Thank you to Team Smexy Books for having me here today to celebrate the recent release of LUCKY BREAK, the fourth book in my Clean Slate Ranch cowboy series. If you aren’t familiar with me, I’m A.M. Arthur and I write M/M romance with a dash of M/M/M here and there. I have over fifty books published and am best known for my contemporary series, including Cost of Repairs, Perspectives, and Belonging, but I also dip into paranormal and mpreg.

Clean Slate Ranch is a tourist attraction, but it’s a place for second (and sometimes third) chances in life, and there’s all kinds of romance in the air. LUCKY BREAK brings together quiet, temporarily-homeless pastry chef Shawn Matthews with flirty cowboy Robin Butler—quite literally when Shawn is offered a cabin right next door to Robin. But Robin doesn’t date, Shawn doesn’t do hookups, and both men have emotional baggage they need to unpack before they can find their happily ever after.

Shawn was introduced in the previous book in the series, SADDLE UP, and at first he was just a pastry chef there to support that book’s main character Miles. But as Shawn appeared in scene after scene, he developed into a real person with a past. He mentions learning to bake from his mom, but where is she now? Why doesn’t he have family nearby? Who is this mysterious ex he says stalked him? So when Carina approached me about publishing more books in the series, I jumped at the chance to dig into Shawn’s history.

Turns out he and I have a similar love affair with baking Christmas cookies with our moms! Christmas cookies were a huge part of the holidays, both at home and at my grandparents’ house. We’d spend an entire weekend baking anywhere from five to ten different kinds of cookies, some family recipes and some from the back of a morsels bag, but it was something we did as a family. So we always had cookies when folks came to visit and plenty to share with our neighbors.

I used these memories to give Shawn something special with his beloved mom: time spent baking together for others. Shawn and his mom made dozens of Christmas cookies, created platters of them, and handed them out to neighbors, coworkers, and people in need. Shawn’s mom instilled his love of baking in him from a young age, so when he grew up and found himself alone in a strange city, his knowledge of pastry got him his first restaurant job. And that same love of baking led him to Clean Slate Ranch and, eventually, his happily ever after.

Do you guys love Christmas cookies? What are your favorites? If you’re on Facebook, be sure to search out my reader group, Pot O Gold, because I’m posting favorite cookie recipes all week long!

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Lucky Break, Clean Slate Ranch, #4, by A.M. Arthur

Book Description: Welcome to Clean Slate Ranch: home of tight jeans, cowboy boots and rough trails. For some men, it’s a fantasy come true.

Shawn Matthews never imagined he’d be living out of his car, trying to make ends meet, but life doesn’t always go your way—he knows that better than most. When an accident leaves the Clean Slate Ranch shorthanded, Shawn is enlisted to help cook and finds himself bunked next to the sexiest cowboy he’s ever laid eyes on.

The first time Robin Butler spots the new chef, he thinks he’s seeing an actual ghost. Shawn is the spitting image of his late husband, and it spooks the hell out of him. The former rodeo-star-turned-ranch-hand does his best to avoid the soft-spoken cook—except it’s kind of tough when the man makes the best damn grub this side of the Mississippi and has a boy-next-door charm that’s impossible to resist.

Even though the tension between them practically sizzles, Shawn doesn’t do hookups and Robin isn’t ready for a new relationship. Besides, Robin can tell Shawn’s been hurt and deserves a partner who isn’t saddled with a tragic past. But chemistry doesn’t lie. Maybe finding each other—and a second chance at love—is the lucky break they both need.

Author Bio

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland.  She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop.  She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Carina Press, SMP Swerve, and Briggs-King Books.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder.  She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.  

Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments). For updates, info and the occasional freebie, sign up for her free newsletter.

For sneak peeks and exclusive giveaways, please join my Facebook group Pot O Gold: https://www.facebook.com/groups/300209733646247/

Author Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AM_Arthur

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/A.M.Arthur.M.A/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5304118.A_M_Arthur