Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Unbridled Cowboy and The Lost and Found Girl by Maisey Yates

Elise’s Thoughts

Unbridled Cowboy and The Lost and Found Girl by Maisey Yates are filled with an emotional punch, heartbreak, warmth, and overcoming the past.  With Unbridled Cowboy Yates shows why she is the champion writer of cowboys with no one doing it better. 

Unbridled Cowboy begins with a tradition done years ago whether in the Old West or with religious sects, a set-up marriage.  Sawyer Garrett has a huge ranch and is financially well off. Because of being hurt in the past he keeps his emotions closed off.  Yet, he needs a baby mama after a one-night stand has him becoming a father, a single dad.  Intent on making sure his baby has a mother he puts out an ad for a mother online. Evelyn Moore accepts it after having her life turned upside down, finding her fiancé cheating with her best friend. She instantly falls in love with baby June Bug and her attraction for Sawyer is off the charts.  Now she and Sawyer must navigate through their feelings for each other to have a secure and happy marriage.

The Lost and Found Girl release date was delayed until July 26^th due to a paper shortage.  But once readers get a hold of this book, they will not put it down.  This story of sisterhood has at its center a mystery with a devastating secret.  At the core of the mystery is Ruby McKee who was found abandoned on a bridge as a newborn baby.  She has become the official mascot of Pear Blossom, Oregon, a symbol of hope in the wake of a devastating loss after a sixteen-year-old went missing years earlier. Now all sisters are struggling to find their place in life: Ruby is struggling to understand her life; Dahlia is determined to learn the story behind Ruby’s abandonment; Marianne, who seemed to have the perfect life, has her marriage going through a rough patch; and Lydia is trying to raise the children after her husband died from ALS six months earlier, but is also realizing that it was his best friend who she is really attracted to.

Both books will have readers going through a range of emotions with the characters.  They will laugh with them, cry with them, and take the emotional journey of releasing all those feelings.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: You like grandmas with the name June?

Maisey Yates:  I wanted to use the name June Bug, so I thought ‘oh well’ I have another grandma with the name June.  What are you going to do? The father started to call his infant daughter Bug.  I thought it was cute and reluctantly affectionate.

EC:  How would you describe Sawyer in the book Unbridled Cowboy?

MY:  Loyal, dedicated, responsible, and sure of himself. His deepest self is sentimental, but he doesn’t want to be.  What he shows the world is deeply unemotional.  

EC:  Abandonment plays a role in this story?

MY: He has abandonment issues which has caused him to hide what he wants the most.  He does not want to be hurt again and feels his emotions betrayed him.  His issues have caused him to be more cynical, hard-headed, stubborn, and stoic. He will not let his feelings get in the way and tries to keep everything under his control.  He always wants to do the right thing.  He would never abandon Evelyn, his siblings, his ranch, and his infant daughter.

EC:  The idea of a mail-order-bride?

MY:  Think of the way people date on-line today. They just use an algorithm.  A mail-order-bride is not far from the way people do things now. Sawyer knows exactly what he wants, and this is how he goes about getting it.

EC:  How would you describe Evelyn?

MY: She is type A: direct, organized, overachieving, and controlling.  She had to have everything fall apart simultaneously to make it believable that she would give everything up.  She wants to get into something simple and traditional. She sees it as an opportunity to get what she wants without getting hurt again. Evelyn wants to run away and change her life from a city gal to a country gal.

EC:  What about the relationship?

MY:  They never separated in this story. They were committed to never splitting up where divorce is not on the table. Even though they had an instant connection that neither counted on, after they got together in an unorthodox way, they skipped ahead to a more mature relationship. They contended with the difficult issues instead of running from them. I did not have them break-up and then get back together.  Each were extremely honest and showed respect for each other’s boundaries.

EC: The role of June Bug?

MY:  Without her Sawyer never would have to challenge himself.  She is initially the glue that brings them together and holds them together.

EC:  Both had mom problems?

