A lovely review for WILD HEARTS from Kirkus!

March 6, 201513 Comments

cover image (c) Stephan Hoerold/Getty Images

“Fresh, fun and oh-so-romantic, WILD HEARTS had me galloping through the pages. I absolutely loved it.” ~ Lauren Barnholdt, author of TWO-WAY STREET and DEVON DELANEY

Enjoy Wild Hearts and the other standalone titles in Bloomsbury’s contemporary If Only romance line centered around an impossible problem: you always want what you can’t have!

Brie Carter’s father’s land development business has taken her family all over the world, but as soon as they arrive at their new home in Lost Spring, Wyoming, the town turns out to protest. They don’t want a new hotel if the resident mustang population will be displaced or hurt as part of the deal. Then Brie meets Logan, a gorgeous local who has a special connection to the mustangs, and she is immediately drawn to him . . . and the horses. However, with Logan’s father leading the protests and Brie’s father refusing to budge, it’s clear that their parents are heading towards an all-out war. Can Brie and Logan find a way to save the mustangs and be together? Or is their love doomed from the start?

This new title in the If Only line is the perfect summer read and proves that love flourishes in the wildest places!

From Kirkus Reviews:

Brie is used to constant travel; she’s not accustomed to caring passionately about a cause—or a young man. Brie’s dad is a land developer, so they move from place to place worldwide. Home-schooled, Brie has never made attachments. When she and her parents move to a one-main-street town in Wyoming, the welcome is frosty, as its citizens protest the uprooting of the wild mustangs for the hotel Brie’s dad is building. The loudest opponent is the father of a handsome, kind, cowboy-hatted boy named Logan. This quickly becomes more than a budding romance between Brie and Logan, as they take up the cause to create a sanctuary for the mustangs. She finds within herself a stirring love for the horses and a deep desire to do something good. However, caught in the middle of the heated battle, this is the first time Brie has contradicted her father and the first time she’s fallen in love. Burkhart’s uncluttered prose easily develops both characters and complications, making for a smooth-reading romance. Each chapter is headed with a pithy quote—”Cowboy proverb: The bigger the buckle, the better the cowboy”—lending light wisdom to the tale. This inspiring look at the plight of undomesticated landscape and wildlife nestled in a tender romance is a surprisingly sweet and resonant story. (Fiction. 12-18)

WILD HEARTS is available NOW for pre-order in hardcover and paperback with audio book coming soon! It releases on May 5, 2015!

Thank you Lauren, Kirkus, Laura Whitaker–my editor of awesome, Sarah Shumway, the Bloomsbury Team and to my Harts!

First review of WILD HEARTS AND 25% off Amazon purchase!

December 13, 2014Leave a comment

The lovely Christine at the Bridgewater Public Library posted a very kind review of WILD HEARTS on the library’s Facebook page. I’m reposting it below. Thank you so, so much, Christine! ❤

Looking for a book for teens who love horses?

Check out Jessica Burkhart’s Wild Hearts, coming to stores in May! Brie Carter doesn’t think she fits in anywhere. Homeschooled and constantly moving due to her dad’s job, she also works for him at his land developing business. Her mother wishes she would get involved in something, like photography. Arriving in Lost Spring, Wyoming, her family is met with protests over the development, which would disrupt the local wild mustang population. Among the protesters is Logan, whose love of the horses is so strong, he’s willing to do anything to save them. Brie begins to hang out with Logan and see his side of things…too bad her father doesn’t feel the same way. Nor does he know that she is hanging out with the enemy and his father, who is leading the protests. Together with new friend Amy, Logan and Brie work together to save the mustangs.

This book is a good young adult choice for those who are interested in horses and looking for a romance book. That being said, this book is mostly parent friendly- Brie does sneak out of the house and go camping with Logan, but there is no sex or drugs. The story revolves around Brie’s growing friendship with Logan and Amy, and the attempt to save the mustangs of Lost Spring. You can tell the author did her research on wild mustangs before writing this book. Good pick for those looking to get into teen books without the teen drama.

WILD HEARTS is available NOW for pre-order in paperback and hardcover! 🙂 It releases May 5, 2015.

