From New York Times bestselling author Victoria James comes a heartwarming love story about family, forgiveness, and the true meaning of “home.” Janie Adams has been a single parent to her nephew since he was a baby. Fifteen years later, she’s finally found out who his father might be, so the two of them travel across the country to find him. She’d do anything for this kid. But when they arrive … kid. But when they arrive in the small town of Wishing River, Montana, and Janie finally meets the ruggedly handsome cowboy she’d been told had abandoned his son, his shocked response changes everything.
Aiden Rivers can’t dispute this is his kid when he sees his own features staring back at him, but he had no idea Janie’s sister was pregnant when she left him. He didn’t even know she had a sister–clearly they’d all been lied to. Now he has fifteen years of fatherhood to make up for and no idea how to be a dad. This was never in his plans.
Janie sticks around to help him ease into parenting, everything from showing him how to lure a sulky kid out of his bedroom to keeping up with the latest teen-speak. Together, they surprisingly make a good team, this city girl and country boy. But when the past catches up with them, Aiden and Janie must decide what’s best for the boy who’s connecting them, not only for each other…which could mean splitting them apart.
Each book in the Wishing River series is STANDALONE:
* The Trouble with Cowboys
* Cowboy for Hire
* Wishing For A Cowboy
* Mail Order Cowboy
more
What a perfect book! All the feels!
Wishing for a Cowboy is the third book in the Wishing River series by Victoria James. I have not yet read the two previous but am definitely looking forward to it. From the first pages I was engaged and distraught each time life got in the way causing me to put the book down. I was fully immersed in the storyline and could not wait to see how things turned out for Will, Janie & Aiden. I felt there was a lot of real-life issues that the author did a fabulous job with writing into the story. Often we read stories with similar premises and predictably know how it will turn out. While I had made my inferences, there were a few emotional surprises along the way. This book had a lot of different feels. From Will and Aiden understandably and Janie as well. All three of these characters had so much taken away from them.
Janie comes to Montana with her nephew Will in hopes to gain financial help from WIll’s father. Once she arrives and states her reason for being there, the book understandably takes on a serious tone. My thoughts? I was angry from the injustices that Janie’s sister brought to them all and took no responsibility for. I won’t go into any details but I will say that the author did a great job with realistically putting these three hearts back together.
If you are looking for an emotional story, set in the backdrop of Montana that is well written and engaging, I highly recommend Wishing for a Cowboy by Victoria James.
While I received a review copy from NetGalley, this is my honest and unbiased review and I thank you for taking the time to read it. 🙂
I found this to be a heart wrenching read as both Aiden and Janie suffered emotional abuse (and physical abuse for Aiden) as children. While they had grown into successful adults, their emotional insecurities had me wanting to give them both a hug. However, the constant rehashing of their pasts got a bit tedious. I enjoyed reading about Will. I loved watching the father/son relationship develop. This slow burn romance was low on steam but high on emotions. An enjoyable read.
I received a free copy from Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.
4.5 Stars
This is book 3 in the Wishing River series and it features Janie and Aiden. Janie was in extreme financial dire straits. She goes to Aiden for money with a surprise in tow. Aiden is living a quiet but busy life. Janie disrupts his quiet life in more ways than one.
This is a fantastic story line with awesome characters! The growth of the main characters was vast and felt very real for their circumstances. I truly enjoyed reading this book and I can’t wait for the next book in this fabulous series.
A heartwarming story about finding family and love. An amazing heartbreaking story about two characters, very well developed with a troubled past. Both Aiden and Janie are very likable and it so good to see how their love developed and to see how they once and for all stand up for themself and make peace with the past. It is good to see all the gang and this story is all about family and love.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for NetGalley
I loved the book, and this is my first-time reading Ms. James. In a sweet story of love and sacrifice. Janie will do everything for her nephew Will, who she has raised since he was four. Fifteen years later, she sets out to find his father for financial support in a desperate move. Aiden is surprised to meet his son but happy to learn he is a father. Both Janie and Aiden have had loss and insecurities in their youth. They have had to overcome the negative voices to be the best adults they know how. What we get is a touching story of a family forming.
In a low drama, great angst, beautifully written story love story, will Janie and Aiden get their happily ever after?
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing LLC.
One of those romances that you just can’t stop reading!
I must confess that I like my romance steamy but sometimes I like to give my libido a rest and read a really beautiful and well-written love story. This is it! In this book two deserving, intelligent and strong people find each other. It is not angst-free however. Once you read what terrible things Aiden’s father used to spew and how Janie’s mother spoke to her while giving Maxi anything she wanted…Well, there may be some gritting of teeth. Just saying. And then there’s Maxi, Will’s biological mother. Reading about her is bad enough but when you get to “meet” her in the book, you will detest her.
