Sunday Snippet: The Cover Reveal & A Real Snippet Edition

It’s been a writing week, mes amis. Liz and I went on retreat and we wrote words–lots of words! We also processed stories and okay, we had a little wine and a little chocolate and we enjoyed a hair & history day where we got our washed and blown out and visited some of the historical sites around Galena, Illinois. It’s a lovely town, full of history, shops, and beautiful trees and hills. The perfect place for a writing retreat.

Today, a new week begins and since I’ve started book 3 in the Juniper Falls Ranch series, this feels like a good time to reveal the cover for book 2, The Cowboy’s Comeback, and to share a quick little snippet from that book. The Cowboy’s Comeback releases on January 29, 2026 and will be available for pre-order very soon. (I’ll keep you posted on that.)

Here is the cover and honestly, I’m in love with it! The amazing Lee Hyat of Lee Hyat Designs has done all my beautiful Tule Publishing covers, and I’ve loved them all. With this one, she has truly captured Bo and Cassie and the feel of Montana and Juniper Falls Ranch.

What do you think? Gorgeous, right?

The Cowboy’s Comeback

It’s an enemies to lovers showdown between the cowboy who can’t trust and the cowgirl who won’t forgive.

Injured rodeo cowboy, Bo Kennedy, takes a job as a horse trainer at a Montana ranch. His skills training cutting horses are in high demand, but he’s holding out hope his days of competing aren’t over. Then his first client arrives, desperate for help with her mare. One problem, she’s his ex.

When World Champion barrel racer Cassie Franklin needs a new horse quickly, her last hope to rebuild her career is to switch to cutting competitions. She brings her new mare to Juniper Falls Ranch, hoping the highly hyped horse whisperer can help. She’s stunned to see Bo. They haven’t spoken in five years after he wrongly accused her of sabotaging his horse when he saw her flirting with his fiercest competitor.

Working together seems impossible, especially as the chemistry still sizzles. Will one of them finally lower their guard and admit they were wrong?

So there’s the blurb … and to further pique your interest, here’s a little excerpt from The Cowboy’s Comeback…

Excerpt

Suddenly, a shout from beside the barn turned the horses’ and the men’s attention to the huge arena where a Paint horse raced toward the fence, dragging a longe line. Chasing right behind the horse was a young woman in tight jeans, a snug T-shirt, and a cowboy hat.

“Dammit, Storm, get your ass back here!” The woman cried just before slipping in a patch of horse manure. Windmilling her arms, she managed to land on her butt instead of her face as the Paint horse raced along the board fencing of the roomy arena before nearly sliding to a halt and sticking its face over the fence to whinny at Whiskey and Cash.

Bo glanced at Del and Gus whose expressions of alarm had switched to amusement as the woman popped up and brushed her hands across her behind then groaned as she realized she’d just wiped them in horse poop.

“Everything okay there, Cassie?” Del asked, clearly having difficulty keeping from laughing.

Cassie? No way!

The girl’s wide-brimmed hat had dropped low on her brow so her face was hidden from view as she stood there, hands, boots, and behind covered in manure. With a disgusted sigh, she swiped her hands on her thighs and then with a clean knuckle shoved the hat back off her face and stomped toward them. “Yeah, I’m fi—” She stopped dead in her tracks, her jaw dropped, and she gaped. “It’s you.”

Bo’s heart leaped to his throat. It was her. The one person in his life he’d both hated and adored—sometimes at the same time. “Hey, Cassie.”

~*~*~*~

Cassie blinked and pushed her hat back farther on her head as heat rose up her neck, past her bandanna, and into her cheeks. What the actual hell? “Bo Kennedy? What are you doing in Montana?”

It was him. That tall brawny frame couldn’t be missed, towering over Gus and blocking her view of Del. And that buckskin—she’d know Cash anywhere. He was the whole reason the delicious romance she’d started with George Bowman Kennedy five years earlier had crashed and burned.

Bo turned away and removed Cash’s halter, releasing him to chase the other horse that Del had already let go. She watched as the two horses bucked and kicked and galloped across the field, clearly delighted to be turned loose. The bay lay down at the end of the pasture and rolled in a bare dusty spot, then got up and shook vigorously. Cash followed right behind, rolling in the dust and then shaking as if his life depended on it. If those horses had come up from Texas, they probably were more than ready to be out in a pasture, running and grazing.

