Contemporary Romance – Page 3 – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: A Cowboy for the Twins by Melinda Curtis

Book Description

Double the trouble…

For the bachelor cowboy!

Rodeo star Tate Oakley has loved Ellie Rowland since high school, even after she married his best friend. Now the newly single cowgirl is back in Clementine, Oklahoma. Ellie is focused on opening her own restaurant, helping her sick father with his ranch and raising her adorable twin girls. But could she also be ready to give the gun-shy Tate the second chance that he’s been looking for?

The Cowboy Academy

Book 1: A Cowboy Worth Waiting For
Book 2: A Cowboy’s Fourth of July
Book 3: A Cowboy Christmas Carol
Book 4: A Cowboy for the Twins

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Elise’s Thoughts

A Cowboy for the Twins by Melinda Curtis is a fun read. The story has two high school classmates reuniting after several years. The hero, Tate, had a crush and was in love with Ellie, but she broke his heart by choosing his best friend, Buck.

The story begins with Ellie returning to her dad’s ranch, now divorced from Buck who fooled around on her. She wants to make her dad’s sheep ranch profitable and is trying to raise her twin daughters. As the two spend time at the rodeos and helping each other, their feelings grow, but both must let go of past issues to finally have their happily ever after. They must navigate through hurt feelings, but thankfully Ellie’s twin girls and her grandmother push the relationship along as they become the humorous matchmakers.

The story is engaging, humorous with quirky and relatable characters.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Melinda Curtis: I grew up on my grandfather’s sheep ranch. To me, it was interesting to find out how these sheep ranchers survive. I wanted the heroine to come home to a sheep ranch and try to figure out how to make it work. Plus, someone I know raises llamas. This was a leap to having the hero’s mom raising alpacas, a lucrative type of wool. I like to draw on something from the past.

EC: How would you describe the hero, Tate?

MC: He is a confirmed bachelor who cannot say no. He is guarded, loyal, vulnerable, funny, and kind. He must get over his feeling of abandonment. Because of this, he needs people to like him.

EC: How would you describe the heroine, Ellie?

MC: Stubborn, detailed, caring, and sincere.

EC: What about the relationship?

MC: Ellie did not expect it to happen. Tate was hurt by her in high school and now is unsettled about his feelings for her. There is easy banter between them. She feels frustrated by him because he is putting up walls. Both do not want to acknowledge the attraction and depth of feelings between them.

EC: What about the grandma, Gigi?

MC: Outspoken, direct, she is the truth sayer, someone who tells it like it is.

EC: What was the role of Prince the horse?

MC: Tate needed to embrace the fact that the horse was a worker more than a pet. The horse was a symbol: how Tate can get ahead if he stops being so much a pleaser.

EC: Does Ellie’s twin girls also play a role?

MC: They say the truth. They like to give advice. They have an answer for everything. They are Yin and Yang. One is prissy and the other is cowboyish. Together they are a force, which I use for comic relief.

EC: Please explain the quote, “You can’t neglect your own needs and dreams for someone else’s.”

MC: Self-care is not selfish. Reaching for their dreams was self-care.

EC: Next book(s)?

MC: The next book is A Cowgirl Never Forgets, part of the Blackwell series, out in July. It is a story about two best friends that work for the rodeo. It will be a cross series with this one, the “Cowboy Academy Series.” The hero gets tossed by a bull to protect the heroine. He gets temporary amnesia, and everything goes from there.

Later in August will be another book in this series titled Rodeo Star’s Reunion. The hero, Griff, helps the high school rodeo team. His son will finally find out Griff is his father.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Feature Post and Book Review: Three Cowboys and a Puppy by Kate Pearce

Book Description

With a thriving cattle ranch and good friends all around, there’s not much Luke Nilsen would change about his life. But when his buddy Noah’s sister comes to visit, Luke begins to wonder if it’s time to change himself—and become the kind of man a sophisticated city woman like her would want. Maybe his female bestie, Bernie Cooper, who runs the local coffee shop, can use her womanly expertise and give him a man makeover . . .

Bernie thinks Luke is just fine the way he is—more than fine, even—aside from being blind to the fact that Bernie is perfect for him. But what’s a BFF to do? Perhaps it’s time for her to finally get over Luke and move on. Yet as Luke helps organize their small town’s Adopt a Shelter Dog auction event, one sweet little puppy seems to be on a mission to help Luke realize that the right woman has been right by his side all along . . .

