Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Review - - Unbridled Cowboy

Unbridled Cowboy
by Maisey Yates
Four Corners Ranch - Book 1
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: May 24, 2022
Reviewed by PJ


Welcome to Four Corners Ranch, where the West is still wild…and when a cowboy needs a wife, he decides to find her the old-fashioned way. 


Cowboy Sawyer Garrett has no intention of settling down. But when he becomes a single dad to tiny baby June, stepping up to the responsibility is nonnegotiable. And so is finding a woman to be a mother to his infant daughter. So he decides to do it the way the pioneers did: by putting out an ad for a mail-order bride. 

Evelyn Moore can’t believe she’s agreed to uproot her city life to marry a stranger in Oregon. But having escaped one near-disastrous marriage, she’s desperate for change. Her love for baby June is instant. Her feelings for Sawyer are…more complicated. Her gruff cowboy husband ignites thrilling desire in her, but Sawyer is determined to keep their marriage all about the baby. But what happens if Evelyn wants it all? 

In bonus novella 
Once Upon a Cowboy, can single dad Adam give Belle the fairy tale she's always dreamed of?

PJ's Thoughts:

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those love it or hate it with very little middle ground books. I loved it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's one of my all-time favorite Maisey Yates books. 

Yates is no stranger to emotional depth but in Unbridled Cowboy she really amps it up. There was laughter but, oh my, there were so many heart-tugging moments and, yes, tears were shed. Even reading it through a second time, when I knew what was coming, I still cried. I was completely immersed in these characters' emotions, feeling every bit of pain, anger, despair, and joy with them. If they were wrung out by the end, I was even more so. 

I felt a strong, emotional connection with both Evelyn and Sawyer. Yates gave me these complex, multi-layered characters whose lives intersected in such an old-fashioned, pragmatic way that, given what had happened to them, I could totally see happening. But then she added those pesky emotions to their situation, along with sizzling desire, and began slowly peeling away the layers. I loved the process each went through, internally and together, the introspection and gradual realization of where they had been and where they wanted to go. It was almost like a rebirth. 

I'm excited about the Four Corners Ranch and the four families bound to the land. I don't know how many total books Yates plans to set there but I'm already intrigued by many of the secondary characters and hopeful they will all have stories of their own. And I'm looking forward to watching Sawyer's and Evelyn's relationship continue to deepen and flourish in the background of future books. 



4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this review. Again, an author I have heard about but never read. You have made this sound like a lovely story - Thanks for that - lovely stories are always wonderful. Hope everyone is well.

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  2. Agree with you 100% PJ. Great review!!

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  3. This one sounds great! Thanks for the great review.

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  4. Thank you for the review. I enjoy westerns, both contemporary and historical. There is just something about the setting and the way of life. We lived in Colorado for 3 years, loved it, and miss it. Yates does a good job of character development and emotional involvement, pulling the reader in to the story. This is another one I am looking forward to.

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