot for the horses to stand around saddled up all day waiting on you.”
Niki couldn’t see Robert Mitchell Blackburn II, known to friends and family as Deuce, but his deep voice gave away his location. No doubt his tall muscular frame stood just inside the barn door, concealed in the shadows.
Even though he was hidden from view, she could describe every detail of his unruly hair peeking out from under his beat-up and sweat-stained straw cowboy hat, the scrutinizing look in his hazel eyes, his tanned complexion, and the scuffs on the heels of his boots where his spurs had worn on the leather. Dark stubble would shadow his chin and above his lip, and his sleeves would be rolled up on his denim shirt. She hated the fact that not only could she see him clearly in her mind now, but she could picture him just as clearly nearly every day of her life no matter how hard she tried to keep him out of her head.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-horn-storm-kim-mcmahill/1112640883?ean=9781522398530
Kobo buy link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/big-horn-storm-1
Title Deadly Exodus
Author Kim McMahill
Genre Dystopian
Publisher Pelican Book Group
Book Blurb
Their love is forbidden…their lives in danger… Trapped in a dystopian America where men are being exterminated and relationships are forbidden, Nyla is determined to change the course of her future and protect Ethan. Fleeing means abandoning her grandmother and imprisoned mother, but Nyla and her friends will do anything to escape an authoritarian government which has stolen their freedom and prohibits personal expression of any kind. Desperate and dreaming of a new life, the group makes a run for the Mexican border through the inhospitable Big Bend region of Texas. Persistent patrols track and corner them, while a vast and desolate landscape inhabited by brazen predators tests their ability to survive. Will they live to realize their dreams of a new life and a chance at love?
Excerpt
“Get up,” Claire screamed over the whir of the helicopter blades.
Nyla could barely hear Claire above the noise. She didn’t think she could move her legs. Her heart ached so deeply she could no longer summon up the strength to care about her own life or future, but Claire grasped her hand and pulled until Nyla rose to her feet.
“Come on Nyla, move.”
She complied, knowing her friend wouldn’t leave her behind. Nyla tried to keep pace with Claire, but she kept tripping over every hazard they encountered as they tried to force their way through the thick brush and further up river, closer to the paradise in the desert. She fell to her knees, losing her grip on Claire’s hand. Crawling on hands and knees, barely acknowledging the burs embedding in her skin, Nyla felt incapable of standing.
“Get up. We’re so close. We can’t give up now,” Claire cried. “Please. We don’t know Ethan’s been hit. He may already be on the other side waiting. Do it for me, Ethan, Jared, Carlos, and your mother. You know this is all she ever wanted for you. You can’t let her down now.”
Claire’s voice softened and Nyla struggled to stand just as a strong arm encircled her waist and scooped her off her feet.
“Go Claire. I’m right behind you.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/desperate-dreams-kim-mcmahill/1110282279?ean=9780615631714