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Cowboys, Rodeo, & a Stray Dog

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I have to confess that I panicked last year when my publisher Jane Porter asked me to move from River’s Edge, my little town on the Ohio River to Marietta, Montana. I mean, holy schnikeys! Except for flyovers and the very urban Bay Area of San Francisco to visit our kids, I’d never been west of Mississippi, and now I was supposed to write in the mountains of Montana? About cowboys? And rodeos and ranches? Yikes!

To be honest, the only things I had going for me as I headed into this new writing territory was a love of and experience with horses, the fact that I’d read a lot of Tule Publishing’s Montana Born books, and a deep respect for Jane and the team’s marketing expertise. They’d never steered me wrong yet, so I took a deep breath and dove in. I even took a trip to Big Sky, Montana, in July with my pal, mystery writer Carol Light, just to get a feel for the setting. Wow, was that ever grand!

I was grateful that I was starting my Montana Born journey with three other romance authors, all of whom already wrote cowboys and Montana and ranches and rodeo. Our 4-book, 4-author series, Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys released one book a week throughout September of 2025. And we needed a theme that would run through the entire series—something that tied all the books together. Someone said, how about a stray dog? That was fine with me, so our little thieving pup first appears in Jeannie Watt’s Unforgettable Cowboy, turns up again in Nicole Flockton’s Headstrong Cowboy, and in Sinclair Jayne’s Rogue Cowboy. Each time, the little trickster is stealing something … and then disappearing. He is a sheltie/border collie mix and cute as can be! Check him out here.

Then my turn came. Because I am the last book in the series, I got to decide what would happen to the little dog we’d named Rascal—because he truly was! Husband and Son both said words to the effect of you can’t kill off the dog. Like I would ever do such a thing! I’ll grant you I’m more a cat person than a dog lover, but surely Rascal needed a happily-ever-after just like all our cowboys and their ladies. Sorry, I’m not going to tell you where that poor critter ended up. You’ll have to read the whole series, ending with my Forever Cowboy to find out. Just trust me … fairy tale ending are my specialty.

Hope y’all enjoy all four books in the Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys series—we sure had fun writing them! And here’s the best part: I have three more Montana Born stories coming up here in 2026! I got into the cowboy thing so much that I created my own Montana world—Juniper Falls Ranch, so although  Forever Cowboy may be book 4 in the Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys series; it’s Book 1 in the Juniper Falls Ranch series. Book 2, The Cowboy’s Comeback, released January 30, 2026. Book 3, Help Wanted, Cowboy releases July 7, 2026, and book 4, The Rancher’s Christmas Wife, which I’m currently writing, releases in November! And you know what else? I’m havin’ the time of my life in Montana! Come join me!

To whet your appetite for my Juniper Fall Ranch cowboys, how about we do a little giveaway? Just tell me below if you like to see pets–dogs, cats, parrots, hamsters, rabbits, really any kind of pet–in your cowboy stories? I’ll give away two e-book copies of Forever Cowboy to two lucky commenters!

Thanks for spending time with me today! See you next time!

Discovering a New Part of Me in My Own Story

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I’m celebrating this weeks, my P&P friends. The Cowboy’s Comeback, Book 2 in my Juniper Falls Ranch series released this past Thursday and wow, I’m just over the moon about how much readers are loving Cassie and Bo’s story.

This one was a little bit of a departure for me—I’ve never used the enemies-to-lovers trope before. Mostly, I think because I really hate confrontation. I mean seriously hate it. I’ll go out of my way to avoid a confrontation in my real life, so writing a story based on one was a little uncomfortable.

My heroine, Cassie Franklin, has no qualms about saying exactly how she feels. A journalist and World Champion barrel racer, she’s had to make her own way for most of her career. She faces life head on. When horse trainer Bo Kennedy’s accusations destroy their relationship and they go their separate ways, the embers of her anger continue to burn for five long years. All it takes is seeing him again to stoke those embers back into flames, and she’s furious with him all over again.

The muscle in Bo’s jaw worked as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, Cassie, it’s been five years. I’ve forgiven you. Can’t we put it all in the past and start new?”

“You forgive me?” It was the last straw after he’d practically wrenched the painful story of losing Pierre from her. “You … you …” she spluttered, too angry for words. She shoved the comb in her back pocket, clipped Storm’s lead under the mare’s chin, and unhooked the crossties. “Stick your forgiveness where the sun don’t shine, George!” She yanked on the lead and started to stalk out but stopped in a few feet, took a deep breath, and patted Storm’s neck. “Let’s walk, baby,” she said quietly. “Good girl. Let’s walk.”

