Let's have a cup of tea and visit for awhile . . .
The Dancer & the Cowboy – Catalyst Series Book 2 . . .
. . . is now only $0.99 for a Kindle version. My books aren’t deep and brainy, and they won’t end up on the New York Times Bestseller list, but they are fun. And sometimes, that’s what we need more than anything else.
The Dancer and the Cowboy, Book 2
Celina is the director of a prestigious ballet school in Dallas. Her father passed away recently and her elderly mother is living all by herself on a ranch in Montana. The hired man just quit and she must find someone to run the ranch until they can sell it, and convince her mother to move back with her to the city.
Catrina’s Uncle Cody, from Book 1, leaves his cattle ranch in Idaho and goes to Montana to help take care of the ranch. When he learns of Celina’s predicament—that her mother refuses to leave—he begins hatching a plan to help her.
In despair, Celina decides she will have to quit her beloved teaching job in order to care for her mother. She returns to Dallas to finish teaching her final semester, planning to come back to Montana during spring break; but when she arrives at the ranch, she finds that the furniture and belongings are gone, and so is her mother!
Fun Facts: Book 2
I really enjoyed writing this one because my daughter is a ballerina, so it was fun reliving many of those beautiful experiences through Celina. Cody and Celina were originally named Ben and Belle, but then I got the idea for how I wanted to name all my characters in the series, so I changed them.
Also, I play pinochle (and euchre) and I think I can (humbly, of course) describe myself as a kick-ass player. I used to take my father to the senior center in Salmon, Idaho and play pinochle on Monday and Thursday afternoons, just like Mrs. Bradshaw and Cody.
Carolyn was born and raised in Idaho. She has worked with animals for most of her life (prepare yourself, the list is long): cats, dogs, horses, cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, chickens, guineas, and geese. She was married to a cowboy for twenty-five years and during that time lived on seven different cattle ranches. She learned how to give shots to cattle, brand cattle, castrate bull calves and close the head catch in time to capture the beast that was flying through the working chute like a streak of lightning. She also learned to back the truck up to the trailer hitch and get it right the first time.
When a teen, she attended horsemanship clinics and schools, and competed in horse shows that included dressage and jumping. She owned and trained seven of her own horses. After having two children, both of whom she homeschooled until they passed the SAT with flying colors (which is absolutely no credit to her as they both reside in the genius category and continually leave her wondering what the heck is going on) she dove into homesteading, learning how to make her own bread, make soup stock from scratch, butcher chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, and cows, and one year had so much fun canning everything in sight that when she counted the full glass jars in the pantry, she was shocked to discover there were over a thousand.
Her knowledge of settings used as the basis of her stories is diverse due to the fact that she has lived in many different states including Idaho, Montana, California, Texas, Missouri, Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona. She now resides near Seattle. Her hobbies include knitting, crocheting, soap making, and, of course, writing. Oh, and her favorite author? P. G. Wodehouse.
View all posts by Carolyn Kay Hanson
Carolyn Kay Hanson 