Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
The first four books in the Three Springs, Texas series by Cari Lynn Webb will draw on reader’s emotions. They will smile, cry, and take a journey with the characters.
The Texas SEAL’s Surprise has Abby James coming to visit her cousin, Tess, in the small town of Three Springs Texas. She is a single pregnant woman whose fiancé cheated on her. She initially meets Wes, the hero, after her car has a flat tire. Wes is a grieving son, the angry brother, the loyal friend. He’s a man who has tried his best to avoid roots as he puts his life on hold to chase what he thinks will make him happy. That is until he meets Abby who is the direct opposite, someone who wants roots and a family. Yet, although both try to avoid their feelings, they realize how much they are attracted to each other.
Trusting the Rancher with Christmas is probably the best book of the series although all are great. Paige Palmer is on “vacation” for the holidays and visiting her sister, Tess, and her cousin, Abby. Her vacation wasn’t her idea, but after a huge blow-up at the veterinary clinic in Chicago where she works, she’s put on a two-week cooling-off period. She is struggling internally to try to find what she really wants. Because the current vet is laid up, Paige is asked by a little girl, Riley, to save her favorite pet cow who is very sick. After consulting with the vet, Paige goes to the ranch owned by Evan Bishop to help cure the sick animals. But what ends up happening is that Evan and Paige end up healing their hearts with the help of Riley.
Her Cowboy Wedding Date Is Tess’s story. She has two weeks to plan her cousin Abby’s wedding to Wes. She wants to make the ceremony perfect and enlists the help of best man Carter Sloan. Even though he has other concerns like starting a business and helping his brothers reunite their grandfather, Sam, with their uncle Roy, he agrees to help Tess. The two clash and have differing opinions, but both realize there is a spark between them. The question is can Carter overcome his cynicism and can she open her heart again.
Falling for the Cowboy Doc is the book that transitions the series from city gals who find their cowboys to working cowgirls. Maggie Orr along with her sister, Kelsey, are professional ropers. They are looking forward to a possibility of obtaining a national sponsorship. This is what they have dreamed of doing, but Kelsey is injured. The doctor, Grant Sloan, gives the bad news that she cannot compete and will need shoulder surgery. Fate and an instant attraction put Maggie and Grant together. Both keep telling themselves that they must focus on their careers and are not the dating type. After her sister Kelsey finds someone, Maggie wants to spend more time with Evan. She loosens her heart a bit, and Grant realizes that between Maggie and his brothers he might want to stay in Three Springs.
Readers will enjoy the plot lines and the chemistry between the characters. There is a heartwarming overall theme that has the hero and heroine needing to make decisions regarding the future each of them wants and wondering if they are willing to make sacrifices to have a future together.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the stories?
Cari Lynn Webb: I like to write my characters as people I would hang out with and the setting of Three Springs with a strong community. Each book in the series has instant attraction, but not instant love. The series is split into two parts. The first part has the female lead, a city gal who comes to a small town and meets her cowboy. The stories have the women as “fish out of water,” a little out of their comfort zone, but they end up thriving. Each of the first three books highlights a sister and a cousin. The second part of the series has real cowgirls, which is their profession. I approached the stories from that angle. The cowgirls have stories to tell.
EC: Each of the first three books in the series gives a role to the horses?
CLW: My dog is more like a person in my life. I speak to my dog. I have a Goldendoodle. She is my princess people with animals, whether horses, dogs, cows, bunnies, or goats, consider them family members. In the stories the horses are named and have personalities.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Abby in the first book, The Texas SEAL’s Surprise?
CLW: She is a city gal, a daydreamer, optimist, spirited, gritty, and sincere. She learns by the end of the story to believe in herself and finds her way.
EC: The hero, Wes?
CLW: Composed, confident, stubborn, level-headed, practical, cynical, and arrogant.
EC: Their relationship?
CLW: With each other they are infuriating, distracted, and intrigued. He sees her as a complication, and she sees him as a challenge. Not on Wes’s priority list is a romance.
