Untamed Cowboy

No one does friends to lovers like Maisey Yates! Bennett and Kaylee’s struggle to work through their more-than-friends feelings while also dealing with the teenage son Bennett just found out about guarantees an un-put-downable read.

What is wrong with me? I found this book in my TBR pile where it’s been sitting for many months. I can’t believe I let it go for so long. It’s a great book, including a high school crush, a veterinary practice, a surprise baby (well, kid) and some sizzling sexual chemistry. Romance at its best

Cute cowboy series

Ever since we started meeting the folks of Gold Valley in the Copper Ridge series, Bennett Dodge has been the man I love to hate. It’s so easy to blame him and Kaylee for some of the things Olivia went through. Then, when we get Olivia’s story in Smooth-Talking Cowboy, Bennet starts to redeem himself at least a little bit. I’m still not thrilled with him and still have issues with Kaylee at this point. Of course, I knew all along that the author would find a way for me to fall in love with these characters, but I definitely went into this story with a bias against them both.

Really getting to know Bennett’s personality and his need for order, at all costs, helped me to understand the things he did previously. He never had ill intentions toward Olivia or even realized how his friendship with Kaylee would bother her. He puts everything in its own neat little box, even if he has to shove it down to make it fit correctly. That’s how he functions, that’s how his brain works.

While Kaylee was as oblivious as Bennett, I did come to realize that she had no ill intent. She couldn’t picture her life without her best friend Bennett, therefore she didn’t take the step back that may have been proper when he was engaged to Olivia. As far as she was concerned, Bennett and Olivia were a happy couple who were in love so her presence shouldn’t be an issue.

It’s just amazing how much we, as humans, can twist things around to fit our own narrative when we don’t talk to one another. When we keep seemingly innocent secrets and then react to the actions of others, somehow blaming them for things when we haven’t given them all the information. This story is really about opening up, body and mind, to those who are in your inner circle. We’re all so afraid to never be loved for our true selves, yet we want to hide something because we think it will prevent us from getting that love we seek.

Kaylee and Bennett learn so much throughout this story, but mostly they learn what it means to love and be loved. Unconditionally. Children tend to teach us these things, even when they are 15-year-old surprise children that show up on our doorstep. Having Dallas show up really threw the whole Dodge family for a loop. But it also caused Bennett to take a good, hard look at his life, his family, and his best friend Kaylee. Dallas’ arrival also forced Kaylee to finally open up about her upbringing and admit her insecurities.

This was a beautiful story of love and family. While I expected a bit more angst from Dallas, this wasn’t really his story…yet. (Yes, I’m hoping we get his HEA later as he grows up.) Somehow Maisey Yates has found a way to redeem both Bennett and Kaylee in my eyes. I say that’s a win.

https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/02/untamed-cowboy-book-review/

Friends to lovers and a secret child all rolled in to one! We met Bennett originally in a Copper Ridge novel when his then girlfriend Olivia was in despair over the fact that he wasn’t proposing. We continued to see and hear about him when Olivia dumped him and proceeded to fall for Luke. Now it’s time to get Bennett’s story. He’s a bit of a ditz in that he can’t see Kaylee’s feelings for him even when it’s right in front of his face, but she finds a way to coerce him into being the man that she has needed for all of these years. Their story is fun to read, and the part of it that makes it most heartwarming of all is the surprise son!

Veterinarian Bennett Dodge’s life has been in a bit of an upheaval lately. He failed to commit to the woman he thought would be perfect for him and lost her to another man. He should be more upset by that right? He holds his cards close to his vest and doesn’t explain the real reasoning behind his life to anyone, but his best friend tends to meander her way under his skin and into his head more than most. Now that his world is really on edge with the arrival of a teenage son he knew nothing about, yeah, he’s going to need that friend for real!

Kaylee Capshaw is Bennett’s veterinarian partner and has been best friends with him since they were teenagers. She’s also been secretly in love with him for just about as long, but he’s absolutely clueless. It tore her heart out to watch him with Olivia, but she couldn’t walk away from the one bit of him she has always been allowed to have … his friendship. But times have changed and life is in flux and she’ll be darned if she’s going to let this opportunity pass her by yet again. She’s going after her man!

