Spotlight & Giveaway: A Cowboy State of Mind by Jennie Marts

Posted July 3rd, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 40 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennie Marts to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Jennie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Cowboy State of Mind!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This book is a story of rescue and redemption. The book, and the horse rescue, start out when Bryn Callahan, a spunky sweet waitress, decides to rescue a horse slated for slaughter from a couple of customers at the diner where she works. She is only able to buy the horse because Zane Taylor, the wounded loner cowboy she has a crush on leaves behind a $100 tip for his breakfast. So starts a partnership as Bryn and Zane find themselves taking on more and more horses (along with an assortment of other animals).

Zane has a gift with animals, particularly horses, but he’s at a total loss when it comes to knowing how to handle women. Even though he’s sworn off love, he can’t seem to stay away from Bryn and her menagerie of rescues. He’s known for being a horse whisperer, but can’t seem to find his voice at all where Bryn is concerned.

While Bryn has a heart for strays, she is through trying to save damaged men. She vows to only date nice guys, which is a category that does not include Zane. Too bad he’s the only one who sets her pulse racing every time she’s around him.

Starting a horse rescue ranch wasn’t in Bryn’s plan, but try telling that to the assembly of abandoned animals that have found their way to her doorstep. As Bryn and Zane spend more together.
 

Please share your favorite quote from the book:

I couldn’t pick just one! So here are a few of my favorites and you can pick the one you love the best.

He preferred her the way he’d left her in bed—wearing nothing but a satisfied smile.

**
There was something about this man—something that reached into her gut and drew her toward him. He was like gravity, and she seemed unable to resist his pull. He seemed lost and hurting, yet also strong and powerful, a combination she found hard to resist.

**
She wouldn’t risk her heart again no matter how tormented and wounded Zane seemed—no matter how much she wanted to save him.
She was done saving others. She wanted security and stability. Safety. And when it came to being around Zane Taylor, her heart was anything but safe.

**
She clutched his back, squeezing her arms around him as if her embrace could heal his brokenness, could mend the shattered pieces of him.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • The character of Shamus, the mini horse who will steal your heart in this book is based on a real mini-horse named Shamus that I met the summer I was plotting this book. He is an adorable little thing. He hadn’t been abandoned. He was just the cutest horse, and I loved his name.
  • My dad, sister, and brother-in-law are all veterinarians and they are my go-to’s for when I need advice about anything animal related in the story. My brother-in-law spent an hour on the phone with me last summer working through a few of the scenes with Zane’s dog and the rescue of an abandoned horse.
  • I spent a hilariously fun weekend in Denver with two of my writer besties last summer, Anne Eliot and Ginger Scott. We stayed up way too late working on plot points for this book, and they helped me come up with the scene where two middle-aged housewives from Kansas drive across the country to drop off Tiny, a giant fashion-conscious pig who thinks she’s a dog, so of course, I had to name those two women characters after them.

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

Watch out for that ornery goat! They know why! Lol!

