From Nicole Helm, the author of the national bestselling Stone Cold, Navy Seal Cowboys, and Big Sky Cowboys series! In Colorado’s glorious big-sky country, everything is done with cowboy flair—even boot-stomping, hat-tipping cowboy weddings . . . As the middle Tyler brother, Gavin doesn’t always have much say in ranch decisions, but when it comes to his heart, he’s the only authority. He’s … decisions, but when it comes to his heart, he’s the only authority. He’s loved Louisa “Lou” Fairchild for longer than he can remember, even though they’ve never been more than friends. But with Lou stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place, Gavin is going to help the way any true friend would—with a proposal of a strictly business-like, in-name-only marriage . . . at least to start.
Lou can’t believe her beloved grandmother has backed her up against the wall. The choice between finding a man to marry and letting her no-good father back into the family to run the ranch isn’t a choice at all! But when her sister counters with an even less savory idea, Lou knows what she must do—say yes to the only man she’s ever trusted. But somehow pretending to be in love with good-natured Gavin suddenly begins to feel alarmingly real—and she downright likes it.
Can a sham marriage become the truest kind of love?
Praise for Nicole Helm’s previous romances
“Perfect for fans of Susan Mallery and Jill Shalvis.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A deeply moving contemporary. . . . The protagonists are refreshingly willing to be up front about their feelings and listen to each other, and readers will want to revisit their story often.”
—Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
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I love a good friends to lovers romance, and The Trouble with Cowboy Weddings is a GREAT one. Filled with warmth and tension, banter, meddling grandmas (one of whom MIGHT be my namesake) The Trouble with Cowboy Weddings is another winner from Nicole Helm.
This was another great addition to this series. I feel like Gavin and Lou’s story was definitely a long time coming but it was well worth the wait. This is a very emotional yet fun friends to marriage of convenience story but the feelings have been there all along just itching to finally be let free. Gavin jumps at the chance to save Lou but will this “fake” marriage ever turn real? Can their friendship survive this new road they are going down? Very enjoyable story!
I received an ARC of this book from via Netgalley from the publisher.
This is was a good read! The writing flowed well, and I really liked Gavin and Lou together. Even though it started out as a fake relationship, it became clear pretty quickly that they both had more than friendship feelings. I really wish that Gavin would have been able to get out of his “always second best” mentality a little sooner. It was hard to read him being him so hard on himself. I was happy to see Lou get over not needing any help. The fact that they were able to help each other embrace their faults and move on is what made it such a good story to me. That’s what love is. The ending was very sweet, and I loved that these 2 got their HEA. I can’t wait to see what happens with the other siblings!
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.
The Trouble with Cowboy Weddings is the fifth novel in Nicole Helm’s Mile High Romance series and the third book in the series I’ve read. It combines two romance tropes I enjoy, and does so quite well, but I did have a couple of issues with this novel, some of which are mine, and some of which were in the novel, and those issues are why I could only give this novel 3.5 stars.
My first issue is with the title. The hero, Gavin Tyler, is the second eldest son on his family ranch, but other than a couple of chores feeding cattle and a couple of non-work related horseback rides, there was not enough cowboy-ing going on in this novel to include “Cowboy” in the title. Gavin’s older brother, Shane, inherited and now runs the family ranch, and the previous novel in the series covered his courtship and marriage. Although I read it about a year ago, it wasn’t hard to pick up some of what I learned about the family dynamic in that novel. As the second son, 30-year-old Gavin is unsure of his place in the family and on the ranch. He resents being ordered around by Shane, who treats him more like a son than he does a brother, something Gavin resents. He’s always wanted more–his own ranch to run, and this novel affords him an opportunity to achieve that dream.
Enter Louisa “Lou” Fairchild, who has a flower farm, Lou’s Blooms, on what was her grandparent’s ranch, which abuts the Tyler ranch. After a pretty awful childhood, an absentee father and an even worse mother, Lou avoids almost all public contact, tending to her flowers and hiding out at the Fairchild home with her grandmother and sister. She also recently lost her grandfather, and now her flower business is helping to support her 80-year-old grandmother, who has been devastated by the loss of her husband. As a result of her grandfather’s death, there’s been only one hired hand to run the ranch, and most of the cattle and horses were sold off because of the shortage in help.
