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 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!

Interview with Karen

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

My very first book was a class assignment in the eighth grade. I wrote a story about a young woman who lost her dad around the time she started her adult life. I drew all the pictures for the cover and inside the book, too. I remember receiving a 100% on it. Over the years since eighth grade, I’ve dabbled in writing Bible studies and devotionals. In 2010, I got serious about writing and started with a few historical fiction series. The Vargas Ranch Series, is my second contemporary romance series.

How do you create your main characters?

When I map out a new series, I typically create all the main characters for the entire series. I love including them as minor characters in the other books in the series. So, I sit down with my character builder worksheet and figure out personalities, motivations, main shaping events, and more. In series where I create big families, like the Vargas Ranch Series, I also decide how they feel about their place and role in the family.

For Devon Vargas’s character, I really wanted to mix things up. So, from the beginning of the series, I planned a major family secret to be revealed that would throw Devon off kilter. Everything he thought he knew gets turned upside down. I’m so excited for everyone to read it!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating this book?

In Falling for a Smart Cowboy, Devon Vargas goes on a mission trip to Guatemala. I based the mission trip on an organization that is near and dear to me: Kidz At Heart (https://www.kidzatheart.org/). I knew the founders through my church. I really enjoyed learning just how big they have grown and how many church leaders they’ve equipped to be both short-term and long-term missionaries specifically to reach kids. They are worldwide and have made a huge impact. So, it is my honor to share more about them with my readers.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

Falling for a Smart Cowboy is my 25^th novel. The 26^th just released earlier this month. I feel like sharing my favorite is kinda like a parent claiming they like they have a favorite child. What would the others think if they found out?

I think my favorite is The Roaming Adventurer, Book 2 in my Colter Sons historical Christian romance. I loved Boone Colter’s character and developing the perfect match for him. He’s a wild, somewhat overconfident man who is a surveyor in the 1890s. It was a tough job that took a resilient and brave man. Throw a woman disguised as a man into the mix and… Well, I don’t want to spoil the book.

That said, I read each of my books around 30 or so times before they get published, so I really like them all. It’s also the reason I try to think of plot lines, characters, or some aspect that is unexpected or I haven’t read before. I like to keep them interesting.

Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

The best place is to sign up for my newsletter. I share more about my upcoming books, including early sneak peeks of scenes, more about me, promotions, and new release info. I’m also on many social media platforms. Readers can also follow me on Goodreads, BookBub, and more. My website is: www.karenbaney.com.

Thanks so much for hosting me today!

Blog Stops

Stories By Gina, November 20 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, November 21

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 22

Guild Master, November 23 (Author Interview)

Holly’s Book Corner, November 23

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 24

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 25

Denise L. Barela, November 26 (Author Interview)

Devoted To Hope, November 27

Artistic Nobody, November 28 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Simple Harvest Reads, November 29

For Him and My Family, November 30

Fiction Book Lover, December 1 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 1

Labor Not in Vain, December 2

Back Porch Reads, December 3 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Karen is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift 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.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54103