Cassie stepped past Storm and grabbed the lunge line where it clipped under the mare’s chin. “Come on, you goofball. You act like you’ve never seen a strange horse before.” She tipped her head back—the only way to see into Bo’s blue, blue eyes because even at a distance and even with her average height of five foot six inches, he was still strikingly tall. She swallowed. “How ya doin’, George?” He hated his first name. It was something they had in common.

He quirked one brow under the shock of wheat-colored hair that glinted with golden highlights in the Montana sun. “Just fine, Cassiopeia. You?”

A swift intake of breath and Cassie narrowed her eyes at him. He did not just do that! Use her hated full name. Damn him!

She gritted her teeth. Okay, maybe he owed her—after all she’d George-d him right out of the box. She’d managed to keep her unusual full first name a secret on the circuit, allowing folks to believe she was a Cassandra or a Cassidy or even just simply Cassie. Thankfully it was only Del and Gus who’d heard, and neither of them seemed to react. The name had been the bane of her existence all through school, and she’d beat up more than one teasing bully who’d dared to use it. She was Cassie … just Cassie.

Del looked from one of them to the other, while Gus merely leaned against the pasture gate, arms back on the top rail. “Okay, so apparently you two know each other.” It was a statement that read more like question because both Del and Gus were eyeing them like they were a couple of zoo animals.

Neither of them spoke up at first, then finally Bo said, “Long time ago.”

Fine. If that’s how you want to play it.

Cassie nodded curtly. “Ancient history.”

Another long silence as Bo gazed at her, his expression unreadable. She tried to stare him down but lost the battle when Storm tossed her head, picked up her front feet, and whinnied.

Del handed the bay’s halter and lead line to Bo and came over to the fence, putting one booted foot on the bottom board. “How’d she do today?”

“She’s getting there.” No way was Cassie going to admit that Storm hadn’t paid any better attention to her this session than she had in the last…

…Cassie’s stomach tightened as Bo, casually holding the halters and leads in one big hand, wandered over to the arena fence. “Nice mare. She new?

“Yeah.” She tugged Storm’s head around to lead her back to the center when Bo said, “Use the round pen. Too much space here and too many distractions.”

Cassie gritted her teeth. “I know how to longe a horse.”

“Just a suggestion.”

She whirled around. “I don’t need any suggestions from you, okay?” Storm jerked at the on the line and stomped.

He shrugged. “Looks like you might.”

Del eyed Cassie, looked at Bo, and then back at Cassie. “You two gonna have a problem here?”

“No!” They chorused in unison, and heat crept up Cassie’s neck again.

“Good.” Del stepped back from the fence. “Because I aim to have a peaceful summer. No trouble that might get somebody hurt or a horse injured. If you two have issues, I suggest you work them out.” Without another word, he walked back to the barn with Gus on his heels.

Bo leaned his arms on the fence. “You here for the summer?”

Cassie waited until Del was into the barn before she met Bo’s steady gaze over Storm’s back. “Just leave me alone and we’ll be fine.”

“Pretty sure I’m the one who should be pissy here, Cass.”

The only thing keeping her from coming over the fence and smacking that self-righteous look off his too-handsome face was the fact that she’d have to let go of Storm to do it. “You? Seriously, George?”

A muscle worked in his jaw at her sneering use of the name he hated, and he tilted his head, his blue eyes narrowing. Then he straightened. “Screw it. I’m not doing this with you.” He turned on his heel, heading for the barn.

The limp in his stride only half registered with her. She blinked. Why’s he limping? Then, who cares?

“Fine,” Cassie called to his back. “I see you’re still the same bone-headed, stubborn—”

The shiny new barn door closed smoothly and quietly on its track on her words, and she really hoped he was frustrated that he couldn’t slam it.

So there you go… you’ve met Cassie and Bo. The Cowboy’s Comeback includes lots of enemies-to-lovers drama and lots of romance as well as horses and rodeo, mountains and ranch life in Marietta, Montana, and a catch-up of what’s happening with Beth and Del from Forever Cowboy. You might even catch a glimpse of the little onery dog Rascal, who’s made himself quite at home at Juniper Falls Ranch.

Gratitude for This Week: Great retreat with Liz; pool time; grand to see Husband after almost a week away; the trees are changing so quickly now and the world is full of autumn color;  and I got a spot in the Fishers Arts Council Winter Arts Market! So excited to bring my books to that event.

Stay well, don’t cave to cynicism and speak out when you can–it’s how we’ll save our democracy, always choose kindness, and most of all, mes amis, stay grateful!