Please share an excerpt

I always love sharing that first kiss scene. This happens right after Bryn and Zane rescue their first horse. Getting the horse out of the trailer was a bit traumatic, so Zane tells Bryn he won’t subject the horse to having to get back into another trailer and he will walk it the two miles back to her ranch instead. She agrees to go with him and runs into the diner to get her things.
***
Ten minutes later, Bryn emerged from the diner. The two dogs pranced at her heels as she practically skipped toward Zane, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her eyes were bright, and a huge smile broke across her face.
He chuckled softly. “What’s with you? You look like you’re walking across a trampoline.”
“I feel like I’m on a trampoline, like I’m going to bounce into the air with excitement.” She held the lead rope and her backpack, but dropped them to throw her arms around his neck and clutch his back. “I need something to hold on to so I don’t float away.”
He could feel her shoulders trembling as he pulled her against him. “You’re shaking.”
“I know. And I can’t tell if it’s because I’m so happy and excited because I just bought a horse or if I’m terrified and panic-stricken because I just bought a horse.” She pressed her cheek into his chest. “Can you just hang on to me for a second? Just until I feel steadier?”
He swallowed, wanting to say something witty or cute, but couldn’t think of a thing, his brain too undone by the warmth of her body flush against him.
She tilted her head and let out a shuddering exhale. He could feel the warmth of it on his neck. “I can’t seem to catch my breath.” She looked up at him from under dark lashes, her eyes wide and frightened. “I think I might hyperventilate. I need something to ground me. Quick, do something to shock my brain out of this panic mode.”
He didn’t think, didn’t analyze, he just did the first thing that came to mind. He leaned down and kissed her.
It was a quick kiss—a hard press of his lips against hers. But as he drew back, he couldn’t help but steal another soft taste of her mouth, one more tender graze, but enough to leave him breathless for more.
She pulled away, her eyes round, her lips parted in a surprised “oh.”
Was she mad? Had he overstepped? She’d said earlier she wanted to be friends. Did “friends” entail a shock-reducing lip-lock? Although it had been panic-inducing for him—his heart was pounding like a scared rabbit facing a wolf.
He watched her face, waiting for a reaction. She just stared at him, wide-eyed, like maybe she was the scared rabbit. That seemed the more likely scenario, that he was the wolf. Sweat broke out on his back, and he raised one shoulder, trying for an offhand shrug. “You said to do something to shock you.”
Her lips finally moved as the corners tugged up in the slightest grin. “I think I’m still in shock. You might have to do it again.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

There is so much in this book about forgiveness and redemption. Bryn and Zane have both made mistakes that they have to find a way to forgive themselves for before they can move on to being with each other. There is a lot of community in this book and you’ll meet some new folks from Creedence like Brody Tate, the hunky veterinarian and his sweet 10-year old daughter, Mandy, and a wounded young widow that Bryn takes under her wing. But there are also familiar favorite characters from the Cowboys of Creedence series who make appearances as well. I love that this story shows how we all need each other and no one is beyond rescuing.

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: A paperback copy of A Cowboy State of Mind by Jennie Marts

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: This book is set in the late spring, early summer in the mountains of Colorado (which is where I live), and I just love summer in Colorado. One of my favorite scenes is when Bryn and Zane stop and spend one memorable night swimming in the lake fed by a hot springs on her property. Spending time either in the mountains or at the pool are my happy places. I’d love to hear about your favorite parts of summer where you’re from.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Book Info:

he town of Creedence, Colorado, gets involved in horse rescue in bestseller Jennie Marts’ brilliant new series

Zane Taylor has a gift for communicating with animals, particularly horses, but he’s at a loss when it comes to women. He’s a scarred and battered loner who has sworn off love—except he can’t seem to stay away from Bryn Callahan.

Bryn Callahan has a heart for strays, as evidenced by the assembly of abandoned animals that have found their way to her doorstep. But she is through trying to save damaged men. She vows to date only nice guys, which is a category that does not include Zane Taylor. Too bad he’s the one who sets her pulse racing every time she’s around him.

A chance encounter with a horse headed for slaughter brings Zane and Bryn together. Although starting a horse rescue ranch wasn’t in the plan, now Zane and Bryn have a chance to save not just the animals, but

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Jennie Marts is the USA Today bestselling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. She is living her own happily ever after with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet that loves to tweet to the oldies, in the mountains of Colorado.

Author Website: https://jenniemarts.com/
 
 
 

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40 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: A Cowboy State of Mind by Jennie Marts”

  4. Mary Preston

    Summer here is not for the faint hearted. It is HOT!!!! Unrelenting, unbelievably HOT!! Did I mention that it is HOT!!!

  7. janinecatmom

    Texas summers are just too hot for me to get outside. I spend as much time inside with the air conditioning turned low. If we could afford to take vacations, I would look forward to them.

  9. Karina Angeles

    South Texas heat means we go to the beach. My kids love to swim while my hubby fishes.

  10. Pamela Conway

    I’m from Long Island, NY & we have our local beaches that are amazing! The beach is definitely my happy place!!

  11. Cheryl C.

    I love family time in the summer. Cookouts, vacations, outdoor concerts, and baseball games.

