A Cowboy for Christmas / Kristen James

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words  

Availability   

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Kristen James lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys exploring the mountains and traveling. Her favorite activities, besides writing and reading, include cycling, fishing, hiking, running, berry picking, and about any outdoor activity with her family. Feel free to visit her website and blog, she loves to hear from her readers.

Description:

Missy suddenly finds herself an unwanted co-owner of Ocean View Stables near Florence, Oregon after the death of her estranged brother. Brent built his dream with determination and feels responsible for the death of his former partner. Not wanting to lose control of his business, he puts up a cold front to this city slicker who could ruin it all. Missy is just looking for a way to start over and rebuild her life. They both have a past that can ruin their future. Can he trust her to stay? Can she trust him with her heart?

Appraisal:

This story is a sweet romance that takes place along the Pacific Northwest coastline; the author did a wonderful job describing the backdrop for this story. It was beautiful and I would love to visit the area. The character development was slow, but well done, neither character wanted to share their pain. I loved the witty dialogue between the two main characters; the sparks flew between them from the very beginning. I would have loved a little more backstory on why Missy and her brother were estranged though.

I found the flow of the story a little stilted. I was never sure how much time had passed between some of the scenes. It could have been a day or even a week later - it was never clear. I was able to get past that though and just enjoy the story. There didn’t seem to be much of a Christmas-y feel to the story except that the season was winter when business was slow and a few scenes reminded us it was that time of year. This allowed us to get to know the characters without the rush of dealing with customers coming and going for trail rides. It also allowed Missy time to learn the ropes of the ranch.

This would be a light, enjoyable read any time of the year.

Format/Typo Issues:

There were a small number of spelling errors, mainly missing letters or an extra letter included in a word that changed its meaning. Examples of this are: after soothing her hair away from her face, instead of smoothing her hair. Thanksgiving dinner was referred to as a fest not a feast. And she grabbed ‘unto that; instead of ‘onto that’. At one point Brent ‘land leaned’ instead of ‘and leaned’. I think a few beta readers or an additional proofing would have helped with these errors.

I didn’t notice any formatting errors.

Rating: *** Three stars