Review, Author Spotlight and Giveaway: The Cowboy's Little Surprise (The Hitching Post Hotel) by Barbara White Daille

Cole Slater returns home to New Mexico to help his struggling sister Layne out after being away for five years. When he left town, he never looked back, but now as he walks back into the Hitching Post Hotel, all the years Cole spent on the run fall away. He has a few things to atone for with one of those being the way he treated Tina Sanchez.

When the last person she thought she would ever see again walks through her door, Tina is running scared. Not only does Cole have apologies to make, Tina must come clean about why she kept the child she had out of wedlock a secret from not only his father, but her entire family as well.

As soon as Cole sees Robbie, he knows that the boy is his son and Tina has a lot to answer for. At first Tina believes that Cole can't ever live up to being the father that Robbie deserves, but the more time he spends with his son, the more Tina knows the opposite is true. The only thing she needs to do is convince Cole of that, but the troubled past won't allow him to move on until he takes a look deep into himself. Combine that with the rekindling of the attraction they once felt for one another and we have quite a tale. Even the conspiracy going on around them perpetrated by Tina's grandfather, Jed might not be enough to make the young couple see they are meant to be together, but maybe a feisty four year old can.

The Cowboy's Little Surprise by Barbara White Daille is a story of two people who strive to overcome the mistakes they made when they were too immature to really understand the ramifications of those mistakes. The budding desire they once felt for one another blossoms into a passion only maturity can give them, and watching both Tina and Cole come to that understanding is a pleasure. All of the characters in this story have their own distinct qualities that make The Cowboy's Little Surprise a heart-warming read that can't be missed.

~KIMBERLY~

MEET THE AUTHOR: 

   BARBARA WHITE DAILLE

Hi Barbara! Thanks so much for joining us here at Book Obsessed Chicks.

          Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I’m a former East-coaster transplanted to the wild, wild Southwest where, as it says in my bio, we deal with lizards and scorpions, plus all kinds of things we never saw back East. 

I’m a reformed chocoholic.  (I think.  Still working on that one…)  And I am attempting to make friends with my treadmill and stationary bike, but so far I’m not having too much luck with any of the above. 

Reading is my favorite pastime, writing is my passion, and the place I most love to be is beside my husband.  Even better scenario:  curled up on the couch beside my husband, with a book in my hands.

         Tell us how The Cowboy's Little Surprise came to be.

The story was inspired by the series and the idea of a matchmaking grandfather who wants to see his family happy and settled down—preferably, somewhere near his ranch in Cowboy Creek, New Mexico.  After I had Jed’s character firmly in mind, I thought about his family. 

The Cowboy’s Little Surprise is the story of Jed’s youngest granddaughter, Tina, and the boy who once did her wrong.  As readers may guess from the title, this is a secret-baby story, which means the heroine had the hero’s child…and the hero has no clue he’s a daddy!  I love seeing how a man deals with a surprise like that, and since it’s one of my favorite types of stories to read and write, I jumped on it for the kick-off book for the series.  I hope readers enjoy it, too.

         What are you currently working on?

As you read this, I’m revising the third book in the Hitching Post Hotel series.  It doesn’t yet have a title, but it’s the story of Jed’s middle granddaughter, the one who has the most difficult past to overcome. 

Andi was recently left widowed with two small children.  Mitch is a wounded L.A. cop who has come back to his hometown to recuperate.  He’s also the boy Andi left behind.  Though circumstances will always keep them apart, their reunion immediately sets off a familiar sizzle.  That—and a certain matchmaking grandpa—forces them together.

The sexual tension between these former teenaged sweethearts is so much fun to write, plus this will be a Christmas book, which adds extra layers of poignancy to the story.

         Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what did you want to be?

Yes, the first time I ever announced what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was a writer. 

As a child, I always saw my mom sitting at night with a book in her hands while the rest of us watched television, and once I learned about the magic between the covers of a book, I was hooked—as a reader and a writer.  My website states I wrote my first story when I was nine years old, but that was actually the first story with an official beginning, middle, and end.  Prior to that, I was a storyteller, too, but I just didn’t know how to put a plot together.  Or how to spell most of the words, for that matter….  ;)

To tell you the truth, I was so young when I started writing, I had no idea real people actually wrote the books I loved to read.  And once I learned that, I knew when I grew up I would have to share my stories with other readers.

           Who was your favorite character to write and why?

Hmm…I like a challenge, so my favorite character is probably the one that was the most difficult for me to write.  That honor goes to Lianne Ward, the heroine of Rancher at Risk, one of my Flagman’s Folly books.  Lianne is deaf.  Though I felt very comfortable writing her character, I also felt challenged because I wanted to show her as a woman like any other woman, who just happens to be deaf.  After the book came out, I was thrilled to receive a fan letter from a woman who said she has many deaf family members and that I “got it right.” 

Lianne makes her first appearance in an earlier Flagman’s Folly story, A Rancher’s Pride, along with her four-year-old niece, Becky, who also is deaf.  And who was also a little bit of a challenge!

           Where can you fans meet you?

I’m on Facebook and Twitter and love to chat with readers.  They can find me at:  http://www.facebook.com/barbarawhitedaille and https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille.  I also hang out at my website and blog:  http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com.

This summer, I’m planning to be in New York City at the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference.  I hope readers will stop by the Literacy Auction to visit me and, if they’re attending the conference, will say hello if they see me around.

          What is next for you?

I have several more ideas in the works for the folks in Cowboy Creek.  Some of the characters have played walk-on roles in the books that will be out this year, and others will be brand-new to the series.  But trust me, if these books are acquired and I have the fun of writing them, no one in town will be safe from the matchmaking Jed! 

        What would you like readers to know about you? 

I’d like to share with your readers that I write the type of book I love to read and hope they’ll enjoy my stories, too.  I’ve said this so many times, but it bears repeating because it’s what I’m all about as an author:  as a life-long book lover, I can only hope my stories will bring as much pleasure to readers as other authors’ books have brought to me.

~~~

Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest.  Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom.

Barbara’s thrilled to share news about the debut of a brand-new series, The Hitching Post Hotel, about a matchmaking grandpa determined to see his three granddaughters wed.  The series begins in April 2015 with The Cowboy’s Little Surprise, followed by A Rancher of Her Own in July and a third as-yet-untitled book in December.

You can find more info about Barbara and her books at the following locations:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Newsletter ~ Blog ~ Amazon ~ Harlequin ~ Goodreads

The Cowboy’s Little Surprise – Barbara White Daille – April 2015

THE LONG WAY HOME 

A guy like Cole Slater is hard to forget. Tina Sanchez should know—for years since high school she's tried to bury the pain of Cole's cruel betrayal. But it's impossible to ignore the man she sees reflected in her young son's eyes now that Cole is back in her life—and about to meet the child he never knew he had. 

Returning home to New Mexico, Cole is determined to put his playboy reputation to rest. Especially now that he knows there's a little boy looking up to him. And seeing Tina again reignites all the feelings Cole ran from as a teen. Despite his fear that he can't be the man Tina deserves, he's determined to try. For his son's sake—and his own.

Find The Cowboy’s Little Surprise at:

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Harlequin  Kobo  IndieBound

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THE COWBOY'S LITTLE SURPRISE

 BY BARBARA WHITE DAILLE