Janie Adams has found Will’s father and Janie and her nephew are on their way to meet him in hopes he can help them. She is financially in trouble. Asking for help is abhorrent to Janie, but she has no alternative. She’s never asked for a handout. What she didn’t expect is the man she meets. He isn’t at all like Maxi described him. He’s nice, open and handsome. Aiden feels an attraction the moment he sees Janie, but that’s before he finds out that she has brought his son, Will to meet him. The son that he never knew existed is now 15yo. Aiden is furious with Maxi and himself for the boy he used to be. There are so many beautifully written parts to this book, one of which is Aiden’s heart-to-heart with Will on the porch. If you don’t get teary eyed, check your pulse.
Loved this story. I volunteered to review an ARC of this book through Entangled and NetGalley and it gets a minimum of 5 dreamy stars.
This sweet story is Book 3 in the “Wishing River” series and this book was such an enjoyable read with characters that were so well rounded and a storyline that was so well written that I ended up reading this book in one sitting!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it.
This is a wonderful feel good story. There were times when I just wanted to pull both Aiden and Janie in for a hug. The story was beautifully written and the plot flowed nicely. It was written in my favorite dual POV format. That really helps me to connect and better understand the characters the way the author intended. While this is a part of a series and prior couples make multiple appearances, you don’t have to read the prior stories to enjoy this.
Janie became guardian to her 4 year old nephew when she was just 18. She raised Will while working two jobs and going to going to school to become a veterinarian. She put Will in the car and drives from Chicago to Wishing River. She has held everything together but lately, she needs help. The bills have just gotten away from her. She decides to ask Will’s birth father for some money to help them out.
Aiden is struck dumb when Janie shows up in his bar with the news of him being a father to a 15 year old son. He was never told of the boy’s existence. Hurt and anger run through him while coming to grips with fatherhood. Aiden didn’t have the best of fathers himself. In fact, he was both mentally and physically abused. What does he know about being a father? Can he overcome his painful past to be the right kind of father to his son? He is also developing feeling for the boy’s aunt.
I just adored this sweet romance. There were no sexy scenes besides one when things started to get out of control but Aiden quickly called a halt to it.
If you love a haunted cowboy and a strong female, then I would highly recommend this to anyone. I would think that anyone over the age of 16 or 18 would enjoy this. I would suggest that a parent may want to have a say in the decision.
Wishing for A Cowboy by Victoria James is a terrific story about a young woman cleaning up her sister’s mess and finding love at the same time. Janie Adams and her 15-year-old nephew, Will, have arrived in a bar, looking for a man named Aiden Rivers: Will’s father, who he has never met. They are desperate. Janie is too far in debt to carry on. She needs help. However unlikely, she is looking for it her, in Aiden. He looks like what she had expected: a playboy, just as Maxi had said. He didn’t act like a playboy, though. And his house: a cabin didn’t look like a playboy’s, either. He seems thrilled, though wary, about Will. They got a DNA test although it wasn’t necessary. It was obvious who Will’s father was. He asked her and Will to extend their stay. They did. Maxi, of course, was not cooperating, finally speaking to Aiden, but not to Janie. Janie got a temporary job in a vet’s clinic; she was studying to be a vet. She made friends. All in just a couple of weeks. Then Maxi showed up.
Janie had had Will most of his life. Maxi was not great with responsibility. Their mother had spoiled her, Janie was not gorgeous, or so she’s been told repeatedly, so she would have to be smart and get a good job. She loved Will and they had a fabulous relationship. Will saw things as they were and appreciated having Janie in his life. Aiden wanted to be his father. He hadn’t known, all those years ago, and now that he did, he wanted it all. This is a scenario that seems all to real, with the way life is these days It was heart-wrenching to be inside Janie’s head as she navigated losing Will and never being enough for Aiden, like Maxi had been. She loved her job as a vet’s assistant and knew she would love being a vet, if she could figure out a way to finish school. This story was full of everyday problems, and everyday life. Even if a reader’s situation is different, they could empathize. Isn’t that what reading as all about? Good book.
