‘She’s Gone Country’ by Jane Porter

Being the mom of boys, especially teenage boys, isn’t all fun and games, and this little fact has hit Shey Darcy hard as she tries to make a new life for herself and her three sons. But this gal is determined to give her boys what they need to become good men, no matter how daunting the task seems.

In her new book, “She’s Gone Country,” author Jane Porter takes her readers to the heart of Texas — where the men are handsome, independent and stubborn and the women are beautiful and feisty.

Picking up the pieces after her husband of 17 years announces he's leaving her for another man, Shey Darcy heads back to the ranch where she grew up, her boys in tow. But coming home isn’t always easy, and Shey soon finds a world of drama and trauma as she attempts to make peace with her past and looks forward to a new future for herself and her family.

While her older boys Hank and Bo have trouble adjusting to small-town living, Shey’s youngest boy Cooper takes to the ranch like a duck to water. When he announces that he wants to learn to be a bull rider and take lessons from world champion Dane Kelly, Shey is shocked to feel a little piece of her heart begin to open as the man who changed her life so many years ago rides back into her life.

Struggling with her renewed feelings for Dane, Shey also deals with hard-headed brothers, a meddling momma, family feuds and an interfering soon-to-be ex-husband as she tries to resurrect her former modeling career at the ripe old age of 39.

You gotta be tough to be a Texas gal!

Porter beautifully captures the warmth of family togetherness, along with the exquisite flutterings of a renewed romance with “She’s Gone Country,” her sixth mainstream novel. Set in the heart of North Central Texas in the fictional town of Parkerfield, Porter shows she has a good grasp of the area's lifestyle, with its close-knit connections and access to the big cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Porter also includes a couple of side stories — one dealing with teenage depression and the other with family violence — that give the novel a deeper grounding in reality. Fans of her work, which includes “Flirting with Forty" (which was made into a movie starring Jennifer Aniston), “Odd Mom Out” and “Easy On The Eyes,” will recognize characters from those stories.

If you like good old-fashioned romance, you’ll adore this story. Slip on your boots and go a little country.