Review: Mistletoe Cowboy by Carolyn Brown

Title: Mistletoe Cowboy by Carolyn Brown
Spikes & Spurs Series Book Five
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: C+

Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Commitment! It made Sage run the other way. It made Creed shudder. But Sage’s granny, the Widow Presley, was determined to get her granddaughter a cowboy for Christmas. And who better than Creed, the man interested in purchasing the widow’s Rockin’ C Ranch?

The fact that a three-day blizzard was blowing in just made things all the better. A person can’t run from commitment when they’re snowed in, now can they?

The Review:

A scheming grandma comes up the perfect plan to bring together her beloved granddaughter and a sexy cowboy in this latest installment of Carolyn Brown’s Spikes & Spurs series. Mistletoe Cowboy is an enchanting Christmas romance about two commitment phobes who fall in love when they are snowed in together during a blizzard.

Sage Presley and Creed Riley are likable characters who may start off on the wrong foot but quickly realize they are attracted to one another. Both are carrying emotional baggage and neither is interested in a relationship. Their back and forth bickering is delightful and their heart to heart discussions are quite touching. And their sex scenes are soo sexy!

While Mistletoe Cowboy is well-written, it is a slow moving story. I like Sage and Creed as individuals but I really never connected with them as a couple. I absolutely loved the descriptions of Sage’s creative process and I could easily visualize her paintings. Creed is a typical well-mannered cowboy and I was really rooting for him to buy the Rockin’ C Ranch.

But what I enjoyed the most about Mistletoe Cowboy is Sage’s grandma, Ada and her Aunt Essie. Their scenes together are a perfect combination of humor and love between two sisters. Ada’s conflicting emotions about her desire to live with Essie and her reluctance to leave Sage just about broke my heart. But I loved the compromise she came up with and her negotiations with Essie just cracked me up!

But what I found most striking about Mistletoe Cowboy is the setting. I live close to the Canyon and Carolyn Brown does a wonderful job of bringing this amazing place vibrantly to life.

Mistletoe Cowboy is a light-hearted holiday novel that fans of contemporary Westerns will enjoy. Even though it is part of the Spikes & Spurs series, it can be read as a standalone story.

Read my reviews of the other books in the Spikes & Spurs series HERE.