A Cowboy's Touch
Abigail is just in Moose Creek, Montana for the summer to temporarily care for her great aunt. But a tender-hearted cowboy beckons her to stay.
Abigail Jones intends to spend just one summer in middle-of-nowhere Montana with her Aunt Lucy. Time away from her job is just what Abigail needs to reassess her life. The slow pace has her breathing deeply for the first time in years. And the majestic scenery encourages her to get reacquainted with herself . . . and God.
What she didn't count on was the handsome widowed cowboy who owns the ranch where her aunt lives. When the rancher loses his daughter's nanny, Abigail decides to lend a hand for the summer.
Wade Ryan can't help being attracted to Abigail. But he's given up everything to protect his daughter, and he's not about to risk it all on a pretty face.
Under Abigail's care, Wade's home and daughter thrive. And with Wade's touch, Abigail's heart feels at home at last. But Abigail knows this elusive rancher is hiding something. Will her own secrets separate her from the cowboy who finally captured her heart?
MY REVIEW: A true cowboy is a man of faith, patriotic, loves "the land", is good to horses and dogs and tolerates cats. He adores his family and friends. He would give his life for his country and his loved ones. Upon first glance, all of these characteristics may not be readily apparent. Sometimes, cowboys hoot and holler. Sometimes, they are quiet and thoughtful. They are always worth a second look. Denise Hunter writes these characters so well, and her depictions of ranch life plant your feet right in the dust of the prairie. In "A Cowboy's Touch", Wade Ryan is a man of few words, but his feelings run deep. Abigail Jones is an investigative reporter whose boss just happens to be her mother. Concerned with Abby's workaholic tendencies and her hypertension, her mother sends her off to Moose Creek, Montana to check on her elderly Aunt Lucy. She is to spend the summer there and observe her aunt to determine is she is still mentally capable and able to live on her own without assisted care. Aunt Lucy has always been eccentric, so what's normal for her is not really "normal". Abby enjoys being reunited with her aunt, but her aunt's home is barely big enough to house the two of them and all of the dolls her aunt makes to sell in her shop. When an opportunity comes up to be the live-in nanny for her aunt's landlord, Abby takes the job. She quickly bonds with the girl in her care, Maddy, and she is soon quite captivated the quiet cowboy charm of Maddy's father, Wade. Abby's investigative instincts tell her that there is much more to Wade than a widower raising his daughter on a working ranch. When she discovers his real identity, breaking the story could be the sensational headline that will save her mother's failing magazine. However, revealing the truth will destroy the safety and security that Wade and Maddy experience living at the ranch. Their location will be exposed and their lives will be disrupted by the media and the world at large. Helping her mother will hurt two people whom Abby has come to love with all her heart--Wade and Maddy. Wade never expected to ever love and trust another woman, but having Abby in his home to care for his daughter made him long for a love to call his own. Abby didn't come to Moose Creek to hunt down Wade and make him a "paparazzi's prize". She just stumbled onto the story by accident--or was it part of a higher plan? Her reputation as the "Truthseeker" is well earned. You can run from the truth, but you can't hide from it forever. Abby's heart knows that someone will be hurt no matter what her decision about Wade's story. If she lets her mother run with the news, then the magazine and the jobs of the employees will be saved. Wade and Maddy's privacy and peace of mind will be destroyed. If she protects the man and child she has come to love, then she will let down her own mother and the people with whom she has worked for years. Hearts in hiding can never be truly happy. When all is revealed, will the healing power of love and the cleansing strength of faith bring together three hearts meant to be a family? "A Cowboy's Touch" is an involving, wonderfully romantic read. I am in love with Denise Hunter's "Big Sky Romance" series. Highly recommended!
"Psalm 43:3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!"
Book Copy Gratis Thomas Nelson Publishers
The Accidental Bride
When a wedding reenactment turns real, Shay finds she's an accidental bride.
Shay Brandenberger is raising her daughter in Moose Creek, Montana, on her childhood ranch, nestled against the Yellowstone River. Despite the hard work, she can't seem to keep her head above water--and now the bank is threatening to foreclose. She prays for a miracle, but the answer she receives is anything but expected.
Having agreed to play the bride in the Founders' Day wedding reenactment, Shay is mortified to be greeted at the end of the aisle by none other than Travis McCoy, her high-school sweetheart--the man who left her high and dry for fame and fortune on the Texas rodeo circuit.
Then the unthinkable happens. Thanks to a well-meaning busybody and an absentminded preacher, the make-believe vows result in a legal marriage. But before Shay can say annulment, Travis comes up with a crazy proposal. If she refuses his offer, she may lose her home. If she accepts, she may lose her heart.
Shay isn't sure if the recent events are God's will or just a preacher's blunder. Will trusting her heart to the man who once shattered it be the worst mistake of her life? Or could their marriage be the best accident that ever happened?
