Coop Malloy receives a telegram that his sister and brother-in-law have died and his ten-year-old niece is on her way to Texas to live with him. Still reeling from the loss of his sister, he receives another shock when his childhood friend Randa Lockhart steps off the stage with his niece Kallie. He’s stunned to see that the little pigtailed nuisance that tagged after him, and his best friend, … friend, years ago has turned into a beautiful young woman.
Randa and Kallie have barely settled in when Coop finds buffalo hunter Marvin Doolin beating the local blacksmith within an inch of his life for laming his horse. Coop steps in and when the buffalo hunter tries to kill him, shoots him. Now Doolin’s four brothers are out to even the score.
When they go after Randa, they cross the line. They’re about to find out that’s there’s nothing Coop won’t do, and no one he won’t track down to protect the two females that have burrowed hard and fast into his heart.
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What can I say… Sandra Cox always succeeds in sweeping her readers away to the plains and towns of the West. Her characters are so engaging and even those who smell like rotten buffalo hides are drawn in great detail.
There is danger, adventure and of course romance with some heart stopping moments when it seems all will be lost… heroes and villains vie for attention, as do the magnificent wild horses that roam the prairies.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know rancher Coop Malloy, his multi-tasking cook, the lovely Randa and Coop’s niece Kalli and those who find themselves welcomed into their warm kindness.
Apart from the danger and heart stopping moments it is also a feel good read that you won’t be able to put down.
Highly recommended for western and romance fans.
Coop Malloy is devastated by the loss of his sister and brother-in-law and accepts responsibility for his young niece, not expecting her nanny to be his childhood friend, Randa- all grown up and breathtakingly beautiful.
He gave himself a hard, mental shake. Randa was like Patsy, a kid sister. Someone to tease and protect, certainly not look at like a bowl of ice cream on a hot summer’s day.
TUMBLESTAR- SANDRA COX
Randa has loved Cooper Malloy most of her life, and can’t believe she’s staying in his home, if only he would see her as a woman instead of his pig-tailed friend.
When Coop saves a man from a vicious beating that ends in the death of a buffalo hunter, the brothers swear vengeance and Coop is worried about the danger to the ranch, young Kallie, and Randa. Coop’s caring nature won’t let him leave the blacksmith to fend for himself. He offers the man a position on the ranch and picks up other strays along the way.
Miranda settles into country life and loves it, from the crotchety old cook with a heart of gold, to the young native and his sick mother who come to the ranch to heal. They become a community and look out for each other, something she hadn’t known in the city. Coop was starting to look at her in a different way, too. The awareness between them growing even though the days are long and trouble never very far away.
The scenes with the wild mustangs and proud, willful white stallion were my favorites. They were written so well my pulse pounded with their racing hooves, and fear at the loss of freedom. The action is intense, the romance sweet, the setting beautiful.
Ms. Cox has a fan in me!
Independent characters, wild horses, gunfights with buffalo hunters who smell like death, and love. What more can readers of western romance ask for?
When Cooper Malloy meets the stage coach to retrieve his young orphaned niece, Kallie, he discovers that she’s accompanied by his old childhood friend Miranda Lockhart, only Miranda’s no longer a child. Miranda and Kallie take up residence at Coop’s Tumblestar ranch and it’s not long before an attraction blooms. But who has time for romance when a ranch needs running? Wild horses need breaking, and the buffalo-hunting Doolin brothers are out for blood.
This story has lots of strengths from diverse and rich characters with three-dimensional lives to glimpses of life on the frontier to high-paced action with a variety of villains. Cooper is a great blend of grit and fair-mindedness, Miranda is courageous, and secondary characters are as strong as the main. Scenes involving the round-ups of wild horses and the rescue of an injured stallion were some of my favorites. Read and enjoy, but do not try this at home! Except for the romance, of course.
An excellent fast-pace read for fans of western romance. Highly recommended.
A couple of months ago, I read Sandra Cox’s book, Silverhills. It was the first time I had ventured into the Western Romance genre. I enjoyed it so much that I figured I’d try another one of her books. This time I went with TumbleStar, another Western Romance. If you’ve read the review I wrote about Silverhills (click here to read my review: https://t.co/x61dHVxvLM?amp=1), you will see that I became a fan of the author’s storytelling ability, and she certainly doesn’t disappoint with TumbleStar.
From the first page, I was immediately drawn into the heartbreak of Coop Malloy’s world. He had received word that his sister and brother-in-law had passed away. No other information about their deaths, just that his ten-year-old niece was arriving by stagecoach, and he was to be her guardian. What a surprise to see his childhood friend, Randa, accompanying the child when the coach arrived. All grown up now, he is not sure what to make of the feelings that she is stirring inside him. He invites her back to his ranch so they can get reacquainted, but alas, she is heading back on the next stage… or is she? When the secret she is hiding from Coop is discovered – that she has nowhere to go, he insists she come back to his ranch and live there. She can certainly help out with his niece, and allow him to run his ranch.
We learn that Coop’s compassion for wayward souls is as large as the fifty thousand acres he owns, and he soon has several others that end up living there in exchange for helping out where needed. Eventually, his kindness gets him into some trouble when he kills a man who’s beating another man half to death. When he learns that the brothers of the man he killed will most likely seek revenge, his growing feelings for Randa are tested like never before. But don’t mistake Coop for anything other than what he is – a hard working, tough as nails, real cowboy, that can take care of himself, the people around him, his ranch, and the woman he might just be falling in love with.
I loved this book. I shied away from Western Romance for years simply because of the word “Romance”. But, I vowed last year that I was going to break out and explore new genres, and I’m glad I did. Good writing is good writing, whatever the storyline. And Sandra Cox is a fantastic writer and great storyteller. If you are a fan of the Western Romance, then you will love this book… and if you are walking the line trying to decide if this is for you, all I can say is, jump in, you won’t be disappointed. You may even discover a new favorite author. I know I did.
Reading Progress
A young down on her luck city lady delivers her friend’s orphaned niece to the bachelor cowboy uncle who must raise her in the wild west Texas badlands. Old childhood friends, he offers her a job educating the child. With no place else to go, she stays, and strives to learn the ways of the wilderness. Bad men, gunfights, wild horses, wild women and half-breed outcasts lasso their ropes through the wildflowers in this page-turning western romance. Don’t hesitate to stay a spell at the TumbleStar ranch.
This read is heartfelt as a little girl now has to move to ranch life with her uncle as her parents have died. Kallie arrives with her mother’s friend, Miranda, and settles into busy ranch life. There are several human interest points in this book and I loved young Joe and his mother, Anna. This historical western story-line is filled with horses, gun battles and newborn foals. It’s a great book that can be enjoyed by anyone who loves this genre’.