Sunday, September 4, 2022

About the Book

Book: Fighting and Flirting with My Cowboy Enemy

Author: Julia Keanini

Genre: Clean and Wholesome Romance

Release date: July 26, 2022

Jackson Ashford seems to have it all. Gorgeous looks, fulfilling job, loving relationship with his family . . . and he looks amazing in a cowboy hat. He may be a bit of a grump at times, but that doesn’t deter the women of Blue Falls from vying for his attention. So when Ruby Ellison arrives at his doorstep and hates Jackson on sight, he’s confused, to say the least.

Ruby Ellison never intended to come to the tiny town of Blue Falls, Idaho, but when her best friend’s search for her birth father takes her there, Ruby follows. She comes because she’d never let Madi down, but she stays because she quickly comes to love the small town. It’s the best place she’s ever lived . . .

with one exception. Jackson Ashford. But Ruby figures she’ll just avoid him. Blue Falls is a small town but surely it’s big enough for two people to keep their distance.

But when Jackson and Ruby are both asked to coach an eight-year-old girls’ basketball team, Ruby realizes there will be no avoiding the man. She’ll just have to hate him up close rather than from afar. But as Ruby gets to know him she realizes that maybe the man she thought she knew isn’t really who Jackson is at all.

Join Ruby and Jackson as they fight and flirt their way to a happily ever after.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Julia Keanini is just a city girl living in a country world (and secretly loving it). She loves the mountains and would adore the beach, if it weren’t for all the sand and salt (wait, that is the beach?). A good book, a great song, or a huge piece of chocolate can lift her mood, but her true happiness is found in her little fam. She writes about girls and women who deal with what life throws at them and always about love, because she LOVES love.

More from Julia

I almost got run over by a cow when I was thirteen. I homeschooled during my middle school years and my parents decided I needed to do more with my free-time. So they sent me to work at a friend’s ranch. I was a typical very self-conscious teen and I had been near horses and cows probably at most five times in my life. You could see that this maybe wasn’t the best combination but my parents were sure and they promised me a juice at the end of every shift so I was game.

I started by brushing horses tails and braiding them. I was the oldest of five girls so this was totally in my wheelhouse. I also shoveled a whole bunch of manure. This wasn’t my favorite part of the job. But I quickly fell in love with horses. They were majestic if not a little stinky, but I loved them all the same.

Then came the big day. The cows needed to be branded and it was my job (who decided this I will never know) to get the cows into the chute where they would be branded. Granted I did this with four other grown men, the people who should have been doing the job, but I was out there as well. In the middle of this arena. Trying to not get killed. I managed for about five cows and then there was a mean one. I knew from the moment I saw her that she wanted me out of there. The moment she was let free she beelined it in my direction, letting me know that I didn’t stand a chance. Somewhere in the background I heard people yelling my name, telling me to move. But I froze. Did nothing. Thankfully one of those grown men saved me and I lived to tell the tale.

But even after all of that, I loved ranch life. I knew I would one day write a story about it. I saved it in my heart for a long time, this is book number forty-seven for me, but it finally came to fruition. A series about seven brothers (even though I grew up with four sisters) in the most beautiful land in Northern Idaho.

Welcome to Blue Falls Ranch

MY REVIEW

I liked the concept of the book which is an enemy to friends story. I was very curious why Ruby did not like Jackson. The author gives us little hints why Ruby feels this way but it does take awhile to find out what happened between them. We see glimpses of Ruby’s past and discover that something caused her to not trust Jackson at all. Well the author grabbed my attention and there was no way I was putting the book down.

I liked Ruby and found her to be a very strong young woman. Whatever was in her past drew her to God. There were moments that Ruby felt alone and I understood her as I started to see inside her heart. It had been hurt and she was ashamed of what had happened to her. I know that feeling so well. Even though what happened to me was not my fault, I still was ashamed. Ruby goes through a mix of emotions until the moment she started praying. What an experience she had as she felt God’s hands surround her. Ruby was broken, ashamed and lost but God gave her strength. She knew in that moment that God loved her and she was not lost anymore. The dynamics of her relationship with her dad show how hurtful a parent can be when they reject you for reasons you have no control over. With this new information shared with Jackson, would he get a chance to win Ruby over? What secret has she been hiding that affects her feelings toward Jackson?

Jackson has a close knit family and with so many brothers it is easy to see that they have each other’s backs. I think I liked Jackson because he was sincere, fair and wanted to make things right with Ruby. He had no clue what she had against him, but he did know that he was attracted to her. I loved how the author brought them together as coaches for a young girl’s basketball team. They have to learn to communicate with each other and show the basketball team that it was important to work together.

The story does have some moments that may trigger some readers. The subject deals with an attack on a woman which I thought the author handled very well. The book overall is nice with a few questionable scenes for me that seemed to focus on appearances and thoughts of characters that were a little suggestive. I am looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens between Austin and Sofi.

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