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?
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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 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.
Interview with the Author
- What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
Last summer, my husband and I vacationed in Kallispell, Montana, all because one of my favorite western authors, Valerie Comer, mentioned it and Jewel Lake in two of her contemporary romance series. We enjoyed driving around Flat Head Lake and learning about it on a boat ride too. On the drive, we discovered the large number of cherry orchards in that area. Don’t be surprised if some of these fun details end up in a later novel in the Vargas Ranch Series as I’m planning on one book splitting time between Arizona and Montana.
- How do you select the names of your characters?
In this series, because the brand dV8 has dual meanings (initials of each of the sons and it ties to their family motto), I searched through my handy notebook of cowboy names and plucked out all the names beginning with a “D”. Then I thought about the personalities of each brother and picked the name I felt best matched their personality.
- What was hard about writing this novel?
In Falling for a Shy Cowboy, Dylan has a speech impediment which causes him to limit his verbal communication with women. It’s difficult for him to share his deep, rich personality and heart. So, I came up with a way to allow him to get to know the secret love of his life better through the written word—online dating. Only she doesn’t know it’s him! The most challenging part was keeping track of what the “in-person” Dylan knew and what the online Dylan (Wrangler92) knew. And letting him stress about which version of himself knew what.
- What comes first, the plot or characters?
I usually start with a high-level map of the series including the setting and the unifying theme for the series. Then I pick how one main character from each book relates to other, often family members. For the Vargas Ranch Series, I developed the guest ranch & resort, then chose five brothers and started mapping each of their characters. Since the unifying theme is their family motto, and I chose to tie their ranch brand to the motto, I wanted all their names to start with a “D”. After I fleshed out a few details about each brother, their relationships with each other, and their role in the family ranch, I thought through what type of woman would pique their interest and I developed the women characters. All that happens before the outline for any book in the series. Each character influences the outline of their story, so the outline comes next. For me, I rarely change the characters and more often change an outline or plot to better fit the character than the other way around.
- What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Growing up, I used to spend hours drawing and painting landscape scenes. I tried to pick up painting again about ten years ago and did it for about a year consistently. Then for our 24th anniversary, my husband asked me how I wanted to celebrate. I convinced him to take me to one of those wine and paint places. We had a blast. Or at least I did. He was a good sport. And I ended up with two lovely versions of a sunset / moonrise picture for my “fun” living room.
Blog Stops
Locks, Hooks and Books, October 25
Stories By Gina, October 26 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 26
Devoted To Hope, October 27
For the Love of Literature, October 28 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, October 28
She Lives To Read, October 29
Tell Tale Book Reviews, October 30 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 31
Labor Not in Vain, November 1
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, November 2 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, November 3
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, November 4 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 5
Artistic Nobody, November 6 (Author Interview)
Simple Harvest Reads, November 7
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Karen is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card and a signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.