Love Somebody Like … a Cowboy?

My latest book, Love Somebody Like You, released last week – woohoo! This is the fifth book in the Trinity Lakes Romance series, a multi-author Christian contemporary series that has been several years in the making.

A number of years ago I discussed with fellow Aussie author Narelle Atkins about how we could create a series that would help some of our Aussie writing friends make further inroads in the US market. We came up with a scenario of a (fictional) town in east Washington state, an area I’d visited back in 2019. It was fun to imagine places I’d seen and repurpose them as Trinity Lakes. (See pics from my visit on my website here).

Many of the books in Trinity Lakes series have introduced Aussie connections with this US town, such as businesses, characters, even a Bible College. Delving into some of the ‘history’ of a fictional town for a multi-author series was interesting too, as various authors have various ideas about what that history should look like. One of my highlights in seeing Washington was visiting the Walla Walla museum, which encompassed all kinds of historical artefacts, from clothing to letters to recreated buildings and wagons and other vehicles. This Aussie found such things fascinating, and some of this may have influenced my decision for my year 2 Trinity Lakes book (Tangled Up in Love) to center on the reopening of the Trinity Lakes historical museum.

As there are a number of farms and ranches in this part of Washington it made sense for me to include a ranch, so I decided to make my hero a cowboy. But as an Aussie, the typical ‘cowboy’ isn’t a huge part of our history or identity. We have drovers or stockmen, graziers instead of ranchers, and instead of ranches we have cattle or sheep ‘stations,’ farms or homesteads. Neither is there such a strong history of western fiction, so reading books about cowboys hasn’t been a huge part of my life. But once I realized such fiction is often about the challenges of family, relationships, finances, small towns, and the environment – all things I care, and have previously written, about – I could see how I could include such things in my story Love Somebody Like You.

So yes, we have a cowboy. And an Aussie heroine nurse. And a small town. And a ranch facing financial and family pressures. And a title from a Keith Urban song. And a super awkward meet-cute. And it’s only 99c for a few more days before it comes off all the wide platforms and goes into KU, and goes up in price on Amazon.

So if you want to read an Aussie take on a cowboy story, I hope you’ll check out Love Somebody Like You. Here’s a bit more about the story:

For Lexi Franklin, returning to Trinity Lakes feels a little like running home with her tail between her legs. But what’s a girl to do, when her life has been turned upside down on the other side of the world? She needs a place to regain hope and healing – just didn’t count on meeting a cowboy whose own battered heart might need nursing back to health too.
Jackson Reilly has his own set of troubles, between caring for his ranch, his mom, and the black hole of finances. So when a pretty redhead with a sassy tongue offers some distraction – and a potential solution to one of his most pressing concerns – he’s not going to say no.
But as they spend time together, questions soon rise about their future, and whether faith can truly win over fears. Will Jackson be able to save his ranch, and his hopes and heart, before Lexi returns to Australia?
An opposites attract, small town contemporary Christian romance. Book five of the Trinity Lakes Romance series (can be read as a standalone). Visit Trinity Lakes and meet the fun and quirky characters who value family, faith, and happily-ever-after.

Buy your copy for only 99c here: Amazon   Other retailers.

Now let’s chat: do you enjoy reading books about cowboys? If so, got a favorite book / series / author? What qualities about small towns do you enjoy reading about? What kinds of ‘Aussie’ things might you expect to see in a series set in the US with some Aussie characters?

Carolyn Miller (30 Posts)

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, Carolyn loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency and contemporary novels are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Koorong, etc