I Once Was A Cowboy

This book explores wanderlust, the price of gritty, hard work and the simple beauty of working outdoors and with horses. Hagen pulls readers into his poignant realisation of his dreams of being a cowboy, at a time when the frontiers of BC and the West were still in their infancy and the rodeo was an extension of the daily life of the cowhand. This portrait of a Canadian cowboy is a window into the one of the last of the living ranch hands in this country. The myth of the cowboy is revealed by a real person who lived, struggled and helped to build the West one herd, one fence, one horse at a time.

Gaunt and hollow-eyed, Jack had passed the limits of his endurance. There, lost in a fierce storm on a mountain far from home, for the second time since Utah had died, he prayed. His prayer was one of desperation- God, do what you will with me, but please get this horse off the mountain His voice held no power though, and the howling of the winds rose to a shriek, blowing his words back in his face, as though the very mountains themselves took voice in the elements to taunt and mock him. Once There Was a Cowboy gives us all pause to reconsider the brutal storms of our own lives and to take heart that perhaps the very God of the universe loves us enough to destroy the very things we cherish that we might come to Him- ravaged but cleansed, broken but uncompromised. Sifted.

He's got a way with horses...and with women... Nate Shawcross is perfectly content to spend his days training wild horses, but after his ambitious ex-girlfriend distributes brochures behind his back, horse lovers from all over the country are arriving at the ranch expecting a three-week workshop. When a beautiful greenhorn unexpectedly shows up for a seminar from the famous "Horse Whisperer" of Wyoming, all Nate wants to do is send her packing—until an impending foreclosure makes him willing to do anything to save his horses. Graduate student and East Coast animal rights activist Charlie Banks is skeptical that a rough and tumble cowboy can teach her anything about animal behavior, but as she watches Nate work, the horse isn't the only one who succumbs to the handsome cowboy's "whispering." Could it be that after all this time Nate has finally found the one woman who can tame his wild heart? Praise for One Fine Cowboy: "An entertaining and humorous romance." —Booklist starred review "Refreshing and fun from the first page to the last. Beautifully done!" —Fresh Fiction "Tender, yet spicy... Joanne Kennedy writes a darn good romance." —Wendy's Minding Spot "Joanne Kennedy delivers the perfect recipe for romance in One Fine Cowboy... an engaging story that will pull you in from the start. She writes characters with depth and brimming with emotion. This one is not to be missed." —Bellas Novellas

In this romantic, humorous and harrowing novel, the acclaimed author of Make Believe Love returns to the epic skies and straight roads of Broken Head, Saskatchewan, and takes us into a very modern Western. Sam McMahon can’t understand why his banker colleagues in Toronto keep calling him “cowboy,” when he prefers opera to C&W and fine wine to beer. Sam’s wife is in love with his brother Vern, who has followed the family tradition and works their parents’ farm, a mixed cattle and crop operation inherited from his grandfather, Old Sam. When his wife leaves him stranded by the side of a Saskatchewan highway, Sam is rescued by a woman, Ai Lee, in a rented Toyota. Ai is a film location scout who’s searching for the perfect cliff for legendary director James Aspen’s new film, The Last Cowboy. Thirty years previously, Old Sam dreams of better days in an older West, mending fences, riding horses, raising cattle. To save young Sam, then 10 years old, from what he considers the malaise of the late-20th century, Old Sam drags him off into a blizzard on horseback. His goal is to save a lost cow and her new calf, which may or may not exist. Sam’s parents fear he’ll only manage to kill his grandson. When, only days later, the old cowboy wanders out of doors without his parka in the freezing cold, muttering about a lost boy, he’s rescued by a Native couple out in a “borrowed” car, who run afoul of the police and end up driving into their final sunset. When Ai hears their story from Sam, she thinks she’s found her perfect location. The Last Cowboy does much more than update the Western; it weaves together stories and generations and unveils, with beauty and compassion, the leap or fall that awaits us all. So I stretch back in permanent recline and do my best to travel off to a better day, a summer day back fifty years past, a few days after a big rain, so that everything was green except for the cuts in the draws where the runoff had chewed right through the grass. There was a glow to the world back then that has long since been lost. It is painfully elusive, that particular luminescence, but I sit here stubbornly trying to restore the shine of it. I begin with a sky that was as blue as the better skies now, and work my way down to the green, only a breath of a line of white dividing the earth from the heavens. -- from The Last Cowboy

