Greetings! Today I’m delighted to welcome veteran romance author Seelie Kay back to Beyond Romance. She’s celebrating the release of her new novel Broken Down Cowboy.
Q. Why do you write romance?
I didn’t really get into romance books until law school. Between holding down two jobs, studying, and attending classes, I really needed an outlet for the stress. A friend had a large paper bag full of romance paperbacks that she passed around to other law students. I borrowed one and then another until I read every book she had. After that I was hooked. I like to claim that those books got me through law school. Fast forward to 2017, another stressful time in my life. I needed to find a way to escape reality for a bit. So I started writing my own romance tales. My first book got picked up by a publisher and 25 books later, I’m still writing.
Q. Do you prefer a certain type of romantic hero?
I adore smart, dashing gentlemen who aren’t afraid to live on the edge. They can be a lawyer, a bad boy, a billionaire, a prince, or a secret agent. That hint of danger just hooks me! However, they have to be paired with strong, independent women who aren’t afraid to fight for what they want, even love. And brains over brawn, every time!
Q. Why did you write Broken Down Cowboy?
This was my way of throwing down the gauntlet. There comes a time when you want to read more stories about people your age falling in love. Just because I’m in midlife does not mean I have become a dried-up old prune with a cold heart. I still adore men and I still enjoy romance. More importantly, I adore seasoned men. Men who remember rotary phones and record players and Van Halen. Since I have always had a fondness for cowboys, I created a story about two middle-aged people who, despite their differences, fall in love. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s romantic, it’s somewhat steamy, but in the end, they find what they didn’t even know they needed. Love. Obviously, I was not alone in wanting older romance. Look at the success of the TV series, The Golden Bachelor!
Q. You have a tendency to write about lawyers. Is one of the characters in Broken Down Cowboy a lawyer?
Actually, she’s a recovering lawyer, like me. Someone who switched careers after practicing law for many years. Her reasons for becoming a pastry chef and owner of a tea shop are very much in line with my own reasons for switching careers. I believe you can choose to be miserable or you can reach out for happiness. Sometimes, that involves changing your life in dramatic ways.
Blurb
When is it time to take a leap of faith? When the man holding the net is a sexy, middle-aged cowboy!
Tea shop owner and pastry chef Bailey Willis is nonplussed when she finds a handsome Texan sprawled out on the floor of A Spot of Tea. Trevor Anderson, on the other hand, is instantly smitten. Some might call him a broken-down cowboy, but that doesn’t mean he lacks the ability to pursue a beautiful woman, even if she is a northerner and a Green Bay Packers fan! Unfortunately, Bailey has other things on her mind, like winning the Hales Corners, WI holiday bake-off. When Trevor provides a valuable assist, Bailey begins to regard him in a different light. Too bad he’s planning to head back to his ranch after the new year. Will Bailey agree to wear Trevor’s Texas-size ring? Will Trevor agree to settle in the frozen tundra, the site of one of the Dallas Cowboys’ most humiliating defeats? Hold on to your cowboy hats folks, this tale of romance is going to take you for a ride. Texas style!
Excerpt
Before Mrs. Franklin could respond, they heard a loud crash, and then the sound of breaking glass. The floor seemed to shake.
Bailey paled and quickly curtsied. “Excuse me, please.” She hurried back into the kitchen where her chef, Spencer, held a substantial pastry brush and was swatting a man sprawled out on the floor. A black cowboy hat sat at the man’s feet. “Spencer, what the devil? We do not beat on our customers.” She extended an arm to the man and helped him to his feet. “Now, will someone please explain to me what’s going on?”
Spencer’s victim picked up his hat and slapped it on his leg, then reshaped the crown. He placed the hat on his head. His soft brown eyes, punctuated by crow’s feet that appeared carved into his tan face, gazed at Bailey, and his full lips curled up in a cocky grin. “Sorry, ma’am,” he drawled in a sexy baritone. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but my daughter sent me to pick up her order for my granddaughter’s birthday party. I saw how crowded it was out front, so I thought it best to come ‘round to the back door.” He made a face. “Not sure how I wound up on the floor. Guess I slipped.” He shrugged and chuckled. “Guess that happens to those of us ready for the pasture.”