Lou and Gavin have been close friends ever since she and Em were placed with her grandparents when Lou was 9, and Gavin was the same age. Unbeknownst to Lou, Gavin fell in love with her early on, but instead, she chose to date another local boy, Rex, for 8 years, even though it wasn’t a great relationship, and Gavin, afraid of losing her friendship, never let on about his romantic interest in Lou, and instead became her best friend and confidante. Life goes on until the day Lou’s grandmother issues an ultimatum–she plans to contact her long-absent son, Lou’s father, to run the ranch, something Lou dreads, because after her mother left her in the care of her alcoholic father, who then left 5-year-old Lou in charge of her 3-year-old sister, and then disappeared, unless either Lou or Em marry and soon, Lou will lose the ranch and most probably her flower business too to the father she so resents, and she certainly doesn’t want to be anywhere near the father she hasn’t seen in 2 decades.
When Lou finally tells Gavin her troubles, he finds a solution to both his and her problems. If he and Lou pretend to fall in love and marry, Lou will inherit the ranch, Gavin will have the ranch of his own that he’s always wanted, and the woman who he’s loved since childhood, but he doesn’t admit to his feelings and instead proposes a fake marriage of convenience, and has a tough time convincing Lou that they can marry, and then divorce after ownership of the ranch is transferred to them, and still remain friends. Lou is hard to convince, but eventually agrees to the plan–and as a romance reader, you already know what they say about best laid plans.
What I truly enjoyed about what Ms. Helm did in this novel was the depth of character she gave Lou and Gavin, both of whom have a similar failure to open up and communicate what their true thoughts and feelings are–unusual for best friends of such long duration. Lou is still hiding the scarred half her face with a bandana and sticking close to home. Gavin drops by daily with lunch and for a friendly chat, but even though they’re planning to pull off a fake wedding to get what they want, neither of them seems to recognize the underlying chemistry between them, at least until they are forced by circumstance to put on a show to convince their families that their fake love and marriage is real. But just how much of their feelings for one another is fake, and just how much of it is real?
While I came to like both main characters, this novel took quite a long time to engage me and was very slow to pique my interest in s prickly, standoffish Lou, and trepidacious, uncommunicative, cowardly Gavin, whose lightning-fast reactions to almost any negative stimulus was done with his fists, which certainly didn’t make him seem like the perfect partner for already emotionally and physically damaged Lou. While I enjoyed the fact that the author managed to find a way to bring these two fractious characters together for the expected HEA ending, she simply took way to long getting there for this reader. Although I eventually came to appreciate these characters and their attempts to heal themselves and each other, I wish it hadn’t taken the first 90% of the novel to do so.
The Trouble with Cowboy Weddings is, as mentioned, slow to get off the ground, but what saved it was the author’s understanding of the kind of internal and external scars with which life seems to leave us all, and the honesty, courage and self-examination it takes to overcome and heal those scars. In the end, it was a good, though slow read
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
Another winner from Nicole Helm. A friends to lovers and second chance western romance.
The Mile High Series has such wonderful characters. This book is about Gavin Tyler and Lou Fairchild, best friends since they were 9. Gavin is the second son and has always felt second best. His father died when he was young and his older brother Shane had taken over the role. But having good memories of his father and still having his mother and siblings, makes him much more fortunate than others. On of those people is their next door neighbor Lou. She and her younger sister Em, were rescued from their horrible parents by their grandparents. At a very young age Lou, protected her sister and felt grateful to her grandparents for taking them in, but has deep emotional scars, which leads her to chose Rex, Gavin’s other best friend instead of Gavin as a boyfriend. Rex almost killed her in a fire and now she has physical along with her emotional scars. It was Gavin who stepped in to rebuild her burnt barn to safe her flower business. Gavin has been in loved with her for years, but hasn’t got over the fact that she chose Rex and is too much of a coward to tell her how he really feels. Before the fire, her grandfather died suddenly, leaving the Fairchild Ranch in financial trouble, and just has he has always stepped in to help, Gavin wants to take over the management of the ranch, but Lou’s grandmother, insists that it must be run by a Fairchild and is threatening to turn it over to her son, Lou and Em’s father. Gavin wants the opportunity to run the ranch, so offers Lou a temporary marriage of convenience, an idea she first hates, but with no other idea agrees to it As they try to convince their families that they are suddenly in love, no on is surprised, as everyone had suspected how they felt for each other years ago. With both of them having self worth issues and hiding them from even their best friend, will either one of them finally have the courage to speak from their heart?
This is a skillfully written story. I personally, however, don’t really understood, why Gavin felt he was always second best and hid his feelings by always being the guy to step in to help, but maybe that was in the previous book, which I did read, but don’t remember so clearly now.
I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.