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123462871-three-cowboys-and-a-puppy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fF1o4VAd7b&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THREE COWBOYS AND A PUPPY (Three Cowboys Book #2) by Kate Pearce is a charming friends-to-lovers contemporary cowboy romance and the second book in the Three Cowboys trilogy. You can read this as a standalone, but I enjoy all the backstory on all the characters, so I read book one, Three Cowboys and a Baby first.

Luke Nilsen is happy running the family cattle ranch with his two best friends from his time in the service. When Noah’s sister visits, Luke is captivated, but she is a city girl through and through. He asks his best friend since childhood, Bernie, to help make him more attractive to her.

Bernie Cooper has been Luke’s best friend since childhood and grew up on a neighboring ranch, but when he asks for her help to change for another woman, she has had enough. Luke has been blind to the fact that his BFF has grown into a beautiful and successful woman who has loved him for years. She feels it may be time to move on.

With the help of family, friends, and a barn full of shelter animals, can Luke figure out how to give Bernie what she has dreamed of for so long?

I really enjoyed this second book in the trilogy and am so excited for the final one. Bernie is a wonderful heroine. She is smart, loving, and caring, but also has so much depth of character with her feelings towards the father that abandoned her and the father that raised her, three successful businesses and her life-long feelings for Luke. Luke is caring and a leader, but with dealing with big financial losses on the ranch after a harsh winter and some type of PTSD from his service which leave him with several phobias, he at first tries to escape his life rather than deal with it. So many realistic problems intrude on this romance with heartbreaking and heartwarming scenes on their journey to HEA. The sex scenes are smokin’ hot and explicit, but not gratuitous. I do wish Luke’s PTSD would have been explored more. It is mentioned with some symptoms and then just mentioned as treated with on-line therapy. I would have liked a little more depth which would have made me even more empathetic to him. All the secondary characters are fully developed and I look forward to discovering what is going on with Max in the next book.

This is a sexy and sweet contemporary cowboy romance with wonderful characters.

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Author Bio

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kate Pearce was born in England in the middle of a large family of girls and quickly found that her imagination was far more interesting than real life. After acquiring a degree in history and barely escaping from the British Civil Service alive, she moved to California and then to Hawaii with her kids and her husband and set about reinventing herself as a romance writer.

She is known for both her unconventional heroes and her joy at subverting romance clichés. In her spare time she self publishes science fiction erotic romance, historical romance, and whatever else she can imagine.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.katepearce.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kate4queen

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/688826.Kate_Pearce

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Their Road To Redemption and The Amish Midwife’s Bargain by Patrice Lewis

Book Description – Their Road to Redemption

To put their pasts behind them…

Can they find forgiveness together?

Moving to Montana is the chance Thomas Kemp needs to open his own business and seek a wife—while keeping his shameful past hidden. Except the beautiful Amish widow who catches his eye wants financial independence, not marriage. When Emma Fisher’s toddler bonds with the newcomer, she believes Thomas is everything she wants in a husband. But can she accept his past…for the chance at a future together?

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Book Description – The Amish Midwife’s Bargain

An accident on a stormy night

Will change the course of their lives…

Grieving after the loss of a patient, midwife Miriam Kemp returns to her Amish roots and vows to leave her nursing life behind. But when she accidentally hits Aaron Lapp on a rain-drenched road, she offers to help the scarred and handsome—if somewhat cranky—bachelor while he recovers. Could this arrangement allow them to heal…while finding a love they never expected?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Their Road to Redemption and The Amish Midwife’s Bargain by Patrice Lewis continues the story of the Kemp siblings. Both are books about forgiveness, hope, and how choices made can influence someone’s life.

Their Road to Redemption is the second book in the series. Thomas Kemp travels to the Amish community in Montana to redeem his life. He is ashamed of his criminal activities of the past. Now working as a bookkeeper, he meets an Amish widow and single parent, Emma, who has vowed never to get married. But her toddler, Hannah, bonds with Thomas and they become attracted to each other. He questions if she will accept his past where the three can become a family.

