Get double the feel-good fun with an all-new book from the Queen of Cowboy Romance, plus a bonus novel by A. J. Pine. This city girl’s about to get a dose of cowboy charm. Emily Baker doesn’t rough it — anymore. Born and raised on a farm, she’s worked hard to distance herself from that life, thank you very much. But when the seniors at the nursing home where she works beg for a ranch retreat, … she works beg for a ranch retreat, she caves and heads up to the Longhorn Canyon spread. With one glance at the sexy cowboy who opens the door, she’s suddenly thinking a week with him might not be so bad after all.
Justin Maguire doesn’t quite know what to do with the gorgeous woman who shows up on his doorstep. She’s all curves and confidence-even after stepping in a cow pile. Too bad she’s determined not to fall for a cowboy. But with the help of five nosy, matchmaking seniors, he might just convince her he’s worth the risk.
SECOND CHANCE COWBOY by A. J. Pine
Once a cowboy, always a cowboy! Jack Everett can handle working on the ranch, but turning around the failing vineyard he’s also inherited? That requires working with the woman he never expected to see again.
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Watch the roller-coaster romance as city girl vs Texas cowboy refuse to acknowledge the feelings heating up between them every time meet. Heart-warming, believable characters including the witty residents of a local senior-care facility. A book to settle down with in your favorite easy chair and enjoy the read!
This author always brings her A game, but she managed to top herself with this book. We still have a hot, big-hearted cowboy and a strong, independent heroine, but the addition of “The Fab Five,” as they’ve dubbed themselves, really took this book to a whole other level. Emily is the activities director at a senior living center and five senior BFF’s pretty much adopt Emily as their granddaughter. These two gentlemen and three ladies decide they’d like a week away at a nearby ranch and Emily accompanies them because, trust me, they need more supervision than unruly tweens at summer camp. So not only does Emily get to try and corral this lively bunch of septuagenarians, but she gets more advice than she ever wanted when things begin to heat up between her and ranch owner, Justin Maguire.
After reading the first two books in this series, I was on board for all things Longhorn Canyon Ranch, but this book is easily my favorite. A word of caution for my fellow readers: warn your family if you’ll be reading after bedtime, because your barks of laughter are guaranteed to interrupt their sleep. I’m not sure if I fell more in love with the main characters or these five mischievous seniors, and I’m hoping they’ll make an appearance in future books in this series. With delicious chemistry, a dose of steam and an abundance of belly laughs, don’t miss this delightful, heartwarming, hilarious read!
As the activities director for a seniors’ housing complex, Emily Baker was always trying to come up with activities for her clients. So when “The Fab Five” (2 men and 3 women seniors) told her they wanted to go to a ranch for a week, she found Longhorn Canyon Ranch. They normally run a camp for children so a week with adults would be easy. They’re in for quite a surprise when these seniors visit.
Justin Maguire loves running the ranch and is happy with his single life and short relationships. But when Emily brings the group to his ranch, he starts to think short relationships might not be what he wants anymore. Especially when he realizes Emily doesn’t do short-term relationships.
I loved Emily. What a strong, competent woman. Not only was she a terrific activities director but she could do ranch work as well as any cowboy. She proved it when she saw a cow having trouble giving birth and jumped right in and “pulled” the calf, saving its life. She was also a great friend. When Emily’s best friend came to her sobbing after finding out her boyfriend was married, Emily’s first thought was ” Where’s this sumbitch from?” Emily patted her purse where her cute little .38 special had a home in a zippered side pocket. “Me and Cora (gun) will take care of him. I’ve got two shovels in the garage, or we can just leave his sorry carcass out in a mesquite thicket for the coyotes.” That’s a true friend for you.
The Fab Five were priceless. They couldn’t ever be left alone because they got into more mischief than children ever could. They just wanted to have fun. And that they did. I loved the way they adopted Emily as their granddaughter and played matchmaker.
