Guest Post w/ Nicole Helm-- Advice?! Ergs.

Cowboys!!! Woohoo!! Today we've got Nicole Helm joining us for a fun post about her newest release--Outboy Cowboy. Yall check it out then hit those comments and leave Nicole some love! ~anna

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Caleb Shaw and Delia Rogers, the couple in OUTLAW COWBOY, are two lost, broken souls who have had a connection since they were kids. One they’ve both tried to ignore as they went their separate ways as adults.

But, in the beginning of OUTLAW COWBOY, Caleb and Delia are thrown back together and have to deal with all the feelings, secrets, and sparks between them.

If I was to give these two stubborn, damaged people advice, I’d have to do it very carefully. Neither of them are very good with people telling them what to do. (Not that I can relate to that at all—*cough*—).

Caleb has a lot of issues that stem from childhood, issues he’s never been good at dealing with, but since his father’s accident years ago, he’s been trying to keep himself on the straight and narrow. And, because he can be a tough, demanding man, he’s often far too hard on himself. So, one of the things I’d very carefully suggest to Caleb would be to relax. Not every decision has to involve the weight of the world. I would also suggest Caleb might open up more (though that advice would likely fall on deaf, manly ears). If Caleb expressed his feelings and, most of all, fears, to the people around him—his sisters especially, he’d find some strong and capable people ready to step in and help him through. But these are also lessons that people have to learn on their own, I think, for them to mean anything and affect true change in a person. Luckily, I put Caleb through the paces in this book, and I think the man who emerges at the end has taken on most of this advice. Most. I mean, he’s still a guy.

Which brings us to Delia Rogers, the woman who starts the ball rolling on a lot of that change for Caleb. And, really, vice-versa. Delia had a seriously rough childhood and she’s had to make a lot of tough choices in her life. She is tough, though she sees those times that fear or panic get to her as weakness. So, my advice to Delia in the beginning would have been to accept that fear, uncertainty, and even exhaustion aren’t weakness. Sometimes, they’re necessary. And the best way to deal with all of those hard things, is to share them with people who care about you. Not only does Delia learn this from Caleb in OUTLAW COWBOY, but she also learns it from her surprising relationship with Summer Shaw, and her reunion with her own sister.

When it comes to love, both Caleb and Delia have a lot to learn about trust and communication. But, both have been kicked around by those things in their lives, so it’s a hard won fight. In an ideal world, I would tell them both not to be so afraid, but that’s the thing about advice—you really have to live it to make it work, a lot. And fear is a liar, and it’s not something that you can reason away when it’s so ingrained into something important in your life, into your childhood.

So, as much as I’d love to give these two advice, it just would never work until they go through the things they have to go through in the book to reach their happily ever after. And I think it’s so rewarding when they do and when they conquer fear on their own!

Ever since his father’s accident, Caleb Shaw vowed he’d mend his wild ways, and he means to keep his word. He’s a changed man. A better man. And he knows he should want absolutely nothing to do with his crazy old life…or the maddening temptation that is Delia Rogers.

Because Delia? Is nothing but trouble.

Delia’s been stealing her sisters away from their violent father ever since she was old enough to fight back. But now with the police on her trail and all her bridges burned, there’s nowhere left to run but back into the arms of the one cowboy she knows she shouldn’t need. Caleb has always been too good for her, no matter how bad he claimed to be. Yet when close quarters turn into something more, Delia and Caleb are forced to decide what really matters: mending their reputations or healing their wary hearts…

    

 

*covers link to Amazon

I grew up with my nose in a book and a dream of becoming a writer. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, a husband, and two kids, I get to pursue that dream. I write down-to-earth contemporary romance. From farmers to cowboys, midwest to the west, I write stories about people finding themselves and finding love in the process.

I live in Missouri with my husband and two sons where I’m surrounded by Ninja Turtles, video games, and a shared dream of someday owning a farm.

Find Nicole online
Website | Facebook | Twitter | On herding cats

We've got one PRINT copy of Rebel Cowboy up for grabs!

This is US/Can only due to shipping.