Viviana Enchantress of Books: Blog Tour: "My Heartache Cowboy (Cowboy Series, #2)" by Z.A. Maxfield

Hi ZAM! Welcome to Enchantress of Books! I’m so excited you’re hanging out with us today!

Me too, it’s so great to hang out with you!

Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself for those who may not have had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ you.

I’m a wife and mother of four from Southern California. It’s a little hectic, but fun. I get to spend my workdays reading, writing, and surfing the web. My kids think I’m super lazy. They don’t really understand the correlation between what I do and their phone bills, clothes, and running shoes. LOL

“My Heartache Cowboy” is the second book in your COWBOY Series. We’ve read the blurb, but what else or more can you tell us about “My Heartache Cowboy” and this series?

The cowboy series is kind of a misnomer for this particular book, because I had to take the main characters away from the ranch and the way of life they love in order for main character Jimmy to grow. It’s almost as if he’s been kicked out of Eden, too, he feels the loss of the cowboy way of life, of his work and the land and his friends, keenly.

Okay, we have two cowboys, Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina. What can you tell us about them?

Jimmy and Eddie are a couple, but they don’t know it. They live together, work together, play together. They bicker and comfort each other in times of trouble. The fact that they have each other has kept them from looking elsewhere for partnership, because they get their emotional needs met. On a physical level, Eddie has a friend with benefits in Dick Doctor Don, and Jimmy finds release where he can. But I couldn’t help but want a real and lasting love for them.

Where did you find your inspiration for this story?

I guess I’ve always been kind of sweet on the idea of mature cowboys finding love. They work hard, they’re simpatico with animals. They need someone to bunk down with when the day is over.

What was the hardest thing about writing “My Heartache Cowboy”?

I think the hardest part was knowing I was going to be breaking some taboos. This isn’t really a menage. These men aren’t equal partners. It’s always pretty clear that Eddie and Jimmy are a couple, and Don’s job is to facilitate that, and to facilitate Jim’s sobriety. There are people who will wish I hadn’t done it that way, but honest to Pete, they’d been together for fifteen years. Something had to give them a nudge into bed. Don (Doctor Hordog) was perfect for that. Plus, he loves them both in his way. Respects them. It was hard to balance that, but I’m very satisfied with how it turned out.

What is it about this genre that you enjoy so much as a reader? And as a writer, what about this genre made you want to write it in the first place?

I love the Salt Of The Earth guys. Ordinary guys. Men who have flaws, but work hard. Who live by a code. Guys who care for animals. Guys who shepherd and protect the land. What is not to love about hot cowboys? I only hope I can do them justice.

Here is a commonly asked, but helpful question: What advice would you give new authors or someone who wants to publish their first book?

There has never been a better time to be a writer. The internet is at your fingertips for research. Publishing is easy and inexpensive -- free except for professional services like editing and cover art which I strongly suggest you pay for. There are niche markets within niche markets within niche markets so someone out there is definitely looking to read your book. My advice would be write like the wind. Finish a book. Leave it on the shelf for a few months while you write a second and third and when you’re ready, go back and perfect. Don’t hesitate to try getting yourself published, and never stop writing the next one for a second.

Write like the wind, young writers, because it’s a great time to be you!

For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hardback books?

I read almost exclusively on my iPad and Kindle anymore. I still love books. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE books. But it’s hard to argue with carrying around an iPad Air vs. Carrying around 200 of your favorite novels.

Where can you see yourself in 5 years time?

Right here, hopefully, doing what I love best. Maybe with the last two just finishing up college and the older ones thinking about giving me a grandkid or two.

What is your favorite book and why?

My favorite book is “An Innocent Wayfaring” by Marchette Chute, because that’s the very first book that made me realize reading could be sheer goddamn pleasure. That book made me a reader and later, a writer. I don’t know why it touched me so deeply but I’ve never forgotten it. That was a turning point book for me. I went from the person who gets books from the library because that’s what you do a certain day every week with your grade level, to a person who gets books from the library because that’s what you love to do.

What is your favorite quote?

This above all: to thine own self be true.

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

William Shakespeare

Lighting Round:

Dark or Milk Chocolate? Milk

Beer or Wine? Beer

Dining in or Dining out? Out

Favorite Color? I’m stumped. Red

Favorite snack? Brie and dried apricots

Cats or Dogs? Dogs

Sweet or Sour? Both, together. With salt and bitter and hot. All at once. Bring it!

Thank you again ZAM for hanging out with me today!! Loved our time together!
Now Love, scroll below to read the blurb for "My Heartache Cowboy", check out the excerpt and enter the awesome giveaway!!

My Heartache Cowboy

(Cowboy Series, Bk #2)
By Z.A. Maxfield

Blurb:

Can love conquer all?

Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina go way back at the J-Bar ranch. They’ve worked together, bunked together, camped out, and drank together. So how has Jimmy failed to notice that Eddie is gay? Eddie has not failed to notice that his friend has a serious drinking problem, and he’s determined to help Jimmy kick the booze cold turkey.

Taking him up to a snowbound cabin to detox, Eddie is confronted with Jimmy’s fierce denial. But the pains of withdrawal are nothing for Jimmy compared with the heartache of denying his true feelings and his deep longing…for the one man who cares for him more than anyone else on earth.

Available for purchase at

Excerpt

When I woke, I was alone and the truck wasn’t moving.

Who the hell did Eddie think he was, leaving me asleep by myself in a truck outside in the freezing cold? My pa and my older brother, Jonas, used to do that. We’d be on the road, and when I fell asleep, they’d leave me in the parking lot of some dive bar or motel—just leave me asleep outside in the dark. I’d wake up with no clue where I was, no idea if they were coming back or if I should go in and try to find them.

My first useful thought was to look for the keys, because I hadn’t forgotten what Eddie said. I hadn’t forgotten the plans him and boss Malloy made for me behind my back. It would serve them right if I up and hightailed it back to the J-Bar with Eddie’s truck and no Eddie.

No keys.

Not like that was going to stop me. Where the hell did Eddie get the idea I’d go quietly? I slid over and tore the wiring out from under the dash. Found what I needed without hardly even looking.

I hated waking up alone like that. Unwanted. Abandoned.

One twist. Two. Touch the wires together and the engine should . . .

Fuck.

Nothing.

What the hell? I checked I got the proper color-coated strands and tried again. I was frowning down at the mess of tangled wire when someone tapped on the window behind me.

I glanced up and saw Eddie frowning down, no doubt pissed at what I’d done to his truck. Serves you right for leaving me like that, you prick.

“You need a working engine for that,” he told me as he opened the door. “One that has a battery.”

“Fuck you.” I spilled out of the car ready for a fistfight.

“What?” Eddie jumped back.

“Why did you have to leave me like that? What did I ever do to you?”

Eddie shook his head at me. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You were sound asleep and I thought maybe you needed it.”

I took a swing at him. “I hate waking up alone in a car like that.”

Ed plucked my fist from the air and peered at me like he was trying to see through my skin. “I didn’t know.”

“I hate that. Left behind in the car like a damn dog. Like a fucking duffel bag. You can’t be bothered to even wake me up and take me in out of the fucking snow.”

Now Eddie frowned like he was thinking about it. Now, after the fact. “I’m sorry, Jimmy. I didn’t think how you’d feel waking up alone like that. I won’t do it again.”

“Would have served you right if I took your truck and left you up here to walk back to civilization, wherever the hell that is. Would have served you right if I’d died out here.”

“All right, all right. Simmer down now.”

I glared at him. “Fuck you.”

“It’s pretty civilized inside. How about you come in with me.”

“How about you suck my fucking—”

“That’s enough.” He turned and headed toward the cabin’s welcoming front door. “I almost didn’t bother to disable the damn thing, but I thought on the off chance you knew what you were doing and could—”

“Which I did,” I pointed out.

“Come inside.” He jerked his chin toward the cabin like I was a dog and I was supposed to just follow along and yip around at his heels.

I debated making a run at him, but frankly, Eddie was a tough buzzard. He wasn’t too much older than me, just forty-two compared to my thirty-eight. But I was a lover, not a fighter, or at least that’s how I thought of myself. Back there on the road, Eddie had proved he wasn’t above using violence to get his way in this, so I went along.

You’re going to have to sleep sometime.

Eddie led me into a rustic-looking cabin that seemed awful nice for the middle of nowhere. There was a place for us to hang our hats just inside the door, over a table with a passel of pictures on it. There were old time black-and-whites of families and framed pictures of a good-looking man, a pretty woman, and some kids. There were some of the kids alone, and holy cow, there were probably a dozen pictures of Ed. He looked so young in a couple of them, they must have been from before we met.

One of Ed and the unknown man caught my eye. Something about the difference in height, the casual way they leaned together, the way they looked at each other, made me think this was Ed’s friend from the road, Don. Even though they’d both aged some since it was taken, I was almost sure of it.

No knobby hands, no weathered angel, this Don was good looking, without a doubt. He was lanky and chiseled. He had an intelligent face and a smile that drew the eye. He seemed sure of himself and charming. Whatever I’d seen in the darkness outside the car had to be a trick of the light.

Ed looked so young and earnest next to him it took my breath away. Brawny and tan, he wore a yoked Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up past well-muscled forearms and he eyed Don like he would follow him anywhere.

And that Don, he looked like he could appreciate a guy like Ed, as well.

Hadn't I seen firsthand how much he did appreciate him?

About the Author

Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.

If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”