The Amish Midwife’s Bargain has one of the Kemp siblings, a nurse, Miriam, grieving after losing a patient. She decides to visit her Amish brother, Thomas, after vowing to leave the nursing profession. But when she accidentally hits Aaron Lapp on a rain-drenched road, she offers to help him recover. He has his own scars literally, after having his face burned in a barn fire. This story will remind readers of “Beauty and the Beast.”

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story, Their Road to Redemption?

Patrice Lewis: I had a three-book series of siblings, and this is the middle sibling. This is a story of redemption and making better choices. Everything someone does from morning until sleep is a choice. I wanted to show how the hero, Thomas, had his bad choices catch up and then his good choices turned it around.

EC: How would you describe Thomas?

PL: He was a juvenile delinquent when younger, but now he is redeemed. He is broken, subdued, quiet, shy, scarred, and humble.

EC: How would you describe Emma?

PL: High-spirited, outspoken, a go-getter, confident, independent, passionate about her skill of making soap, and determined.

EC: What about the relationship between the two?

PL: Emma does not want to rely on a man for financial support. She is gun-shy since her late husband was emotionally abusive, selfish, and stubborn. Emma is determined to remain single. She and her late husband never wanted to be married, but after she became pregnant, they did marry. Both she and Thomas have secrets and hold each other at arm’s length. Yet, they do admire each other. Thomas does not think he is worthy of her.

EC: What is the role of a secondary character, Jeremy?

PL: He is another redemption. In Thomas’ backstory, he feels he must pay it forward. He sees in Jeremy himself and wants to help him to redeem his life.

EC: What about the role of Hannah, Emma’s young daughter?

PL: She is instrumental in bringing Emma and Thomas together. Hannah sees Thomas as a father figure and becomes attached to him. Emma starts thinking maybe her daughter sees something in Thomas that she doesn’t. Hannah saw his kindness.

EC: What about the second book, The Amish Midwife’s Bargain?

PL: This is about the third sibling, Miriam, a nurse. I saw this reference to a private nurse, which enabled me to have Miriam and Aaron get closer. She helped him after she accidentally hit him with her car. This led me to a “Beauty and the Beast” theme. It became effortless to write. Hands down it is the favorite story I have written so far. My mother used to be a nurse and I saw how some have painful journeys.

EC: How would you describe Aaron, the hero?

PL: He has been terribly disfigured in a barn fire. Now he wants to be left alone. His became bitter with a very scarred face. He can be stubborn, grumpy, with emotional pain, prickly, lonely, and likes animals more than people.

EC: What was the role of the scar?

PL: I wrote two ways that children responded to his disfigurement. Hannah accepted him and never saw his scars. Then there was an “English” boy who runs away from him in terror. He realized with Hannah’s reaction that some could be accepting of him and not consider him a monster, a beast.

EC: How would you describe Miriam?

PL: Determined, patient, and a helper. She responds to those in pain, emotional and physical. She was devastated and doubted herself after she lost a patient.

EC: What about the relationship between the two?

PL: Miriam feels she must get past Aaron wanting to live in solitude. She wanted to show him that his outward scars did not diminish who he was as a person. Aaron helped her to realize she lost a patient because they were beyond help. Both have scars, admire, and respect each other. Both helped each other to get back on “their horse.”

EC: Next books?

PL: A book will come out in March, titled The Amish Beekeeper’s Dilemma. It is about a woman who became a property keeper for an old man. His nephew came to take over the farm. A conflict develops around it. Another book that has no release date but is titled, Uncovering Her Amish Past. The main character, Penelope, is “English.” She is adopted and an only child. She went to an Amish settlement, staying at a Bed & Breakfast. It turns out she is a twin to an Amish woman. THANK YOU!!

Feature Post and Book Review: The Christmas Cottage by Jane Porter

Book Description

She’s ready for a charming Christmas in the English countryside…

It’s almost Christmas and Ella Roberts is ecstatic to be heading to Bakewell to spend the holidays with her sister and brother-in-law, the new Earl and Countess Sherbourne, and represent her family at the English wedding reception. Ella is looking forward to visiting the Sherbourne estate, exploring Bakewell, and experiencing a proper English Christmas. She just has two requests—that she stays in one of the historic cottages at Langley Park, and that the annoying best man not be invited to the reception.

