As snowflakes fall in Gold Valley, Oregon, will this rugged cowboy finally win the woman of his dreams?Cowboy Caleb Dalton has loved single mom Ellie Bell, and her little daughter, Amelia, for years. But since Ellie is his best friend’s widow, Caleb’s head knows Ellie will always be strictly off-limits. If only his heart got the memo. So when Caleb discovers that Ellie has a Christmas wish … that Ellie has a Christmas wish list—and hopes for a kiss under the mistletoe—he’s throwing his cowboy hat into the ring. If anyone’s going to be kissing Ellie and sharing this magical time with her and her daughter, it’s him.
Ellie has dreaded the holidays since losing her husband. But this year, she’s finally ready to make some changes. She never expects the biggest change to be the heart-stopping kiss she shares with Caleb. For almost five years, Caleb has been her best friend, her rock, her salvation. This Christmas, can Caleb prove he’s also the missing puzzle piece of Ellie’s and Amelia’s hearts?
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Caleb’s been in love with Ellie for years, ever since his best friend Clint introduced them. But Ellie was Clint’s girlfriend at the time. Then later fiancée, and finally wife. When Clint died in a tragic accident, Ellie was pregnant with their first child and they had just purchased a house. Caleb stepped up and helped Ellie when she needed it most and put his feelings aside.
It’s been years now and Caleb and Ellie are best friends, but Caleb is still in love with her. When he finds out about her Christmas List, he’s shocked. It’s not full of purchases she wants, things you can buy in a store. She wants to be kissed again, to have sex again.
Ellie’s been single since the death of the man she loved, the father of her child. She didn’t want her daughter to go through the same things growing that she did. She’s the product of a single mother who had a revolving door of men filling her life. Her mom flitted from man to man, trying to find someone to love her. It left Ellie with serious issues and made her wary of men. She’d only ever truly opened herself up to her husband and he’s now been gone four years.
This is a slow burn story. It sends you on an emotional rollercoaster that’s hard to recover from. You root for Ellie and Caleb from page 1 and wait patiently for them to happen. They are perfect for each other and you see it from the beginning. The writing is good, the characters are loveable, the storyline sweet.
This is book eight in the Gold Valley series, but the first I’ve read from it.
**I received an ARC of this story and this is my honest review
“Cowboy Christmas Redemption” by Maisey Yates features Caleb Dalton and Ellie Bell.
Caleb and Ellie have been best friends for years, but Caleb has been harboring a secret. He’s been attracted to Ellie since the very beginning. When Ellie realizes she needs to change because others around her are moving on with their lives, she makes a list. And propositions Caleb to help her with it.
The two don’t count on the fiery passion that threatens to consume them.
While I enjoy Ms. Yates books, “Cowboy Christmas Redemption” seemed to have a lot of repetition – narrative phrases, character thoughts – and made me wonder if it was done to meet word count.
However, it is still a good story and can be read without having read the others featuring the Daltons (“Cowboy to the Core”, “Lone Wolf Cowboy”).
Caleb has loved Ellie for at least 10 years and her daughter for 4 years. It was love at first sight for him, but unfortunately Ellie was in love with his good friend and brother-from-another, Clint. However, Clint dies in an accident before his daughter is born and Caleb steps in as Ellie’s friend and protector. Caleb has always felt inferior to everyone due to his learning disabilities and doesn’t feel that he is good enough for Ellie, but he also cannot see her being with anyone who isn’t him.
Ellie has been alone for 4 years and isn’t real crazy about her maturing, post childbirth body, but she is lonely and is craving the physical touch of a man. Ellie decides to make a Christmas wish list and with the help of her friend, Vanessa, she is going to try to find a man to sleep with her. Caleb gets a hint of what is going on and shows up at the bar and sees red. He dances with Ellie and then confronts her about what she is doing and she finally says that maybe it should be him that fulfills her list. Once he sees what all she has listed, he knows that this is going to be a huge test of his patience, his love, and his libido.
In order for Ellie and Caleb to find their HEA, they must both confront and overcome the shadows in their past. I really loved this book and look forward to reading more by Ms. Yates.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4 1/2 STARS!
COWBOY CHRISTMAS REDEMPTION is book eight in the ever-delightful Gold Valley series by Maisey Yates and centers around a widowed single mom and her best friend cowboy in a friends to lovers/forbidden love romance. This series is rich in character development, and as we are getting the love story of the main couple, we are often getting updates on some of our favorite couples from previous books as well.
Caleb’s family has been going through some drama for a few books now, so he was quick to catch my eye as his story started to unfold and feel familiar from the previous tidbits we had learned about it all. He’s been looking out for Ellie for years now, and when he learns she’s ready to move forward with her life, he wants to be right beside her as she does.
Ellie pulled at our heartstrings from the start. Since losing her husband five years ago, she’s been pouring her heart and soul into raising their daughter Amelia, with lots of help from her husband’s (and now her own) best friend. When she starts to look at Caleb in a whole new way, she’s not sure what to make of it.
