A Bride for the Texas Cowboy

An entertaining afternoon read. August has a difficult time relating to Cat and Axel. Seeing him mature throughout this story kept me reading.

This is the second book in the Texas Wolf Brothers series and YES you really need to read the first book, A Son for the Texas Cowboy to understand all the things that have happened and are mentioned in this book. Last Stand, TX has quickly become one of my favorite fictional towns and I do love reading books based there. August Wolf is the brainy brother. The child that tested gifted and because he did the family allowed him to do science fairs and STEM and pretty much kept him out of the farm life. Because of this it make it hard for him to connect with his other brothers when we wants too. Then we have Cat. His best friend and ex-lover. The one person he calls when he knows that he he needs someone. He knows if at all possible she will be there for him, in spite of their split years earlier. This is a wonderful second chance romance with family drama on both sides. I am really looking forward to the third book in this series.

I read the first book in the series and loved it a lot. That is where I met August and Cat and why I was so interested in reading the next book in the series. It was pretty great. I LOVED Kat so much. She comes calling when her old friend and lover calls her for help when he gets injured in a accident at his new winery.

August is kinda a jerk and he is the reason for his issues with Kat. That said he does defend her against her family and brother and he wants to marry her and get her to forgive him for the past. I mostly enjoyed this story I just had two issues that I felt the author didn’t explain well enough for me.

1. Cat’s family is awful and they harass her A LOT. Axel hates them too and they sorta cause trouble in a scene or two and then we never hear from them again.
2. August near the end is a jerk and what he does to Kat was awful. Does he do it on purpose, No. But he comes back and says sorry and she easily forgives him. He does not have to do much to make up for it. The Cat I got to know in this story would have made him work for it much more than the author made him do so in this story.
Aside from that this was a wonderful story and I highly enjoyed it.

I received a review copy of this story in arc format from the publisher of this book.

A Bride for the Texas Cowboy is the second Texas Wolf Brothers book by Sinclair Jayne. The Wolf men have complicated family relationship that spill into their romantic ones, too. I find this to make the book compelling, hard to stop reading. Just like the first this is an emotional, intense read. It parallels the first book starting with the tragic accident. Even though this is August’s story, his big brother Axel has a major influence on it as he does August.

The downtown bus accident in Last Stand, Texas has been a part of several different series that take place in this fictional town. For August it is life changing. The intricate story-line that involves the Wolf brothers reveal family history and past events as the story progresses. It is well done so that the telling of them is not repetitive but comes right when the reader needs to know. Also Cat and August have such a long involved past that we get to see from both POVs. Even more the characters are such flawed, human beings who are so likable and understandable too.

The romance is wonderful if not easy but then so is the entire family drama that continues to take place. From when I started reading this author’s books to now the writing has progresses over time without any lost in the deep emotional aspect of the relationships. I am so invested in the Wolf family. Now when is Anders going to get his story?

4.5 Stars
An ARC of the book was given to me by Tule Publishing which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was given this arc to read in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in the Wolf Brothers series by Sinclair Jayne. The book takes place in Last Stand Texas. I just loved this book. It took place at the same time as book one, but while that was Axel and Cruz’s story, this was August and Catalina’s story.

We had learned there was the big accident where a wine tour bus crashed into a truck and was pushed through the window of August Wolf’s wine tasting room. August was injured but was more concerned about his staff and construction crew that were working with him. He called his former best friend/lover that he had broken up with years earlier to ask her to return to Last Stand. Cat’s family and his had ranches that bordered each other. The men did not get along. Cat had a lot of background in wine and August needed her to run the vineyard for him as well as return to his life.

The book showed the back and forth where August and Cat still love each other but are too afraid of getting hurt so neither will admit their true feelings. August has told her he wants her as Winemaker as well as his wife. Cat has moved into the ranch house with August, Cruz, Diego and Axel. It was initially to care for August’s injuries after they left the hospital. They start to seem like a real family. She is waiting for August to tell her he loves her but he doesn’t seem to realize to do that. August and Axel are also working on a relationship after years of butting heads over everything. August remodeled the ranch house without asking Axel and he was not happy about it. Axel doesn’t like Cat because of her dad and brothers. He warns her August will leave her to take care of his varied business interests even though he has told her he’s permanently locating back home with her.

I liked that both books had the same events happening but we got the reactions and focus on the different couples. I like too that the author references other Last Stand characters like Shane Hightower and his brother, and Dr. McBride and the birthday lady, Minna. This was a great style of writing.

I look forward to book 3 in the series. This is definitely 5 stars!

An impossible hurdle. It’s very difficult to overcome people’s opinions. Especially when you deserve them. Turning over a new leaf is very tough anyway let alone when you’re fighting by yourself. Then asking your ex for help… crazy. This begins the story of August trying to scale a mountain of doubt and troubles. Then Catalina enters the scene. She may be his ex but he needs her. What follows is tons of drama and opposition.
I received an advanced reader copy from the publisher in exchange for my volunteer review.

Enjoyed it
I always enjoy revisiting Last Stand, Texas, and its characters.

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Second chances
Part of a series: The Texas Wolf Brothers
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from Tule Publishing.

I opted to accept an ARC of this book based on the description, even though I knew it was the second book in a series I haven’t read. In fact, this is a new-to-me author. I’m going to try my hardest to review this book on the story and writing, not on the fact that it was a mistake for me to try to read this as a standalone. In fact, it seems that the first book of this series runs parallel with this story and they weave in and out of each other. It was obvious I was missing some key back story and animosity between the brothers since I hadn’t read that first book. Again, I’ll do my best to not let that color my review. I just suggest that if you haven’t read the first book that you do so before picking this one up.

The first couple chapters of this book were really good and sucked me into the story. Although I didn’t feel fireworks when August and Cat are face to face, I did feel some chemistry. But then the set up of the story started to drag. I am not exaggerating when I say the first half of this book takes place in one drawn out day…most of it being in just a few hours. I was more than ready for the narrative to move on by the time that day was over. Don’t misunderstand, when there is a lot of action as in a romantic suspense story I fully expect there to be a lot happening in one day. But this is not a suspense story and there wasn’t a lot happening so it just seemed to drag. Plus, there seemed to be some continuity issues with whether or not August had or had not seen his brother in the last few years, or even the last 24 hours. Things just didn’t add up.

Once the first day was over there were more interesting things happening. I even got some warm fuzzies a time or two, yet the chemistry never really jumped off the page for me. There is a scene with Cat’s family that really had me invested in that part of the story. Her dad and brother were written in such a way that I was cringing on the inside and could picture them perfectly. But nothing was ever really done with that part of the story. Same with August’s brother Axel and his dislike of Cat. That’s one of the issues I’ll let slide since there’s a possibility that it was addressed in the previous book I didn’t read, but it seemed strange.

I definitely thought there was potential to this story, but time after time it fell flat. A line of thought would start and there would never be much follow up on it. Cat would be thinking one thing and do the complete opposite of what she was just a second before thinking. I just couldn’t invest in the characters with all of these bumpy roads.

I may try this author again, but make sure I’m starting at a the first book in a series. I don’t know that I want to revisit this series though. Since August’s story was unfolding at the same time as Axel’s, and some big reveals were given at the end of this book about Axel, I just don’t think I can immerse myself the way I would want.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**