The characters are brilliant and perfectly constructed with intelligence, interest, and in Justin’s case, that hot sexiness we love in a man!
This book is heartwarming, steamy, and funny. I recommend it to romantic comedy readers.
Incredibly moving, family filled book of love and relationships. Carolyn Brown hits it out of the park with the story of Emily Baker and Justin MacGuire. A definite must read.
Amazing Read.
This is the third book that I have read by this but and I loved all of them. Justin and Emily are both great characters with amazing chemistry. Add in a group of matchmaking seniors and this is one amazing read.
What an emotionally thrilling adventure filled with so many heartwarming moments … it is a highly entertaining, fun, sexy and exciting journey that had me from beginning to end. Loved it!
Hello! This was such an easy read! The Fab Five are hysterical! I loved the storyline. I had to keep reading!! Every time I turned the page more laughter and loved this cowboy!! A great snuggle by the fire read!!!
Awesome Awesome book
I hate to leave a bad review, but I just couldn’t finish this one. The writing style was a little weird for me. The conversations seemed to jump from one thing to the next, or one person or the next, without finishing a thought or having the other person respond. That was confusing to say the least. I know the Fab 5 were supposed to be funny, and sometimes they were, but most of the time they were just over the top. I didn’t really understand Justin’s mom. She hated Emily on sight, and I’m not sure why. Maybe that’s answered later on, but I just couldn’t get there. Although this one wasn’t for me, I would be willing to read this author again.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.
I really enjoyed this book. I love the way Carolyn Brown writes a book. It is like being in the story with the characters. They all seem so real and she paints a picture with her words. I love the senior citizens in this book that are so full of personality and are really good at getting away with a lot of interesting things. I would highly recommend this book.
Longhorn Canyon #3, Yay this isn’t the last one! Longhorn Canyon Ranch is a working ranch that in the summer takes on some city kids on the verge of being troublemakers and teaches them about ranching and other stuff. We’ve already seen the oldest of the Maguire brother’s find true love and their best friend/foreman find true love, Justin wasn’t looking he didn’t even think he was ready to settle down but the moment he set eyes on Emily Baker everything changed.
Emily is the events coordinator at a retirement community and one group she deals with heard about the Longhorn Canyon Ranch and their work with kids and asked Emily if she could arrange a special trip for them to the ranch. By all appearances Emily is a city girl but there is more to her than meets the eye. The attraction between them is instant but Emily is determined not to fall for a cowboy. Justin has never felt this way about anyone and he’s determined to show Emily he means it. Aside from Emily’s family that she hasn’t told him about another obstacle is Justin’s mother who took an instant dislike toward Emily automatically assuming she’s a golddigger.
Overall, this was another really good read from Carolyn Brown. I loved Emily and Justin and all the hyjinks that the Fab Five get into are hysterical. Even though Justin’s mom kind of plays the part of the bad guy in this book Emily really is her own worst enemy. The Bonus Book Second Chance Cowboy by A.J. Pine is a book I have previously read it’s the first book of the of Crossroads Ranch series and is really good. So as a two for one deal this one is really good one both books are entertaining and fantastic reads.
love all her books can’t wait for the next one
Emily Baker works as the social director at a nursing home/assisted/independent living facility. The “Fab Five”, as a group of seniors are called, decided that they wanted to go on vacation at a ranch. Emily makes arrangements at the Longhorn Canyon ranch. There she meets Justin Maquire, one of the owners. Justin and his family usually open up the ranch to underprivileged kids. They thought they would give the Fab Five a try. The seniors have a blast, they feel young again. Justin is attracted to Emily, but she has a secret she doesn’t want to share with Justin. She is afraid that he will either run away or try to take advantage of her. Emily’s family owns one of the largest ranches in Texas, the Big Sky Ranch. Justin’s parents, especially his mother think Emily is a gold digger and after Justin’s money, little did she know. Emily finally begins a relationship with Justin. He wasn’t looking for anything permanent, he still enjoyed being single and there was no way she was going to go out with a cowboy.. After a while, he realizes how much he enjoys spending time with Emily. He also goes out of his way to participate in activities with the Fab Five; Larry, Otis, Bess, Sarah and Patsy. After he goes to pick up a bull, he finds out who Emily really is. This does not stop him. He fell in love with her, not her money.
