Monday, November 11, 2024

About the Book

Book: Falling for a Shy Cowboy (Vargas Ranch Book 2)

Author: Karen Baney

Genre: Contemporary Christian Cowboy Romance

Release date: December 19, 2023

She’s a single mom with a disabled son. He’s been in love with her since high school. Will this shy cowboy finally win her heart?

Dylan Vargas is too shy for his own good. While he and his best friend Adan work with the horses on his family’s ranch near Wickenburg, Arizona, Adan signs him up for an online dating service. Dylan begrudgingly looks through the profiles. One face stands out above the others—that of his childhood crush. There’s only one impossible problem—she is Adan’s little sister.

Brisa Franco moves home to Wickenburg after a tragic car accident left her four-year-old son disabled. As she starts a new job in her hometown, she never expects to help her brother’s best friend in his quest to overcome a speech impediment.

Will Dylan steal her heart as she helps him learn how to release his anxiety? Will Brisa learn to trust him and let go of her deeply engrained fears from her past relationship?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Karen Baney is passionate about writing stories full of flawed characters. She enjoys weaving together stories of second chances, redemption, and overcoming personal trials. As a transplant to Arizona, she loves researching the state’s history and finding ways to seamlessly incorporate real history and real settings into her novels. In addition to writing and speaking, Karen works as a Software Development Manager for a Christian ministry.

Her faith plays an important role both in her life and in her writing. Karen and her husband, Jim, make their home in Gilbert, Arizona, with their two dogs, Bella and Daisy. Both Jim and Karen are active at Rock Point Church in Queen Creek, Arizona.

More from Karen

You’ve Got Mail?

As an author, sometimes you write something so identifiable to readers that you (the author) completely miss the obvious. Yeah, I did that in Falling for a Shy Cowboy.

Since Dylan Vargas, our hero, deals with a speech impediment, I thought a great way to help him connect with his one true love would be through a dating app—one where he keeps avoiding meeting in person. His best friend, Adan, signed him up for the dating app with a profile picture that obscures part of his face. When Dylan looked through the app, he finds Adan’s sister Brisa on the app. Imagine his excitement that his long-term crush was available!

So, Dylan responds to Brisa’s profile as Wrangler92. He’s much more comfortable pouring out his heart through messages in the dating app than fighting with his speech impediment in person. She’s keeping a few secrets of her own through their interactions on the app, creating tension.

And viola! The You’ve-Got-Mail “trope” successfully applied.

If only I had realized that’s what I’d done. It wasn’t until one reviewer wrote, “Who doesn’t like a little You’ve Got Mail in a cowboy romance?”

This is where I face-palmed, laughed out loud, and finally realized my shy cowboy and his one true love are clearly written like the old Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks movie You’ve Got Mail.

Anyway, I will be forever grateful to Jerah A. for pointing out the obvious connection. I hope you enjoy my take on a shy cowboy who woos a single mom a la You’ve Got Mail style.

MY REVIEW

I liked this story for so many reason. First I loved Dylan and how shy he is. He has tried all his life to overcome stuttering but as he grew up it continues especially when he gets nervous. Being a worker at his family’s ranch, he encounters people who come out for riding lessons. I felt so bad for him when he tried to help a group but gets frustrated when he struggles to talk. Maybe it’s time he gets some help to overcome this problem that affects his speech. Having this fear of being judged all his life has given him a lack of confidence. I laughed when his friend has this great plan to help him overcome his shyness around women.

Brisa is a good character who finds herself working at the ranch that Dylan’s family runs. Thanks to her brother who works there she is offered a job that will give her a fresh start. I couldn’t wait to find out her back story and how her sweet four year old ended up in a wheelchair. There is also history between her and Dylan which will play a big part in this heartwarming story.

The story is emotional at times where we see our two main characters overcoming their past. They are vulnerable yet ready to be set free from things that have held them back. Guilt, insecurity and finding faith again brings this story a much deserved five star rating.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.