I loved the idea of these friends becoming more. They make sure a great duo that you know a relationship between the two of them would just be awesome. Unfortunately both have some hangups that are keeping them from pursuing anything more.

It’s totally understandable why Kaylee doesn’t want to risk her most important friendship for the chance of a romance. She needs Bennett so much that losing him would be devastating … but her heart wants more and it is not going to be ignored.

Thanks to Bennett’s childhood he has a huge need to plan. A romance of deep emotion doesn’t really fit well with that. He’s holding tight to his control but life does enjoy throwing people curve balls.

And seeing Bennett develop a connection to his son is the absolute best. Kaylee’s there for both of them, with a special connection with Dallas, but in the end the guys have to be the ones making it work. They both are so heartfelt and blunt, but hesitant too. They handle things their way – with humor and truth, laying it out but still being protective of themselves.

The connection & long-standing friendship between Kaylee & Bennett is just so heartwarming and their struggle over where the future might take them is very real. Some might find the push/pull of their emotions a little repetitive – it’s hard to let go and take a leap for something more when what you have is so very, very important to you. But what if it could bring you something so much more …? It’s a tough decision but you are going to enjoy being with them while they figure things out.

**Review given honestly and freely after receipt of a reader copy. This opinion is completely my own and was not influenced in any way.**

As always Maisey Yates gives you romance and characters that you grow to love.

I do not know what could have made me love the story more than I do, it was so perfectly emotional, with just the right amount of angst, turmoil, drama mixed with sweet, sexy, and spicy. I was on an emotional edge throughout the tale, with a serious book-hangover afterword, wanting to linger in the world the author had created. While the story was entertaining and engaging, it was also meaningful and thought-provoking, it is a story that in the past couple of days has kept popping into my mind at the most unexpected moments.
Bennett Dodge and Kaylee Capshaw caught my attention when they were first mentioned in Olivia’s story. The friendship, connection between them is so natural, authentic, and real, it’s like they truly were two parts of a whole.
Bennett is an organized planner. He needs to keep control of his life by planning everything ahead and stick to it, to avoid the pain, to not feel the uncontrollable turmoil, to be able to carry the responsibilities in his life. He is a loyal, reliable, smart, and caring man. The loss of his mother at the young age has shaped him to be the man he is, with the guidance of his loving father and the middle child’s need to avoid to bring drama and turbulence to his parent’s life. There’s just one secret he has kept from a young age, and that secret has just exploded to his face.
From the early age on, Kaylee’s parents neglected her and made her very aware of the fact that she was not wanted, loved, cared for, or cherished. She learned to rely only on her self, not to trust her feelings, to keep a safe distance from any deeper involvements, and love only from the afar. What rescued Kaylee was the loving friendship she had with Bennett, and the open arms his family welcomed her into their fold. But the scars of the careless words and her parent’s oversight of her are deeper than Kaylee realized. With all the strife and trouble in Bennett’s life and the new, burning physical attraction between her and her best friend, Kaylee has to deal with the painful wounds of her past to be able to move on and truly live and embrace the new possibilities coming to her way.
I loved every moment of the journey Bennett and Kaylee were on, the bumps in the road, the ardent passion building up between them, the banter, the true friendship they had that was the foundation of their relationship. I loved the support they gave to each other, the trust, the honesty, the way they could rely on each other. They were a unit from the start, from the very first moment they met as children, and there was nothing that was going to break that bond they had built between them if they were willing and able to do the work and take the leap into a romantic love.
A poignant, captivating, and touching story that just burst my heart and mind with all the feels, emotions, and passion soaring off the pages. From heartrending neglect of children and pain of a loss of a loved one to a heartfelt and delightfully ravishing love story between the best friends, with meddling family and adorable four-legged creatures all around, Untamed Cowboy conquered my heart and mind.
~ Five Spoons