This is the third book in A Longhorn Canyon series, and it is my favorite. I really loved the Fab Five, Larry Otis, Bess, Sarah and Patsy. I was laughing out loud at some of their antics while they were on the ranch. Poor Emily couldn’t wait for the vacation to be over, they wore her out. Eventually Emily and Justin realize that they were meant for each other. Carolyn Brown has written another gem. I look forward to other books in this series.
Cowboy Brave is the third book in Carolyn Brown’s Longhorn Canyon series, a series I’ve been following all along, having only read the second novel in the series about a week ago, and absolutely loving it. I wish I could say the same for this novel, but I can’t, and while it was an enjoyable read for the most part, it simply didn’t measure up to either of the two previous novels and I can only give it a 3-star rating.
Cowboy Brave is Justin’s story, the last single man on the Longhorn Canyon Ranch and the youngest, at just 30 years of age. His only romantic relationships so far have been a long, long string of one-night stands with the pretty, slender, blonde bar bunnies he picks up on Saturday nights at the local honky tonk, the Rusty Spur, brings them home, has sex with them, and that’s about it until he picks up another one the following Saturday night. But he’s just seen his two brothers find the loves of their lives in the past two novels, and suddenly begins to feel like a fifth wheel on the ranch. While this novel works just fine as a standalone, I strongly suggest you read the previous novels in the order written, as it will enhance your understanding of the family dynamics.
The heroine in this novel is Emily, a size 18, “big girl”, as she is often referred to in this novel (and kudos to Ms. Brown for including a heroine who isn’t a size 4). She’s from a ranching family, but wanted more out of life, left her family ranch, got her degree and is employed at a retirement/nursing home, where five of the residents, all 70-somethings, without family, children or grandchildren, have bonded with one another and now call themselves the Fab Five, and they want to get away for a week. None of them are seriously ill, and most grew up on either farms or ranches and miss that lifestyle. They bargain with Emily to arrange a one-week getaway for them at the Longhorn Canyon Ranch after reading the publicity it received for taking in inner-city kids for the summer to give them the ranch experience (read Cowboy Bold for that story).
When Emily meets Justin and arranges for the trip, Justin, used to flirting with every woman he meets, starts flirting with her, and soon she and the Fab Five arrive for their week on the ranch, and what a week it is. The Fab Five are the feistiest, wackiest, most fun-loving seniors you’d ever want to meet, and their ongoing shenanigans, from playing strip poker, to joy riding on ATVs, to wanting a chance to do some bull-riding, and the scenes of Emily’s attempts to rein in some of their enthusiasm are absolutely hilarious and were a joy to read. Justin, and the rest of the family on the ranch welcome the Fab Five with open arms and open hearts, and for this reader, that was the best part of this novel.
What didn’t really work for me was the relationship between Justin and Emily. While his family liked and accepted her, (all except his mother, who was totally bitchy to Emily, thinking her nothing but a gold digger), and Justin found himself wanting more than a one-night stand with her, Emily simply wasn’t buying his flirtatious ways at first. Justin sure did try his best though, and he eventually succeeded in getting Emily into bed, and getting Emily over her inhibitions about showing her less than perfect body to him, a body he things is perfectly curvy and sexy as it is. Again, kudos to Ms. Brown for realizing that most big girls tend to be shy about revealing bodies that would never make the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
However, what seemed to be missing from this romance, although there were quite a few romantic gestures from Justin, was the feeling of a deep, emotional connection and understanding between these two characters. Emily wanted to get away from her own family ranch and live in a city, and she clearly resented her mother and grandmother constantly trying to get her to come back home to their ranch, and then there’s Justin, her exact opposite, who loved ranching, and felt that it was his true calling. They seemed like two people who had little in common, although they were certainly compatible sexually, but Emily was keeping a secret from Justin, and when he accidentally discovered what that secret was, he didn’t handle it well, nor did these two characters spend much time really getting to know one another on more than a superficial and physical level.