An Oprah Magazine Best Romance Novel of 2020 In this brand-new series from award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon, a charming cowboy and his sleeping beauty find their modern-day happily ever after . . . With a headline spot on a hit morning show and truly mouth-watering culinary skills, chef Evie Buchanan is perched on the edge of stardom. But at an industry party, a fall lands Evie in the hospital—with no memory of who she is. Scrambling to help, Evie’s assistant contacts the only “family” Evie has left, close friends who run the luxury dude ranch in California where Evie grew up. Evie has no recollection of them—until former rodeo champion Zach Pleasant walks into her hospital room, and she realizes his handsome face has been haunting her dreams . . . Zach hasn’t seen Evie in years—not since their families conducted a campaign to make sure their childhood friendship never turned into anything more. When the young cowboy refused to admit the feelings between them were real, Evie left California, making it clear she never wanted to see Zach again. Now he refuses to make the same mistake twice. Starting fresh is a risk when they have a history she can’t recall, but Zach can’t bear to let go of her now. Can he awaken the sleeping beauty inside her who might still love him?

A Cowboy at Heart, an engaging Amish-meets-Wild West adventure from bestselling authors Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith, weaves a clever and romantic tale of new starts and second chances. 1886—Jesse Montgomery is beginning to feel restless. Though he’s grateful to his friends Colin and Emma for helping him get on his feet again after a few bad choices and some hard living, surely the Lord doesn’t want him to stay in Apple Grove forever. Doesn’t the Almighty have plans for this reformed rowdy cowboy to build a life of his own? When an unscrupulous cattle baron tries to steal Amish land, Jesse intervenes and is wounded. Lovely Katie Miller, the young healer in the district, attends to him while trying to guard her heart. This sweet Amish widow cannot risk falling in love with an Englisch cowboy, charming though he may be. And yet—she believes God has a life for her too that is more than what she can presently see. Could there be a future with Jesse only He could bring about?

When he agreed to guard her, he never bargained on having to guard his heart. Brilliant scientist Linnea Newberry is on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling the Santa Fe Trail with her grandfather, Dr. Howell, on a botanical expedition to Colorado Territory. She longs to be valued for her contributions and not seen as a helpless liability. But at every calamity she faces, her grandfather threatens to send her home. After watching his ma suffer and die in childbirth, Flynn McQuaid has sworn off women and marriage forever. Headed west to start a new life, he has his hands full not only taking care of his younger siblings but also delivering cattle to his older brother. He doesn't need more complications. When Flynn rescues Linnea from drowning during a river crossing, Dr. Howell promptly hires Flynn--unbeknownst to Linnea--to act as her bodyguard for the rest of the trip. As Flynn fights against the many dangers of the trail, he soon finds himself in the greatest danger of all--falling for a woman he's determined not to love.

It was supposed to be a secret wedding... Followed by a quiet divorce. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right? That is until it's shown on national television and then all hell breaks loose Hunky cowboy Ace Riley wasn't planning on settling down, but his family had other plans for him. The only way to save his hide, his ranch, and his playboy lifestyle, is to discreetly marry his best friend, Jasmine King. Fiesty city-girl Jasmine was just helping out her friend...that is, until their first kiss stirs up a whole mess of paparazzi trouble, and suddenly discretion is thrown to the wind. One hot cowboy, one riled up woman... And they'll be married for a year, like it or not! Praise for Carolyn Brown's Spikes & Spurs series: "An old–fashioned love story told well...A delight."—RT Book Reviews, 4 stars "Tender and passionate love scenes...endearing and quirky characters...an absolutely adorable story."—The Romance Studio "Plenty of twists, turns, and how cowboys, and a story line that's got to be continued."—Long and Short Reviews