I strongly recommend this book and this entire series for anyone loving a small town romance that is heavy on family and friend connections. The angst is spot on, and the happily ever after always feel heartwarmingly real.
4.5 stars
I’ve been patiently waiting through the last few book in this series to see how the story of Ellie and Caleb would play out. It’s been obvious to everyone but Ellie that Caleb’s feelings for her went well beyond his best friend’s widow. So, I was anxious to see if she would reciprocate those feelings once the fog of grief lifted.
This story gripped my heart and tore it from my chest. Seriously, the feelings Caleb had for Ellie and the way he kept them tamped down for so darn long was just beautifully brutal. The scene that starts the build up of Caleb discovering Ellie’s Christmas list, how that discovery plays out, the raw emotion that comes from Caleb and the cluelessness of Ellie…GAH! My stomach was just in knots the whole time.
Once Ellie’s past, with her mom, is revealed the reader knows where this will end up eventually. I couldn’t help but hope I was wrong. But, in the end, it needed to go there. Ellie and Caleb needed to know if what they had was real, was enough, was forever.
Man, Caleb is a good guy. A good guy that has no clue how wonderful he really is. Past mistakes, especially when you’re a teen, do not dictate who you are as an adult. He grew and learned from those mistakes, but still kept beating himself up about them. All while holding them inside, not even talking to his brothers about them. Not only did Ellie help him see past those mistakes, she helped him see that they weren’t as huge as he had built them up in his mind over the years.
The passion and chemistry that sparked between these two was off the charts. Yet, Caleb was still so patient and constantly tried to do what he thought was right.
Sometimes, when it comes to the Dalton family, I think there’s a bit too much repetition about the parents. As we watch the “kids” all find their HEA, we also watch the years long marriage of Hank and Tammy be knocked for a loop and slowly get built back up, even with the illegitimate kids coming out of the woodwork. I actually find the story quite interesting and I love how the author reflects their relationship with their children’s struggles. It just seems that sometimes, within the same story, the details are repeated too often.
Listen, if that’s my only issue with this book that’s a really good thing. It’s actually a non-issue, truth be told. Just an observation. And I can’t help but think that someone who is reading this story as a standalone wouldn’t think the same way as I do. This is a wonderful story. It will drain you dry and then build you back up again.
https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/cowboy-christmas-redemption-gold-valley/
Ellie and Caleb’s story was so emotional and beautifully written. That’s not to say I didn’t lose patience with each of them at various times throughout the book, because I definitely did!
This was not a simple friends to lovers tale, since it was complicated by Ellie being the widow of Caleb’s best friend. That’s a hard enough hurdle to jump over. But when you factor in years of unrequited love, secrets being kept by Caleb himself, by Caleb and Ellie from Clint, when he was alive, and also by Ellie herself…it’s a big pot of messiness.
I don’t think Caleb gave himself enough credit for being a really great, stand-up guy. He’s living too much in the past. But Ellie is, too, and she’s playing it safe, which really isn’t her, when you pull back the curtain on her.
More than a few tears were shed, but some laughs were to be had, too, by this reader. Another solid addition to the Gold Valley series, as well as to Yates’ catalogue in general. Great job!
This was a wonderful book! I loved seeing Caleb & Ellie figure out if they can move past their friendship to become something more, especially since Ellie is Caleb’s best friends widow. The whole book was wonderfully endearing, and I loved their emotional journey that they went trough! Definitely a must read!
Cowboy Christmas Redemption by Maisey Yates
A Gold Valley (can be read as a standalone)
5 Stars
Amazing! Love the characters! Very well written!
“She could remember it so keenly. That deep, desperate need to be loved. And that the tree– homely and broken and bedecked with homemade ornaments– felt like a piece of her heart.”
Absolutely loved this! Very highly recommend.
Caleb and Ellie have been dancing around a mutual attraction but also mutual respect for each other for years. Caleb is Ellie’s best friend since the loss of her husband Clint, Caleb’s friend, back before Amelia was even born. The loss hit him hard, and making it up to Clint by being there for Ellie, was the only way he felt he could continue.
Ellie didn’t know how she would be able to survive without Clint, but being able to lean on Caleb and his family has been her saving grace. She has starting to see Caleb in a different light recently though and thinks maybe it is time to move on with her life away from the memory of Clint.
After a late night proposition, Caleb and Ellie turn a corner in their relationship that has them both worried they might lose their friendship. He wants to get away from the family business and home, to start a Christmas tree farm and renovate his newly purchased home. She was happy for him but quickly realized she was being selfish by wanting him to stay close to her and Amelia. She wants to move their relationship forward while keeping a foot in the present. Can they take the next step together with confidence?
As usual Maisey Yates provides not only a wonderful love story but an emotional roller coaster of feelings, causing us to look deep within ourselves while the main characters travel their own roads of self discovery. Caleb and Ellie, though seemingly confident on the outside, had deep seeded doubts lingering inside. I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy provided from the publisher without expectations. I continue to love Gold Valley, and wait for the next installment in the series.