IndieBound

Amazon (25% off TODAY on Amazon! Use code “BOOKDEAL25” at checkout!)

Barnes & Noble

This holiday season, let’s provide sanctuary . . .

October 14, 2014October 15, 20142 Comments

* 10:58pm update: I’m having trouble installing the DONATE button. Grrr. So, at the moment, the only way to donate is via PayPal which is at the bottom of this post. I’ll post an update when I have the donate button up and running!

Hi, Team Canterwood!

As some of you may know, I’m switching up our group name to The Harts. Someone came up with it and I love it! It will encompass all of the horse books that I’m going to write–not just Canterwood.

That aside . . .

The holidays (!!) aren’t too far off. If you’ve read HOME FOR CHRISTMAS *********SPOILER ALERT*********** then you know that Sasha gets an AMAZING Christmas present! She is allowed to adopt a horse from the rescue group that she and the rest of the Canterwood gang spent their last Xmas break.

That got me thinking. What if we, in tribute to the end of Canterwood paperback books, and a bow to Sasha, adopted OUR very own retired racehorse? Just look at the FEW of many horses from OLD FRIENDS: A KENTUCKY FACILITY FOR RETIRED RACEHORSES.

CREATOR (C) all photos taken by Matt Wooley

BALL-FOUR JUDGE’S CASEWILLIAMSTOWN

I’m totally serious! Sure, we can’t really take one physically, BUT we can do several things. Old Friends is located in Georgetown, Kentucky. A few hours by bus from me. They know nothing about this because I’m hoping that we can all come together, just like in HFC, a make a Christmas miracle happen for these horses.

So, what can we do? What do you think of this:

Share Certificates

Donate $100 and sponsor an Old Friend’s retiree. Donors receive a personalized Certificate and an 8 X 10 color photograph. Certificates are available for all horses. They make great gifts for the horse lover in your life!

Guys–that idea seems like the best. With every $100 we earn, WE, as Team Canterwood, can actually have our very own sponsored horse(s)! How insane, amazing, crazy, happy would that be?

You guys ready to start asking for donations? I would like them to be sent directly to me so that I can then go to Old Friends with a giant (I’m serious–I’m going to get one of those humongous fake checks!) check and it will be from TEAM CANTERWOOD to Old Friends.

Let’s sponsor as many horses as we possibly can! Once we have sponsored our horses, I will take the photos and frame them. I’ll keep them in my office and post a photo of them on my blog. They will remind me of you all and keep me going when I’m stuck or think that I totally suck at writing. 🙂

If we’re able to sponsor a horse that also means that ANY of you who contribute can go visit “our” horse at the farm! I will go as often as I can and take video and photos for you all.

What do you think? Can we make this happen? Can Team Canterwood own a retired racehorse? Or two? Or four? Let’s ROCK THIS, guys! In my next blog, I’ll share a few ideas about raising money. I want you guys to share how you’re getting donations in the comments section of this post. Are you going to make fliers? Bake? Car wash? Chores? I want to know and I’m sure other TC members will too.

Let’s do this, my loves! This is the PERFECT holiday cause that will be an awesome accomplishment. It will even make SANCTUARY all that more special.

Oh, and one little thing . . . you guys are kind of wanting HEATED and SANCTUARY, right?

Welllllll, I’m going to give you a chance to read them sooner than planned!

If $100 is raised and Team Canterwood sponsors a retired thoroughbred, SANCTUARY will publish in early JANUARY 2015.

* I will pick 5 RANDOM donors for FaceTime or Skype sessions with me!

If $200 is raised and TC sponsors TWO thoroughbreds, HEATED will be released in FEBRUARY 2015.

* 7 RANDOM donors will get to FT or Skype me!

If $300 is raised and TC sponsors THREE thoroughbreds, ROYALS will release in JANUARY with SANCTUARY.

* 13 RANDOM donors will get to FT or Skype me!

If $400 or more is raised, you’ll get all of the above, PLUS, in January, I will tell you all about my NEW SECRET *PARANORMAL* horse series.

* 20 RANDOM donors will get to FT or Skype me!

** You can donate more than once. I hope you can! 🙂 If you donate three times, let’s say, it will count as three entries into the random generator for FT or Skype.