While I didn’t miss a ton of drama, character development and angst in the previous novel in this series, Cowboy Honor, I certainly missed it in this one, and by the time we arrive at the expected HEA ending, I still felt that I really didn’t know either of the main characters well, or why Justin was suddenly attracted to a big gal when he’d only ever pursued perfect 10s before meeting Emily, or learning that the driving force that drove Emily away from her family ranch was the fact that she didn’t like doing paperwork? Really? It seemed a flimsy excuse, and yet there’s plenty of paperwork involved in her job at the retirement home, not to mention her complete about-face and willingness to return to ranching life at Longhorn Canyon. I found that I kept trying to connect the dots in their relationship, but that some of the dots were missing, and I’ve clearly been spoiled by the previous two novels in this series, this one being by least favorite so far.
Since Emily’s two brothers were introduced in this novel and are considering buying the ranch that adjoins Longhorn Canyon, and Emily’s friend and co-worker Nikki, another secondary character we meet in this novel, has been unsuccessful at love, I’m assuming that some, if not all, of these characters will appear in upcoming novels in this series, and hopefully Ms. Brown will give these characters a bit more depth in those novels than she did in this one.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
Another great story by Carolyn Brown! The characters just pop out of the book and you fall in love! Justin is one sexy cowboy that loves the ladies, never met one that he wanted to stay the morning after until a group of fun loving senior citizens and their chaperon rented the bunkhouses on his ranch. Emily had moved away from her ranching family but once she stepped foot on Justin’s ranch it was feeling more like home than she wanted to admit. Corralling her elderly charges was harder than containing monkeys on a barrel, Emily wasn’t ready for her reaction to the sexy cowboy but the attraction was sizzling! Fun read! Great humor, fun characters and just the right amount of steaminess!
Brown always writes wholesome, down-to-earth stories full of cowboys, ranch life, family antics, drama, building relationships, sharing lives and romance. Her books will make you smile, laugh, sometimes shed a tear and leave you with a feel-good, happy feeling when her characters’ journey comes to an end. These are some of the reasons I enjoy reading her stories, as well as the fact that the storylines are always well-paced and engaging from start to finish. The characters are also enjoyable and there are usually always some extra antics thrown in for a few extra laughs and excitement from some of the side characters; in this case, it being the Fab Five, a group of seniors living in a retirement center where Emily works and shares in their day-to-day lives. Some of the things this group comes up with are hilarious and these guys alone will have you turning pages in the book to see what they will do next. From skinny dipping to strip poker to matchmaking and more…they were a fun addition to the read and I hope they make appearances in future stories.
Justin was a good character; he was a cowboy through and through. He enjoyed working on the family ranch, was happy with his life and set in his bachelor ways; he had no desire to settle down like his brothers, he enjoyed his freedom and lifestyle too much. That was until Emily came along. There was something about her that drew him in and had him wanting to get to know her more. Maybe it was the fact that she was different than the other women he was attracted to or the fact that she did not swoon or fall at his feet when he flirted with her…whatever it was she was a mystery that he intended to solve. I enjoyed his interaction with his family, the Fab Five and with Emily. He was laid back, caring, and had a heart of gold. I liked that he always told Emily she was beautiful and perfect the way she was and did not try to change her but tried to help reassure her and help her be more confident in her own skin.
