Delores Fossen’s New Novel Shines A Light On Foster Care Heroes [REVIEW]

Can a hardened cowboy learn to overcome his past and find love after growing up in foster care? Find out in Delores Fossen’s new novel. (Picture courtesy HQN)

A cowboy who has tried to forget his past receives an invitation to a wedding he doesn’t want to attend. But the one girl who could always melt his butter lures him back to the very place he has refused to go. Will they find lasting love in one another’s arms? Find out in Delores Fossen’s latest. 

HQN

Callen Laramie has worked hard to build his empire and reputation as one of Texas’ premiere cattlemen. It has taken all his energy and determination to rise above the pain of his past, a youth he and his brothers spent in the foster care system. There was one part of his past that, however, that did have a positive impact on his life: his foster-father Buck, the one person he and his brothers ever felt they could rely on. But even receiving an invitation to Buck’s wedding doesn’t ignite within Callen the desire to go back to Coldwater, Texas.

Yet a family secret and a chance to see the one girl he always swooned over, Buck’s off-limits daughter, Shelby McCall, has him packing. Once there, Callen gets all the feels for Shelby all over again. She is pretty as a picture, and she has a way of softening even Callen’s roughest edges. But are her kisses enough to keep him around? And will she even want him to stay once she discovers the real reason he came back at all? Will theirs be more than just a holiday romance or will it be something far more lasting?

Every child who has been in foster care, for whatever reason, has had trauma. Fossen deftly captures the heartbreak of this situation and its long-lasting repercussions in Lone Star Christmas. Even as she weaves the threads of romance around Callen and Shelby, she always reminds us of just what a challenge this kind of past presents, and demonstrates effectively why this is a heavy burden to bear. She approaches the topic with humor and grace, and always the warranted respect and understanding this necessitates, thereby eliciting readers’ empathy for Callen and his siblings.

Fossen also shines a bright light on the big-hearted individuals who are able to open their homes to children in their darkest hours and become good foster parents. All too often, it seems like we only hear about bad foster parents in the media, so it is wonderful to see a character like Buck who never fails to be there for his kids, whether it is his flesh-and-blood or the children he takes in and treats as his own. It’s a nice reminder of what is possible if people get into fostering for the right reasons, and what a positive and lasting impact their actions can have on children who need a family.

If you’re looking for a sweet but insightful novel filled with heart, sexy cowboys, shrewd women, loads of romance and more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, you can’t go wrong with Delores Fossen’s latest offering, Lone Star Christmas. It’s a story that will make you believe miracles, especially the little ones that everyday people work without any magic whatsoever.

Delores Fossen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Delores Fossen is the Rita Award-nominated author Blame It On the Cowboy, Lone Star Nights, Texas on My Mind, and the bestselling Appaloosa Pass Ranch series from Harlequin Intrigue. She is also the recipient of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice and Booksellers Best Awards.

As a child she dreamed of becoming a Texas Ranger or FBI agent, but now creates fictional cowboy cops and law enforcement officers in her romantic suspense novels instead. Before writing full-time, she also worked as an Air Force captain, a special education teacher and a rehab counselor.

She lives with her husband, an Air Force colonel, and her four children. Visit her home on the Web, like her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and on Instagram.

LONE STAR CHRISTMAS
By Delores Fossen
384 pgs. HQN. $7.99

Purchase Lone Star Christmas at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, and Powell’s.

Lone Star Christmas is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.