Her Outback Cowboy - 'humour, heart and hope' by Annie Seaton

Thanks for chatting with us today, Annie. I know how busy you are with two books releasing within a week of each other, and you're presenting a workshop at the Winton Outback Writers Festival this week. Great timing! And congratulations on the release of Her Outback Cowboy. 
 
Blurb: The last thing advertising art director Lucy Bellamy wants is to go home to the Outback, but duty to family calls. At least there’s one bonus—her first love, sexy cowboy neighbour, Garth Mackenzie, is there and the attraction between them is still explosive. But Lucy has no intention of getting stuck in this two-bit town and she counts down the days until she can go back to her real life. 
After an engineering degree and working in the mines of Western Australia, Garth has returned to the Outback and is home to stay. His goal is to settle down, start a family, and work his beloved land with the girl he’s always loved. But if it comes to Lucy choosing between the glamour of the city or making a home with him in the Outback—he’d lose, hands down.

1. 1. Where did the idea for Her Outback Cowboy come from? Sitting around a campfire in the Pilliga Scrub quite a few years ago, I listened to the story of how the owners of the huge wheat and cattle property met and fell in love. It was in the days before I started writing, but the romance of their story stayed with me. A beautiful girl from Central London, meeting her very own outback cowboy, finding true love and following him back to the outback of New South Wales, and making a happy life and family together.​  In Her Outback Cowboy, that story became the back story of the grandparents of the four cousins who are summoned home. I loved including about Helena and Harry’s romance from many years ago, knowing it was based on a true story.
2. There are four books planned for this series. What connects them?  The four cousins and their journey to love in the outback
3. There are numerous differences in language between Australia and America. The use of ‘cowboy’, an American term, in the title is an obvious difference. Given this is an Australian setting with Australian characters, what factors determine the language ‘choices’ you have to make?  The language choices have been very interesting. As my US publisher is keen to make this an authentic Aussie ‘outback’ romance, they have opted to go for British spelling. As the books have been edited, the differences in vocabulary and perception has become very obvious to em. The common ones like ranch/farm/ property are to be expected, as well as cowboy/ station hand but there have been other phrases that the US editor did not understand. A good example is a phrase I included that something was ‘too good to knock back.’ The US editor said that would be interpreted as drinking hard liquor!
4. ‘Prickle Creek’ is a delightful location name. What does the name promise in terms of the overall series?  Prickle Creek is the name of Helena and Harry’s farm and each of the cousin’s stories will be based at this location.
5. What is the inspiration for the setting? Do you have photos of ‘Prickle Creek’?  I do! The photos that I have included were taken at the property (note not ranch!) where the book was researched and where the lovely romance of the 1970s  with the English rose and her outback cowboy actually occurred.
6. Can you give us a sneak peak at book 2 in the series? Whose story will feature?  Book 2 is Liam’s story. Journalist Liam comes home from London and unexpectedly comes across his former girlfriend in the very last place he expects to see her. Book 2, at this stage called Her Outback Christmas will be out on 9th October. 

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Buy links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072M1JDW6/
 
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-outback-cowboy-annie-seaton/1126480579?ean=9781640631335
 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/her-outback-cowboy
 
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/her-outback-cowboy/id1244648665?mt=11
 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35060375-her-outback-cowboy
 
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Her-Outback-Cowboy-Prickle-Creek-ebook/dp/B072M1JDW6
 
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads
 
 
Bio:
Annie Seaton lives on the edge of the South Pacific Ocean on the east coast of Australia She is fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing and has been delighted to discover that readers love reading her stories as much as she loves writing them. Annie lives with her own hero of many years. Their two children are now grown up and married, and two beautiful grandchildren have arrived. Now they share their home with Toby, the naughtiest dog in the universe, and two white cats. When she is not writing she can be found in her garden or walking on the beach... or most likely on her deck overlooking the ocean, camera in hand as the sun sets. Each winter, Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research. In 2014 Annie was voted Author of the Year and in 2015 was voted Best Established Author in the AusRomToday.com Readers' Choice Awards. Readers can contact Annie through her website annieseaton.net or find her on Face Book, Twitter and Instagram.
 
Author Website: http://annieseaton.net
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