Megan Ryder and The Restless Cowboy

Thank you so much for hosting me this week and letting me talk about me latest book coming out in April, The Restless Cowboy. I’m so excited to share about the series and the characters and hope you like it too!

I plan my books pretty far in advance, mostly thinking about characters, who they are, and what their book might be. Cam Miller, my hero in The Restless Cowboy, has actually been a character on the page in all of my western romances since the first book in the Redemption Ranch series, A Cowboy’s Salvation. To me, he was the quintessential cowboy. Strong, silent, but still waters run deep and I knew there was a wealth of pain under his calm demeanor. But what was his pain?

His backstory came pretty quickly to me. I like tortured heroes and then finding the right woman to heal him and help him find love again. But heroes also need to find their own way to love and no one needed that more than Cam Miller. So I turned to a wonderful friend, who I only got to know in the last year or so of her life.

Kari Lynn Dell. She was an amazing author, a good friend, and an amazing resource for ranch and cowboy life. Very late one night, I reached out with a question. Very simple. How do you fight a fire on a ranch in Montana when you don’t have a fire hydrant?

Simple right? Not for Kari. She delved into how the fire could start, how people would fight it, and how to make it add complications to the story. Then she asked me about my book and I told her about Cam and how I was struggling. I said, I wanted a rancher, a cowboy, who felt trapped by being just that. How could he break free when that was all he knew?

Several hours later, The Restless Cowboy was born and the fire was completely deleted from the book. Cam became a leather worker, a skill necessary to ranch life, but the quiet artist was a perfect balance for the man who had been forced into a life he had never wanted by a father who was an alcoholic who died, leaving him with a debt-ridden ranch and a much younger sister to raise. Cam was forced to give up any chance of a dream to be a rancher until one day, he was finally free. Only, what did freedom look like?

And that was when he met Molly Brennan, a fiery single mom with whom he had a brief affair before leaving the town of Granite Junction for good, in pursuit of his future. But fate had something else in store for him, and Cam was brought back to Granite Junction to deal with his demons and his past, and to find the family he never thought he wanted or deserved.

Leather working, as Kari Lynn Dell, told me, is a critical skill on a ranch. Who else would mend the tack, the saddles, and other items? As I delved into the world of leather work, it amazed me the beauty created from leather including leather roses and a bouquet of leather! I wasn’t quite sure I could see Cam making these items but the hand tooled saddles for the ring? Sure, he could do that.

Researching leather working was so much fun. I only wish Kari Lynn Dell had lived to see the book finished. She passed away last summer from cancer and I never got to tell her how much she helped me with the book. But she was with me in the writing of this book.

The Restless Cowboy is the second book in my small town western romance series and comes out April 27, 2021. Check out the first book if you haven’t, The Wrong Cowboy, available now and you’ll be introduced to Cam Miller, and his cousin Gabe Buchanan and the feisty Emma Holt.

 

Free—from family, duty, and responsibility. 

Cam Miller has spent most of his life bound by choices others made for him. He did what had to be done to provide for his little sister, and he doesn’t regret that. But now, with her off to college, he can finally put ranching behind him and pursue the life he’s always dreamed of… far from Granite Junction. But after one night of passion comes back to haunt him, he fears his hard-won freedom is only temporary . . .

 Independent—from family, relationships, and matters of the heart.

Molly Brennan was living her best life as a rodeo trick rider until a failed marriage forced her from the arena. Now she’s perfectly fine running her own hair salon and raising her daughter solo. She doesn’t need a man, but what could it hurt to indulge in a little no-strings fun with a sexy cowboy?

When Molly realizes she’s pregnant, she pulls herself up by her bootstraps. She’s handled things this far on her own and she can do it again, although she’s finding it isn’t so easy to let Cam go. But Cam’s not the kind of man who shirks responsibility. Finding himself torn between a woman who feels like home and his need to break free, where will Cam’s heart lead him?

Order your copy today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | GooglePlay

 

 

Giveaway!

Tell me your favorite western romance and what you love about it.

Two winners will receive eBooks of The Wrong Cowboy.

Ever since Megan Ryder discovered Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught while sneaking around the “forbidden” romance section of the library one day after school, she has been voraciously devouring romance novels of all types. Now a romance author in her own right, Megan pens sexy contemporary novels all about family and hot lovin’ with the boy next door. She lives in Connecticut, spending her days as a technical writer and her spare time divided between her addiction to knitting and reading.
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32 thoughts on “Megan Ryder and The Restless Cowboy”

  1. Welcome Megan- Wow, your book sounds amazing. I loved Kari Lynn, her books were excellent & coming from a rodeo family myself, her and I became friends her through FB, she sent me an autographed book 2 months before her passing telling me thank you for all the support I gave her & all the friends I turned into KLD fans.
    I will definitely have to read your book.
    So to answer your question: I’ll have to say one of my most favorite romances happens to be a Kari Lynn Dell book.
    Tougher In Texas I fell head over heels in love with. Cole & Shawnee are my kind of people. This hit really close to home for me. As a matter of fact, Kari also included my hometown and my university in her books. Yep I happy danced around every time it came up.
    Thank you for coming today and I wish you much success on your book. I can’t wait to read it.