MY REVIEW: A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do--even if that means starting over again, all over again! Sometimes the surest path to true happiness is the one strewn with the most emotional obstacles. It's not an easy path to follow, but the reward at the end of the journey makes it all worthwhile. After having her young heart broken being left on the courthouse steps waiting for her groom-to-be, Shay Brandenberger eventually seeks fulfillment in a different relationship. Setting aside her hurt at her cruel abandonment by Travis McCoy, Shay later marries another man. After the hurtful end of the marriage, Shay must secure the future for herself and her young daughter, Olivia. Ranch life is hard enough for a man and woman with plentiful resources. For a single woman with a child, it is incredibly difficult. A busybody, well-meaning angel with a tilted halo seeks to reunite Shay and Travis. Participating as the bride in a Founder's Day wedding reenactment in order to please others, Shay is shocked when the groom turns out to be Travis, now returned from a life on the rodeo circuit. This time, their "wedding ceremony" not only goes through, the mock marriage turns out to be legal and binding. Complications ensue when Shay finds herself agreeing to stay married to Travis for six months in exchange for his help at her ranch. The life that Travis chose on the rodeo circuit was empty without Shay, and his regrets have followed him through the years. Will his prayers finally be answered and allow him to once again win Shay's love? Denise Hunter's "The Accidental Bride" offers great characters who make human errors and learn life lessons in ways that are sometimes quite painful. A lovely book from a talented storyteller who never leaves her readers hearts untouched.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.(Proverbs 3:5,6)
Book Copy Gratis Thomas Nelson Publishers via Booksneeze
Only one pair of boots - and the cowboy wearing them - can get Annie out of the mess she's in.
Annie Wilkerson is Moose Creek's premiere horse trainer and equine columnist for Montana Living. Money is tight as she tries to put her kid-sister through college and provide for her young nephew. When Annie's column is cancelled, she's given first shot at a new lovelorn column - and she can't afford to turn it down. Only problem is...Annie's never been in love.
Always resourceful, she reluctantly strikes a deal with the town's smooth-talking ladies' man Dylan Taylor: She'll work with his ailing horse, Braveheart, if he'll help her answer the reader letters.
Working closely with Dylan is harder than Annie imagined, and she quickly realizes she may have misjudged him. But her unwavering conviction that cowboys are nothing but trouble has kept her heart safe for years. And she can't risk getting hurt now.
The more Annie tries to control things, the more they fall apart. Her feelings are spinning out of control, and her sister's antics are making life increasingly more difficult. Annie knows she needs to turn the reins over to God, but surrender has never come easily.
When Dylan reveals his feelings for her, Annie doesn't know what to trust - her head or her heart. The trouble with this cowboy is that he might just be exactly what she needs.
MY REVIEW: I have loved each book in author Denise Hunter's "A Big Sky Romance" series, but the final book, "The Trouble with Cowboys", has to be my favorite. A woman who can't trust her heart to a cowboy, and a cowboy who hides his broken heart under flirtatious charm find that there is more to a person than the eyes can see--far more. Annie Wilkerson is a respected horse trainer who also works as a journalist to help care for her younger sister, Sierra, and her nephew, Ryder. Sierra was just sixteen when she gave birth to Ryder, and she has never named his father. Annie and Sierra learned not to trust cowboys early on when their own father walked out on the girls and their mother. Her mother never recovered from the desertion, and she had a series of relationships and marriages with cowboys up until the time of her death, leaving the girls with even less trust in men. After their mother's death, the girls went to live with their grandfather, who gave them a stable home. Just before he died, he made Annie promise to look after Sierra, a promise she took to heart. Dylan Taylor, tall, dark, handsome, and loaded with Texas sweet-talk, needs Annie to help him with his favorite horse, Braveheart, who is going blind. The vet recommends that the horse be put down, but Dylan can't bear to do that to his devoted friend. Annie sees Dylan as a womanizer, judging him to be typical of the unreliable men she saw in her mother's life, and at first she turns down his pleas to help with Braveheart. When her journalism job changes from a column about horses to an advice for the lovelorn column, Annie needs Dylan's help to come up with suitable answers to romantic issues. Annie has never been in love, and she thinks Dylan is a man who has romanced every woman in the county. They begin working together, and both enjoy the time that they spend with each other. Dylan has deep feelings for Annie, something she doesn't want to deal with, and she tries her best to ignore what her heart tells her about him. His flirtatious ways are in contrast to his wonderful, gentle way with children and animals. He is a church-goer, and eventually he tells her that he is a Christian man, and that has a great deal of meaning to him. Annie has been dating a banker named John, someone whom she likes and trusts, but he doesn't stir her heart and deeper emotions. When John proposes, Annie realizes she can't accept and she and John end their relationship. Will she be able to see Dylan as the man he truly is, and trust him enough to let herself depend on someone else to look out for her heart? When the father of Sierra's child comes into the picture, will a long-held secret end hopes for the future? "The Trouble with Cowboys" is a sweetly compelling romance, touched with humor and poignancy. There is a very involving and sensual attraction between Annie and Dylan, but the sensuality is written in a soulful, non-explicit manner. You feel their emotional need, their physical awareness, and the depth of their emotional response to each other. The quality of Denise Hunter's writing conveys all this without the use of graphic terminology. "A Big Sky Romance" is one of my favorite series, and all three books are on my keeper shelf. Highly recommended.
Book Copy Gratis Thomas Nelson Publishers via Booksneeze
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