I was invited to read a free ARC of Wishing for a Cowboy by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #netgalley #wishingforacowboy
Wishing for a Cowboy is the third title in the Wishing River series – and this one is full of emotions, questions, assumptions, and figuring out the past in order to move forward to the future for two unlikely people and one teenager searching for answers. I was easily swept back into this world by Aiden’s and Janie’s romance. Discovering he had a son, a fifteen-year-old son will rock Aiden’s world. Learning that Will’s father wasn’t anything like she’d expected may change the course of Janie’s life. These three need to go beyond a past that is about to creep up on them once again – will they do that separately or as their own unique family.
There is so much that I want to say about Wishing for a Cowboy, yet without giving away major spoilers I can’t really go into the detail that this story deserves. Janie has raised her nephew, Will since she was a mere 18 years old and he was only around 4. The sacrifices she made for this sweet boy are realistic, and sometimes painful. She raised a good kid, but now hard times have hit and she needs to find Will’s biological father for financial support. What she discovered upon finding Aiden was that she and Aiden had been lied to by her sister, deeply lied to in ways that changed lives forever.
For Aiden, there was no denying the mini-me standing in front of him was his son… a son he had no clue existed for fifteen long years. How could Will’s mother have done that to them all? Now, Aiden has to work from ground zero in gaining Will and Janie’s trust, to help them as he learns about his son and about the minute details of parenting a teenager. Slowly they will build relationships from strangers to friends – and perhaps more. When the past comes back rearing its ugly head once again will this newly formed “family” be able to stand together or be torn apart once more… this time with Aiden knowing full well what he’s losing.
I absolutely loved Wishing for a Cowboy. It’s realistic where it needs to be, believable even relatable at times. Both Janie and Aiden are holding onto secrets that need to come out into the open for their relationship to thrive. Aiden and Janie are strong, stubborn people who haven’t had the easiest of lives yet together they work, they fit, and watching them come to that conclusion and act on it was a delightful journey. If you enjoy a romance that goes a bit beyond the happy ever afters into consequences of actions and how they enriched lives, then Wishing for a Cowboy would be a perfect fit for you.
*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Entangled Publishing via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*
I beautiful story. Janie has been raising her nephew Will since she was 18 years old. One hears of the “dead beat dad”. Well Will mother is the “dead beat mom”, out of sight, out of mind as they say. Janie has been mom to Will, but jugging work, school and being there for Will has left her broke. As a last resort Janie drives 10 hours from Chicago to Wishing Rivers, to ask Will dad Aiden to help them out. The thing is Aiden didn’t know he is a father, Janie sister Maxi never said a word.
The story is about trust, forgiveness and love. Very well written. I can’t wait to read the next book.
I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story.
Wishing for a Cowboy is a sweet, slow burn romance between an aunt who’s acted as a parent and a father who never knew that he was. Their romance is messy, since they have to navigate a possible relationship with each other, while still managing to put fifteen-year-old Will first. And that’s before you throw Will’s actual mother into the mix…
Aiden, Janie, and Will are all very likeable characters, ones that you’ll be anxiously checking for glimpses of in future series books (and you’ll probably be in luck, because Ms James writes friend groups very well :)) They’ve all had a lifetime of problems thrown at them, but have managed to come out on top. Not without scars, of course (one of Aiden’s is literal) but as the story goes on, they slowly help each other to work through them as they inch their way to a much deserved HEA.
Though this is the third book in Ms James’s Wishing River series, it can absolutely be read as a standalone. Aiden is enough of a loner that his story isn’t completely intertwined with the two that came before (though dare I say he might have a little insight into Hope and Dean’s future story?) and since Janie is new to the area, she gets a brief intro to prior relationships when Lanie and Sarah fold her into their friend group. A warning, though–you’ll probably get *just* enough that you’ll want to know their stories too…just sayin’ 😉
Rating: 4 stars / B+
This is the third book in the series. It’s such a heart felt story. One person’s actions have changed lives forever, but the silver lining is it may lead a family to forever. This pulled out all the emotions. I loved Janie and Aiden. They both stole my heart along with Will. All three of them didn’t have an easy road, but especially Janie and Aiden. Janie is super woman in my opinion for taking care of her nephew as if he was her own son. The sacrifices she made and dreams she put on hold to make sure she was there for Will shows you how much Janie deserves all the best in life. What was supposed to be a short trip to Wishing River turns into something so unexpectedly wonderful. Aiden is a stand up guy and he needs to learn he is not defined by his past. He is wonderful guy who steps up when life throws him a curve ball. I would so recommend this book. It’s going to give the true meaning of family.