An incredible Book about love and trust. Nicole Helm hit a jackpot with this book. Louisa “Lou” Fairchild always covered the scarring from her burns on her face, shoulder, and arm even from her best friend Gavin Tyler.
Gavin always felt like he didn’t belong not at his family’s ranch because that was now his brothers.
When Lou found out that their ranch was in trouble she enlisted Gavin to “marry” in name only so he could run the ranch and she could keep her flower farm. The lessons they both learned, in the end, are far too priceless.
I know you will enjoy this read.
The Trouble with Cowboy Weddings is the latest addition to Nicole Helm’s Mile High Cowboys series. Lou Fairchild has suffered much in the past year. First her beloved grandfather died. Then her ex set fire to her barn when she was in it. Lou escaped, but will forever carry the scars the fire branded her with.
Neighbor and best friend Gavin Tyler understands Lou’s plight. Her grandmother is talking about doing all sorts of things to get them out from under the financial issues they face, including calling in Lou’s estranged deadbeat father. Lou is beside herself with worry and seeking a real solution that will save the ranch for her sister Emily and herself. When Gavin comes to her proposing marriage so that they can each gain something they want, her the security of her flower farm and business, him the reality of running his own ranch, Lou’s initial reaction is “No!” But when she thinks about it more, perhaps this is the answer for them both. What could possibly go wrong?
This is a lovely tale with real characters that will warm your heart as you root for them to find their happily ever after. As with all of Ms. Helm’s stories I thoroughly enjoyed this book and do recommend it!!
So as many readers have I am sure at on point or another you have read a book on marriage of convince, this book has the feel one hundred percent. However the way the author had it played out it just never felt that way. I really found the story was really cute and had a fun feel to it. I really like Gavin he showed he was the strong silence type but also had a soft side. I loved Lou she was such a spitfire and no matter what she face she fought hard but loved even harder. The grandma’s and the busbody Tyler’s were always up to no good. I think personally coming from a large family I can see how Gavin just wants a bread for a minute from all there nosiness. This book does have strong language and adult situations so may not be for all readers. Over all this was a fun book. Can’t wait to read more from these families. I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to post a review and have given my honest opinion
A beautiful story about two people dealing with insecurities and scars. Sometimes internal scars are worse than the ones that other people can see. Gavin and Lou were endearing characters. This talented author brought these characters to life through her vivid and thought provoking storytelling. I also loved catching up with characters from the previous books. I can’t wait to read what this talented author writes next.
I’m head-over-heels in love with this series and I ADORED this book! I wish I could read it for the first time all over again! This is going straight to my keeper shelf!
It doesn’t always happen, but oftentimes this author is able to give her characters so much chemistry long before they even touch. I love that!
Gavin and Lou have been in the last couple of books in the Mile High Romance series, and I was sure the author would bring them together in a wonderful way. She did. But I didn’t realize just how deep their scars run so this story was quite a bit more serious than I had thought it would be. Don’t worry, there’s still a lot of fun and family, too. One thing I noted as reading is that it wouldn’t do well as a standalone. At least not in my opinion. The author doesn’t really revisit the incident of Lou’s barn burning down, so if you haven’t read the other stories you might want to do so first. It’s no hardship. They’re great stories.
The feelings Gavin has for his family, his brother, his position on the ranch…I adore the author for how this was all handled. Makes me wonder if she’s an older middle child herself. While Gavin always seems good-natured and loves his family and has his family’s respect. His feelings of not quite fitting in properly really spoke to me. Having Lou see the real Gavin and push him to let his real self come through endeared her to me. For a bit there I was afraid she was too centered on her own problems to realize what was happening right under her nose.
There is quite a theme of communication throughout this story. Whether because things come to light due to communication, or things get misunderstood because of lack of communication. It was all great story telling.
I’m sure there will be more stories with Gavin’s remaining single siblings, I’m also hoping to see Lou’s sister get her HEA. Maybe with Gavin’s youngest brother???
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own and given freely.**
This review can also be found at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/the-trouble-with-cowboy-weddings-a-mile-high-romance-arc-review/
The Trouble With Cowboy Weddings by Nicole Helm is number 6 in the Mile High Romance series and is serious romance. This is serious romance. Lou and Gavin have been friends forever but Gavin, especially, wants more but he doesn’t think her deserves it. Lou has more serious problems: she was in a fire last year and the right side of her face and upper body were burned and she sees that as an impediment to any relationship. Gavin lives on the ranch next door and come to help Lou rebuild every day. Lou’s grandma gives Lou an ultimatum: No one but family will run this ranch so if Lou or her sister, Emily don’t marry, she will be in touch with Lou’s reprobate father and let him come home. Lou is beyond upset-he would run the ranch into the ground. Gavin has the solution…marry him; get it all worked out legally; and then they divorce. All he’s ever wanted was to run a ranch and he’s number two at home so this is his chance.
