About the Book

Book: Falling for a Shy Cowboy (Vargas Ranch Book 2)

Author: Karen Baney

Genre: Contemporary Christian Cowboy Romance

Release date: December 19, 2023

She’s a single mom with a disabled son. He’s been in love with her since high school. Will this shy cowboy finally win her heart?

Dylan Vargas is too shy for his own good. While he and his best friend Adan work with the horses on his family’s ranch near Wickenburg, Arizona, Adan signs him up for an online dating service. Dylan begrudgingly looks through the profiles. One face stands out above the others—that of his childhood crush. There’s only one impossible problem—she is Adan’s little sister.

Brisa Franco moves home to Wickenburg after a tragic car accident left her four-year-old son disabled. As she starts a new job in her hometown, she never expects to help her brother’s best friend in his quest to overcome a speech impediment.

Will Dylan steal her heart as she helps him learn how to release his anxiety? Will Brisa learn to trust him and let go of her deeply engrained fears from her past relationship?

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About the Author

Karen Baney is passionate about writing stories full of flawed characters. She enjoys weaving together stories of second chances, redemption, and overcoming personal trials. As a transplant to Arizona, she loves researching the state’s history and finding ways to seamlessly incorporate real history and real settings into her novels. In addition to writing and speaking, Karen works as a Software Development Manager for a Christian ministry.

Her faith plays an important role both in her life and in her writing. Karen and her husband, Jim, make their home in Gilbert, Arizona, with their two dogs, Bella and Daisy. Both Jim and Karen are active at Rock Point Church in Queen Creek, Arizona.

More from Karen

You’ve Got Mail?

As an author, sometimes you write something so identifiable to readers that you (the author) completely miss the obvious. Yeah, I did that in Falling for a Shy Cowboy.

Since Dylan Vargas, our hero, deals with a speech impediment, I thought a great way to help him connect with his one true love would be through a dating app—one where he keeps avoiding meeting in person. His best friend, Adan, signed him up for the dating app with a profile picture that obscures part of his face. When Dylan looked through the app, he finds Adan’s sister Brisa on the app. Imagine his excitement that his long-term crush was available!

So, Dylan responds to Brisa’s profile as Wrangler92. He’s much more comfortable pouring out his heart through messages in the dating app than fighting with his speech impediment in person. She’s keeping a few secrets of her own through their interactions on the app, creating tension.

And viola! The You’ve-Got-Mail “trope” successfully applied.

If only I had realized that’s what I’d done. It wasn’t until one reviewer wrote, “Who doesn’t like a little You’ve Got Mail in a cowboy romance?”

This is where I face-palmed, laughed out loud, and finally realized my shy cowboy and his one true love are clearly written like the old Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks movie You’ve Got Mail.

Anyway, I will be forever grateful to Jerah A. for pointing out the obvious connection. I hope you enjoy my take on a shy cowboy who woos a single mom a la You’ve Got Mail style.

Author Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about what readers can expect from your books?

The further I get into writing the Vargas Ranch Series, I’ve discovered I love writing about big family drama and family secrets. Some of that comes from having a large extended family myself. And some from a few shocking discoveries after one grandparent passed away.

Regardless of the family drama, readers can expect mostly Christian characters learning more about how to apply their faith in their daily lives. Sometimes there are dramatic changes in the character’s spiritual life and sometimes the change may seem minor.

Even when I chose to write about difficult subject matter, I try to handle it delicately. I do not want to glorify sin but prefer to show how someone’s life can be transformed by a growing faith in God and Jesus.

Can you share 5 random facts about this book?

I didn’t reveal Dylan’s speech impediment in the first book in the series but waited until his story.
The location of Vargas Ranch and Dalton Peak are based on state trust land near the real town of Forepaugh, AZ about 30 minutes west of Wickenburg.
The cowboy church in the series is inspired by a cowboy church hosted at a guest ranch near Wickenburg.
The idea for a wheelchair bound character was inspired by a family who owns a guest ranch near Mohave, AZ. They included information on their website about how all the showers in their rooms are wheelchair friendly because of their own challenges finding accommodations for a family member.
Equine therapy includes helping disabled people ride with assistive equipment. It also includes emotional bonding with horses to help heal scars from trauma and PTSD. A charity in Chino Valley, AZ, inspired me to write about equine therapy.

What was the most challenging part of bringing this book to life? 

I really struggled with the timing of when to reveal Dylan’s secret online identity to Brisa. I originally included it much earlier in the book, but it didn’t fit. So, I reorganized most of the chapters and inserted new ones when I was almost finished writing. In the end, I am glad I did as it feels like better timing.

What was the most rewarding?

I loved hearing how several readers resonated with Dylan’s speech impediment or Braden’s disability. Though Braden was only four years old and new to his disability, I felt like these two characters connected because Dylan could relate to Braden’s challenges—having grown up with his own from birth. I love hearing when something I wrote encourages readers.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Before you go, where can readers keep up with what’s next?

The best place to stay up to date is signing up for my newsletter. I send it out about 2-3 times a month and include information on promotions, excerpts from both published and books in progress, and info on my new releases. I also include planned release dates on my website: www.karenbaney.com.