About the Book

Book: Falling for a Smart Cowboy (Vargas Ranch Book 4)

Author: Karen Baney

Genre: Contemporary Christian Cowboy Romance

Release date: June 25, 2024

She’s on a mission to bring orphaned children hope. He wants off his family’s ranch for good. Will they survive his shocking family secrets?

Devon Vargas longs to be more than just a cowboy. After finishing his teaching degree, he plans to leave his family’s guest ranch for good. Between his growing affection for the new children’s program director and a huge family secret revealed, he second guesses everything about his life.

Raina Crawford lost her parents at a young age. Through the grace of God, she survived life in the foster system. She desperately wants to bring children the life-changing faith that gave her hope. The job at Vargas Ranch was supposed to be a steppingstone. Except she’s losing her heart to the smart, ambitious cowboy bent on leaving his family’s ranch—and her—behind.

Will Raina finally find the family she’s always wanted? Will family secrets unravel his new dreams? Will those same secrets tear them apart?

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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 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

Big Family Drama

I love writing big family drama in my novels! It provides such great material for the relationship between characters.

Part of this comes from my family’s drama. My mom was the youngest of eight kids, making my extended family huge. I remember going to the Independence Day family reunions as a kid. It was both fun and a little intimidating. Most of my cousins were adults by the time I was a tweener. So, my siblings and I tended to hangout with my “oops!” cousin since we were only a few years apart.

And boy, did we have drama! There was the aunt who seemed to be offended and left early year. Someone always ended up injured, but only once do I remember an ambulance showing up. There were cliques and turf wars and so much more.

As an adult, though I’ve rarely been able to fly clear across the country to see my extended family, the drama of my husband’s big family serves as inspiration too. He is the oldest of five kids. My first introduction to his large family was at his sister’s wedding. I had no idea what I was getting into. We’d only been dating for about six weeks. Everyone kept pushing me to join the family photos, and I kept trying to gracefully get out of the pictures. I didn’t want him to regret having me in the pictures if we broke up. In the end, my hubby and I outlasted that marriage.

In Falling for a Smart Cowboy, I introduce a new character to the series, Raina Crawford. She was orphaned as a young girl and has longed for a forever family, even into adulthood. Devon Vargas, the fourth out of five sons, learns a family secret that makes him want to avoid his large family. I loved writing this juxtaposition between Raina and Devon over family relationships. It helps each of them see a new perspective. It was also fun writing new friendships for Raina—even if all the friendships tied to Devon’s family. My experience with both my family and being a newbie to my husband’s family provided inspiration for both Raina’s and Devon’s characters.

If you like big family drama, the Vargas Ranch Series provides it in spades. Enjoy!

MY REVIEW

I have read several books in this series and I have grown to love this family. They are rooted in faith that shows in each of their children. I adored the parents because God is first in their lives. Their love for their children is evident in everything they say or do. When a secret is exposed will it tear the family apart?

Raina had my heart right away. She has never felt loved in her entire life and this hurt carries on into relationships. She is making a fresh start as she accepts the position that will have her overseeing the children’s programs at a ranch. She is excited to teach them about God and show them unconditional love. Her strong desire to help these precious children may help her get over her past.

Devon is happy to be back at his family’s ranch helping out. He has plans to go overseas on a missions trip and then come back home to teach at a school. Hiring Raina to take his position seems like a good fit. I kept wondering why his mother kept putting off giving him his passport. He desperately needs it since he leaves in a few weeks.

The relationship between Raina and Devon is a slow build. I like how the author doesn’t rush them into anything but allows them to get to know each other as friends first. As they start to have feelings for each other Raina finds herself a little jealous of how close Devon and his family are. She has never felt that and prays that someday she will have a family of her own.

Devon prepares to leave on his mission trip and finds a copy of his birth certificate . What he discovers makes him angry and lost at the same time. Why was this secret never told to him? Who is he really? This part broke my heart as I felt his pain.

The story illustrates how important family is and that secrets can hurt others. Raina must find a way to forgive her parents for leaving her and allow God to heal that little girl who grieves for parents. Beautiful story that made me emotional several times.

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