With her sassy humor and sexy cowboys, USA Today bestseller Carolyn Brown launches her new Longhorn Canyon series.
One city girl, one die-hard rancher, and eight mischievous kids. What could go wrong?
Every summer Cade Maguire looks forward to opening his Longhorn Canyon Ranch to underprivileged city kids. But this year, he’s having no luck finding a counselor for the children — until Retta … having no luck finding a counselor for the children — until Retta Palmer walks through his door.
Flat broke after selling everything she owns to pay her father’s medical bills, Retta is thrilled to hear of an opening for a counselor position. She’s not as thrilled about the ranching part, or the sexy cowboy with beautiful blue eyes who’s her new boss.
After being left at the altar two years before by his fiancée, Cade isn’t sure he can take another heartbreak. And Retta isn’t even sure she wants to stay. But the sparks between them are absolutely undeniable. And with a couple of lovable kids and two elderly folks playing matchmaker, Cade and Retta may find that the best way to heal is with each other.
“Cowboy Bold is the start of an amazing new series by an author who really knows how to hook her readers with sexy cowboys, strong women, a bunch of humor, and a stellar story. …Everything about this book is a roaring good time.” -Harlequin Junkie, Top Pick
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Cowboy Bold is book one in the Longhorn Canyon series by Carolyn Brown
This novel was my first experience with Carolyn Brown’s writing. I’d heard some good things about this book and others in the series. I’m reader who perfumes to read a series in order if I can.
Now the book wasn’t bad and I didn’t have any issues with anything in the story. The only thing that I had trouble with was myself and not being able to get into the story. It was slow, dull, and their was no action or suspense and really nothing to keep me interested. I’d pick up the book read a chapter, seat it down, and then do it again the next day. I just couldn’t get into the novel. I think I’m learning that I need to have something like action or suspense or a little drama in my contemporary reads or they just don’t capture me and keep my interest.
Cowboy Bold was not the book for me. If the blurb intrigues you, I urge you to give it a shot. Just because it did not work for me does not mean it won’t for you.
Rated: DNF – Stopped reading at 29% Page 96.
**Note: I won a copy!
Carolyn Brown knows how to write a cowboy to fall in love with and Cade is no exception: handsome, sexy, and with a heart of gold he fits the bill perfectly! Cade has opened his ranch to trouble tweens for five weeks each summer this summer the girls bunkhouse mother was called away and he needed someone to fill in. Retta is at loose ends, after caring for her ailing father for three years before his death and selling the family farm she needed a job and a place to stay until she found something more permanent in the big city so working with the girls on a working ranch sounded like a great stop gap. But when sparks fly as they shook hands something more was on the horizon. This book will have you laughing at the banter between Cade and Retta as well as other characters on the ranch, you’ll even shed a tear or two but the ending gives you the warm and fuzzies!
Beyond the laughter, despite the tears there will be hope. Brown looks at life as a classroom. The hits keep coming, yet the lessons are never-ending. Cowboy Bold reads a bit like a country song, but uplifts like the chorus of a heartwarming hymn. Retta and Cade are each other’s destiny. They don’t know it, but their heart does. People and circumstance are the road map to who we are and it’s pure tales like this one that have an impact on our minds and hearts.