LET’S DO THIS THING! I’m going to make a flier right now and I’ll try to make it so that you can download it and print it if you like.

You can donate $1 or $100. If you put your first name as the donor (*if you want to be considered for the FT and Skype contest, please leave your first name and last initial), I will write your name in a big Team Canterwood Christmas card that I want to present to Old Friends. I’ll film the entire thing and we can meet our horse or horses!

Much love to you all. Let’s put our hearts in the right place. I know we can make a difference to some horses who have been abused, neglected, without love, and probably confused. We can change all of that. We are Team Canterwood.

xoxo

If you want to use PayPal, the address to send donations to is: jessicab_87 AT hotmail DOT COM. This address is for donations ONLY!

Brooklyn Event Tomorrow! Kensington Stables

July 23, 2014Leave a comment

Last minute, BUT tomorrow I’ll be at Kensington Stables in Brooklyn at 2:30 to speak and sign books. I’m SO excited! I’ve been meaning to visit Kensington since I moved here and am so thrilled that they’re letting me come talk and then play with the horses. 🙂

The address:

51 Caton Place
Brooklyn, NY
(917) 940-9189

and http://www.KensingtonStables.com

Whoa, it is storming like CRAZY here! I’m gonna jump off the computer for a bit. I hope to see you tomorrow!

#TeamCanterwoodFTW

Up next: Kensington Stables, Brooklyn, NY

July 19, 2014Leave a comment

I’m sooo excited that this coming week (date TBA) I’ll get to speak to young riders at Kensington. There’s a summer camp program and I emailed to ask if I could come and got a YES! 🙂 #HORSES

Welcome Charm and Aristocrat Breyer models!

June 25, 20141 Comment

The Second Thing of Awesome is . . . Charm and Aristocrat are FINALLY here as Breyer models!!

charm Charm releases tomorrow and Aristocrat is out today! OMG! It’s so wonderful and exciting. I toured Breyer’s factory and offices yesterday and took SO many pics! Some are for my eyes only, though. Yep, Breyer is super strict about what photos go out and with good reason! It would be awful to spoil the release of an upcoming model that just happened to be in the corner of one of my pics. One of the many things that I love about Breyer is that they are truly a family. The company has been family owned since it opened and the good relationships among the staff back up my family feel. I’ve never seen happier people at work. Jaime and Audrey, my two main chaperones, were beyond sweet. I’m thinking about submitting my resume to Breyer to work as a remote PR person. 😉 Only half kidding. Audrey, if you read this, shoot me a job application. 🙂

I will blog all about my visit to Breyer soon, but I wanted to say: I asked them if our #CharmforBreyer campaign made any difference in their decision. Guess what? Y-O-U guys were the ones they looked to for inspiration and your Tweets, e-mails, and letters to Breyer all made a HUGE difference in their decision to partner with Canterwood. I can’t thank all of you enough! *gianthug*

You can find them at Amazon, Breyer, and soon in physical stores.

So . . . if these sell well then there might be more! Leave a comment here about what horse you’d like to see next and why. I’ll pass all of these to Breyer.

Much love to you all!

Charm the Breyer model

June 2, 20141 Comment

Yaaay! Check out Charm with TAKE THE REINS! Ahhh!!

38 days till Breyer Fest!

West Coast Prep #1

May 13, 20149 Comments

I’m so excited to share the first title in WCP!

Lexi was the one who made the last (and right) call.

WCP #1 is . . . ROYALS

Who wants to see the cover?

Team Canterwood

April 16, 20141 Comment

Stay tuned. I have a rather large idea (it’s kind of exciting ;)) and it involves YOU!

xoxo

Horse games for the Nintendo Wii

March 4, 2014Leave a comment

Found this on eBay. A chandelier has been one of my loves and wants for 27 years. I think I’ll do some serious looking and find the right (aka pink) one. When I finish Unicorn Magic 4, this will be my sparkly reward!

I’ve been working when I could because my elbow is being AWFUL. Thankfully, I have a dr appt tomorrow.

Oh! I got a Nintendo Wii including Wii Fit for $100 on eBay! 🙂 So, naturally, I looked up horse games.