Baird MacLauren was happy to serve as the best man to his closest friend from Trinity College’s wedding. The long weekend spent in the San Juan Islands celebrating his best friend was easy, but getting along with the bride’s mischievous sister who takes nothing seriously was an unexpected challenge. Baird thought he’d never have to see her again…until he spots Ella in Bakewell preparing for the reception.

To Ella’s dismay, her second request isn’t honored and now she’ll be spending Christmas with the most arrogant—and handsome—of Scottish men. Can they both keep their distance or will the magic of the season bring these two together?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122995195-the-christmas-cottage?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bdOLpycCLe&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE (Love at Langley Park Book #2) by Jane Porter is the perfect holiday contemporary romance that will warm your heart as you curl up on your favorite chair on a cold holiday night. It can be easily read as a standalone as it is a complete HEA, but many of the characters are from the first book and I am glad I read them in order.

Ella Roberts is on holiday from her job teaching and working on her PhD and is excited to be traveling to Sherbourne estate in England to be spending the holidays with her sister and brother-in-law. When she arrives, she finds her sister on bedrest and pregnant and the historic cottage on the estate she wanted to stay in is being occupied by the annoying best man from her sister’s wedding.

Baird MacLauren has come to Sherbourne as a favor to his best friend from Eton to help with the holiday festivities until he can get there himself. When he sees the beautiful and memorable sister-in-law, he is once again feeling an intense attraction that he refuses to give in to. When she is assigned to the same cottage, they both refuse to leave and now he must spend his holiday with the infuriating American he cannot seem to keep out of his thoughts.

With an attraction that sparks, will they keep their distance for the holidays, or will the magic of the season bring them together?

I was so happy to read this romance and completely satisfied in the end. I enjoyed the first book, Once Upon a Christmas, and was excited to see what came next. This story also has realistic characters and believable situations that pull you right in. Ella is an intelligent and feisty heroine who is a wonderful foil to the jaded attorney Baird has become. The dialogue is witty and smart. There is only one sex scene towards the end of the story, and it is very sexy, but not overly explicit. It is enjoyable to also catch up with all the occupants of Sherbourne estate and their lives. This romance has everything I look for in my HEAs and I have found this to be true with all of Jane Porter’s wonderful romances.

I highly recommend this holiday contemporary romance, the entire series, and this author.

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About the Author

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear. In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network. Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jane-porter

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: A Cowboy Christmas Carol by Melinda Curtis

Book Description

Christmas will come…

To even the most reluctant cowboy!

Rodeo roper Ryan Oakley may hate Christmas, but he still needs a miracle. Unfortunately, the only person who sells top-notch competition horses is Jo Pierce, his former high school nemesis. Now Ryan’s making the single mom a bargain: he’ll set her up with his twin brother, her longtime crush. It’s the perfect holiday plan…until the no-nonsense working cowgirl ends up lassoing his heart instead.

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Elise’s Thoughts

A Cowboy Christmas Carol by Melinda Curtis recalls the story of Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. In this case it is one of twin brothers, Ryan, wants nothing to do with the holiday. If readers want a story that will put a smile on their faces, they will want to read this because the banter between the characters is off the charts.

Ryan and Tate Oakley are twin brothers who are part of the rodeo circuit. They always come close to winning but never can achieve the big prize. Ryan feels it is because they need better horses. He decides to buy a pair of the best roping horses from the woman who was his nemesis in high school. Jo Pierce was expelled from school after an epic prank on Ryan and now she is a horse breeder and trainer while single parenting her twin sons. Because she has a huge pending balloon mortgage hanging over her head, she reluctantly names a price. As the two continue to negotiate and work to come up with a solution to both their problems, they learn the reasons for their animosity of the past.

Readers will enjoy taking a journey with the hero and heroine as their feelings begin to change, realizing that they both must let go of the past to find a future. This is a wonderful, sweet romance with delightful characters and a hilarious horse.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Melinda Curtis: I changed it to be a Christmas book. I watched on Apple TV, Spirited, played by Will Farrell. I love a Christmas Carol and played on it. I thought what is better than a grumpy cowboy who does not like Christmas. I gave him an emotional wound that happened at Christmas.

EC: How would you describe the twin brothers, Ryan versus Tate?

MC: Ryan is more protective, while Tate goes through life letting things slide off his back. Ryan sees it as Tate not taking life seriously or applying himself. Ryan cares more about Tate. Ryan is trying to have he and his brother move forward and create a good life for both.

