Three cousins become cowboys when an unexpected inheritance leaves them with a ranch—and a future as wide open as the California sky . . . Sawyer Dalton may be an investigative journalist, but he has no interest in the story of the sexy stranger who has invaded his barn’s loft apartment on Dry Creek Ranch. After months on the road, he just wants to settle in. But according to his mother, … publicist for the beautiful celebrity chef sleeping in Sawyer’s bed, Gina DeRose needs a place to hide out until a scandal dies down. And Sawyer can never say no to his mother . . . Gina is devastated that her hard-won career is about to collapse. Someone is stirring up sabotage. And when a hoaxter blows up the internet with incriminating photos, even brooding—gorgeous—Sawyer is convinced she needs his help. Once they join forces, there’s no escaping each other—and with the heat simmering between them, soon neither wants to try . . . “Stacy Finz delivers a fantastic tale of cowboys, cattle rustling and the power of love and family in the California gold country.” –Kate Pearce, New York Times bestselling author on Cowboy Up
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I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway, and this is my voluntary and honest review. This is the first book by this author, Stacy Finz, that I have read and I enjoyed reading it. The characters were interesting and the love story that evolved between Sawyer and Gina made the book a joy to read. I recommend this book for all readers who enjoy a good romance and a HEA ending.
Her career is in ruins. Escaping the paparazzi was at the top of her list. Wendy Dalton from the publicity firm Dalton & Associates has her holed up in Podunkville, i.e. Dry Creek. The salacious picture of her and Danny Clay has been faked but she has no way to prove it. She’s Gina DeRose, a celebrity chef with major endorsements. This could cost her everything. She is innocent so why is all this happening and making her life miserable? How long will she have to hide out at Dry Creek Ranch with the Daltons? The only saving grace is the apartment she has been assigned to stay in. There’s a dream kitchen and everything. Then HE came home from Europe. He who? Sawyer Dalton, that’s who. Big, bad investigative reporter. Hot, sexy guy! The one who swept her out of his apartment and dumped her into a a rundown, falling-apart cabin with no air conditioning. How rude! She’d show him. She snuck back and started cooking in that gourmet kitchen of his. Hmmm… Seems her cooking led to friendship and good talks and a bit more. She can’t be falling for Sawyer Dalton. Can she?
Sawyer Dalton loves his career as an investigative reporter but he loves the ranch he shares with his cousins, Jace and Cash Dalton even more. The intrusion of self-centered, high-maintenance celebrity chef Gina DeRose was not what he needed after his Europe trip. He found her in his apartment hiding out from the paparazzi. He loves his mother and won’t kick her off the ranch but she’s not staying in his apartment. He moved her right out to his cousin’s old cabin. But she keeps coming back and cooking absolutely delicious food. And she’s easy to talk to. Plus, after looking at all the nonsense being spread about her, he believes she has never had an affair with Danny Clay. He maybe has to admit he’s falling for her. Falling in love isn’t on his agenda, but Cupid’s arrow seems to have hit him hard.
Cowboy Strong by Stacy Finz is the third book in her Dry Creek Ranch series. There’s so much action and fun scenes. Gina’s and Sawyer’s story has a complex plot with Gina’s problems and Sawyer’s quest to find his five-year-missing sister Angie. I really like the way the Dalton family sticks together and is always ready to help each other out. The Dalton boys are truly Cowboy Strong.
I’ve read all the books in this series so far and they keep getting better! Sawyer and Gina start out as frenemies but their chemistry is soon off the charts. I even teared up when reading the epilogue. I can’t wait for more!!!
5 stars!!
Another great story in the Dry Creek Ranch series! Each book can be read standalone but I highly recommend you read them all. In this book the characters of Sawyer and Gina are fantastic with sizzling chemistry whether they want to acknowledge it or not. Their enemies to lovers story is full of sass, snark, and a whole lot of fun. The book is very well done with a nice easy pace to the story. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
If you’ve been following my blog then you know how much I love this author’s writing. This is the third series I’ve read of hers and I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next.
It looks like this is the last book in the Dry Creek Ranch series. I totally love Sawyer. He was a favorite of mine from prior books and I couldn’t wait for his book. I have to say he did deliver for me. I really enjoyed him and felt for him. He so badly wants to find his sister and it kills him the thought of her hurt or worse.
What I like most about this series is how the cousins all act towards each other. They are as close as brothers and that warms the heart. They always have each other’s backs and stand with them.
As I mentioned I really love Sawyer. He cracked me up more than once. I love how he just pops up here and there at his cousin’s homes, more often than not in their kitchens eating their food. He takes everything in stride. Looking for his sister, working, and trying to figure out a way to pay the ranch taxes along with his cousins.
I would have to say that the only blimp in my love fest of this book is Gina. I really didn’t like her. She did by the end of the book wear me down but I was rough going. Thankfully the other characters and the writing was good enough for me to overlook her.
