Welcome to the

Cowboys & Christmas

Blog Tour!

A kickoff of two new holiday romances by Shanna Hatfield

and a fundraiser for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund

The Season of Giving

It’s a pleasure to be here today sharing a little about my holiday romance The Christmas Cowboy, the first book in the new Rodeo Romance series.

Tate Morgan is a good-looking, dimple-cheeked saddle bronc rider chasing his dream of earning a World Champion title.

Frequenting the small airport near his ranch in southeast Washington on his way to rodeos, he keeps seeing the same beautiful brunette. He finally works up the courage to sit down next to her one morning and strikes up a conversation as they wait for a flight to Denver.

Kenzie Beckett is a trainer for a direct sales company, traveling coast-to-coast as she works with consultants and the corporate team. Gone more than she’s home, she doesn’t have time to invest in relationships, particularly with a cowboy. Burned twice by sweet-talking men wearing Wranglers and boots, the last thing Kenzie plans to do is give a third one the chance to break her heart.

As the name of the book implies, Tate is The Christmas Cowboy. He loves everything about the holiday season from sweet treats to decking the halls. His enthusiasm for the holidays made it so much fun for me to incorporate several holiday tidbits into the story.

In The Christmas Cowboy, Tate is injured at a rodeo. While I was writing that particular scene, I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight so I reached out to the Justin Sportsmedicine Team ™. They have mobile medical centers they take to more than 125 PRCA rodeos annually. When they responded to my many questions, I was so impressed with them I wanted to do something nice in return.

That’s when I got the idea of donating part of my book sale proceeds to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The non-profit organization assists professional rodeo athletes who have sustained serious injurious and could be out of work for an extended period. I think it’s a very worthwhile cause and giving back to them is just my way of saying thanks for their help in answering my questions.

All my books are included in the promotion although the idea for the donation generated with The Christmas Cowboy.

Here’s an excerpt from the book. In this scene, Tate arrives unexpectedly at Kenzie’s apartment:

“What are you hiding?” she asked, her eyes warm and inviting when he stepped inside and nudged the door shut behind him with his boot.

“I couldn’t help but notice you’re missing a very important component of proper Christmas décor,” Tate said, sounding all knowing and official.

“What could I possibly be missing?” Kenzie asked, looking behind her and sweeping her arm toward the living room that did look particularly festive, thanks in part to Tate. “I’ve got a poinsettia, a beautiful Christmas tree, garlands, pine boughs, sugary treats, and a blazing fire. Did you bring me some chestnuts to roast? If you did, I’ve got no clue what to do with them, so you’re out of luck.”

Laughing, Tate raised his arm and held a bunch of mistletoe over their heads. “It seems to me this is the most important decoration of all.”

“Possibly,” Kenzie said, reaching out and looping her arms around Tate’s neck, pulling his head down to hers. Teasing and gentle at first, their kiss soon gained momentum until he dropped the mistletoe on the table near the door and she pressed as close against him as his thick coat would allow.

***

Where to Find The Books

Start the Rodeo Romance Series with The Christmas Cowboy.

Kindle | Paperback | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Audible

Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund®

Now through Dec. 24, I’ll donate 10 percent of the net proceeds from all my book sales to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The JCCF is a non-profit organization that assists rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries and are unable to work for an extended period.

You’re Invited to PARTY!

You’re invited to join in the online Cowboys & Christmas Facebook Party Thursday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PST). Drop in anytime during those four hours to enter to win great prizes, chat with guest authors, and more! Here’s the link to the party: http://tinyurl.com/cowboychristmasparty

The third book in the Hardman Holidays sweet Victorian romance series releases that day! The Christmas Calamity takes readers back to Hardman just in time for the holiday season. Preorders are available now for just $1.99 on Kindle. You can reserve your copy here: http://amzn.com/B00OGOO994

In addition, the first book in the Hardman Holidays series, The Christmas Bargain, will be available free that day, as well!

Enter to Win Prizes!

To enter the drawing for an Amazon gift card, autographed books, chocolates, original western artwork, and more fun goodies, fill out this form.

http://tinyurl.com/cowboychristmasprizes

About Shanna Hatfield

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a bestselling author of sweet romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Romance Writers of America.

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple

Shanna loves to hear from readers! Follow her online:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter

Today’s book review is for Azuri Fae by India Drummond, and it’s the second book in the Caledonia Fae Series. If you are interested, you can read my review of Blood Faerie, the first book in the series.

Although both of these books follow the adventures of a female fae and a human druid, they are both stand alone stories and don’t end on a cliffhanger. If you read them, you are not committing to the entire series, which consists of six novels.

I’ll start with the pros: It’s a solid story, kept me interested, and I like how it does not force me to have to read all six books. This novel continues to establish the relationship between the fae and human. However, it’s a completely different adventure than the last novel, and it ended solidly. I also love the covers in the series.

Now for the cons: We get to see a glimpse of the magical fea realm, but there is not much imagery in the writing. I didn’t really get to picture a beautiful and magical place, as the author left a lot of that out of the story. This is a personal opinion, but I also don’t like how sex is a big thing for the plot–and not for romance or building a relationship. The plot is more focused on the action, and the romance is more of a background thing and is very weak. As with a lot of books when it comes to fae, they are not monogamous beings, and they don’t really do romance. However, sex is important to the plot of this story. Although I’m thankful the author did not describe any of the scenes and give me major visuals, I still did not enjoy reading about the strong sexual situations involving a crowd. I’ll just say that I can’t relate, it’s not what I’m into, and not what I want to read about. I want a magical realm I can deeply visualize, and I want the main characters to be deeper.

I give this novel three stars. I enjoyed the story and think the author does a great job when it comes to writing action and adventure, but I won’t be continuing the series.

Here’s the eReader review I mentioned in my recent post titled Why Kindle Paperwhites are the Perfect Gifts for Children–Better than iPads. Hope you enjoy.

Today’s review is for Blood Faerie, written by India Drummond. It’s the first book in the Caledonia Fae Series, which consists of six novels. Each book in the series is a story within itself, so if you read this one, you are not committing to the entire series.

The main characters in this series are a female fae exiled from her homeland and a human police detective. The setting of the story is Perth, Scotland, where a series of grizzly murders take place, and the two of them search for the killer.

I give this read four stars. It is well written, and it kept me turning the pages on my Kindle. In fact, I liked it enough to buy and read the second one in the series. I enjoyed the characters, and the plot was solid. This one is not really a romance, as its main focus is to stop the killings and the mystery surrounding them.

We don’t get to see much of the magical realm. However, the author did a great job in letting us glimpse the magic within the fae themselves, and it’s very much a part of the story.

As for a clean rating, I can’t give it one, and it won’t be added to my list of clean reads–especially after reading the second one. I can say that this novel does not contain any sex scenes. However, it does have a scene where the female fae completely strips down, and the man lusts after her. There’s also some explicit cursing.