What a fabulous book. So good, I purchased in other four in this series, and love them all. It takes some time to fall in love and Helms gives her protagonists that time. These are terrific characters: flawed as all humans are, they work through their issues together and separately and love doesn’t make everything all better. There are still issues. It is so true to life. The families in this book are real families, not ideal families, but ones we can all relate to. They don’t always get along with each other. They don’t always communicate well, but they do love well. I loved this book. It was complicated but worth it. Read it. I recommend it.
I received a free ARC of The Trouble With Cowboy Weddings. All opinions expressed herein are solely my own.
I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of this ! I’m happy to share my utmost honest review about Gavin and Lous story ! Lou was by far one of Nicole’s strongest heroines to date as she’s been somewhat scarred on her face & still perseveres yet not quite her self at times . Gavin & Lou sure do have their issues to overcome but their chemistry is undeniable & the story unravels with all their heartaches eventually reconciled . It’s quite the emotional read very heavy on friends and family . Their HEA Was beautiful & it’s an excellent story that makes you stop and think about putting yourself in the characters position & how
You would handle adversity! A must have for all!
Ahhh Gavin and Lou. I’ve been waiting on their story for quite a while. Hanging out in the background of other Mile High stories just wanting their story told. And boy was it worth the wait.
Gavin and Lou have been friends for about 20 years. Neighboring farms growing up, had them involved in pretty much all aspects of each others lives. Gavin has become a sort of protector of both Lou and her sister Em over the years, though he wouldn’t admit that to anyone. Gavin is more comfortable being thought of as the brut who uses his fists to make a point over being anyone’s hero. When he hears that the only way to save Lou’s family business was for her father to return to run it or one girl gets married he knows what he must do. Now, can he convince Lou?
Louisa, call her Lou please, is used to doing things for herself by herself. Every since she was burned in a fire, that drive has never been stronger. She is beyond pissed that she can’t save this farm and business on her own. When Gavin give her a proposition she can’t resist, what will that mean for their friendship.
Gavin and Lou navigate this new relationship and its pressures without losing who they are and who they’ve been together. Will their relationship survive the test life is throwing at them?
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance reader copy without expectations. I love returning to Mile High each and every time, to catch up with old characters and fall in love with new ones. 4 ½ stars for Gavin and Lou, strong friendships only get stronger over time.
In second book, we read heartbreaking love story between Gavin and Lou. Gavin and Lou are best friends since they were kids and because Lou will lose her ranch Gavin offers solution to marry her. At first absurd offer turns in pretend dating. Gavin soon realizes the depth of his feelings toward Lou and is scared because he is full of doubt of himself. Will they marry or not? I loved this book full of family drama, and love. Another great enjoyable read.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgelly
This is not my usual read, as I’m not very attracted to contemporary romances but the fact it was no office story with a billionaire and was about a marriage of convenience, one of my favorite trope in historical’s, i decided to give it a try.
I was graced an advance review copy by Netgalley and the publisher Kensington Books, but here is my true and real opinion.
It is incredible how much hurt people can cause by not talking.
Louisa Fairchild, Lou, had quite a beginning in life, I thought her harsh and self-centered at first because Gavin’s feelings were expressed earlier but then slowly Mrs Helm distilled bit by bit all the things she went through and the deep scars it left, not always obvious. But it is known children victims of abuse often get a bad and wrong picture of themselves, feeling guilty and deserving their pain. She should have seing a councilor as a kid, it would have helped her overcome her negative perception of herself and it would have avoided a lot of self punishment.
But then there would have been no story.
Gavin is the guy always there, you can count on him to stand by your side, but as a second son, he felt like he is not good enough for anything, why he never really fight for he truly always longed, Lou. So he let her go but stayed in the shadow, ready to step up if she might need him.
Why he is here, proposing his scheme to help her, just her.
But the closer, they get to their goal, the more he dreads he might lose himself and her in the process so he erects walls around him, afraid to face his sentiments and what they might result in.
So my feelings switched, I cheered up for Lou and was angry at Gavin for denying them both their happy ending.
But this book would have been a winner without all the side characters, each bringing its bit to the story.
It was my first read by Mrs Nicole Helm and it was worth going out my usual reads.