Christmastime Cowboy
*Post contains affiliated links. Book acquired through Netgalley.com*
After working years at Hallmark where "Christmas" starts in July—literally, we used to put up the ornament displays the weekend after July 4th—I'm not a fan of stealing time from Halloween and Thanksgiving (which is my absolute FAVORITE holiday!) to jump right into the yuletide spirit, but for Maisey Yates, I am happy to make an exception!
Maisey Yates is one of my go-to authors for romance that is witty, authentic, and not over-the-top sappy. I have devoured the Donnelly family books of the Copper Ridge series. So I was greatly anticipating Liam and Sabrina's story in Christmastime Cowboy.
It's Christmas in Copper Ridge, and love is waiting to be unwrapped…
Falling for a bad boy once is forgivable. Twice would just be foolish. When Sabrina Leighton first offered her teenage innocence to gorgeous, tattooed Liam Donnelly, he humiliated her, then left town. The hurt still lingers. But so does that crazy spark. And if they have to work together to set up her family winery's new tasting room by Christmas, why not work him out of her system with a sizzling affair?
Thirteen years ago, Liam's boss at the winery offered him a bribe—leave his teenage daughter alone and get a full ride at college. Convinced he wasn't good enough for Sabrina, Liam took it. Now he's back, as wealthy as sin and with a heart as cold as the Oregon snow. Or so he keeps telling himself. Because the girl he vowed to stay away from has become the only woman he needs, and this Christmas could be just the beginning of a lifetime together…
I've been curious about their story since the very brief interaction in Down Home Cowboy.
I had some mixed feelings about this book and I was sad to realize it is the last in this series.
The writing was still great. The witty banter was there. I laughed often, and appearances of various characters from the previous books made the story feel like walking around my hometown, but I had a hard time settling with Sabrina and Liam.
The pacing is felt much slower to me than the previous books in this series.
Sabrina and Liam are both very hurt, broken characters, but they are also both very self-aware and spend a lot of page time mulling over what has happened to them and why it is impacting their current lives. That made me want to push them to move through the bitterness faster.
I would still recommend this book to anyone who has read the series. The slowness is eased by moments of great entertainment and, if you've read the other books, you HAVE to know what happened between them and why. Plus, it's all Christmasy and that put me in a good mood.
My favorite in this series will probably remain Down Home Cowboy but Christmastime Cowboy is a solid read to finish it out the series. It has a sweet epilogue that wraps everything up with a pretty little bow! (See what I did there?)
Also, there is a novella at the end which brings in new characters and sets up the intro for new series Gold Valley. I'm ready to start meeting those characters!