USA TODAY Bestseller! She shouldn’t get involved with the cowboy next door… Laid off from her teaching job in the city, Jemma Monroe takes a job teaching in a tiny town and rents a house on the outskirts. A visitor soon shows up at her door–a horse. His owner, a handsome neighbor in boots and a cowboy hat, comes by to collect him. When single dad Wyatt Langford meets Jemma, it’s the first … single dad Wyatt Langford meets Jemma, it’s the first time he feels interest in a woman since his wife left. But she’s his daughter’s new teacher, so they both know they should keep their distance.
Nonetheless, Wyatt keeps finding excuses to spend time with Jemma, and Wyatt’s daughter becomes more and more attached to her. With them, Jemma discovers the good things about country life, from starry skies to s’mores cooked over a fire. But she still misses her past life in the city. Is there any reason for them to dream of a future together?
This heartwarming cowboy romance includes a Hallmark original recipe for Classic Italian Lasagna.
more
Cindi Madsen is the master of small town romances, and Country Hearts is pure, sweet romance gold!
Who can resist the cowboy next door? Certainly not Jemma, especially when he comes with an adorable daughter and country lifestyle. This country tale will warm your heart.
How adorable was this book?!!! Such a darling sweet romance. I loved everything about it, especially the relationship between the heroine and the hero’s little girl.
5 star review of Country Hearts by Cindi Madsen
Cindi Madsen is a relatively new author to me. I’m a sucker for small town romances and when you add in characters like Jemma Monroe and Wyatt Langford it sure makes for an entertaining read.
I loved how swoon worthy Wyatt was and his relationship with his daughter Bailey Rae was heartwarming. I also loved how sassy, smart and funny Jemma was; together they make a great couple.
I liked how out of her element Jemma was initially, coming from a big city to a small country town to teach was a huge adjustment for her. Wyatt, has closed himself off, determined to focus on raising his daughter after his ex wife leaves them behind for life in the big city.
Country Hearts was well written and full of love, romance, a little drama and humour. From the first chapter to the last, Ms. Madsen had me hook, line and sinker. Not only were Jemma, Wyatt and Bailey Rae easy to like and relate too, the secondary cast of characters also added to my enjoyment whilst reading.
A beautiful love story full of hopes and dreams that certainly ticked the boxes for me.
When Jemma loses her teaching job and moves away to be a substitute teacher in a small town, she didn’t realize she would like it so much. She’s teaching third grade and a lot of things happen on her first day. She loves her kids, her administrators and the people in the town. But there is one special little lady that captures her heart.
Country Hearts is as delightful small-town romance. I loved reading about the interactions of Wyatt, Jemma, and Wyatt’s daughter, Bailey Rae and all the colorful townspeople. It was helpful that both Wyatt’s and Jemma’s points of view were included. The story was welcoming and warm like an old friend, and the town of Haven Lake seemed to be a great place to visit or live. The descriptions of the specialty drinks served at the cafe added to the uniqueness of the town. The special qualities of the pets and the love felt for them added to the story, especially the bunny Senõr Fluffypants. I recommend this book if you want a feel-good, delightful story.
I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book received from Hallmark Publishing for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Repost of my original review on Amazon.com.
Reading this book was just like watching a Hallmark movie!!
I love small town romances and this one was so heartwarming and sweet!! I loved how Jemma just threw herself into the adventure of packing up her life to substitute teach in a small town in Colorado and when she decided to go for it, she went for it. Wyatt broke my heart more than once and Bailey Rae put it back together. The kids in this book were so adorable!!!
I so want this town to be part of a series!! I definitely want to go back!!!
Cows and horses and bunnies, oh my! Stories with kids and animals hit all my squishy buttons, and when you add in a reluctant hero and a perky heroine…it’s pretty much a given that I’ll love it.
While Jemma and Wyatt’s relationship was a slow burn, from neighbors to friends to possibly more, Madsen wove a sweet and believable story full of new friends, small town matchmakers and the inevitable conversion of dreams. Bailey Rae was written so vividly that I could hear her voice in my head, and she was a spot on portrayal of a nine year old girl.
Sweet with a lot of sass, Country Hearts will warm your heart.
Enchanting Small Town Romance…
Country Hearts is a charming small town romance that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Wyatt Langford was a gruff good ole country cowboy trying to do his best raising his spitfire of a daughter on his own. He was also very easy on the eyes according to all the ladies in the small town. His daughter Bailey Rae is his #1 in his life. After Wyatt’s wife (now ex) left everything to explore a more exciting life, he has been skittish to enter into any kind of romantic relationship.
Jemma Monroe left the big city to take a temporary teaching job. After her first day on the job, she realizes she is way out of her comfort zone on so many levels. Her new neighbor is a bright spot. Although he is grumpy and is a man of not many words, the chemistry they feel right from the start cannot be denied. The problem is Wyatt’s daughter is one of her students, which is the fly in the ointment. I loved the push and pull of this couple and it was so fun to witness.
Their journey to finally realize they were meant for each other was a joy to read. The HEA was loving and warmhearted.