As they try to work together to get her new horse ready for competition, Cassie is alternately cold as ice and yet so ticked off, she steams, so she gets really snippy to Bo. And that’s the part that I had to pull from a place inside me I didn’t know existed. Well, I knew it was down there somewhere because I can be really snippy in my head if provoked, but I can’t think of a time when I’ve brought that attitude to my real life. I’m always the peacemaker, even in an argument I win. I don’t hold a grudge and I’d almost rather cut my tongue out than say something that might make someone be mad at me. Cassie has not such compunction with Bo.

All this to say, Cassie comes at life (and Bo) with metaphorical guns a’blazin’. After a lot of years of being pretty passive, who knew I could write confrontation so convincingly? Go figure. We writers often discover new things about ourselves as we create characters, and sometimes, readers discover something new about themselves, too, when they read our stories. I like that, don’t you?

The Cowboy’s Comeback

It’s an enemies to lovers showdown between the cowboy who can’t trust and the cowgirl who won’t forgive.

Injured rodeo cowboy, Bo Kennedy, takes a job as a horse trainer at a Montana ranch. His skills training cutting horses are in high demand, but he’s holding out hope his days of competing aren’t over. Then his first client arrives, desperate for help with her mare. One problem, she’s his ex.

When World Champion barrel racer Cassie Franklin needs a new horse quickly, her last hope to rebuild her career is to switch to cutting competitions. She brings her new mare to Juniper Falls Ranch, hoping the highly hyped horse whisperer can help. She’s stunned to see Bo. They haven’t spoken in five years after he wrongly accused her of sabotaging his horse when he saw her flirting with his fiercest competitor.

Working together seems impossible, especially as the chemistry still sizzles. Will one of them finally lower their guard and admit they were wrong?

I’ve got a couple of e-books of The Cowboy’s Comeback to give away to two lucky commenters. Just tell me below if you’ve ever discovered something new about yourself that surprised you. 

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Montana!

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When Jane Porter, my publisher at Tule Publishing asked me to switch settings and write sweet, small-town romance in Marietta, Montana, I have to confess, I was more than a little apprehensive. Right off, leaving safe, familiar River’s Edge, where “everybody knew my name…” was a little sad, although I’m not sure I’m done with RE forever. Also, it was daunting to come to a setting that was already created, and by amazing writers who are way more experienced in the ways of the West and cowboys than me. Frankly, I’d never been to the West before and I knew nothing about cowboys. Oh, I’d spent lots of time in California and I’d been Oregon, but those were family and vineyard vacations. I was intrigued with the whole idea of moving to Montana, though, and joining authors I love in Marietta.

The first order of business was to read—I was already a Marietta fan, so I knew some about that little fictional town in Crawford County, Montana. With the help of my amazing editor, Sinclair Jayne, and all the great online information available at Tule, I began to know the town even better. But it occurred to me that if I was going to write more than one book in Montana, maybe I’d better go see it for myself.

I called my friend and fellow Tule author, Carol Light, and said, “Hey, wanna go to Montana?” Carol was an immediate, “You bet, when do we leave?” We picked Big Sky country because it was not too far from Bozeman (neither is Marietta), and the VRBOs there were out-of-season, so fairly reasonable. To be honest, Big Sky, the town, is a winter playground for snow skiers and snow boarders, but all around the area are ranches and not far away is Virginia City and Ennis and other towns that reeked of cowboys and Western life.

In late July, I left my local airport at 8:30 a.m.; Carol left her local airport 10:15 a.m. and we met up in the Denver Airport. Then we flew together to Bozeman–one of the cutest airports I’ve ever seen! There are bears and moose everywhere and some crazy huge bird hanging from the ceiling! The whole airport was mountain stone and cedar beams–really pretty and lodge-y (If that’s not a word, it should be). We also saw the coolest ad for a fishing outfitters that felt like the universe was telling me that moving from River’s Edge to Montana is a capital idea! Take a look!

There are 64 mountain ranges in Montana and our condo was nestled right in the middle of the Madison Range at an altitude of 7000 feet. Lone Mountain was visible from Big Sky as well as several other mountain ranges, including the Gallatin Range and the Absaroka Range, which are part of Marietta lore.