Emily, on the other hand, I had a harder time truly liking her character. She was a total contradiction and her excuse for not wanting to have anything to do with a ranch or the lifestyle because of possibly being stuck in the office doing paperwork instead of actually working on the ranch doing what she enjoyed was really flimsy. She skated around this with her family who was always trying to get her to come home and do her duty on the family ranch and in evading answers from Justin and his family’s questions regarding her life. Even though she did not outright lie, she lied by omission every time Justin asked her about her past and her life and then flew off the handle when the truth came out and blew up at him for something that was her fault. It was an overreaction and just seemed childish. She was portrayed as a strong, extremely independent character who was sweet and nurturing and loved her job but never felt settled or at home and longed for what she really wanted…to enjoy the ranch life, sans paperwork, but was very blasé about making her dream a reality; especially when Justin came into the picture basically offering her exactly what she wanted and she pushed it and him away because…again…paperwork and if she told him the truth about her true identity she might be stuck in the same boat again. So, I do not know, I just had a hard time completely wrapping myself around her character.
With that aside, I did enjoy the book. It was nice catching up with the rest of the family and getting a glimpse of what lies ahead for them all; as well as meeting new characters that hopefully will become part of the mix in future stories. The Fab Five was definitely the highlight of the book and though I was not fond of all the interaction between Emily and Justin, I was glad to see everything work out in the end and hope to see more of them in future stories, as well. Though this book can be read as a stand-alone, it would be best to start with the beginning of the series to fully enjoy the characters and the family dynamics since they overlap through the stories. Overall, Cowboy Brave was a nice addition to the series.
*I received an ARC via the publisher thru NetGalley and am providing my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own.
I loved this story! Not only are Emily and Justin incredible characters but the “Fab Five” made me laugh all the way through the book. This book is the third in the Longhorn Canyon series but it’s the first one I’ve read. I had no problem not having read the prior books so reading as a standalone is fine. Emily left her farm girl roots long ago but she’s having fun finding them again when she goes on a week long “field trip” with the unruly, matchmaking seniors that make up the Fab Five. They are staying at the Longhorn Canyon ranch and Emily’s having a good time getting to know the very sexy cowboy Justin who’s in charge of keeping an eye on them during their stay. Will Emily fall for the cowboy or will she return to her hard fought for city life?
I definitely recommend this one.
Emily Baker, Activities Director at Oakmont Retirement Center, wants nothing to do with cowboys or ranches. “Been there, done that!” That’s not stopping the Fab Five, seniors at the center, from begging for a field trip to a ranch. Somehow Emily just can’t tell them “No” so she contacts the Longhorn Canyon Ranch to ask about renting their bunkhouses for the seniors’ retreat for a week. Every summer the Longhorn Canyon Ranch invites underprivileged children to spend some time there so Emily hopes the owners will agree to this request for her special seniors. So that’s where it all began, where Emily meets Justin Maguire. She makes quite a first impression on him as she arrives at the ranch to discuss the retreat. She’s all dressed up, very business-like in a nice dress and high heels. Too bad she steps in a fresh pile of cow manure and there goes that good first impression. How embarrassing!
Justin Maguire wasn’t looking for love. He still had a few wild oats to sow. But there is something about Emily Baker that starts him to thinking about a home and a family. He keeps being tempted to kiss Emily’s sweet lips. “No, gotta keep things professional.” How long will that last?
Cowboy Brave by Carolyn Brown is the third book in her Longhorn Canyon series. This story is just over 300 pages of warmth, humor and sweet romance. The secondary characters, especially the Fab Five, add much to the ambiance and laughs in this book. Carolyn Brown always manages to write “feel good” stories and this is definitely a “sit-down with a soothing drink, get comfortable and be pleasantly entertained” special read.
Carolyn Brown’s female characters are big, strong willed and realistic and her latest, Cowboy Brave, is no exception. The men are down to earth, rugged and real. It is a delight to read Carolyn.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.
Nice enjoyable read. I loved Justin. Took me awhile to connect with Emily but she and Justin ended up fitting nicely together. I loved the antics of the Fab Five.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC received via NetGalley.