This was super cute! Totally all hallmark-y. I love Bailey Rae she was such a cute outgoing girl with her crazy outfits! And Wyatt oh the stubborn cowboy. He is such a great dad to his little girl. I loved Jemma! She was a hoot the things that happened to her sound like things id go thru. I loved this book. I can’t wait to enjoy more by her.
Country Hearts will just make you all gooey and warm inside. I love this book so much. If you love city meets country, single father or even a good cowboy and teacher romance then this one is for you. I love Jemma so much. She took a chance to teach in a small town and you just see her blossom. Bailey Rae just pulls at your heart strings and make you smile. I love Casper and Senor Fluffypants. As for Wyatt, he will make you swoon by the end of this one. You get why he is cautious with Jemma. You just want to jump for joy over their friendship they are building. This book just fills my heart with so much love. Cindi Madsen did a fantastic job with this one. You are drawn in from the start and just leave the book with a big grin on your face. This one is the perfect sweet read you don’t realize you are missing. Go one click it.
I loved everything about the book!
It’s a feel-good, funny & moving story.
Everything you want in a true romance.
Jemma, Wyatt & Bailey Rae, steal your heart from the very first pages to the last.
It has the small town charm & the comfort
of friends & family.
A MUST READ!!
While my reading tastes usually tend toward dark, sexy, romantic suspense novels, no one could possibly be more surprised than I am to find myself giving a 5-star review to a sweet, charming, funny, small town, Hallmark romance, but here I am doing just that. This is the second book I’ve read by Cindi Madsen, it certainly won’t be the last, and this novel grabbed me from the start.
Jemma Monroe, an elementary school teacher in Denver, Colorado, was laid off in the middle of the school year due to budget cuts, managed to fall for a guy who just wanted to be friends, is nursing a broken heart, and since teaching jobs are contractual, couldn’t find another job close to home. The only job she could find was a temporary position filling in for a third-grade teacher on maternity leave in the tiny town of Haven Lake, Colorado. So Jemma packed up her lop-eared rabbit, Señor Fluffypants, and moved into a cute but old rental cottage on the edge of town, and her very first visitor during a thunderstorm is a horse, who knocks on her door, followed by the tall, handsome cowboy who is her new next-door neighbor, Wyatt Langford. Apparently the previous owner of the cottage always fed his runaway horse carrots, and although the owner is gone, the horse still comes calling, expecting more carrots.
Wyatt Langford, aside from being handsome, is rather taciturn and isn’t really welcoming to the newcomer at first, and their second meeting doesn’t get any better, when Jemma’s small car ends up in a snow-filled, muddy ditch, and Wyatt, who is taking his daughter, Bailey Rae, to school, feels obligated to help her. Wyatt has clearly pegged Jemma as a city girl, one who wears stylish high heels instead of boots, isn’t dressed warmly enough for the weather, and drives a “city” car, rather than an SUV or pickup truck with traction. Wyatt’s ex-wife, who divorced him 3 years earlier, was also a city girl, and she left him because small-town country life just wasn’t for her, leaving him to raise their young daughter solo, while also trying to keep up with the demands of his ranch. Knowing Jemma would only end up in another ditch, he offers to drive her to school too, and when Jemma and Bailey Rae meet in his truck, they connect like gangbusters. It gets even better when Wyatt realizes that Jemma is Bailey Rae’s new teacher.
I’m generally not a fan of young children in romance novels, but Bailey Rae stole the show in this novel. She’s a 24 year-old fashionista in an 8 year old body–an utterly adorable, sweet, creative, funny, chatty, and totally charming little girl in a small town that’s filled with sweet, charming, friendly and nosy characters who are always up for gossip, matchmaking, and community-centered activities, like supporting the town basketball team or getting involved in the elementary school’s Valentine’s Day show, or joining a recently opened country dance exercise class, in support of another newcomer to their small town. Even though Jemma’s first day of teaching is interrupted by a large snake dangling from the ceiling vent, she’s doing a bang-up job getting to know and like her new students, her friendly fellow teachers, and the other quirky town residents.
The amazing chemistry between Jemma and Wyatt is something everyone in town seems to notice, except for Wyatt, who doesn’t want to get involved with another city girl who’s only in town temporarily. Jemma doesn’t want to fall for Wyatt either, having already lost another guy she fell for who only wanted friendship, not romance. Bailey Rae has no such qualms, is enamored of Jemma, and manages to get the two adults together despite the fact that both have been burned in the past. But will Bailey Rae and the town busybodies manage to get these two wonderful characters together? That’s for me to know and you to find out, and I recommend that you grab a copy of this sweet, funny, charming novel, and fall in love with this town and it’s inhabitants, just as I did.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I am so glad I gave her a try.
The story centers around Wyatt Langford and Jemma Monroe.
Jemma is a city girl from Denver who has just lost her job as an elementary school teacher. When she applies and gets a job in a small country town she’s in for a different way of life.
Her neighbor is single dad Wyatt whose precocious 8 year old daughter is one of her students.
They first meet when Jemma needs rescuing by this grumpy man and his delightful daughter.