EC: Describing Ryan?

MC: He is guarded, standoffish, cold, an introvert, and a planner. He is also stubborn and grumpy. He is referred to as ‘the not nice Oakley.’

EC: How would you describe Jo?

MC: Rough and tumble. She is also direct, prickly, obstinate, and can be grumpy. She has a father who tries to break her spirit but remains confident. Unlike Ryan, she loves Christmas. She does not want to break the bonds of family even if it is at the expense of the livelihood of her ranch.

EC: What about the relationship?

MC: She and Ryan bond because both came from divorced parents. In high school he was seen as not being very nice and she was seen as being a stubborn tomboy. The high school pranks they played on each other got out of hand, which affected their relationship. She now thinks of him as pushy. She has a crush on his twin brother Tate.

EC: The role of the twin boys?

MC: Max and Dean are the twin boys of Jo. I wanted to write them as a mirror of Ryan and Tate. One is more introverted and one out to have fun. It shows how Ryan and Tate would have turned out had they had a loving household to grow up in. Max and Tate are the extroverts who the girls gravitate too, while Ryan and Dean are the introverts and responsible.

EC: You also have a horse, Tiger, in the story?

MC: Horses are like dogs in they have different personalities. They can be troublemakers. I wanted an unusual looking horse. I modeled him after my daughter’s dog. He just wants to be with people, plays rough, and is an escape artist. Tiger was considered the companion horse, the family horse, and the ‘heart horse.’ There is a phrase in the horse community; this is my heart horse. The one I will remember always after they are gone.

EC: Next books?

MC: The next book in this series will be Tate’s book, titled, A Cowboy for the Twins, coming out March of next year. Readers will learn a lot more why he does not have a care. More of the Harmony Valley books coming up. This year I had a lot of releases.

THANK YOU!!

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Feature Post and Book Review: Once Upon a Christmas by Jane Porter

Book Description

When Cara Roberts’ family plans an extra special Christmas to support her after her broken engagement, she wants nothing to do with the holiday. After learning her brother and his wife can’t use the cottage vacation they purchased, she impulsively escapes to an English cottage in the bucolic village of Bakewell, despite having no idea where Bakewell is.

Lord Alec Sherbourne of Langley Park is no fan of Christmas, but following in his parents’ footsteps, he annually donates his impressive 19th century country home to be decorated and opened on December weekends as a community fundraiser. This year, Christmas is complicated by the arrival of a pretty American woman who booked a cottage on his estate—only the cottage is occupied. Forced to take her under his vast roof, he’s dismayed when a storm and frozen pipes keep her with him longer than he’d anticipated. Even more worrisome, her presence is making it feel like Christmas for the first time in forever.

As these two holiday housemates become friends, is there something more in the Christmas air?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60894062-once-upon-a-christmas?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Kj8Wziqceh&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS (Love at Langley Park Book #1) by Jane Porter is an enchanting and heartwarming holiday contemporary romance featuring a hero and heroine finding love over the Christmas holiday. This is the first book in the Love at Langley Park series, and it has everything I want and hope for in a holiday romance read.

Cara Roberts broke up with her fiancée and is looking for a change of scenery over the holidays. Her brother gives her an English cottage vacation at Langley Park won in a school raffle. After a sixteen-hour trip from Seattle, Cara discovers a problem with overbooking and she is given a room in the main house with the handsome, but grumpy lord of the manor.

Lord Alec Sherbourne returns to Langley Park every Christmas holiday out of duty, but not with much holiday cheer after the death of his wife eight years ago. When burst pipes and a snowstorm have Cara staying in the manor with Alec and his elderly relatives over the holiday, he discovers this American is making Langley Park feel like Christmas for the first time.

This is a wonderful holiday romance. Cara is a sunny, optimistic person who loves people. Alec is a reserved English aristocrat who believes his responsibility is to his family estate and heritage above all else. When these two are forced together over the holiday, what should not work, does. I love Cara and the fact that she is always willing to tell the truth and have difficult discussions, even when it hurts her, but she does not stay down. She is able to open Alec’s closed off heart. This is a cozy romance with no sex scenes, just kisses, and yet it is one of the most romantic love stories I have recently read. Ms. Porter’s romances always give me realistic characters, dialogue, and emotional HEAs.

I highly recommend this delightful holiday contemporary romance! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

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