PLEASE WELCOME LYNDI’S ADVENTUROUS FRIEND LEE ANN SONTHEIMER MURPHY!
Sometimes an author finds a story but often a story finds the author. My recent release, The Cowboy’s Last Chance (The Wild Rose Press) is one of those tales that tracked me down, hollered in my ear until I sat down to write.
Cowboys have always intrigued me, both contemporary and in the past. Growing up in the historic city of St. Joseph, Missouri – where the short-lived Pony Express began and outlaw Jesse James met his end – the past was always nearby. I lived in a home built in the 1870’s and in our aged neighborhood, no one lived in anything new. Some of the streets were still brick and there were so many places an imaginative child could envision the past. At the age of nine, I attended a multi-generational family reunion where my great-grandfather’s brother took a liking to me. He asked if I could spend some time with him so I did. He told me tales about the family. An interesting man in his own right, the former prison guard at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, shared stories of how the family headed for California in a wagon trail in 1849. They were bound for the gold fields but instead, they stopped in St. Joseph and stayed. It might have been because Elizabeth Bruce Lewis was with child. My great-great grandfather, the first Thomas Jefferson Lewis, was born in April of1850 in St. Joe.
My hometown in that era was a crossing spot for covered wagons heading west. It was also populated by cowboys, more than a few Native Americans, and other frontier characters. I grew up, despite living in town, attending rodeos and playing with horses at my dad’s friend’s farm. His name was Owen Pulley but I called him “Old Mac Owen.”
Fast forward from childhood to the present. I grew up and became an author, something I dreamed about while I was a student at Webster Elementary School. I penned my first novel, such as it was, in the fifth grade, scribbled in the back of my blue pressed cardboard binder. By the time I wrote “The Cowboy’s Last Chance”, I had multiple titles under my belt. Some were about cowboys, others about military men, and even vampires. My career began by writing sexy novels for another publisher but I had decided I’d rather tell a story than describe sex.
A bull riding cowboy came into my head. He was tall and lean and strikingly handsome. Calhoun Kelly had suffered terrible tragedy in his life. Despite close ties with his remaining brother’s family, he was lonely. Before long, my overactive imagination created a young woman who had experienced her own hardships. Vivian Blackburn returned to Southwest Missouri to pursue a career in freelance photography. Once she attends a rodeo, hoping for some action shots, and meets Calhoun, their attraction grows.
Here’s the blurb: When Vivian Blackburn, recently returned to Southwest Missouri after her grandmother suffered a health setback, sets out to shoot pictures at a rodeo, she’s not looking for a cowboy but when she meets bull rider Calhoun Kelly, she’s found one. They have an instant attraction and rapport, so much that she follows him on the rodeo circuit. When they can, they head back to Missouri to visit her grandmother. They’re compatible in every way but one – he has a strong Christian faith and she lost hers after her parents died. Still, they stay together through his bull riding lumps and bumps on the rodeo circuit. When Vivian experiences strange dreams that seem to warn Calhoun of upcoming danger, she doesn’t know what to think and when the messages spread through his family, everyone is concerned. Calhoun decides to hang up his spurs at the end of the season but before he does, he and Vivian are married. They decide they’ll settle at her grandmother’s old farmhouse but not until he rides his last rodeo. When he’s critically injured, his life hangs in the balance. Will Vivian find her faith and pray or be widowed? It’s a close call but time will tell.
Here’s a taste of how they met:
Vivian never noticed the cowboy until he stepped up beside her and spoke.
“I’d order something else if I were you.” His voice resonated voice deep and quiet with some twang. “Those chili dogs bark back.”
Vivian raised her head to him.. He stood at least six feet tall, with a lean body. His curly hair gleamed black as a moonless midnight beneath his cowboy hat and touched his shirt collar. Since he wore jeans, a burgundy paisley Western shirt, well-worn boots with spurs, leather chaps, and a protective vest, Vivian figured he planned to complete. “What do you mean, they bark back?”
He put his right hand over the center of his abdomen. “They’re likely to bring on a bellyache. I didn’t figure a pretty lady like you wanted that.”
“I don’t,” Vivian stated. His dark brown eyes met hers, deep and candid. Beneath the scruff, he turned out to be handsome. “What would you recommend?”
He laughed. “I don’t eat before I ride rough stock. I won’t eat until after the rodeo and probably somewhere in town. If I was going to eat here, I’d probably go for a funnel cake or maybe a turkey leg. I’m Calhoun Kelly, by the way.”
Readers and reviews seem to like the novel. The most recent 5-star review from NN Light’s Book Heaven says, in part, “The Cowboy’s Last Chance is a heartfelt Christian western romance. It’s a romance filled with emotional tension. The descriptive narration is detailed so every scene is vividly portrayed. The ins and outs of the rodeo circuit are peppered throughout the story. The plot moves at a good pace. The faith undercurrent is well-done and realistic. It’s the characters, though, that make The Cowboy’s Last Chance worth reading.”
The title is available in both eBook and paperback formats. In addition to these links, it can be found at Target, Walmart, Apple, Books A Million, Kobo and more.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance-lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/1146105247
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance_lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/53633296/
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cowboy_s_Last_Chance/H3Hc0AEACAAJ
https://allauthor.com/book/90806/the-cowboys-last-chance/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance-lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/1146105247
Alana Lorens, author 