Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Hello Casa authors and romance readers! It’s been a long time since I appeared here, and I’m sorry for that. Life got a little complicated, and I missed you all, but we’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to talk about cowboys. Actually, we’re here to talk about one cowboy in particular: Shane Lockhart, the eldest of the Decker Ranch cowboys, and the last to have his story told. But let’s not just talk. Let’s spy on him at the Lazy Q Ranch, where he just escaped a disastrous dinner with Lindsey and the fiancé who doesn’t deserve her... *** Shane fled to the barn and did his best to calm the simmering rage Lindsey’s fiancé had set to boiling by brushing one of Grace’s old horses. With every stroke of the brush, he asked himself another question. How could Lindsey love such a man? Hadn’t she learned anything from her grandparents’ marriage? Relationships were based on love, and there was no way she could love that jerk. Could she? And why did it bot...

Book: How To Kiss a Cowboy Author: Joanne Kennedy Release Date: February 3, 2015 Genre: Western Romance (Contemporary) Between rodeo wins and endorsement deals, Saddle Bronc Champion Brady Caine is living a charmed life. But when he causes an accident that could end a promising barrel racer’s career, he decides that he’s done with loose women and wild rides. All he wants to do is erase his mistake by getting Suze Carlyle back in the saddle. The last person barrel racer Suze wants to see on her doorstep is the man who ended her rodeo career, but she can’t help admire Brady’s persistence. Sparks fly between them, but when her barn is sabotaged she wonders if he’s really the straight shooter he seems to be… An Excerpt Brady jammed his hat down onto his head and steadied the ladder he’d leaned against Suze’s big red barn. It wasn’t ideal roof-repairing weather, but the job needed to be done. He’d discovered mildewed hay bale and rotting wood in a corner of the lo...

I'm so excited to be back on the Casa blog - especially since I'm here to announce the release of my sixth Western romance, Cowboy Tough. I love that title, because "toughness" is a big part of the cowboy way. It's obvious that rodeo riders have to be tough. I mean, forget riding the bull; I don't even want to climb into that itty-bitty chute with him! But the best side of cowboy courage comes out not in rodeo, but in ranching. When a man goes out in the snow at ten below to tend cows before breakfast--that's tough. My characters might not be out tending cattle in the cold, but they're a pretty tough bunch. Naturally, our heroine Cat Crandall is one tough cookie. I couldn't get my girls to go out West if they weren't pretty tough to start with, and it never takes long for the West to toughen them up a little more. In Cat's case, she's brave enough to leave her boring but comfortable job in advertising for a much less stable oc...

by Joanne Kennedy   I love books. Especially old books.I love corner bookstores, boxes of books in dusty attics, and the smell of ink and paper. I love the heft of a big book in my hands, the riffling of pages, the feeling of discovery as you open to the first page, and the look of a well-stocked library. Anthony Powell was right: Books do make a room. E-books are great for both readers and writers. But as bookstores close and publishers struggle, I wish publishers would take a step back in time and capitalize on the qualities people have always loved in books—the qualities nookbooks and Kindle editions just can't replicate. There’s no point in competing with e-publishers to make books that are cheaper, less cumbersome to carry, or easier to distribute. So why not make them beautiful? Wouldn't it be great if we brought back the days when books had beautiful leather bindings and marbled endpapers; gilt decorated covers and quaint illustrations pasted on the fro...

by Joanne Kennedy As 50 Shades of Gray hovers at the top of the bestseller lists, critics and readers are all trying to figure out what the heck happened. How did this book become so big, so fast? Why did it leap into the limelight so quickly? A lot of writers—and readers—have declared the book unworthy. They pick it apart, exclaiming over every instance of bad writing, cardboard characterization, and poor plotting. It seems like blockbusters rarely follow the rules of great writing, so cataloging their faults is a game we can all play. Others pore over the words of newly minted millionaire E.L. James in an effort to find the elusive key to bestseller-dom. (Get it? Bestseller- dom . Nudge nudge, wink wink.) Every new blockbuster is another chance to figure out the answer to the ever-present question: what do readers really want? Bondage? I don’t think so. Male newscasters are having an awfully good time with the revelation that women like reading about kinky sex, but I’m no...

by Joanne Kennedy I'm so excited. Today is launch day for my latest contemporary Western romance,  Cowboy Crazy . It's about the West we all love--the West of horses, open spaces, and rodeo. Best of all, it's the West of my hottest cowboy hero yet, bull rider Lane Carrigan. Lane is an heir to the Carrigan Oil Corporation, but he's more interested in Wyoming's rough-riding past than its high-energy future. While his brother Eric runs the oil company, Lane takes care of the family's ranch. As more and more open country gets taken up with Wyoming's energy boom, Lane vows that the Carrigan Ranch will never be developed. Much to his family's dismay, he makes his opinions public on the nightly news, and it's up to Sarah Landon, the company's hot-shot publicity manager, to change his mind. Sarah's all about the future--mostly because she's running away from her past. She grew up in the tiny town of Two Shot, Wyoming, and she thinks a litt...

by Joanne Kennedy We Westerners like a challenge--but gardening in Wyoming might be too much of one for me. It's dry here, and the growing season is short. Every year spring seems to come earlier. My bulbs come up, my daffodils bloom, and then wham ! We get slammed with snow. Last year we got ten inches on May 25th. At least I've learned not to run out and buy bedding plants at the first sign of spring. It only took me a few years of tragedy to realize that you absolutely can't plant anything until the end of May. It's really tempting to break that rule when the skies are blue, the temperature is a balmy 75, and robins are frolicking in the back yard, but I've learned to resist temptation. You also have to resist the temptation to buy many of the plants that catch your eye at the garden center. Anything that needs moisture or humidity is out, and since the temperature can vary by forty degrees in a single day, you need fairly hardy varieties. Delicate plants...

by Joanne Kennedy When I was a kid, my sister and I used to hunt for four-leafed clovers in the grass. These elusive little good-luck charms never seemed to turn up when you were looking for them--but when you least expected it, you'd stumble across one by accident. That's how luck works. By definition, it's a happy accident of fate, and I always seem to stumble into good fortune when I least expect it. And while hard work, perseverence, and focus help determine our lives, it's often luck that has the most influence in leading us to our destiny. Here are four strokes of good luck that led me to the here and now: Finding my Place: I moved out West in 1992. At the time, I thought I was running away from home. In reality, I was running to home--to the place where I belonged, and the place that has defined me ever since. Finding my Hea rt: I met my husband by chance. I was running a bookstore; he was a customer. We definitely weren't looking for love, but after ...