In this brand-new series from award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon, a charming cowboy and his sleeping beauty find their modern-day happily ever after . . . With a headline spot on a hit morning show and truly mouth-watering culinary skills, chef Evie Buchanan is perched on the edge of stardom. But at an industry party, a fall lands Evie in the hospital—with no memory of who she is. … stardom. But at an industry party, a fall lands Evie in the hospital—with no memory of who she is. Scrambling to help, Evie’s assistant contacts the only “family” Evie has left, close friends who run the luxury dude ranch in California where Evie grew up. Evie has no recollection of them—until former rodeo champion Zach Pleasant walks into her hospital room, and she realizes his handsome face has been haunting her dreams . . .
Zach hasn’t seen Evie in years—not since their families conducted a campaign to make sure their childhood friendship never turned into anything more. When the young cowboy refused to admit the feelings between them were real, Evie left California, making it clear she never wanted to see Zach again. Now he refuses to make the same mistake twice. Starting fresh is a risk when they have a history she can’t recall, but Zach can’t bear to let go of her now. Can he awaken the sleeping beauty inside her who might still love him?
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I received an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this contemporary cowboy/chef romance by the author of Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny and Xeni: a Marriage of Inconvenience. Set in the fast-paced New York City culinary scene and a luxury dude ranch in Charming (!), California, this series start to the Cowboys of California series revolves around a case of amnesia.
Successful chef and TV personality Evie Buchanan ends up with amnesia when a rival chef pushes her down the stairs at a cocktail party. With no living family to turn to, her assistant, agent, and best friend pack her off to the next-best thing, the Pleasant family, with whom she lived for much of her childhood. There, she’s forced together with Zach Pleasant, uber-handsome cowboy who broke her heart ten years ago, and who haunts her dreams. Finally emotionally mature enough to confront the damage he’s done, Zach is determined to win her back.
Reasons to love this book:
Great cast! Miss Leonie, an aging movie star and dispenser of wisdom, is especially wonderful. The devotion of Evie’s posse of friends shows us what an amazing woman Evie was before her memory was wiped by the accident. It’s a big cast, but I had no problem keeping the characters straight, and I bathed in the warmth and humor of the Pleasant clan. Spending time with them was a lovely, cozy experience. Weatherspoon did an excellent job of introducing the cast of this new series.
Slow burn with great chemistry. Not as explicit as Rafe or Xeni, there’s still plenty of steam here. We get the pleasure of watching Evie rediscover her attraction to Zach, the man who appears in her dreams despite her amnesia. More than merely gorgeous, he’s funny, competent, and appropriately contrite for the damage he’s done ten years ago by rejecting Evie when she needed him most.
I loved watching Evie rediscover her love of cooking under Miss Leonie’s tutelage.
Great setting: gorgeous luxury ranch in Southern California. Zach’s horse Steve (!) was a delightful character.
Problems I had with this book:
Most of the story is told from Evie’s POV, with some scenes in Zach’s, but in a handful of scenes we switch to her agent’s POV, which felt a bit jarring.
The villain was over-the-top evil and gives a convenient confession to tie up that storyline.
The reasons for Zach and Evie’s original breakup were quite convoluted, which leads to my next point:
I had a harder time believing the family involvement in Zach and Evie’s romance than I did the amnesia plot. The original break-up rested on the interference of Evie’s beloved Nana Buck, who did not want a romance with Zach to interfere with her plans for her granddaughter, and various members of Zach’s family who either pushed Zach to hook up with Evie or forbid him from sleeping with her. I wanted present-day Zach and Evie to stand up for themselves, but they continued to allow the Pleasant family to control the progress of their relationship.
That said, this book was delightful, and I will definitely read the rest of the series!
Rebekah Weatherspoon’s A Cowboy to Remember is everything a good romance should be. With compelling protagonists, witty banter, and a whole lot of chemistry, first-time Weatherspoon readers and hard-core fans alike will be delighted by this novel. The best part? This is the first of a new series, and I already can’t wait to see what comes next.
After chef Evie Buchanan loses her memory after a terrible fall, she finds herself back in Charming, California in the presence of the man who once broke her heart. Cowboy Zach Pleasant is set on righting the wrongs of the past, which is tricky, since Evie doesn’t remember them. As Evie and Zach grow closer, and fragments of her memory begin to return, the question becomes whether or not these two will have a second chance at love, or whether the faults of the past and the realities of the present are too insurmountable.
This is the first Rebekah Weatherspoon novel I have ever read, and it most definitely will not be the last. Weatherspoon takes an interesting spin on what could perhaps be viewed as an unrealistic trope, and makes it So. Darn. Entertaining. I am here for all of it. And don’t even get me started on the simmering chemistry between Evie and Zach. I felt all of the feelings and then some. Weatherspoon is a world-building genius, and populates the narrative with vibrant, actualized characters. The story is fun, with minimal angst, and the ending will leave you with a huge smile on your face.
Hold on to your (cowboy) hats folks, and add A Cowboy to Remember to you TBR pile, stat. And start getting excited for the rest of the series.
**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.**
this is a steamy story with adult situations and words I got the book from netgalley not my usual read