EC: In book two, Trusting the Rancher with Christmas, how would you describe the heroine, Paige?
CLW: She is another city gal who is observant, frustrated, restless, likes challenges, and loves animals. In the beginning she goes along to get along and does not have the Christmas spirit because of her dad’s passing.
EC: The hero in this book, Evan?
CLW: He is a good single dad who is doting. He is hard working, dedicated, protective, and easy going. Sometimes we do not hear a lot about the single dads out there.
EC: What is the role of Riley, Evan’s six-year-old daughter?
CLW: She is motherless. She thinks of her pet cows as her daughters. Riley can be fierce, determined, sweet, innocent, enthusiastic, and humorous. Her goal in life is to want her dad happy.
EC: The relationship between Paige and Evan?
CLW: They both avoid their feelings. Riley is the go-between. Paige loosens up because of Riley who brings Paige back to finding some happiness. Paige and Evan know each other’s mannerisms and small details, which brings them closer together.
EC: This book goes a lot into the relationship between the sisters Paige and Tess?
CLW: They walk on eggshells with each other. There are secrets they are not sharing. Both feel the relationship is fractured and distant but want to find that bond again.
EC: In book three, Her Cowboy Wedding Date, Tess gets her happy ending?
CLW: She is patient, caring, and determined. Readers realize that in book one Tess mourned her husband, but in this book, they also understand that he was not the one for her. By book three she has a different attitude toward her late husband. In book one she was grieving him, so some stuff was not quite clear. As time went on, she looked back and can see things differently because she is in a different headspace.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Carter?
CLW: Charming, a businessman, driven, stubborn, very competitive, overbearing, and blunt. Being the oldest of five brothers he shouldered a ton of responsibility.
EC: Their relationship?
CLW: Tess is hesitant to open her heart up again. She wants something she did not have in the first marriage, someone who is a friend, honest, and loyal. She finds Carter irritating, who gets under her skin. He sees her as complicated but is fascinated by her. Both had loving grandparents with a good marriage, so Tess and Carter had role models.
EC: The book just released, Falling for the Cowboy Doc, is the one that makes the transition in the series?
CLW: This book has the rest of the Sloan brothers along with Carter. I am immediately hooked by the Sloan family. This is the first book in the cowgirl story.
EC: The hero is Dr. Grant Sloan, an orthopedic surgeon?
CLW: He is stubborn, headstrong, who I nicknamed “Dr. Dry Clean,” because he is so stiff. He is also a loner, vulnerable, serious, focused, dedicated, and reserved. He was close to his brothers as a child, but now has built a wall.
EC: How about the heroine, Maggie?
CLW: She is decisive, charming, sweet, and likes to blend in.
EC: What about her sister Kelsey?
CLW: She is strong-minded, reckless, and protective. I put in a brief love story for her. Although on a smaller scale than Maggie she has her own growth as well.
EC: What about the relationship between Maggie and Kelsey?
CLW: They are loyal to each other, business partners, teammates, and each other’s anchor. They also have secrets from each other. Basically, holding back information.
EC: The relationship between Maggie and Grant?
CLW: They try to avoid their feelings for one another. They are both career minded. She tells him her mind and keeps him off balance. They are exasperated with each other. It seems to them an impossible situation because each is going in different directions.
EC: Can you explain the book quote, “growing up does not mean growing apart”?
CLW: I have seen from personal experiences how people get together in a relationship and try to stop the other from growing. Who someone is at the beginning is not who they will be at the end. People grow and change, and they should have someone who will grow and change with them. There should be a commitment to grow together and to challenge one another to become a better person.
EC: What about the older characters, Sam, Roy, and Boone?
CLW: In the second round of books readers will see a lot of Sam and Roy. I wanted to write these characters because I was very close with my grandparents, on both sides. They can teach by having someone sit down with them and have a conversation. We need to listen to the older generations’ life experiences and advice.
EC: The next books?
CLW: His Christmas Cowgirl comes out in November. March 2024 is the next book. The last one in the series comes out in August 2024.
EC: THANK YOU!!
