Review: Part Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Title: Part Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates
Copper Ridge Series Book One
Publisher: HQN Books
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 400 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Summary:

A one-time bad girl comes home to small-town Oregon in the first in a sexy, heartfelt new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates…

Sadie Miller isn’t expecting any welcome-home parades on her return to Copper Ridge. Least of all from part-time rancher, full-time lawman Eli Garrett. The straight-laced, impossibly hot deputy sheriff glares at her like she’s the same teenage hoodlum who fled town ten years ago. But running from her demons has brought Sadie full circle, ready to make a commitment at last. Not to a man, but to a B and B. On Garrett land. Okay, so her plan has a tiny flaw…

Eli works too hard to let a blonde ball of trouble mess up his town. But keeping an eye on Sadie makes it tough to keep his hands off her. And if she’s so wrong for him, why does being with her feel so right?

Review:

Part Time Cowboy is the first installment in Maisey Yates’ delightful Copper Ridge series featuring the Garrett siblings. The first novel is a charming and scorching hot antagonist to lovers romance that pairs up straight-laced middle brother Eli with free spirited former bad girl Sadie Miller.

Sadie Miller gladly left the town of Copper Ridge behind ten years earlier, but running away quickly became her go to coping mechanism when life became a little too hard for her. Deciding it is finally time to put down some roots, she returns to Copper Ridge where she plans to establish a B&B. Her past immediately comes crashing back when the first person she runs into is Eli, the one person she would rather avoid. Keeping her distance from the sexy lawman is not as easy as Sadie hopes since her B&B is on the Garrett ranch and their paths frequently cross which leads to some extremely fractious interactions between them. Underlying their clashes is a simmering attraction that both are determined to ignore, but when that proves impossible, they eventually agree to a no strings fling. However, as Eli and Sadie soon discover, keeping their emotions out of their arrangement is easier said than done.

After leaving town, Sadie finally got her life on track after going to college and embarking on a career as a crisis counselor. She has had a few romances along the way, but nothing too serious and she has certainly never been in love. But, as she quickly discovers, Sadie never really left her dysfunctional past behind her and coming to Copper Ridge means facing those painful memories. She has worked very hard to keep her life as positive and upbeat as possible and Sadie uses humor, snark and sarcasm when things become a little too deep and complicated.

Due to his own dysfunctional past, Eli is über responsible and outside of his devotion to his siblings, he shies away from commitment. He is a hard worker and his full time job as a deputy and part time job helping out on the family ranch leaves him little downtime. Eli is very careful to maintain his squeaky clean image and he is always in control of every situation and his emotions.

That need for control is probably one of the main reasons that Sadie gets under his skin. His reaction to her is unpredictable and she definitely keeps him off balance. Their discussions are heated and full of sexual tension that they do their best to ignore. For about the first half of the novel, they clash with one another just about every time they are together but one very steamy kiss becomes a turning point for their relationship.  Their first sexual encounter is explosive and exposes an aspect of Eli’s personality that is completely unexpected but impossible for Sadie to resist. They agree to a friends with benefits arrangement but can Sadie and Eli keep their affair free from emotional entanglements?

Part Time Cowboy is a fun, sweet, poignant and emotional romance. Eli and Sadie are appealing protagonists, who despite their flaws, are sympathetic and likable. The storyline is engaging and while it is a little angsty, it is perfectly balanced by humor. The glimpses of Eli’s siblings are quite intriguing and will leave readers impatiently awaiting the next installments in the Copper Ridge series. A marvelous novel from Maisey Yates that I absolutely loved and highly recommend.