MY:  Evelyn can get a resolution with her mom and say how she feels, while Sawyer never was able to do it.  I think it is how to live your own life and not the life your parents wanted you to have. Sawyer and Evelyn cannot fall back on their mothers as an excuse as to why they are not functional. They must move forward and stop living in the past and blaming their mothers.

EC:  Sawyer versus her ex-boyfriend Andrew?

MY: Sawyer had his own integrity, driven by his concepts of honesty, trustworthy, and loyalty. He is so straight up. Andrew is not honest with himself, much less Evelyn.  He hurts her because he is so beholden to this idea of society, a perfect life that looks good on paper. He is unable to separate what his parents want for him. He has not grown up and is not one of my heroes.  Andrew is self-centered and passive aggressive.

EC:  There is a quote about grief?

MY:  You must be referring to this quote, “I’m sad because she’s not here. And nothing will bring her back.  She was the single most important person in my life… I never loved anybody as much as I loved her.”  This is the universal experience of loss where we cannot speak to our loved ones physically anymore. It is OK to be sad.  Sawyer must accept that the loss of his grandma will make him sad.  Even though someone moves forward an event can come up that will make someone sad or melancholy.

EC:  Now the other book, The Lost and Found Girl?

MY:  It was inspired by something that happened where I live.  I am always fascinated by small towns where certain people are considered good or important even though there is not a great reason for it.  Small towns can create an interesting setting because of preconceived ideas and secrets. The assumptions people make can be used in writing a story.

EC:  How would you compare the sisters in your other book, The Lost and Found Girl?

MY:  

Ruby:  is the optimist, spoiled, the youngest.  She is told she is a miracle and a town  mascot, a symbol.  She tries to be a fixer.  The cheerfulness is not her own.  Ruby takes a journey in the book and must figure out, can she be complicated.  Because she was adopted she feels she cannot be a burden. Ruby is a survivor.

Dahlia:  the baby before Ruby. She is the rebel of that family, cynical. She cares about things really deeply.  She is the person that pretends she doesn’t care even though she does a lot.  As a writer she is a bit of an introvert.  Writers spend a lot of time by themselves.

Marianne:  Trying to get over what happened to her.  She is very much in the present. She is dramatic, emotional, and feels she is losing touch with the perfect world she made for herself.    

Lydia:  The oldest child, the most together. More of a realist and practical. She bottles things up and deals with it. Almost the direct opposite of Marianne. She feels she must be more together because her sisters are not.

EC:  What about all the relationships?

MY:

Ruby and Nathan:  I think the relationship would be too complicated for a romance novel since he is so much older than her. I like this romance and how they connected. Together they found out who they are instead of being the person everybody told them they had to be.

Dahlia and Carter: They are sweet together. He was her high school fantasy.

Lydia and Chase:  They had an edge since he always loved her but could not have her.  It is a forbidden romance since she married his best friend.

Marianne and Jackson:  He is just a good guy. She accused him of being an unfaithful husband, but he shows her he is solid.  He gave her safety and a normal life. He has shielded and protected her.

EC:  You have been known to write wonderful stories that have a happy ending?

MY:  I am not interested in bleak.  I want to give people hope.  The world is bleak and dark, but I do not want to write books that says if something terrible happens to you then you can never have something good happen. I do not want to break the trust with my readers that do expect a happy ending.  I like to write women’s fiction where the heroines have been through a lot, but it does not mean they cannot be loved and end up with a hero.  If there is a dark subject matter romance is needed. 

EC:  Next books?

MY:  The next “Four Corner Series” book is titled Merry Christmas Cowboy, out in October.  It is Wolf, Sawyer’s, story.  It goes back to Copper Ridge.  It is my second-generation story. Wolf stays out at a ranch there and meets Violet.

The next in this series is Elsie and Hunter’s story, out in February 2023.  It is titled Cowboy Wild, a classic best friend little sister story. Elsie is a similar heroine to Kate Garrett.

THANK YOU!!

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