There was just something about her that set me off. It did change after a while but didn’t totally go away. The good thing is that for some reason she and Sawyer just worked. Because of that fact, the book also worked.
With all that said I really enjoyed the book. What happened to Gina was wrong and I’m glad she had someone there on her side. That’s one of the things I love about this family, they know how to close ranks and protect.
This is a great story with a wonderful ending. Many good things happen. It was a pleasure to read and enjoy. If you haven’t yet read a book by Stacy Finz you really should. This is the perfect series to start on.
I’ve liked Sawyer ever since he was introduced in book one of the series, so I was excited to read his story. I enjoyed Cowboy Strong. It was fun to catch up with the Daltons, I loved all of the additions to Dry Creek Ranch, and the epilogue was the perfect ending! I hope Sawyer’s sister Angie gets her story told next.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley.
Good addition to the Dry Creek Ranch series. I love the small town charm that Stacy Finz creates. Gina intrigued me from the start. Her journey to finding where her passion truly lay was one worth experiencing. Enjoyed the banter (and building chemistry) between she and Sawyer while watching him struggling to fight that attraction. The ending left me eagerly awaiting another trip to the Ranch
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC received via NetGalley.
Stacey Finz gives you another Dalton’s story set in the Ranch Lands of California. Sawyer the Cowboy Reporter and writer comes home from working on a story and a writer’s conference – getting the surprise of his life Celebrity Chef Gina DeRose occupying his apartment.
Gina came to the Dry Creek to hide from the paparazzi and the rest of the world feeling like she is in uncivilized hell.
The relationship that is forged between the two is amusing, sexy and takes a few twists, you will not be able to put this book down.
3.5 stars
This was probably my least favorite of all Stacy’s books. The premise is great, the disgraced cooking tycoon hiding out and encountering the globetrotting journalist/cowboy. You’ve got some opposites attract, forced proximity, heroine learning to believe in herself – all of them fun tropes. What disappointed me was that I really liked Gina, in all her angst and worry and self-doubt she was a real, down-to-earth character who wasn’t nearly as snobby and out of place as Sawyer wanted her to be.
Sawyer was my problem. I wanted to like him as much as I like his cousins and their wives, but I just could not. He has a terrible opinion of Gina at first, mostly based on hearsay and his own prejudice. He eventually gets over that enough to start a relationship with her, but admits he is unhappy about this. Say what? Finally, he hounds and pushes and eventually congratulates Gina on her hard work of accepting herself and overcoming her mother’s training, which I found a bit patronizing (particularly since he says several times that he has no interest in being her therapist), but himself experiences no real growth of character. He never even examines what it is that has made him so reluctant to embrace a relationship in the first place. I found the resulting imbalance in the relationship to be extremely off-putting.
Of course along the way we get to check in with Jace and Cash, Aubrey and Charlie, and see how the plans to save the ranch are progressing. The ongoing drama of the ranch next door and Sawyer’s missing sister continue as well. I loved getting to know Laney at the diner! Stacy knows how to build and populate a small town like no other, and I generally love her work. I’m not unhappy to have read Cowboy Strong, but it’s not the Stacy Finz book that I’d be likely to reread. I received an advance copy in return for my honest review.
Can Gina have it all!
Journalist Sawyer Dalton just wanted to get some sleep when he found Gina DeRose in his apartment to hid out after being accused of having an affair with another FoodFlicks star and breaking up his marriage to his wife. Gina was trying to save her food empire before it imploded from all the horrible press but when his mother asked for Sawyer’s help, he decided to let her stay at an old cabin on the ranch while helping her figure who was trying to ruin her career.
Gina just wanted to get her career back but the more she was with Sawyer and Dry Valley the more she wanted her name cleared with Sawyer’s help, restart her career on her terms and just maybe they involve Sawyer.
Cowboy Strong is a mashup between a mystery between figuring out who set Gina up and a cowboy romance.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have come to love not only this series, but also the writings of this author. This latest book in the Dry Creek Ranch series, gives us the story of the 3rd cousin, Sawyer Dalton.
The premise of the series is about three cousins that inherit their grandfather’s ranch. Though each one has a profession , they are cowboys strong at heart and determined to do all they can to keep the ranch afloat.
Sawyer, and investigative journalist, has been traveling for over a day hoping to get home and rest after his latest assigned. Anxious to get to his loft apartment, he trips over a number of expensive suitcases and finds a woman in his kitchen. None other than a well known cooking celebrity that is hiding from the media. Not happy with this latest development, he realizes that if his mother, a PR “fixer” sent her to the ranch to hide, he will not complain . Instead, he takes her to a dilapidated cabin and informs her this is her new dwelling.
Though I have to confess it took me a while to warm up to Gina, the plot was engaging. Not only do the sparks fly between Gina and Sawyer, but there are also a couple of mysteries to solve (who spread the compromising pictures of Gina and where is Angie). It’s also a story about family support or in Gina’s case, lack thereof, how rumors can destroy an individual as well as how the media can sometimes do more harm than good.
Though this book was about the third and the last of the male cousins, I hope that we get one the long lost cousin, Sawyer’s sister.
I was entrusted this copy by Netgalley and the publisher. The opinions expressed are solely my own.
Sawyer is back home at ranch, after his work took him away for few months, he gets surprise, there is someone in his apartment.
Gina is down on luck, her live is complete mess. Looks like someone is sabotaging her carrier. Hiding on the ranch, she is miserable.
She needs a lot of help, to solve everything and get her life back.
What a wonderful story. Loved everything.
Couldnt put it down! Like the earlier books in the series this is a perfect HEA! Not to mention it’s always great to see the truth win out! Be sure to add Cowboy Strong to your “must read” list. And please tell me there will be another book with Angie’s return and happily ever after!
You can’t hide from love:
What an amazing book! Gina is a celebrity chef and hiding out from the media after a scandal that is threatening to ruin her career. Sawyer is surprised to find her at his ranch and in his home and initially they butt heads but over time their attraction grows and they can’t fight their feelings any longer. You could feel the energy and chemistry between these two and I enjoyed seeing them deal with their issues and feelings.
I really appreciated that there was depth to the story; there was intrigue, romance, drama and family bonding. All of the references to real life celebrity chefs and shows were fun although I did think the character of Gina was a little too closely based on an easily identifiable Food Network star.
I loved the ending and I can’t wait to read more by this very talented author. Whilst Book 3 in the series, it can definitely be read as a standalone as I hadn’t read the previous books and found I was able to follow along without any difficulty. However I now want to go back and catch up on the cousins stories.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
This is the third book in the series and just as good as the last one in my opinion. So Sawyer comes home from his job as a free lance journalist only to find that there is someone in his bed. His parents are Hollywood fixers and sent Celebrity Chef Gina to the ranch to hide while the scandal is really and destroys her life and what she loves. These two are both annoyed with each but while spending time that annoyance turns into something else.And questions get answered.
rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
I enjoyed revisiting the Daltons at the Dry Creek Ranch.
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Dry Creek Ranch
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue
I look forward to reading Angie’s story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from NetGalley.
I loved this book! This is the third book in the Dry Creek Ranch series centering around three cousins, running their grandfathers cattle ranch. Sawyer Dalton is a freelance journalist who arrives home to his loft apartment on the ranch to find Celebrity Chef Gina DeRose staying there. His parents are Hollywood Crisis managers, and sent Gina there to hide out while a scandal is threatening to take down her cooking empire. You have two mysteries to be solved in this book, the one involving Gina and also Sawyer’s missing sister. I loved both Sawyer and Gina and seeing the development of their relationship from annoyance to much more was well done. I really hope that the author continues this series with some of the characters introduced in this book. I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
The circumspect somewhat jaded journalist meets the food network princess and sparks fly. Gina and Sawyer couldn’t have been more different in their view of life and yet the sparks fly from their first meeting. Gina is hiding from a scandal that threatens her very existence in the food world and yet the investigative reporter smells the proverbial rat. The reader gets to catch up with Jace and Cash from previous books and become more familiar with the great folks who live in Dry Creek. Add to that the mystery of where Sawyer’s sister Angie has disappeared to five years ago keeps the reader totally involved with the emerging story. Not only are the characters well rounded, and the story romantic, the air of mystery to solve the scandal surrounding Gina gives this book a depth not often found in romance novels. This can be read as a stand alone but the reader should start at the beginning and read each and every book in the series. We should all hope for just one more book, Angie’s’ story.
I’ve enjoyed this author’s Nugget series, so I liked getting the same vibes from this book. I hadn’t read the first two in this series, so it’s definitely one that can be read without knowing backstories of everyone else, which is always good. I also appreciate her ability to write characters that are a little hard to love in the beginning, as was the case for me with both Gina and Sawyer. They both had some edges that needed to be sanded away before anyone saw the goodness underneath and their relationship felt realistic and was thankfully devoid of the OTT drama so many other books throw at characters. I especially liked how everything was resolved, because I was expecting something different in who would become Sawyer’s new neighbor. Overall, this book grabbed me, kept my interest, made me lose sleep for just “one more chapter”, and has me going back to read the first two while I wait to see who gets their story next.
This was just okay for me. The writing was okay, but I wasn’t a fan of Gina for pretty much the whole book, and there was A LOT going on in this story. Gina was spoiled and rude when she is first introduced. She cuts back on the rudeness, but she still had a lot of issues. She mentions having a $200 an hour therapist, but she obviously doesn’t get her money’s worth. She has serious issues with her self worth, and even though Sawyer tells her repeatedly how great she is, she still doesn’t believe him. I liked Sawyer for the most part, he did come off jerky in the beginning, but he was the one who changed the most in my opinion. All the stuff that goes on with Sawyer’s sister felt out of place, and took me out of the story. I know it’s setting up for the next book, but it was too much thrown in with everything that was already going on with Gina. This was a first for me from this author, but I would read her again.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.