Travis Blake's life was not going according to plan. No
sooner had he left the army that he'd been saddled with
his five year-old nephew Henry, whose sole remaining
parent, his father Scott, is in jail. Before taking a job
in Austin, Travis needs to get rid of the family ranch,
and unforeseen complications make it more arduous than
anticipated. In the meantime, he does some gardening and
landscaping jobs, which unfortunately infringe on Maggie
Mackey's real landscaping business, and she is not happy.
If only their attraction didn't get in the way ...
Carly Bloom paints a realistic portrait of small town
Texas, keeping it intimate but modern, and characters are
introduced seamlessly, without burdening the narrative
with superfluous details. It was nice to see the heroine
as the successful person of the couple, while Travis
struggles financially. Travis is a very atypical hero: he
has always run away from his responsibilities, and in the
end, it sort of works to his advantage. Travis has no
inkling as to how to take care of a child, and while I
understood Travis' frustration, I found a verbal exchange
between Henry and Travis extremely distressing. I
understood the intention behind the episode, but Travis'
outburst diminished him, in my eyes, especially
added to his hiding something from Maggie.
BIG BAD COWBOY is a rather difficult book to review
adequately without giving away spoilers, because there
are several sneaky little plot twists. The romance did
not progress to my liking, because of Travis'
aforementioned lie by omission, and the BDSM element
which, although not a fact, was constantly talked about
and hinted at; I was not amused, this is not the sort of
surprise I enjoy. I did like however the details on
refurbishing Travis' ranch and landscaping, and the legal
matters involving Henry. Ms. Bloom's writing is
effortless and smooth, and the secondary characters are
very well drawn: I loved JD -- Maggie's long-time crush --
as well as Claire, Maggie's best friend and business
partner, and especially Claire's father Gerome; now,
there's a nice guy! I was really looking forward to this
book, and unfortunately it was not a good match for me,
but it might work well for a majority of readers; it's a
question of whether you connect to the tropes or not. BIG
BAD COWBOY is Carly Bloom's debut novel, she shows much
promise in spite of my grievances, and I will be looking
forward to her future endeavors.
Fans of New York Times bestselling authors
Lori Wilde and Maisey Yates will adore this new hot 'n'
sexy cowboy series from debut author Carly
Bloom. Who's afraid of the big, bad
cowboy?
After one too many heartbreaks, Travis
Blake hung up his cowboy hat and put Big Verde, Texas,
behind him. But when he gets the call that his young nephew
needs him, he knows he has to return home. His plan is to
sell the family ranch and hightail it back to Austin, but
there's a small problem: the one person who stands in his
way is the one person he can't resist.
Maggie is
pretty sure she hates Travis Blake. He's irritating, he's
destroying her business, and . . . and he's just so
frickin' attractive. But when they're forced to
work together, Maggie discovers that the Most Annoying Man
in the World is more than he seems. He's sweet with his
nephew, he helps out in the community, and he makes her
heart flutter. Maggie doesn't want to risk everything on a
man who wants to leave, but what if she can convince this
wayward cowboy to stay?
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy