New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant takes you deep inside the Texas rodeo scene in the second book in her Heart of Texas series, Cowboy, Cross My Heart, where danger and desire ride side by side. . . Naomi Pierce isn’t the type to let a cowboy sweep her off feet. It’s not her first rodeo, after all. But when she returns to her Texas hometown, she can’t help but be swept up again in the … she can’t help but be swept up again in the rough-and-tumble world of hard-riding, bronco-busting good-ol’-boys she loved as a girl. She might be here to photograph her Rodeo Queen best friend. But it’s one fine-looking cowboy who really captures her eye…
Brice Harper is all man, all muscle, and all heart. From the moment he rides into the stadium, he can’t help but notice the beautiful stranger with a camera watching him from the stands. It doesn’t take a zoom lens to see the sparks of instant attraction. But things really heat up when he meets Naomi up-close–and he discovers that someone is stalking her friend. Brice wouldn’t be any kind of cowboy if he didn’t offer to help the ladies out. But can the rough rider keep this spirited shutterbug out of danger–without risking his heart?
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I love a sexy cowboy! This story has such a nice pace that really kept me interested. I loved the level of steam mixed in with the suspense. There was a nice balance there. I really like Brice and Naomi and their crazy journey to love and was truly rooting for their HEA.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.
4.5 Stars
“No one said darlin’ quite the way a Texan did.”
Donna Grant delivers in this fast-paced installment to her Heart of Texas series.
Brice Harper has come a long way! We’re first introduced to Brice in THE CHRISTMAS COWBY HERO (Heart of Texas #1) where he’s a young teen arrested for stealing cattle from a prominent Texas ranch. Now he’s an educated cowboy who served his country in the Marines and has plans to own a ranch with his younger brother Caleb. He also loves his family and is fiercely loyal to those he calls his. I fell in love with Brice and all the characters from the first book of the series. It was such a joy catching up with them!
I really enjoyed Naomi’s character as well. She’s a strong woman and fiercely loyal as well. She’s compassionate, caring and her heart’s as big as Texas. Naomi paired well with Brice and they had beautiful chemistry. The secondary characters were also amazing, and I hope each and every one of them gets their own book!
What really glued me to the pages was the intense, fast-paced mystery aspect of the story. While Naomi is spending time with her friend and rodeo pageant contestant Whitney, she is attacked. What turns out to be a harmless photo Naomi took, opens the door to a powder keg full of secrets, lies and cover-ups someone would do anything to protect. And I do me anything.
I really enjoyed reading COWBOY, CROSS MY HEART. It has romance, rodeos, suspense and mighty fine cowboys!
***I voluntarily read a copy of the book generously provided by the publisher via Net Galley in September 2018 in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own***
A Cowboy Romance That’s So Much More!
Instant connection across a crowded arena
Sexy Cowboy Comes to the Heroines rescue
A Heroine Who’s Unwilling to Become a Victim
Cowboy, Cross My Heart is the second book in Donna Grant’s Heart of Texas series and features Bride Harper who was just 16 in book one of the series. All grown up and ready to start a new phase of his life, Brice sees Naomi at a rodeo and falls at first sight…there’s just one problem she’s just become the target of a ring of powerful men praying on young women in the rodeo.
Brice and Naomi are thrown together and forced to fight for their lives and those of their loved ones forcing them to learn to trust each other quickly, trust that easily becomes love when they allow their attraction free reign.
Grant does a wonderful job of balancing the suspense and romance while also giving updates on favorite characters from book one and setting up book three. Insta love can be tricky in a romantic suspense but with Cowboy, Cross My Heart there are several calm moments that allow the story and emotions between Brice and Naomi to develop, making their love more believable. I can’t wait for Caleb story and would love for Cooper and Jayce to get stories as well!
Cowboy, Cross My Heart by Donna Grant is a standalone romance novel, set in the world of Rodeo, Cowboys and Pageants.
Cowboy, Cross My Heart tells Naomi and Brice´s story.
One is a photographer and former beauty pageant. The other one a rodeo rider in the circuit.
Both are thrown together by fate and karma and have to overcome a lot of obstacles and issues ´til their hard earned and well deserved HEA.
The writing is great and the characters are easy to connect with.
I liked Cowboy, Cross My Heart and give 4,5 stars.
I really enjoyed this book. A little bit of suspense, some beautiful animals, some twists and turns, and the love that exists only in fairytales. What more could you want? Donna Grant has written the series so they can be read as standalones, even though they are all interconnected as a series. If you are in the mood for an old-fashioned cowboy romance with a kick hiney heroine, look no further. Enjoy your one click!
I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest!
It was a great book!
Naomi was just taking pictures and having fun.
It didn’t hurt that she was surrounded by yummy cowboys.
Then somebody try to steal her camera.
Brice comes to the rescue.
The attraction is off the chart.
Now Naomi and Brice are falling in love while trying to solve the mystery of who is trying to hurt Naomi.
Loved the characters + the storytelling!
It has all the ingredients that you need for a great book!
I can’t wait for the next book in this series.
My first book by this author and what a fun and yet dangerous ride she took me on.
Insta love between this former barrel racer and a rodeo cowboy. There’s a background mystery going on here and I was hooked. Some parts seemed a little rushed but the author put together an intriguing tale. I need to go back and find the first book now.
Donna Grant has done it again! This is the second book in the series and both books are great reads. I could not put it down.
*5 Stars*
Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was my first Donna Grant book, and it certainly won’t be my last. I was hooked from the get-go with this one, and I instantly fell in love with the characters.
This was more than a romance novel. It was a mystery/romance kind of novel and that really makes it hard to put down. Two of my fave genres wrapped up into one neat little bow. Although, it does mostly feel like a mystery novel and there isn’t too much depth explored with the characters feelings.
The things that immediately start happening and bring Brice and Naomi together, had me on the edge of my seat and wanting to find out who the culprit was. Things slowly unravel and unfold, the story gets more serious. Whilst this is a serious storyline and novel, there are some great characters and great strength and support to it all, which makes it a really nice read.
I love all of the characters in this one (at least, the ones we’re supposed to love), and I definitely want to go back and read the first book. Of course I will also want to read the next one in the series as well.
Definitely recommend.
4 Rodeo Worthy Stars
Review by Nancy
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog
A fascinating fast pace read! Cowboy, Cross My Heart is the second book in Donna Grant’s Heart of Texas series. I did not read book one, but after reading this book I will definitely be going back to read it. This book was absolutely delightful! A swoon worthy cowboy and a photographer in need of rescuing.
Naomi Pierce had left Texas and the rodeo circuit when she went off to college. Now being back in her hometown is bringing back all the memories and longing she had for the rodeo. Only there to photograph her best friend, the rodeo queen, she was not expecting to fall in love, with a cowboy of all people.
Brice Harper is all man! Determined to make a name for himself, he and his brother have taken the rodeo by the horns and have become the very best. Not interested in a relationship, he is surprised when a single laugh has him stopping in his tracks. The moment he heard Naomi he was immediately drawn to her.
A series of alarming incidents sets up the plot for Brice and Naomi. Having to work side by side to solve a threatening situation within the rodeo circuit brings these two together. This book had me at the edge of my seat, it was sweet, but more than that it was captivating. It does touch on some sensitive matters, I thought it only added angst to the story. It ended a little abrupt; I wish Grant would have given us a little more closure, but nonetheless it was a great read!
After reading the first book in this series, I was expecting it to follow someone else in the small town/ranch area, but instead, it jumped ahead and told Brice Harper’s story. That was actually a welcome surprise, as the book also gave us updates on Clayton and Abby from the previous book!
Once again, the author mixed in a suspense angle, but this one was even better than the first one, because of the realism aspect. The things the author described were actually things that I could see happening in reality, so that definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the story.
Brice follows Clayton’s footsteps a good bit, and I loved seeing how he had grown into his own man! Naomi was a good heroine for him, but I didn’t like how her reasons for leaving/staying away in college weren’t really explained well. It didn’t detract from the story much, as it was a minor annoyance at best.
I can’t wait to see what happens with them in the third book of the series!
Thrilling suspense and treacherous adversaries draw readers deep inside the Texas rodeo scene, where danger and desire ride side by side. Naomi Pierce and Brice Harper are two strong, convincing characters that readers can easily fall for as they are pulled into their story with a magnetic attraction that holds them hostage once they are in. The romance between Naomi and Brice is full of sizzling electricity and red hot passion although the relationship is threatened by the situation that they find themselves ensnared in. There are plenty of emotional turmoil to accompany that situations as well the kind that goes along with any newly forming relationship to keep readers engaged with the characters.
While thrilling suspense and exhilarating danger ensures that that they keep turning the pages as the search for a stalker makes Naomi and Bride targets of manipulative and powerful enemies. Surprising twists, family issues, friend issues, a budding romance and adrenaline pumping events guarantees that there is never a dull moment and since the author paints such vivid imagery and has created brilliant characters the readers has no problem becoming caught up in all the thrills and romance.
The steady to fast paced plot is further enhanced with believable and realistic issues faced by the characters and the well developed world is enriched by the loyalty and courage of the characters in the Heart of Texas series which enthralls readers and assures that they keep coming back for more.
Caleb and Brice are the brothers of Abby East, who we met in the first book in this series. They are now grown adults and prize rodeo ropers.
Brice and Naomi are an engaging couple. There is a strong story with a very current topic as its basis. I loved that Naomi would do anything for her friend, even when she didn’t really want to bring what she had been through to light, for fear of the publicity. Brice is a strong man who can show his softer underneath when he has too. Seeing the stress and anxiety Naomi suffers when her friend is attacked, really kicks his protective streak into overdrive.
Naomi & Whitney may be life long friends with nothing much in common but they still love each other and I love how easy their friendship was.
I loved revisiting with Abby and Clayton now that the first bloom of their romance has passed, still finding them as much in love as ever. Jace was a total hoot and really lightened the mood, when some of the darker storyline threatened to suck me in too much.
Cowboy, Cross My Heart by Donna Grant is an amazing western romance. Ms. Grant has delivered a well-written book. The characters in this story are stellar, I love them. Naomi is visiting her friend and photographing the rodeo events. Brice is a cowboy and just bought his a ranch and he’s participating in the rodeo. Brice and Naomi’s story is loaded with drama, spice, action and suspense. This book hooked me at the first page and held me captive until the end. I loved it and look forward to reading more from Donna Grant in the future. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I liked that this book picks up twelve years later from book 1, The Christmas Cowboy Hero. Very seldom do you get to revisit characters you met when they were teenagers and are now young men. In book 1, we read Abby’s road to happiness with Clayton East. Now we have her brother Brice’s story and his road to putting the past behind him and finding his HEA. Abby is still very much the Harper brothers sister/mother/father, supported with Clayton, but the brothers are young men who are rodeo champions and take care of their own. Brice comes to the aid of Naomi and finds himself, along with his family and friends, going up against unknown powerful men who are intimidating, frightening, and terrorizing girls of the rodeo and anyone who may find them out. The brothers military background help bring justice to the town. Lack of communication has the brothers divided but they still have each other’s backs. With a little help from Naomi, Brice is putting his hurt and abandonment issues behind him and mending his relationship with his brother. Story started strong with a good buildup, then it kind of fell flat for me, but still a good read. A small town, ranch/rodeo setting with a mix of mystery, danger, and romance.
Note: This can be read completely as a stand alone read and you will not be lost with not having read book 1. However, The Christmas Cowboy Hero is a really good read and I enjoyed it.
So overall I did like this book. This book takes place 12 years after The Christmas Cowboy Hero book. You don’t have to read that book but I highly recommend that you do. So I love all of Donna’s books but I was a little disappointed with this book. I felt the whole book was rushed. The love story, the mystery/thriller part of it all happened so fast and ended in less than a week. Now don’t get me wrong I loved the story and all the characters and I can’t wait for more books in this series but it seemed the whole mystery got solved too quickly and way too easily.
*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*
This is not your average cowboy romance. You got 3 cowboys with military training and a town with some very corrupt and sick individuals in place of power, who have been sexually assaulting the rodeo pageant women for years. It all comes crumbling down when Naomi comes home to visit her best friend and current rodeo queen, Whitney and discovers she’s being stalked. Trying to get Whitney to talk has put both these women in danger as well as the men who try to save them.
Talk about suspenseful! I spent the whole book trying to figure out who was behind all these assaults, as well as trying to figure out why a strong woman like Whitney wouldn’t out these men. It was disgusting how many people were involved with helping these men get away with hurting all these women. On top of that, you have a secondary story line of Brice and Naomi’s growing attraction to each other as Brice and his family try to keep these women safe and uncover the identity of the attackers.
With everything going on, this made for a pretty fast paced read. I enjoyed the suspense as well as Brice and Naomi’s budding relationship. I didn’t enjoying hearing the thoughts of the men and what they have done. Thankfully the author kept that part to a minimum. It was nice seeing Abby and Clayton again and I look forward to Caleb’s story.
Cowboy Cross My Heart by Donna Grant
Naomi Pierce has come home to visit after some time away and finds herself in the thick of dealing with a situation that involves her best friend Whitney who is one of those women in the rodeo beauty pageant. How does Naomi realize there is a situation? Well…it kind of leaps out of the dark one night as she walks with Whitney and is taking photos someone doesn’t want her to print. Leaping to her defense is Brice Harper, rodeo team roper and all around good guy. The two are instantly attracted to one another and with each new action taken by the bad guys the two get closer to unearthing what the issue is and who the corrupt men and women are. Lives are at stake, family steps in to help, evil men do eventually get their just desserts and the HEA for Naomi and Brice is found.
This book deals with the abuse of power, objectification of women, making life choices that impact forever and determining what is truly important in life as it also shows just how important friendship and family truly are.
Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Will I read more in the series? Definitely
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4 Stars
3.5 Stars
“Brice Harper reminded her of all the things she loved about Texas and cowboys.”
