Cowboy Up! with Vicki Lewis Thompson

The very talented Vicki Lewis Thompson is joining us.

A romance writing career has brought Vicki Lewis Thompson many wonderful things –New York Times bestseller status, an appearance on LIVE with Regis and Kelly, the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America, thousands of readers, many dear friends, and the cutest little yellow convertible in the world. Her career has also given her work

she loves.

Although she’s written more than 100 books, she continues to be fascinated by the many ways that a man and woman fall in love. The age-old story remains a challenging puzzle to be solved anew with each book. That makes her a very lucky person, indeed.

When you've finished chatting with us here, please make sure to check out her website at VickiLewisThompson She has an AWESOME contest going on and you can sign up for her newsletter - offering up another opportunity for FREE great reads!

Today, Vicki has a topic near and dear to a girl’s heart – COWBOYS! So cowgirl up and get ready for some ‘sizzle in the saddle’ with her Sons of Chance series.

Thank you for joining us today, Vicki!

Happy first Tuesday of June, everyone! And thanks to Angela for inviting me here today to talk about my favorite subject, snug jeans . . . um, I mean cowboys. Well, and snug jeans,

which is part of the whole cowboy allure, don’t you think? I live in Arizona, where the cowboys run wild and free, because we still have a reason for them out here. It’s called dude ranches.

Also in Arizona we have a fair number of men who haven’t made a career of cowboying but still love climbing on the back of a horse and cantering down a dry desert wash on the weekends. In my mind, these guys count as cowboys, too.

I live near one of these dry washes, and it truly brightens my day to hear the sound of hoofs on sand and then glimpse a Stetson-wearing cowboy riding a fine-looking horse. The cowboy doesn’t bounce on that tooled leather saddle, either. I know because I watch to see if his buns come off the leather. Research, you know. Somebody has to do it.

All that heavy research goes into my Sons of Chance series from Harlequin Blaze, which continues with another three books this summer.

The June book,

SHOULD’VE BEEN A COWBOY

is out now, but I’m giving away the July book, COWBOY UP, to

one lucky commenter today! These books are worth it just for the covers alone. Yummy. Although the books are part of a larger series, each one stands alone, so you don’t need to read last summer’s group to understand this batch.

Sons of Chance celebrates my fantasy image of a cowboy – the scuffed boots, the worn jeans that mold to his thighs, the yoked shirt that emphasizes his broad shoulders, the hat that shades his eyes and gives him an air of mystery . . . whew. I need a moment.

Yes, cowboys have considerable physical appeal, but that’s not the main reason I love writing about them. For me, cowboys represent an ideal similar to the knights of old. Part of it might be the horse.

There’s something about a man on a horse that stirs the blood and inspires admiration.

But cowboys also have a code of honor, a sense of chivalry that marks them as modern-day knights in shining armor. Like knights, they protect the weak, show respect for women, and stand up for what they believe. What could be sexier than that? A modern cowboy might have a smart phone tucked into his jeans, but his values are centuries old.

And that, in my opinion, is what’s so great about cowboys.

What’s your favorite thing about cowboys?