  12. SusieQ

    I live in Phoenix, so my favorite thing to do is travel to cooler spaces.

  13. Pammie R.

    I miss all the things we could do in the summer. Pancake breakfasts in the park, Chalk drawing competition downtown, the hot air balloon festival… just going out and enjoying the summer away from home.

  14. Lori R

    I like going to NH to visit my sister and I like my small town’s summer festivities. None of these are going to happen this year.

  15. Joye

    I live in Arizona, so in the summer we like to go to Northern Arizona where there are lakes and pine trees to cool us off.

  17. penneyblog

    Sounds very good I’m looking forward to reading this. My favorite place to be in the summer is down at the seaside in Carlsbad California, it’s cooler there plus they have a lot of book stores.
    Penney

  21. Kay Garrett

    We live in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and love it here year round. During the summer for the last few years, we have enjoyed exploring the national wonders of this great country of ours admiring it’s beauty and trying to capture what the eye see in photographs. Retired and with health issues, we wanted to travel since we weren’t restrained by work and before it got to where we possible couldn’t any longer. This year was to have been exploring Utah, but all the plans and thought of that had to be cancelled. We are hoping maybe next year. In the mean time, we are enjoying being home, raising our first garden in several years and being entertained by our many daily critter visitors. Happy for the fact that we build a huge porch across the whole front of our home few years back and adding the ceiling fans as well. Living on a small acreage on the edge of town we have no problem social distancing. Yet we are close to everything we need of our rare trips into town. No place I’d rather be this summer!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  22. dbranigan

    My favorite parts of summer is visiting the ocean and having coffee on the deck in the morning before it gets hot.

  24. eawells

    I love the lakes around the Twin Cities. They are easy to walk around.

  26. Lilah Chavez

    I love going to Davenport, it’s about 10 or so miles away from Santa Cruz, CA, and there is this Berry Farm that for a small price you can pick your own berries… Organic and soooo delicious ! Strawberries, blackberries, huckleberry, raspberries and you can cross the street to go the beach too. We usually go several times a year . Unfortunately I’m not sure about this year… But I look forward to next year!

  28. Tina W

    I live near Palm Springs so summer for me is indoors or in the pool!

  30. [email protected]

    Im from Alabama and we’ve always went to panama city florida.When we weren’t on the beach we were at West Bay about 30 minutes from the beach fishing..

  31. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    Family BBQ and hanging out by the fire pit
    Thanks for the chance!

  33. Glenda M

    I can’t do anything that requires me to be out in the Texas heat for a long period – unless I’m in water. So my favorite part of summer is doing things inside or hanging out in the shade with a cold drink reading when I have the time.

    • Shannon Capelle

      I live in Florida and dont enjoy the summers here its too hot! Ive always wanted to move to Colorado its my dream place.

  34. Irma Jurejevčič (@IrmaJurejevcic)

    We have a river near by my house, and luckily it’s the river we can swimm in. People from all over the country are comming here (and other countries, too) more and more every year. There’s a bar, toiletes, adrenaline park, playground. You can eat here, dring, have an ice cream,… We’re kind of lucky. This is where we spend most of our summer days, we go elswhere only when we’re 2 weeks work free.

  39. Patricia B.

    We live in NE TN now, and it is too hot and humid to enjoy much. We did live in Colorado Springs for 3 years and it was the best assignment my husband ever had. We loved it. The vegetable garden did well, but the unpredictable hail storms did reduce it to mush in less than 30 seconds a time or two. Going up into the mountains to hike, visit parks, & towns, traveling to Denver for what it had to offer , or heading to Mesa Verde & the Sand Dunes made for enjoyable times. From our deck, we had a full view of Pike’s Peak in one direction and the open prairie in the other. We could sit out there and watch the storms build over the Front Range or watch the thunder heads build over the plains watching the lightening. I grew up in the Adirondacks of NY and spending time in the mountains has always been a first love. We are in the Blue Ridge Mountain foot hills now and still look to the mountains to get away and explore.