    • Kari was such an inspiration and an amazing person. Her knowledge and her willingness to help was so amazing. I was so sad to hear of her passing. I wish I had gotten to know her better. You’re a lucky person to have known her.

  2. Oh how I miss Kari Lynn’s ranch posts on Facebook as she shared her daily life – she was a brilliant soul and I miss her so much!

    • I feel the same way, Teresa! I loved her posts and learned so much from her. I still think about her all the time.

  3. Good morning & thanks for stopping by and sharing your books! I so loved Kari Lynn Dell and was devastated by her passing. I will always miss the books that never were… I absolutely loved Kari Lynn Dell’s Texas Rodeo Series and as always I have a hard time picking just one favorite anything! Since my bestie, Tonya Lucas chose Tougher in Texas that had bits of our hometown, I’m going to choose the first book in the series, Reckless in Texas. I loved the fact that Violet Jacob’s was the only “pick up man” in the Rodeo World! Violet and Joe’s love story was amazing and this book was the first we as readers got to know many the characters for the rest of this 6 series. I wish there were going to be more Kari Lynn Dell books!

    Your books sound awesome! You were very blessed to have Kari as a mentor!

    • Thank you so much! Yes, she was an amazing woman and I was so lucky that she was so willing to take the time to talk with me and open her world to me. I am sad that we never got more books from her. The world is a sadder place without her.

  4. I can’t say I have a favorite western because I love a lot of them. Linda Broday, Mary Connealy and Jodi Thomas just to name a few authors that write some of my favorites. I usually love the one I am reading at the time I am reading it.

  5. My very favorite is Years by LaVyrle Spencer. I am looking forward to reading yours. I have not yet read any and the story of Cam sounds really good…and different with the Leather craftsman, as it is not a topic I have come across before. Thank you for sharing with us.

    • Thank you! I loved Lavyrle Spencer’s books. Morning Glory was one of my favorites! With the leather working, I admit I had to tone down some of the actual work b/c I could geek out on it and no one wants to read that. but I had a lot of fun researching it!!!

  6. I don’t have a favorite, although my favorite stories are westerns. I enjoy stories by Mary Connealy and Karen Witemeyer. The characters come to life in their books. I’ m looking forward to reading The Restless Cowboy as I have never read a story about someone involved in leather work before.

  7. Do authors ask this just to add to their own TBR piles.

    My favorites are Last Chance by Jill Marie Landis
    Tenderfoot Bride by Cheryl St.John, anything by. Carolyn Davidson

  8. It’s hard to pick favorites in a western romance, but I loved Carolyn Brown’s ” I Love this Bar”. it has kick ass heroine and good looking and sexy cowboy hero…
    Of course there are so many great authors and books on my list. Kari Lyn Dell, Linda Lael Miller, Jane Porter, Charlene Sands, Maureen Child.. I could go on and on. THis

  9. Choosing a fav is hard… so many great books out there… love Carolyn Brown’s, Diana Palmer, and so many more…

  10. Welcome to our corner of the Western world, Megan. We’re so happy that you’re here and hope you’re enjoying your visit. Kari Lynn Dell was a good friend and I’m still saddened by the hole she left behind that can never be filled. She had no idea of the impact she had on people and romance readers. She was something very special.

  11. Megan, Thank you for your wonderful post! I don’t have a favorite but I do enjoy Western romances.

  12. Hi Megan. Thank you for the opportunity. I love the cowboys in the series of Love Comes Softly.

  13. I can’t say I have a favorite western book but Shanna Hatfield is one of my favorite authors.

  14. So many good Western Romance writers I can’t pick a favorite. Enjoyed your post. Before I met him my husband tooled and built his saddle including his brand in part of the design. Unfortunately leather work is one of his hobbies there never seems to be time enough to do. I love the smell of leather and walking into a shop whether it is a saddle shop or a shoe shop.

  15. Welcome, Megan. Thank you for the peek into your writing process. It really is a shame Kari wasn’t able to see how much she helped you.
    Skilled crafts people have been under appreciated for much too long. Like writing, it takes skill and often years to perfect their work. With some, a piece can be almost finished and one mistake ruins it or requires a lot of work to correct. Few people would or could pay for the hours it takes to finish a piece. For many it is work, but also something they truly enjoy.
    As far as a favorite western author, it is really impossible to choose just one. I have several, OK many, favorites among the Fillies here at Petticoats and Pistols. I have those I enjoy and am always looking for, and finding, more authors to enjoy. I look forward to reading your Granite Junction Series. I hope it does really well.

  16. I love all of Kari Lynn Dell’s books. I still find it hard to believe that she is gone. I will always remember the date as it was the 44th anniversary of my Mom’s death.

  17. Fearless In Texas by Kari Lynn Dell. After I read the first book in series I reached out to her and asked her when Wyatt and Melanie would have their story. She said that she hadn’t planned theirs yet. I miss her too. I’m looking forward to reading Cam’s story.

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