As the story progresses and Jemma falls in love with the town, and her students, so do her feelings for Wyatt. But he’s been hurt before and is determined to protect his heart and his daughter.
Will Jemma’s new prospects in the city take her back, or will Wyatt man up, and express his feelings before it’s too late?
It’s a sweet, clean, and touching story about allowing yourself to take a risk at finding love a second time around.
You will laugh , you will shed some tears, but in the end , you will be left with a feeling good and happy.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Hallmark Publishing. The opinions expressed are solely my own.
Country Hearts by Cindi Madsen is an excellent book that gives you just the break you need from the bleak, dark, depressing world of reality and gives you a nice dose of romance, hope, laughter, and light.
This is literally a Hallmark movie that was created in my mind as I read through the lovely story about two people, Jemma and Wyatt, that have been dealt difficult hands with personal and professional setbacks, who find each other and happiness in the end.
Even though I knew how this story would progress, I enjoyed reading Jemma and Wyatt’s stories and their paths towards romance. I enjoyed the town’s cast of secondary characters as well. The plot and pacing were smooth and easy to read, making the book an overall delightful jaunt through the countryside.
Great read. 5/5 stars
Where else do horses come knocking on your door and snakes make surprise appearances besides Haven Lake, Colorado?
Elementary school teacher Jemma Monroe has lost her job teaching in Denver, fell in love with a guy who only wanted to be friends and now the only job she could find is a temporary position in small-town Haven Lake, CO. How did her life fall apart this way? So now here she is in a small cottage in the very outskirts of town and when she responds to the knocking on her door she finds a horse there. What? Following behind the horse in the pouring rain appears a tall, handsome cowboy. YeeHaw! That’s how Jemma meets next-door neighbor Wyatt Langford. Too bad he wasn’t as welcoming as she could have wished.
Wyatt Langford didn’t have the best first meeting with his new neighbor Jemma Monroe. His second meeting didn’t go much better. It just firmed up his first impression of a city girl not suited for country living. He’d warned her about the snow and the roads yet she drove her city car like a novice and ended up in a ditch. When he stopped to help her out there she was dressed in an inadequate-for-the-cold weather coat and heeled boots. Heeled boots! City slicker! He couldn’t really be attracted to her. Could he?
Country Hearts by Cindi Madsen is a fun small-town romance. The author has produced some wonderful characters, from quirky, noisy and yes, matchmaking townsfolk to kids full of personality and reality, to charismatic and sweet Bailey Rae Langford, Wyatt’s adorable daughter to the two main characters Jemma and Wyatt. There are humerous scenes such as the time the kids in Jemma’s class and Jemma too run screaming when they saw a snake hanging down from the ceiling duct. Hero third grader Chase Matthews caught the snake and contained it until it could be returned to the fifth-grade classroom it escaped from. I liked the efforts of the the local coffee shop owner and the principal of Jemma’s school to help Jemma and Wyatt see that they did indeed love each other. I liked Cindi Madsen’s voice throughout the story. I bet most readers won’t get the Chatty Cathy reference by Wyatt when he described his daughter’s constant chatter. Chatty Cathy was a very popular talking doll first produced in 1959 and only available from 1959 to 1965. I had one of those dolls in my youth. Loved it. Small-town romance readers are going to really enjoy this book.
Country Heart is a heartwarming, sweet, and a clean romance. I thought this a heartfelt and a moving small town romance. It a wonderful written and a great story-line. It kept my interest through out the story. I truly enjoyed all the characters in this story. Its easy to read and a page turner. I look forward to reading more stories by this author.
I read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are of my own. Thank you NetGalley and Hallmark Publishing for letting me read this story.
I have received a free copy of this book. Jemma is a third grade teacher in a big city. Her boyfriend breaks up with her and then gets let go from her job because of cutbacks, so she takes the only job that she can find a mat leave position in a small town. She decides to look at it as an adventure. While driving to work in the snow she slides off the road and gets rescued by a surly cowboy (Wyatt) and his daughter. What a wonderful clean romance.
This was a really sweet, small town romance. City girl meets country boy and falls in love. It was a lighthearted read.
Wyatt and Jemma had good chemistry and were very likable characters. Wyatt’s daughter, Bailey Rae, was a great addition to the story. All of the characters in this book were likable.
Wyatt and Jemma danced around each other and their feelings, as both had been previously burned in their relationships. Bailey and the townspeople played a significant role in getting the two of them together.
A heartwarming story that was a pretty good read. It made me smile.
I voluntarily read and reviewed this book received from the author.
Country Hearts by Cindi Madsen a four-star read that is sweet as cinnamon. I have read a couple of this authors stories and each of them bring something special to that story, each one is sweet and warm. This was a great story and I love the town of Haven Lake and will happily keep an eye out for more stories from this town and the people who inhabit it. This pairing of Jemma Monroe and Wyatt Langford bring the chemistry to the page, when you throw in a fluffy bunny, an intelligent horse and a cute little munchkin who doubles as Cupid and you have a winner. This is a great story and one you would happily enjoy.