Cowboy Bold is a sweet read that touches your heart
This book just made me want to give a big hug to all the characters. It was refreshing, fun and charming with great characters and an appealing storyline. I enjoyed the ranch setting and the fact that the ranch owners ran a summer camp for underprivileged children and meeting all the kids. Of course most of the kids arrived with an attitude, did not want to do stuff or get along with the others. There were several ‘mouthy’ comments common for kids who are sizing each other up make or to frustrate the adults. All of the kids came from hard circumstances and have different temperaments and it was interesting to see how the adults dealt with each of them and the situations they were put in to help them warm up to the others and function more as a group, trusting and relying on each other. There were 8 strong personalities and I enjoyed watching their transitions thru the camp experience and seeing the bonds of friendship they formed. And I absolutely adored Benjy; he was my favorite out of the bunch. Also, being introduced to the adults was quite entertaining in its’ own right. Cade and his brother, Justin, were the owners of the Longhorn Canyon Ranch and ran it and the camp along with their friends and ranch helpers, Levi, Skip and Mavis, as well as Retta who was hired for the summer to care for the girls. The family roots run deep and the bonds of friendship strong with this bunch. There was plenty of witty adult conversation, unwanted romantic advice and a few match-making attempts for Cade and Retta to keep you entertained. This was not a solid romance story, it kind of took a back burner to the rest of the commotion going on, though there were snippets of conversation and a couple of trysts, the focus of the story was more on healing, trust, hope, family and the bonds of friendship. Cade and Retta each had their own personal issues to work thru and overcome in order to pave the way for a new relationship and it was nice to see them working together, offering advice and support, to heal as well as giving each other the separate space they needed to come to terms with specific things troubling them and move forward. Overall, this was a great read with a wonderful cast of characters and storyline that leaves you wanting more. I look forward to the next book in the series.
This book gave me all the feels! Cowboy Bold is a wonderful start to the Longhorn Canyon series and I immediately fell for all the characters as soon as I met them.
Between the adorable stray animals, to the kids who just want to be loved, your heart will expand so much while reading, make sure you have some kleenex handy.
Finding love after loss and heartache doesn’t come easy, but Cade and Retta show us all that it’s worth the risk!
RATING 4.5 STARS
Cowboy Bold is book one in the Longhorn Canyon series by Carolyn Brown. This is my very first book by this author so I didn’t know what to expect. And what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be.
Retta Palmer just lost her father to cancer three months ago. Retta has spent the last three years caring for him through his illness. Now she has just finished liquidating all of their assets, including the small ranch she grew up on, to pay his medical bills. Previously, Retta had a high powered job at a bank in Dallas before she had to leave to care for her father. She is scheduled to interview for a similar position but the interview is five weeks away. When Retta learned of a five week position as a live in camp counselor at a ranch, she thought it would be the perfect answer, a place to live for a few weeks and a chance to earn an income.
Cade Maguire and his brother run the Longhorn Canyon Ranch. Something they look forward to every summer is when they take on eight underprivileged children from the city for five weeks. Their normal female counselor wasn’t available and Cade needs a replacement. As soon as he met Retta, he felt that zing of attraction. Cade had basically been left at the alter two years prior and never fully healed from the pain. He might have an occasional one night stand but has never dated since.
Retta and Cade both feel the chemistry between them. But their focus needs to be on the children. Even though Retta loved growing up on a ranch, her goal in life was to be successful in the city. Living on Longhorn Canyon Ranch and working with the children is a wonderful job. She loves the life. But she can’t give up on her dream of going back to the city. No matter how much she is attracted to Cade.
“Home is where the heart is. Find your heart, Retta, and you’ll find your home.”
I usually like romance with a little bit more steam. The sexy scenes in this book are more of a fade to black type. But, there was just so much else to love here. These children! These are kids that don’t have anything except perhaps a big chip on their shoulders they need to survive in their worlds. Everyone on the ranch had such a special way with these kids, teaching them to work together, respect each other, and to have pride in themselves. To see how they were when they arrived and how they were when they left was so heart warming. And things happened during these five weeks that both broke my heart and made my heart soar. Retta had such a natural ability of knowing what to do with the girls she was in charge of. I do have to admit that I had tears in my eyes more than once while reading this.
This is a cowboy romance packed with so much more. It’s a book whose characters I will not forget. I’m so glad I finally read one of Carolyn Brown’s books and look forward to more in my future.
