This cowboy is falling hard

Mason James is the responsible one who stayed behind to run the ranch while his brother, Rock, took off to play professional hockey. Women have used him before to get to his brother–and Mason intends never to get burned again. But after he meets quirky Tessa Kane at his brother’s wedding, Mason discovers he’s ready to take a chance on love.

Tessa Kane is a reporter on the verge of losing a job she desperately needs–unless she’s clever enough to snag a story on the famous Rockford James. But when she falls for her subject’s brother, she’s caught between a rock and a hard-muscled cowboy. What will happen when Mason finds out who she really is?

Titles in the Cowboys of Creedence series include:  Caught Up In A Cowboy – You Had Me At Cowboy – It Started with a Cowboy –

Title:  You Had Me at Cowboy
Series:  Cowboys of Creedence
Author:  Jennie Marts
Genre:  Modern Western Romance
Published:  November 27, 2018
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  4.5 stars

You Had Me at Cowboy is the second story in the Cowboys of Creedence series.  Although you don’t “have” to have read the first story, Caught Up in a Cowboy, I’d certainly recommend it for it’s a really good story that shouldn’t be missed, in my opinion.

Mason is a kind-hearted man who loves his ranch, his family and is simply waiting for that right woman to come along.  And if he wishes she’d hurry up no one can blame him for that.  Yet Mason has been used in the past to get closer to his famous hockey playing brother, Rock.  Being lied to is probably his number one deal breaker in any relationship.  He simply wants what we all do, to be loved and valued for himself alone.

Tessa is in a heap of trouble.  Stood up at the pre-wedding activities of a wedding she didn’t even want to attend has left her embarrassed, fuming and fired by her boss at the magazine she worked for… fired until it’s discovered exactly where she is right now – at the wedding of a very famous hockey player and the scoop of a lifetime.  Caught in the most irritating situation ever Tessa can walk away from the job and the wedding and start over – except for one small detail.  Her grandmother has made yet another bad decision and will lose her home if Tessa has no income to help her.  She sees no other choice but to search for that “scoop of a lifetime” and tell more than a few lies to some very good people.  Trouble is, she’s going to break the heart of a very good man, and her own, if she follows through with that plan.  Talk about backed into a corner with no way out.

You Had Me at Cowboy will break your heart, and eventually mend it back again.  Mason and Tessa are so easy to like, and to even understand their situation from both sides.  I loved their story, it’s full of banter, laughter, steamy moments and a growing love that can be crushed if they make the wrong decisions.  It’s always a treat for me when given the chance to catch up with a previous couple, and being at Rock and Quinn’s wedding certainly qualifies.  This one is full of secondary characters who will have you in stitches, an adorable dog who steals hearts and scenes, and a good man, a good woman who belong to each other… if they can get past how they started.

If you’re in the mood for a good story that will touch your heart, give you a few laughs and fill your need for a cowboy… then You Had Me at Cowboy is perfect for you.  I’d recommend this story, the entire series – and we have another brother’s story to look forward to in April of 2019.

*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.*

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