Will he break a promise or break her heart?
Colt Vance owes everything he is to the Martin family, which is why he’s stayed far, far away for years. But now that Fritz Martin has asked him a favor, he’s back in Last Stand facing the one temptation he can’t ever give into, his mentor’s middle daughter.
Sadie Martin doesn’t like Colt Vance, or so she’s told herself for years. He’s far too charming and has her father wrapped around his finger. But Sadie doesn’t have a choice except to work with Colt to save her beloved goat farm.
Working together tests Colt’s resolve when it comes to his attraction to Sadie, and Sadie comes to realize she doesn’t just enjoy Colt’s company, she craves it. But Colt can’t break the promise he made to Fritz years ago. Can one tenacious farm girl convince this stubborn cowboy love is always the answer to any problem?
Titles in the Bad Boys of Last Stand include – Homecoming for the Cowboy –
(This series is part of the Last Stand, Texas group of connecting series. (think Marietta, Montana– Tule Publishing’s other large set of somewhat connecting series set in a fictional town)
Title: Homecoming For The Cowboy
Series: Bad Boys of Last Stand #1
Author: Nicole Helm
Genre: Modern Western Romance
Published: May 16, 2019
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 4.5 stars
I think, in many ways, that Nicole Helm’s HOMECOMING FOR THE COWBOY is one of the most realistic romances (cowboy or not) that I’ve read in a while. Colt is so flawed while still being human and believable – it’s those flaws that make him real in my eyes. Colt and two other young men were the town troublemakers and headed straight on a path to jail until the Martin family took them under their wing and made upstanding honest men out of boys who were angry at the world and always in trouble. Colt has always had a soft spot for one daughter, Sadie. Yet he’s also been warned away by her overprotective father quite strongly. Now, Colt is back home in Last Stand to stay, to face old demons, to forge a new future with a man he respects and to live a life near the woman he’s loved forever but can never have.
The sparks between Sadie and Colt are very real – but for different reasons, at least at first. Sadie resents Colt for the simple fact that her father has always treated the three young men as sons when he had perfectly capable and willing daughters right under his stubborn nose. Now with Colt home and Sadie figuring out the huge secret between Colt and Fritz, she’s even angrier and perhaps, even more, hurt by both men.
It takes strength to deny yourself the chance at love with the one woman you’re convinced is your future. It takes a man’s honor to stand behind a promise made to an overprotective father, even as a successful man today. As the relationship between Sadie and Colt catches fire, she will demand that they face her father and settle their future. Not giving away spoilers, but that confrontation broke my heart for everyone involved.
HOMECOMING FOR THE COWBOY is emotional, at times heartbreaking story of growth, stubbornness, loving and compromise. I’ll leave the decision of whether Colt is an honorable man or not up to each reader – but I would want this man at my side in spite of his stubborn nature. Sadie and Colt gave us an excellent beginning to the Bad Boys of Last Stand series, and I’m definitely hooked for more.
*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*
Available for the Kindle
