TROUBLE WITH COWBOYS

I received a copy of THE TROUBLE WITH COWBOYS by Denise Hunter from Thomas Nelson via BookSneeze.  It’s the third novel in the Big Sky Romance series. 

Now, I am a sucker for good books.  I’ll tell everyone I know that they have got to read it, then I rave about it on websites.  However, I don’t always give five stars.  This book deserves five stars – no, maybe six stars.  Looking back at it, I can’t find a single thing to criticize, and that’s saying a lot coming from me.  I started reading this on my lunch and almost forgot to go back to work.  As soon as I got home, I finished it. 

From the first time Dylan Taylor spoke, I fell in love with him, madly and deeply.  He knew exactly what to say at just the right moments.  Even if they weren’t said to me, my heart still fluttered.  Oh, I wish he were real!  He’s now one of my favorite male heroes.  (I may not have crushes on movie stars, but I do have crushes on characters in novels)  Back to the story: his favorite horse has gone blind so he asks Annie to help him retrain the horse.  Annie’s twenty-four, my age, so it was easy for me to insert myself into her character, even if we aren’t alike in other ways.  Annie thinks Dylan is a player, so she tries to avoid him, but she asks for his help when she has to write a lovelorn column. Their mutual affection grows in a beautiful, smile-provoking way.

I loved the Christian theme that was carried through the novel.  It added the perfect amount of morals and grounding for the characters, while not being preachy.  Denise Hunter (one of my new favorite authors) also shows what happens when you don’t stick to those morals.  For example, Dylan had premarital sex with his last serious girlfriend, but he was ready to marry her.  He didn’t, when he discovered the baby wasn’t his and she would rather marry the father, but it made him seem more human. 

This isn’t a typical romance novel.  It blew me away.  I recommend it to teens and adults, horse lovers, ranch lovers, romance lovers…actually, to anyone looking for a fast, enjoyable read.