Another wonderful sweet love story from Carolyn Brown. A must read for your summer reading list! I loved the characters, the setting, well all of it. Retta and Cade are both at crossroads and both so sure they know what is in store for them. From the moment they meet the electricity is tangible. Retta is to be the house mom to 4 little girls for 5 weeks and then head off to continue her paused career. She is still mourning the loss of her parents and is feeling all alone, but so very sure that getting back to her dream job is going to help her heal. Being the house mother to 4 little girls at summer ranch camp is a pit stop to on her path…or so she thinks. Cade, still mourning and angry about the end of his engagement is not about to trust just anyone. A few dates and he is done. No one is ever going to be allowed close enough to hurt him again. He is in charge of 4 boys and only wants to teach them all that he is denying himself. That they are more than good enough, smart enough. lovable enough and mostly just how to be kids. No matter how they fight their attraction, it is undeniable. Set on a beautiful ranch with all that offers is a perfect setting for everyone to heal and open their hearts. A sweet, kind, loving, humorous love story. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was over! I cannot wait to read the next in the series.
Good story line and characters. Felt like you were part of the story
Reviewed by JoAnne
Book provided by Netgalley
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book
Cowboy Bold is the first book in the Longhorn Canyon series and I can’t wait to be back. Cade and Retta have immediate chemistry and are slow to act on it but their romance played second fiddle to the eight kids whom social workers recommended to Cade to be part of his summer program on his ranch. What he and the others did for those kids to give them hope, a feeling of belonging, structure, kindness and love was phenomenal and kept me turning the pages so I could see what would happen next! The kids – 4 boys and 4 girls – wormed their way into my heart as did Mavis, the cook, and her husband, Skip, the supervisor for the boys for the summer program and even Cade’s brother, Justin and their ranch foreman, Levi.
Learning a little at a time about each of the characters helped endear them to me. They each had a depth to them, even the kids. The story flowed smoothly and was interspersed with ranching and the summer program along with warnings for Cade who had been burned once before. Seeing Cade and Retta, both out of their element regarding love, was sometimes fun to watch and other times sad. I loved how Retta threw herself in wholeheartedly to whatever she was doing especially with the kids. She had so many ideas that just seemed to roll out!
The descriptions of the ranch, the bunkhouses, the animals, the activities and even the food made me feel that I was there. There was a happily ever after in the offing that I didn’t expect to see in Cowboy Bold along with some closure. Loose ends were tied up nicely but there are hints of what’s to come in the second book in the series, Cowboy Honor, which is Levi’s story. There was an excerpt in the back of the book that just whet my appetite for more.
Brown is a fairly new to me author. I look forward to reading more of her books.
Favorite Quote: Dammit! She fished. She hunted. She knew the difference between a bull and a heifer, and a computer worked for her like it knew her personally.
This is much more than the usual cowboy romance. It blended a once-jilted cowboy, a former business woman at a crossroads in her life, and eight inner city kids having a five week experience on a working farm. The H&h and supporting characters were so understanding of the kids’ fears and their defense mechanisms. Ms. Brown did an excellent job of exploring each personality. I soon loved each one.
Be prepared. This is a Tears & Cheers book, worth reading slowly.
Retta Palmer needs to find a job, she left her big city bank job to move home and care for her ailing father and wound up spending every penny she had to pay off all of his medical bills while she was there. Now she needs to take a job to get her bank account back in the green, so she can move back to the big city and resume her big city dreams; then a little miracle of sorts falls into her lap… a rancher is looking for a camp counselor. The job sounds perfect for her, well sort of, she has some counseling experience, and much like the children who will be attending the camp she too knows what big city life is like, which she hopes may make it easier for her to connect with them. But when she arrives on the ranch for her interview, and meets her new boss, she begins to wonder what she just got herself into…
As soon as Cade meets Retta he knows she is perfect for the counselor position he has available, and in the perfect climate she might also be perfect for something else, but he isn’t in the market for love or dating. He still has marks on his heart from the last time he tried that and he isn’t about to wander down that road again, not to mention she has big city dreams in her eyes, and him and city girls just don’t mix. But after a few weeks of working alongside one another will he still think the same thing?
