Distracting the Deputy

I'm so excited to share about my upcoming release with you!

Distracting the Deputy is a sweet contemporary romance full of small-town charm, quirky characters, and cowboys that releases June 22! It also has a loony goat named Ethel, derelict old buildings getting a facelift, and a swoon-worthy romance between a deputy and a woman with a hidden past.

I had such a grand time writing about Knox Strickland (our upstanding, salt-of-the-earth deputy) and Zadie Redmond, an outdoor adventure guide who teaches ballet and music lessons on the side.

Trouble is coming, but for whom?

When he’s not evading grabby-handed octogenarians, mentoring troubled teens, or rescuing rascally youngsters from disaster, Deputy Knox Strickland can be found upholding the law in the eastern Oregon region he patrols. He avoids making plans for tomorrow, focusing instead on doing his best today. Then one chance encounter with a beautiful woman in a wheat field turns his world upside down. Knox is left questioning what secrets she’s hiding, and how hard he’ll have to work to scale the fortress she’s built around her heart.

Zadie Redmond isn’t like most women. A life spent looking over her shoulder has destroyed the promising future she’d once envisioned. Her days are spent leading hunting and fishing adventures or teaching tiny ballerinas the proper way to plié. She fills her evenings with do-it-yourself projects while worrying about the day her past catches up with her. In an unexpected moment, the local deputy swoops into her world like a storybook hero and she knows nothing will ever be the same. Zadie will do anything to keep Knox safe from the danger lurking in the shadows, even if it destroys her chance at love.

Will Knox convince Zadie she can trust him with her secrets and her heart?

“You mean you willingly got in a car with Mrs. Dunigan?”

“Reluctantly is a better word. And I made Mrs. Finley promise she wouldn’t let Mrs. Dunigan sit in the front seat. The old flirt sat behind me and kept running her fingers across my neck and squeezing my shoulders the whole time I was driving. That woman is a menace. She’s lucky I don’t file a restraining order against her. The way she was touching me, freaking me out, it’s a good thing I didn’t run Mrs. Finley’s car into a snowbank.”

“Oh, you’d be dead if you did that. Mrs. Finley and her friends would clobber you to death with those fifty-pound handbags they carry, or, at the very least, pool their funds to hire a hit man to take you out for committing such an atrocious crime.”

The book includes a Reader’s Guide, perfect for book club discussions.

For a limited time, the eBook pre-order is available at the discounted price of just $2.99.

Purchase today on:

Amazon | B&N | Apple | Kobo

Add to Goodreads

Everyone who pre-orders the book can claim a special Bonus Bundle. Just go to this link, enter your info, and you'll receive an email with bonus content that includes a short story about Knox, a special Zadie-approved recipe, and some other fun goodies! Enjoy!

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.