REVIEW: Outlaw Cowboy by Nicole Helm

Outlaw Cowboy by Nicole Helm

Series: Big Sky Cowboys #2

Read: July 10 – 26, 2016

Format: Print Book (Goodreads Win)

My Book Rating: 4 Stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance

 

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads. This in no way affects my review or rating.


Now, I’m not a big reader of contemporary romance. Especially adult contemporary romance. However, I ended up really enjoying Outlaw Cowboy.

Caleb and Delia are both a little rough around the edges. She comes from an abusive home and has spent the last ten years finding ways to get her four younger sisters the hell away from their abusive father. Meanwhile Caleb is haunted by something his mother said, just before she walked out on the family forever. Both spent their teens getting into trouble, and both are trying to find their way as adults.

Caleb wants his family ranch. His older sister, Mel, is married now and no longer a Shaw, so he wants Shaw in his name, to be his legacy. In order to prove to Mel that he can handle running Shaw and bring the finances out of the red, he agrees to a land rental deal with the contingency that he must NOT have any dealings with any unsavory characters. And that’s exactly what Delia is.

Delia meanwhile is running from the law, and trying to find a way to get her youngest sister away from their father. After taking shelter in Caleb’s old cabin on his property, things get hot.

Now, the first almost half of this book is each of these characters internal monologues repeating over and over again what they need to do: “I need to get my sister out” or “I need to prove to Mel that I can run Shaw” etc. Had this not been a buddy read with Katie @ Just Another Girl and Her Blog, I probably would have quit. I’m glad I didn’t though, because about halfway through, things pick up. The story starts to move. It almost feels like the author needed to add to her word count, so she just repeated the same internal dialogue over and over again for the first half. But after that first half, it’s so worth it!

I actually really did like both of the characters. They were tough on the outside, but gooey on the inside, though they didn’t even realize it at first. I loved the history they had together, there were sweet moments and not so savory ones as well. In the end, they just fit. All of the problems were resolved in realistic ways. Toward the end I thought there was no way the author could wrap this up, but… she did. And well.

I’m not sure I’d go back and read the first book, about Caleb’s older sister Mel, but I’d certainly read one about younger sister Summer, she was a breath of fresh air amidst all the angst in this book!

This book also contains the longest sex scene I’ve ever read. It wasn’t super smutty, but I think it was hot enough to make romance fans happy. It was also very humorous. Yep, sexy and humorous. That’s a win!

I think fans of contemporary romance will eat this one up.

 


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QUOTES

“You can’t go in there alone.”
“Why not? I’m a man with a gun.”
“You’re the one who said she could be dangerous!”
“I repeat, I am a man with a gun.”

(Re: a banging noise coming from outside)
A shadow lingered, but without any kind of light he couldn’t make it what it was.
Tree? Raccoon? Bloodthirsty thief?
He rolled his eyes at himself. Because bloodthirsty thieves were known for knocking on doors.

“But if you had something that was yours, that made you who you are, that gave you a reason to get up in the morning, wouldn’t you do everything to keep it? Wouldn’t you fight to keep the thing that made you feel like you weren’t a complete waste of space?”

“I know you don’t think of yourself as much of a knight in shining armor, and you’re kind of a dip shit, but you did save my life…”

But last night Caleb had fussed over her and put her in one of his T-shirts, and had not copped one feel.
Asshole.

…Time and time again, life had given her Caleb in her darkest moments.
Now  she was going to make sure he was there in the lightest ones too.

 

5 thoughts on “REVIEW: Outlaw Cowboy by Nicole Helm

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