We spent two days of our week at Yellowstone National Park, which is just overwhelming and spectacular! Carol used the term “moonscape of boiling mud and geysers” to describe the Fountain Paint Pot thermal field and Old Faithful. I can’t think of a better way to say it. It was awe-inspiring and this little Midwestern gal couldn’t stop saying, “Wow!” What a spectacular experience that national park was!

When we drove west to Virginia City the first thing I noticed was that the landscape was so very different from Big Sky. In Big Sky, it’s all huge mountains and pines. As we headed west, the terrain changed to rolling hills and pastures and wheat and hayfields. Junipers dotted the landscape and there were lots of ranches and fences and sagebrush. I absorbed it all–even-saw a ranch that reminded me of what I imagined Del Foster’s ranch to be–and oh, the cows and horses! Virginia City and Ennis were real Old West towns and just steeped in history!

I think the most important thing that we discovered there is how big the world is–Big Sky indeed! The mountains overwhelmed us every time we went outside even though we were only halfway up. We loved tramping to Ousel Falls, so I would have a picture in my head (and on my phone) of what I imagined Juniper Falls to look like. I absorbed Montana and imagined the little town of Marietta in each place we visited. We saw enough cattle ranches and guest dude ranches that I can add some authenticity to my Juniper Falls Ranch stories. The Big Sky area wasn’t as cowboy-centric as I imagined it would be, but the vibe was definitely Western.

All in all, this move to Marietta is going to be a fun journey. I can’t wait to share my cowboy/Western romances with you! Hope y’all will come along with me to Marietta and Juniper Falls Ranch!

All My Best,

Question: Have you ever had to change course and do something entirely different? How’d it go?

Holiday Decorating in the Desert Southwest

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Decorating for the holidays in the desert Southwest can be challenging~no fluffy white stuff covering the ground and the sun shines bright and strong. In the desert when the wind blows it doesn’t whistle through bare tree limbs, it rustles palm fronds. Even though we don’t have weather that makes you want to curl up inside with a good book and cup of hot chocolate we still decorate our native landscape and get into the holiday spirit. 

    

The Ahwatukee Foothills area which is close to my neighborhood does something special every year. For one mile against the backdrop of South Mountain trees and Saguaro cactus are decorated with over a million white lights. It’s a lovely drive and one we take often during the month of December.

   

 

As far as Christmas trees go….most people choose artificial trees but some buy real evergreens. Last year I went rogue and bought a seven-foot rusted metal saguaro Christmas tree–something I’ve wanted for a long time. I have it decorated with lights and western ornaments. 

 

All across the country city zoos decorate with lights and Phoenix is no exception. It’s a tradition in our family to visit Phoenix Zoo Lights ever year. There are about 3.8 million lights and nearly 700 light sculptures at ZooLights. My favorite part is to watching the techno-synchronized music & light show that plays every half hour throughout the evening. 

 

   

 

NEW RELEASE & GIVEAWAY!

On Tuesday December 12th YEAR’S at the GRAFF releases! This is book #3 in the all-new Holiday at the Graff series from Tule Publishing and Montana Born books.

 

Back cover blurb:

After being banned from celebrating the holidays with his stepfamily, San Diego businessman Lucas Kendrick arrives in Marietta, Montana, in time to attend the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Graff Hotel. The rodeo-theme party isn’t his style but he’s drawn to the pretty cowgirl running the dice table. When the clock strikes midnight and they ring in the New Year with a kiss, Lucas almost forgets he’s in Marietta on business and not pleasure. He believes he’s found the perfect property for his prized client. There’s just one problem—the pretty cowgirl has her sights set on the same piece of real estate.

Now that single mom Ava Moore has earned a business degree, she wants to help other struggling women get back on their feet by opening a co-op on Main Street. The last thing she expects is competition from the handsome city slicker whose New Year’s kiss she hasn’t been able to forget. Lucas isn’t only stealing Ava’s heart he’s bonding with her daughter. Can Ava convince Lucas that the best business deals are made with the heart and not money?

 

For a chance to win a digital copy of New Year’s at the Graff share your favorite holiday tradition!

***I’ll announce the winner on Sunday, December 10th in the comment section of this blog post and then send the winner their digital copy when the book releases on Tuesday! Be sure to check back here to see if you won!

 

Until Next Time…Happy Trails!

 

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