“Danger. It hung in the air like an invisible menace.”
Cowboy, Cross My Heart is the second book in the Heart of Texas Series and it follows the story of Brice and Naomi. When Naomi returns home to photograph her best friend, she can’t help but be swept away in the life she used to have. Finding that special someone may not have been on the menu for Naomi, but when she meets Brice, all bets are off…Brice is the total cowboy. He’s full of heart, totally sweet, charming and can’t resist helping someone in need. So, when he discovers someone is harassing Naomi, he’ll stop at nothing to keep her safe…
Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable read. This is my first book by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to her writing style. But, I have to say, I thought this book was written well. This story pulls you in instantly and will keep you on your toes the entire time. I loved all the suspenseful moments, the danger lurking around every corner. I enjoyed Brice and Naomi together. Their sparks were instant and their romance was definitely a case of insta-love, but I think it worked really well with these two. I enjoyed seeing Brice come back to life and open his heart to another woman. I liked seeing the possessiveness he had for Naomi and how he’d stop at nothing to protect her. I thought Naomi was a great character. She was super protective of those she lets get close and is a really great friend. Together, these two had some great tension and it was fun watching the two of them try to figure things out.
Cowboy, Cross My Heart was a quick and easy read for me. I definitely think you could finish this book in a single sitting. I loved the suspense and mystery of the story. I think the addition of the villain’s point of view really added to the story and had me turning the pages faster to see how the story was going to play out. My only complaint is that I feel like the ending of the book was a bit rushed. I feel like after the great build of mystery and suspense, that the resolution came too quickly. I would have liked to have seen it more paced with the rest of the story. Other than that, I think the story was great. Cowboy, Cross My Heart is a quick read that will grab you from the first page and will keep you on your toes. This story has just the right amount of steam, action, suspense and of course romance. This is my first book by this author and it most certainly won’t be my last. I look forward to discovering more from this author in the future.
Cowboy, Cross My Heart is book two in the Heart of Texas series by Donna Grant. It has been twelve years since the first book, The Christmas Cowboy Hero, where we met Abby Harper and Clayton East. Her brothers, Caleb and Brice are all grown up now. And this is Brice’s story.
Brice Harper and his brother Caleb are participating in the team roping competition at the rodeo. He first spotted her in the stands behind her camera. She stood out in the crowd like a light was illuminating just her in the sea of faces. Then later, as he was walking through the rodeo, it was her laughter that drew his attention. When he saw a man attacking two women, he didn’t think twice about running to their aid. He quickly realized that one of the women was the very same one he had noticed earlier. It seemed he was destined to be put in this woman’s path today.
Naomi Pierce had left Texas for Washington, D.C. for college and then just stayed to begin her career in photography. Now she is back home visiting her mom and her best friend, Whitney. Whitney is reigning Rodeo Queen and is hoping the title will help her to progress through bigger pageants and open doors for bigger opportunities. As Whitney and Naomi are walking, it becomes apparent that Whitney is nervous. When they are attacked, it’s the handsome cowboy Naomi saw in the ring earlier that comes to their defense.
It’s obvious that Whitney knows more about their attacker than she is letting on but she is not talking. Something is going on and Naomi is determined to figure out what it is. This isn’t the Whitney she left behind. That Whitney was a fighter. Something has happened to her friend and Naomi won’t rest until she’s able to figure it out.
“Her beauty might have caught his attention, but it was her strength, steadfastness, heart, and authenticity that kept pulling him back to her.”
Naomi and Brice find themselves thrown into a mystery that proves to be dangerous for not only them but their families. His brother, Abby and Clayton, and his two closest friends jump right in to help them and to keep everyone safe. Whitney has given them a few details but not the most important, the identity of the bad guys. At the same time, the connection between Naomi and Brice grows stronger. Brice has never felt so protective of any woman before and Naomi feels safe with him. Being back home and being with Brice is making her re-evaluate her life in D.C. Being back around the horses, being back with her closest friend, and the growing bond between she and Brice all together are making her think that perhaps it’s time to come home.
Okay, first, I want to say that as far as the dangerous part of this story goes, these were some very, very bad men. I loved the way that Brice’s family came together with no hesitation to help. And seeing Abby and Clayton again and getting to see how their life turned out from the first book was amazing. I loved the first book so much. For some reason, though, I just couldn’t find that same connection this time. I did enjoy Brice and Naomi. I just didn’t get any real emotional pull for them. To be honest, the character that stood out the most was their crazy friend, Jace. He was so hilarious. I also admit I know nothing about rodeo pageants. These women most certainly take it seriously but in this case, I couldn’t accept the price they were willing to pay for their success. So while the danger was intense and I loved the family closeness, the romance didn’t really stand out like I wished it would with this book. Still, I enjoyed it.