Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy (Cold River Ranch: Book 2) by Caitlin Crews

4 Stars

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Date of publication: July 30th, 2019

Genre: Romance

Series: Cold River Ranch

A True Cowboy Christmas—Book 1 (review here)

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy—Book 2

The Last Real Cowboy—Book 3 (expected publication date: January 28th, 2020)

Where you can find Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookBub

Book Synopsis:

A game of pretend with the highest stakes of all in the latest novel of breathtaking romance from USA Today bestselling author Caitlin Crews

Ty Everett ran off to the rodeo when he turned eighteen and has been riding bulls ever since…until his last fall causes partial amnesia and he must return to Cold River Ranch to figure out what comes next. But how can he pick his next move when he can’t remember how he got here in the first place—much less the beautiful woman who appears at the ranch, claims she knows him, and warms his cold heart for the first time since he woke up in the hospital?

Rodeo Queen Hannah Monroe gave up her crown for Ty Everett, and her innocence. What she wants from Ty now is a divorce. But Ty can’t remember her—or their secret wedding, or even the son she never meant to hide from him—and Hannah is torn. How can she leave the man she can’t forget and still loves despite herself? And even if she’s willing to start over, what will happen when the truth comes out?

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First Line:

Hannah Leigh Monroe—which wasn’t her actual, legal married name, because she didn’t quite know if she was actually, legally married any longer—had been driving up and down the same county road in the Longhorn Valley outside of Cold River, Colorado, this pretty summer for going on two straight hours.

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy—Caitlin Crewes

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My Review:

Plot:

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy’s plot was simple. A former rodeo queen goes searching for her husband after two years apart. She wants a divorce. Tracking him to his family’s ranch in Colorado, the rodeo queen makes a startling discovery. The former bull rider suffers from partial amnesia. He doesn’t remember anything from the past two years, which includes their marriage. She has some hard decisions to make. Will she give him another chance? Or will her secrets push them apart?

I enjoyed Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy’s plotline. It was simple and to the point. It was the simpleness of the plotline which made the book stand out to me. I didn’t have to remember a ton of plotlines. Just the main one and a few secondary plotlines.

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy’s plotline was moderately paced. There were times where the plotline seemed to drag. There were also other times where the plotline seemed to go fast. There were no dropped storylines, but there was a bit of a lag in the middle of the book.

I liked the secondary plotlines in the book. I did find that they were a bit sad. They were merged with the main storyline flawlessly.

I liked that Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy was set in Colorado. I felt that it was the perfect place for Ty and Hannah’s story to take place.

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Characters

Hannah: My feelings for her were mixed. On the one hand, I did feel bad for her because of what she went through. But on the other hand, I didn’t like how she handled the whole Ty situation (keeping the baby a secret). But, I started to like her after how she dealt with Brady. By the end of the book, I loved her. She put everyone, including Ty, in their place. I did think that her Southern sass was too much at times, but that’s me.

Ty: He was a hot mess for most of the book. He was abused by his father growing up. The lack of self-esteem and self-confidence that his father hammered into him was evident during the entire book. His actions kept showing that. He became everything that his father said he would be and then some. Becoming a bull rider was the tip of the iceberg with him.

I didn’t like Hannah’s mother. She was bitter. Her scenes with Hannah left a bad taste in my mouth.

Even though he was dead, Amos was also a considerable part of the book. He lived on in Ty’s head. It was Amos’s voice that urged Ty to do the things he did. I wanted to cry during those scenes. That man did so much harm to Ty and all because he looked like his mother.

Brady was also featured in this book. I wasn’t fond of him. While I understood where he was coming from each time he went toe-to-toe with Hannah, it left me shaking my head. I am not letting how he acted in this book color how I look at him in his book.

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Thoughts on the book:

I enjoyed reading Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy. I thought it was a fantastic fit in the romance category. Even with three troupes in the book (secret spouse, secret baby, and amnesia), it was still able to deliver on the romance.

Hannah and Ty had instant chemistry and sexual attraction. They were apparent the minute she confronted him at the ranch. What I found refreshing was that the author had Hannah and Ty hold off on having sex until halfway through the book.

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy was a great romance. Even though it had the three troupes that I don’t like/are getting sick of, I still enjoyed reading it. There were things that I didn’t like. I didn’t like how Hannah and Ty didn’t discuss their issues. I didn’t like how most of the book were Hannah/Ty talking about how they felt, in their head. I didn’t like Hannah keeping Jack a secret. I didn’t like what Hannah’s mother did. I most definitely didn’t like what Ty did at the end of the book.

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I would give Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**