The Cowboy of Mercer Hollow Is Here!

Jillian Walsh — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m so excited to finally share The Cowboy of Mercer Hollow, the first book in my brand-new Mercer Hollow Ranch series!

This clean cowboy romance takes readers to Hawthorne Creek, Montana, where the Mercer family has worked their ranch for generations—and where Luke Mercer has spent years putting responsibility before almost everything else.

Then Clara Bennett comes home.

Luke and Clara have a history neither of them has completely forgotten, and when life brings them back together, old feelings begin to surface in ways neither expected. Their story is a heartfelt second-chance romance filled with small-town charm, family ties, ranch life, slow-burn chemistry, and plenty of emotion—all with the closed-door romance you’ve come to expect from my books.

I’ve loved creating Hawthorne Creek and the Mercer family, and I’m especially excited that this is only the beginning. Each book in the series will follow another Mercer sibling while continuing the larger story surrounding Mercer Hollow Ranch.

Across the series, you’ll meet two ranchers, a rodeo cowboy, a musician, a mechanic, an academic, and a salon owner—each with a very different path to happily ever after. And once all seven Mercer siblings have had their turn, we’ll return to Hawthorne Creek for a special Christmas romance novella at Mercer Hollow Ranch.

If you enjoy clean small-town romance, Montana cowboy romance, close-knit families, and happily-ever-afters without explicit scenes, I hope you’ll fall in love with Luke and Clara—and with Mercer Hollow.

The Cowboy of Mercer Hollow is available now in ebook, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and Virtual Voice audiobook.

Happy reading,

Jillian

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Nice to Meet You

Jillian Walsh — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I’m Jillian Walsh. I recently decided to 'come out from behind my logo' and show my face again. So I might as well share a few things about myself while I’m baring it all.

I write under a middle grade and children’s book pen name as well, where I've use photos of myself frequently, so that’s the only reason I didn’t use my face over here until now (except in the beginning). Not that this is a secret pen name—it’s just that the two genres don’t really mesh well, so it didn’t seem right and I wanted to keep them entirely separate, for better or for worse…

So why am I using my photo again now? Because I had enough people tell me that I’m going to be mistaken for a bot soon if I don’t show the world I’m human. So here I am, as humanly imperfect as can be.

I’ve been writing clean romance since 2020. I’ve also been switching back and forth between this genre and my kids’ books (which I started in 2013) enough that I feel like I’m living a real-life tug-of-war. That might be why I’ve got this ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ thing going on. It’s hard to be in both places, and if you’re an author considering taking on two vastly different genres, I can readily tell you I don’t recommend it. But I love both, and the kids’ books do sell pretty well, so I can’t just abandon them.

I’m also a Libra, so that makes the situation even worse. IYKYK

But please stay with me, because even if I seem absent at times, I am still passionate about no-spice romance, and I’m always working on something for you over here.

What kind of clean romance do I write?

I write contemporary small-town and beach reads. Two interconnected series and one series of standalones unified only by their destination-themed plots.

And I tend to love a little angst, not gonna lie, so one or more of my characters will usually end up in tears by the end of the story (sometimes just happy tears though). I also love a big finish, where someone overcomes the impossible against all the odds. Drama, folks, I live for it in my books. I absolutely abhor it in real life, but I like it on the page (and in my videos).

I also love alpha males, but not the full-of-himself controlling kind that gives all the other top dogs a bad name. Just the strong, reliable kind who’d go to the ends of the earth to do the right thing, even if it requires sacrifice. You know, like an honest soldier or a heroic firefighter or a John Wayne cowboy or a billionaire with morals. Strong men we can all root for.

So you won't find any cinnamon-roll heroes over here. Sorry for those who prefer them.

I was a graphic designer in a former life and love using all the latest software for making videos and AI images of what I think my characters might look like IRL.

As a teenager, I used to make slideshows on my dad’s projector and put them to sappy music for Youth Group on Sunday nights(!) And here I am, doing the same thing today, only it’s on TikTok and Instagram for my romance books.

I've also put my graphic design skills to work to produce all my own book covers now, although I still have three books that I didn’t do myself (the New Haven Falls series, which were done by a pro for hire).

I’m currently working on a new series in western contemporary clean romance called Mercer Hollow Ranch that has a mystery tied into the entire series where each book reveals a little bit more, while each book is a complete love story with an HEA as you’d expect from me. So stay tuned for more about that. Seven books plus a Christmas novella are planned in the series. It’s coming along quickly.

I’m excited to be writing in this genre as it grows and reaches even more readers who love a good love story but don’t want the steam. I’d love to hear from you, so please reach out and consider joining my newsletter to stay in the loop. Thanks for reading!

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Jillian Walsh | Updates

The Cowboy of Mercer Hollow Is Here!

Nice to Meet You