Spotlight & Giveaway: Hard Loving Cowboy by A.J. Pine

Posted March 28th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 43 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author A.J. Pine to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi A.J. and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Hard Loving Cowboy!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This cowboy’s handsome, sexy, and definitely off limits . . .

Walker Everett spends his days at the Crossroads Ranch wrangling cattle-and steering clear of anything that would complicate his already too-complicated life. Until Violet Chastain, the ranch’s newest employee, asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend for her parents’ anniversary party. She’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever met and needs his help. How can he refuse?

Violet isn’t about to fall for a brooding bad-boy cowboy, no matter how sizzling their chemistry. But she also never expected Walker to go along with the charade. Before long, he’s charming her parents at their weekly dinners and kissing her way more than necessary. Spending so much time together tests the limits of their “just friends” relationship, but what happens when their game of pretend becomes all too real?
 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • I try to work my favorite things into a lot of my books. I was a French minor in college and have always loved the language, so I took the opportunity to work the language into Hard Loving Cowboy via Violet, my heroine who is half American and half French.
  • Which brings me to fun fact number two…In HLC, Violet and Walker play some road trip games during a ninety minute car ride. Walker’s prize for winning is that Violet teaches him some French words because who doesn’t want to hear a sexy cowboy trying to speak French?
  • One of my favorite television romantic heroes was Aidan Shaw (played by John Corbett) from Sex and the City. Aidan was a furniture builder, which I thought was super sexy, so I sprinkled a bit of Aidan Shaw into Walker Everett’s character. He may be a rancher, but his personal talent is woodworking. He might even make a little something special for Violet.
  • Equally swoony is a man who knows his way around a kitchen. I think scenes involving food can be very sexy, which is why there is a lot of cooking scenes in my book. Walker may not be a gourmet, but he’s definitely competent in the kitchen.
  • The Crossroads Ranch series has a very prominent non-human character, and that’s Lucy the psychic chicken. Of all the books in the series, Lucy gets the most page time in Hard Loving Cowboy.

 

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

He threw off the blanket, didn’t bother to cover his naked form, and grabbed a two-by-four that was leaning against his wall. Small living space meant no storage
space, so the whole apartment was basically his storage shed. He’d never expected he’d need to use any of his supplies as a weapon, though. And certainly not at the ass
crack of dawn.

He crept down the short hallway and rounded the corner to the kitchen, wood beam raised and ready to knock the living daylights out of whoever was trying to rob him—not
that he had anything of value worth stealing.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he roared.

The refrigerator was open, and all he could see were a pair of petite legs—a woman’s legs—clad in denim.

“Squawk!”

A chicken flapped its wings and scrambled out of the sink, water spraying everywhere.
The fridge door slammed, and his aunt Jenna—the woman who’d been his guardian during his messed-up teen years—straightened with a start. Then she burst out laughing as she covered her eyes.

“Good Lord, Walker,” she said in her lilting Texas twang. “You’re naked as a jaybird, out of milk, and you scared Lucy half to death while she was taking a much needed bath!”

He still had the two-by-four raised like she was about to pitch a strike at him.

“Why the hell are you giving your hen a bath in my kitchen sink?” he countered.

One hand still covered her eyes while she gesticulated with the other.

“Because I thought I might wake you if she took her bath in the bathroom sink.”

He lowered his arms and held the wood in front of his groin. “Ya think? All exposed genitalia have been covered, by the way.”

She peeked between a crack in her fingers, then let her hand fall from her face.

“We woke you anyway, didn’t we?” She winced.

He raised his brows. “Yeah. You did. At six a.m. when I was planning on sleeping in. And I thought I gave you that key in case of an emergency.”

She crossed her arms as Lucy-the-no-longer-bathing-hen clucked across his counter.

“Well, you are out of milk, so this is clearly a breakfast emergency. I’d say you’re lucky I came when I did.”

She gasped, and her hand flew to her eyes again. “Damn it, Walker. Your wood is drifting. Can you please go put something on?”

He chuckled, then readjusted his makeshift garment. “Only if you put that trespassing chicken outside. Unless you’re planning on making chicken sausage for breakfast.”

Jenna gasped and shooed him away with her free hand. “How dare you threaten Lucy. I’ll have you know it was her idea to come here today because she thought you might
need a little company before you went off to the ranch. You spend too much time by yourself, Walker.”

He started toward the bedroom but called back to her over his shoulder. “It’s because I don’t like most people.” It was partially true, but maybe what Jenna said had some truth to it as well. He’d made himself pretty scarce the past three days—volunteering for the early morning duties so he could avoid unnecessary person-to-person interaction—and he’d planned to do the same today. Maybe he’d tell Jack to send him on a delivery. Or there were always the horses in the stable. Did they have a ranch hand working today? If not, he could give the horses a workout. Looked like a nice enough day that they
shouldn’t be all cooped up inside. Whatever excuse he could find, he just needed some distance from everyone and everything. Especially today. “And I don’t care what you think. That chicken’s not psychic.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: Print copy of Hard Loving Cowboy (Crossroads Ranch Series) by A.J. Pine

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I live in the suburbs of a Chicago but have always wanted to live in a small town not unlike the ones I create in my books. What’s your favorite aspect of small-town romance?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Meet the Author:

A librarian for teens by day and a romance writer by night, A.J. Pine can’t seem to escape the world of fiction, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. When she finds that twenty-fifth hour in the day, she might indulge in a tiny bit of TV [HL1] to nourish her undying love of vampires, superheroes, and a certain high-functioning sociopath detective. She hails from the far-off galaxy of the Chicago suburbs. For more on A.J. and her books, please visit AJPine.com.

Book link: https://www.read-forever.com/titles/a-j-pine/hard-loving-cowboy/9781538727133/
 
 
 

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43 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Hard Loving Cowboy by A.J. Pine”

  2. Mary Preston

    I love how the hero and heroine can’t help but be thrown together in a small town.

  4. Heidi

    I love the importance of community, how everyone knows everyone and is willing to help out when needed.

  8. Connie Porter Saunders

    I am from a small town so there are pros and cons. Yes, people know and care about young love and they support you BUT they can sometimes be very unforgiving of a person’s past.

  9. Cheryl C.

    I like the sense of community, the long-standing friendships, and the fun seasonal events in town.

  10. Joye I

    In a small town, more people are aware of the actions of others than in a big town.

  11. Amy R

    What’s your favorite aspect of small-town romance? I enjoy how the secondary character pool seems larger and these types of books have quirky secondary characters.

  16. Angel

    Love the secondary characters, because they are part of the town and make it home like

  18. Nina T

    Their connection and support, but I don’t like too cheesy characters 🙂

  20. Lori R

    I like the friendliness of the characters and how they help each other out. I also like that characters who leave want to return back when they have families.

  21. erinf1

    It would drive me nuts in real life but the way that everyone knows everyone in a small town 🙂 thanks for sharing!

  24. Glenda M

    The couple isn’t isolated in a small town the other residents won’t allow it

  25. eawells

    In small town romances you get the sense of community, strong friendships, and support.

  26. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    I love the sense of community, everyone knows and helps each other out
    Thanks for the chance!

  29. Irma

    I love it when they all know about each other and really take care of each other.

  33. Caro

    I love the setting and I both love and hate that everyone knows each other and knows each other’s business, lol.

  34. Natalija

    I don’t like multiple choices big cities have to offer. I’m fine with one hairdresser, one grocery store, etc.

  35. isisthe12th

    My favorite thing about small town romance is the way the people come together so support each other. Thank you

  36. Barbara Bates

    I like the way you can make lifelong friends and have a support group.

  39. Joanie Bloomfield

    Small town romance is the best. I love the community aspect and that everyone is involved in one way or another. I like that there are so much closeness with the characters and the community.

  40. Patricia B.

    Getting to know the town and its inhabitants. Every town has its own personality which adds much to a story. You get to meet and keep running into interesting characters. The story and “action” is concentrated to the area.