The Cowboy's Heart: A Clean, Second Chance Cowboy Romance

After finishing my review for Ms. Butrum’s clean romance titled “The Cowboy’s Home,” for which I awarded five stars, I began reading this second story in her Dixon Ranch Series fully expecting a similar reading experience. After all, 84% of reviewers gave her five stars. It didn’t take long for me to wonder if we had read the same book. The compelling theme that was rehearsed so frequently that it became nauseating was, “She left me before and she’ll do it again.” It is difficult to recall a more pathetic hero figure for a book. However, that is not the most telling feature of this story. It took me 24 days to finish this book. Why? Because the author simply failed to keep my interest alive as I read. I think my record for continuous reading before losing interest was about three pages. Repeatedly, my wife would find me sound asleep with my iPad screen dark. I did, however, stick it out to the end of the story. I guess I needed the sleep. With apologies to Ms. Butrum, the best I can do for this offering is to award Two stars!

The Cowboy's Heart: Excellent writing and characters. I liked that they reconnecting after a long time. Shy and Garrett had a connection for a long time. I liked the family bond and their faith. It had great challenges and lots of surprises.

Garrett should never have taken the bet that Shyann would sell her family's farm and leave, but she did leave him ten years ago breaking his heart, so he has no reason to believe she won't run again. That was Shyann's plan when she learned about her inheritance, but the more time she spends back in Woodford Creek and with a certain Dixon man who used to be her best friend and boyfriend the more she starts to think maybe her dreams have changed. Mama Dixon puts her two cents advice in to try to convince Shyann to stay and pint sized precocious matchmaker Allie also has a hand in Garret and Shyann's romance. I loved that the book reconnects with Curt and Fran from Maple Glen and other characters from that series.

Book 2 is just as good as book 1! This time its Garret's turn to find love and he has a second chance at the girl of his dreams. I loved the way the story moved along and the characters were fun to read about (updates from the last story were fun to read too). Thoroughly great story that is hard to put down.

I have read both books in this series and can hardly wait for the third one. Wonderful characters with good family values. I would highly recommend this to everyone. There is nothing I dislike about either book. So get to work and get that third one out soon.

This is Garrett and Shyann's story. They had grown up together when they were still tiny tot's, and became more when they were teenagers. And then Shyann decided to leave for the big city life, leaving Garrett broken and all alone. Ten years later she returns after her father dies, leaving her the family ranch.

In a way this story is a very sad one. But my biggest problem was all of the silent dialogue. I felt like the author was more or less telling us what was going through this couples heads and hearts, rather than letting them tell us themselves. Does that make sense? Yes, there was dialogue, but it was more or less between them and other people, but not necessarily between Garrett and Shyann. Don't get me wrong, it was a good story, just not as good as it could have been.

Garret and Shyann are a second maybe chance that depends on how he handles her being home and how she handles everything. So sounds complicated right? It isn't really. Shyann is dealing with all the memories assaulting her as she picks up the pieces after her father's death and discovering she inherited the house. Losing her mother so fast, she escape to big city life to make a name for herself. And she did. Her business is doing ok. She has friends but something is missing. The open small towns of Montana are calling. And the man she left behind is still there. Garrett is grumpy to say it nicely. But he's honest and true. He keeps no secrets until the one that may chase Shyann away. These two were awesome. They made me want to tell at my e-reader since they don't talk to each other. They both assume the other will do or say something hat has nothing to do with what they actually do or say. In both of heir defense, Shyann really doesn't know what she is going to do now that she has possiblity. And isn't that a fantastic word? She is not bound by anything and that is daunting. Again, if she would talk things out with Garrett... I loved how this story made me think of what my choices would be if I were Shyann.

Good book. Good story line. Couldn't put it down. Loved it. Five star book.