You can count n Victoria James writing an emotional charged story. She has done it again with Wishing for a Cowboy. Down right lies and falsehoods come to light as Janie Adams takes her nephew to meet his father, Aiden Rivers. It is difficult to step up to the plate and be a dad when you were never told that you had a son for fifteen years. However, when Aiden is confronted he rises to the occasion. This keeps you reading to see how Janie and he will navigate life after learning the truth.
Besides the financial responsibilities, plus learning to handle a teenager, then find a way to be a father, friendship then love blooms between Janie and Aiden. Of course, the past comes bad to put a stop to this newly formed family unit. Selfishness comes bad to stop any happiness that Aiden, Janie, and Will might have. Thank goodness that they stick together in the end. Loved the conclusion.
An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Ms. James is a newer to me author, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by her so far.
This book is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. The struggles that these characters have gone through and overcome to make a new life together is so inspirational.
Family is truly what you make it.
Wishing for a Cowboy is a sweet but complicated contemporary romance about a devoted aunt, an equally devoted nephew, an absent mother, and a father who didn’t know he carried the title. Janie Adams has been single-handedly raising her nephew. Finances are tight and when her sister finally let her know who Will’s father is, Janey and Will head out of town to Montana to request help. Aiden Rivers is shocked to learn Maxi was pregnant when she left him 15 years ago. Had he known, his and Will’s lives may have been different. As it is, Aiden is resentful of Maxi for keeping his son hidden, grateful for Janie stepping up and raising his son when Maxi abandoned him, and surprised to feel like the trio could be a family.
This book is wonderful. The characters are flawed but lovable. The setting was written perfectly, and the world building is great. I enjoyed learning about Janie and Will and then about Aiden. Watching the slow-burn romance develop between Janie and Aiden was exciting and stressful at times. I was engaged in their story. I was engaged in the story between Aiden and Will. Learning he was a father 15 years after the child was born had to be a complete and utter shock to the system. Aiden handled things as well as can be expected and I loved watching Aiden and Will’s father-son relationship flourish.
There is a reason that Victoria James is one of my all-time favorite authors – she writes impassioned and realistic contemporary romances. Her writing is realistic and her subject matter for each book is believable. Her heroines and her heroes are not perfect, but they are perfect for one another. To date, I’ve read most of her books and each one manages to evoke emotional responses from me. At the very least, I always tear up during some part of the novel. Her characters are believable and realistically written.
Victoria’s writing is phenomenal. Her characters, the plot, themes, drama, and passion pull the reader in and keeps them engaged. There is true emotion that can be felt by those readers that become one with the books they read. I get lost in the novels and put myself right into the middle of them. I feel for the characters and drawing on my emotions is what makes a book worth 5 stars for me. If I hurt with them, cry with/for them, laugh, or get angry, then the author did a fantastic job and has written the perfect book for me. Victoria James is amazing!
This author never seems to disappoint and gets right to the heart of the matter. I feel like with this book and this series the characters feel completely relatable. I really like Janie she was a fighter and would stop at nothing to do what was right for her “son”. Will he has such a big heart and you can tell he was raise right by Janie and my heart kind of broke for him in the beginning of this book. Aiden man he was a hard shell to crack. I really like the other characters in the book as well, except for Maxi. Maxi I just want to hunt her down and smacker her myself. Overall this book was a fun read and I hope this is not the last we hear from these characters. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This book hooked me on the first page and didn’t let go. It’s a sweet heartwarming story that was an absolute joy to read. It’s a sweet and emotional small town romance and slow burn, low on drama. This is an easy book to read. The characters will grip you by the heart. You will experience the highs and lows of the characters lives. You find yourself captivated to see what happens next. This was an absolutely beautiful story. I had no idea this was the third in a series. I definitely will be going back and read the other books in the series.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5
I enjoyed revisiting Wishing River.
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Wishing River
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue
I look forward to reading more from this author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from NetGalley.
I have mixed feelings on this book. First off, I love this author and have read many of her books, have loved them all, but I think this is the first one where I’m torn on how the characters were continually rehashing their negative pasts. I actually loved the premise of this story, Janie and Will end up on the doorstep of the unknowingly Aiden who has no idea he’s the father of a fifteen year old, the product of a failed relationship with Janie’s irresponsible sister Maxi. Your heart just goes out to all three of these people, all hoping for the best, but not knowing what to expect with this newfound news. I get that Aiden and Janie’s upbringing was negative, but it just seemed to continually drag the story down. What I really loved was the developing relationship between all three characters, very heartwarming, and the end of the story definitely makes up for the slow down in the middle of the book. Loved the setting of the story, loved the secondary characters, and really loved Morris.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC copy of this book