Cowboy Bold is a heartfelt tale that will put a squeeze on your heart and leave you totally smitten with a certain sexy, and stubborn cowboy! This was a fun little weekend literary escape, the characters were wonderfully crafted and quite entertaining and the story line was outfitted with many moments to make me smile and swoon!! Definitely a great start to a new series, I highly recommend this one, it’s western romance at it’s best!!
I requested an advanced copy of this title and I am leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
Another great Carolyn Brown cowboy romance. She always has great characters that the reader gets to know and love. Love her books!!! Highly recommended!!!
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Mary Jo –
Cade loves making the kids who come to his ranch every summer find something in themselves that they didn’t realize they had. When he meets Retta, he thinks she may find something during her stay as well.
Retta’s father just passed away and she needs a place to stay until she can interview for her former job in Dallas at the end of the summer. She left rural Oklahoma determined to “make it” in the big city, and with nothing left in Oklahoma, she’s going back to Dallas come hell or high water.
Staying on Cade’s ranch is a temporary thing, but the longer she’s there, the more Retta realizes that she misses ranch life, the slow pace, the small town life. She’s not sure if she can give up her dream of being successful in the business world for happiness. That is, until she realizes that they are not mutually exclusive.
Cade’s ability to know what Retta needs is instinctive and just what she craves. His concern and caring for her is just want you want in an alpha male and once Retta sees Cade for the man he is, she knows her heart is lost.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Cowboy Bold (Longhorn Canyon #1) by Carolyn Brown to read and review.
I love cowboys. Cowboy romances? I’m a goner. They are so sexy. This book is no different. Cade and Retta have a lot of chemistry but fight their attraction. Cade was left at the altar two years ago and has still not completely healed. What he feels for Retta confuses him because he thought he had been in love with his ex-fiance. What he feels with Retta is equal to if not more than what he felt with Julie.
Retta used to work at a bank as a vice president until she had to leave and take care of her sick father. He passed away three months ago and she had to sell everything. She has no home. She takes the job at Cade’s ranch as a counselor for a summer camp for troubled children and starts to feel like she fits in. Like the Longhorn Canyon Ranch is her home. She belongs, but with her only there for the job and leaving in a few short weeks, should she let her attraction to Cade take over and see what happens? Risk heartbreak when she leaves? Should Cade trust Retta to not break his heart like Julie did when she also leaves?
There is so much suspense in that sense of will or won’t they. Their banter and joking makes you smile. The kids make your heart break when you hear their stories but when they start getting better, it makes you smile and wipe a stray tear from your eye. It’s amazing. I recommend to all sexy cowboy lovers!
Every year a group of underprivileged kids are invited to Longhorn Canyon Ranch to experience the outdoors and learn some important life skills. This year Cade Maguire needs a counselor for the girls and Retta Palmer needs a temporary job. Sparks fly when Cade interviews Retta for the counselor job. They both want to ignore the attraction; Cade because he still isn’t over his ex-fiancee leaving him the morning of their planned wedding and Retta because she is still mourning the loss of her father. But life goes on and both Cade and Retta slowly find their wounds healing and their attraction to each other growing.
Carolyn Brown writes the best darn cowboys out there, sexy but sweet, hot but still a gentleman, loving but protective about it. She also writes the cutest kids in her books. In this story I fell in love with twelve-year-old Benjy who is a very intelligent, high-functioning autistic boy. He spouts statistics and endearing statements throughout the story. The rest of the “family” on Longhorn Canyon Ranch are all wonderful characters and I can’t wait to read more about them as the series continues.
ARC – I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
Retta is happy that she found a job.
After paying her father’s medical bills, she was left with nothing.
Cade was desperate. He needed a counselor pronto.
Retta came in the nick of time.
Now, if only he could ger rid of this attraction for the pretty Retta.
Denial, thy name is Cade.
I loved the storytelling + the characters
The storytelling + the character’s build were awesome!