Review: Cowboy Seeks Bride by Carolyn Brown

Title: Cowboy Seeks Bride by Carolyn Brown
Spikes & Spurs Series Book Seven
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

He’s Tough as Nails and Ready to Ride…

Rancher Dewar O’Donnell is just an old-fashioned cowboy at heart, and he can’t wait to reenact the historic Chisholm Trail ride with his buddies. The trial-run cattle drive for a reality TV show sounds like a great time—until H.B. McKay pulls up in her slick red sports car…

She’s Way Out of Her Element…

Haley McKay is a feisty, high-powered businesswoman with the power suit and stiletto heels to prove it. She’s keen to research her company’s hot new idea for a reality TV show—but mount up with a bunch of modern-day cowboys? Are they kidding?

It’s too late to back out now, so Haley sets out to prove that it will take more than snakes, storms, and stampedes to make her back down.

The Review:

Take a step back in time in Carolyn Brown’s Cowboy Seeks Bride as Dewar O’Donnell and Haley McKay fall in love while reenacting a cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail. This fun romance will have you laughing out loud at some of the mishaps that befall them as they travel by horseback from Texas to Kansas. While it is a contemporary novel, the lack of modern conveniences gives the story a old-fashioned vibe that fans of contemporary and historical romances will enjoy.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Haley at first. She comes across as rather prissy and I was sure she was going to spend most of the cattle drive complaining. But I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly she adapted to the simpler life and I loved how she rose to the different challenges facing her. Haley is quite feisty and she can definitely hold her own against all the men on the trip with her. She is a little slower to change what she considers the perfect man, but Dewar is a hard man to resist. What I liked best about Haley is how much the cattle drive changed her perceptions of herself and what she is looking for in life.

Dewar is the quintessential cowboy and he loves his life on the ranch. While he is satisfied with his life overall, Dewar is ready to settle down, but he has not found Miss Right just yet. Haley is just his type except for the fact that is a city woman through and through. He is upfront that city life is not for him and with Haley’s adamant insistence that country life is not for her, Dewar is reluctant to act on his attraction for her.

I absolutely loved watching Dewar and Haley fall for one another. Even though they really do not know where their relationship is going, Dewar and Haley spend every free moment they can together after they decide to give in to their desire. The backdrop of the cattle drive adds romance to relationship because seriously, is there anything more romantic than making love under the stars?

What really made the story enjoyable for me is the cattle drive. It is a very unique setting and I really liked the change of pace from complicated every day life. One of Carolyn Brown’s strengths as a writer is her ability to bring the scenery vividly to life and wow, she really outdoes herself in Cowboy Seeks Bride. I could feel the raging thunderstorms and easily visualize the beauty of the moonlit nights. The cattle drive is not always exciting and this is reflected in the day to day monotony. It would be easy to romanticize the experience but Ms. Brown does not downplay the inconveniences and hardships they face along the way. At the end of the trip, each of the cowboys gives their honest opinions of their adventure and I thought their various reactions were realistic.

Cowboy Seeks Bride was a little slow in the beginning, but it picks up speed about a quarter of the way in. The romance between Dewar and Haley is sweet but sexy and their sex scenes are quite steamy. Their transition back to real life is a little bumpy but their conflict is wrapped up fairly quickly. The ending is pure romance and I savored every luscious second of it.

Cowboy Seeks Bride is the seventh (and final) installment in the Spikes and Spurs series but it can easily be read as a standalone story.

Read my reviews of the other books in the series HERE.