Bailey squelched a sigh. Pasture my eye. He couldn’t be more than fifty, around her age. This guy could be on the cover of a romance novel. He was tall and sturdy, with curly dark hair, bushy eyebrows, and just a hint of a five o'clock shadow. And that voice. She could just imagine the man whispering into her ear after a night of passionate sex. A tiny shiver raced up and down her spine. She was exiting her forties, but her body was not immune to a handsome cowboy. Damn, he was fine.
Spencer planted his hands on his skinny hips and scowled. “He didn’t knock. He just whipped open the door and barged on in. Scared the bejesus out of me. I dropped a water glass.” He shot the cowboy a dirty look. “His boots must be wet because he took a less-than-graceful tumble. You know, ass over teakettle? You may be all that in Texas, cowboy. But in Wisconsin, we wipe our feet before entering a building.” He clucked his tongue and tossed his head. “Everyone knows what happens when you track in snow.”
The cowboy held up his hands and tried to squelch a grin. “Hey, I apologize. In my defense, I knocked several times. When no one responded, I just thought it would be easier to come in…”
“Oh, for Pete’s Sake. Did you grow up in a barn?” Spencer huffed. “I need to go clean up. I’ve got enough flour on me to enter a powder puff derby.” He flounced away, muttering about uncouth cowboys with bull crap on their boots.
Bailey rolled her eyes and giggled. She smiled at the man. “I hope that pastry brush didn’t seriously injure you.”
The man chortled. “I’m a bit buttered up, but it beats my granddaughter’s fingerpaints all over my face. As long as he doesn’t force me into an oven, I think I’ll be fine.”
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOPNBT7LHa4
Buy Links
Publisher: https://www.extasybooks.com/Broken-Down-Cowboy
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Down-Cowboy-Seelie-Kay/dp/148744012X
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-down-cowboy-seelie-kay/1144463727?ean=9781487440121
Kobo: Coming soon
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/broken-down-cowboy-by-seelie-kay
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201784722-broken-down-cowboy
About the Author
Award-winning author Seelie Kay writes about lawyers in love.
Writing under a nom de plume, the former lawyer and journalist draws her stories from more than 30 years in the legal world. Seelie’s creative pen has resulted in more than twenty tales of contemporary, erotic, and paranormal romance, and romantic suspense.
Seelie resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, WI, where she enjoys opera, the Green Bay Packers, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine.
She is also an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis.
Seelie can be found on most social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. To subscribe to her newsletter, please visit https://rb.gy/w69pim.
Author Links
Website: https://www.seeliekay.com
Blog: https://www.seeliekay.blogspot.com
Twitter: @SeelieKay https://twitter.com/SeelieKay
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seelie.kay.77
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seeliekay51/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Seelie-Kay/e/B074RDRWNZ/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/seelie-kay
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16492565.Seelie_Kay
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorseeliekay
Newsletter sign-up: https://rb.gy/w69pim
Prior Books
Kinky Briefs: https://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs-1
Kinky Briefs, Too: https://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs,-too
Kinky Briefs, Thrice: https://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs,-thrice
Kinky Briefs, Quatro: https://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs,-quatro
Kinky Briefs, Cinque: https://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs,-cinque
Snatching Dianna: https://www.extasybooks.com/snatching-dianna
Infamy: https://www.extasybooks.com/infamy
Cult: https://www.extasybooks.com/cult
Hope: https://www.extasybooks.com/hope
Martimus: https://www.extasybooks.com/martimus
The Garage Dweller: https://www.extasybooks.com/the-garage-dweller
The President’s Wife: https://www.extasybooks.com/the-presidents-wife
Seizing Hope: https://www.extasybooks.com/seizing-hope
The White House Wedding: https://www.extasybooks.com/the-white-house-wedding
The Last Christmas: https://www.extasybooks.com/the-last-christmas
The President’s Daughter: https://www.extasybooks.com/the-presidents-daughter
A Touchdown to Remember: https://www.extasybooks.com/a-touchdown-to-remember
First, We Kill All the Lawyers: https://www.extasybooks.com/first,-we-kill-all-the-lawyers
Ye Gods! The Law is an Ass!: https://www.extasybooks.com/ye-god-the-law-is-an-ass
Vive la Resistance: https://www.extasybooks.com/Vive-la-Resistance
In the Midst of Angels: https://www.extasybooks.com/In-the-Midst-of-Angels
Saint Con: https://www.extasybooks.com/Saint-Con
2 comments:
Thanks for joining me in celebrating the release of Broken Down Cowboy!
Congratulations on yet another book, Seelie! I hope it's a best-seller.
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