Review Take Me, Cowboy by Jane Porter + Giveaway

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Western romance; Contemporary romacne
Series: Copper Mountain Rodeo #4
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group
Date Released: October 27, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo

When Jenny Wright’s fiancé leaves her standing at the altar in a Vera Wang bridal gown she can’t afford, she’s humiliated and heartbroken. To have Marietta hero bull riding champ Colton Thorpe witness her shame – makes the rejection even more devastating.

Jenny and Colton grew up in the same rough neighborhood and they both left home right after school to pursue big dreams. Now they’re both back, with Colton as the celebrity chair for the 75th Copper Mountain Rodeo, and Jenny in disgrace.

Sexy, rugged Colton didn’t get to be a national champion by chance. He’s a man that takes risks and goes after what he wants. During the rodeo weekend, Colton makes it clear he wants Jenny. Flustered but flattered, Jenny finds it difficult to resist his charm. But what happens when the rodeo ends and Colton leaves town? Will she dare to dream again?

My Review:

Even though we’ve read it before (most recently for me in Linda Lael Miller’s Big Sky Mountain) the scene is so vivid that I could picture it crystal clear; the bride in the fantastic dress, the groom being an ass at the last minute, and the busted small town wedding.

The difference is what happens next. Jenny Wright walks out into her hometown of Marietta, Montana in her expensive dress with her head held high, and keeps on walking until she has the chance to regroup, letting the town gossips just choke on their own bile for a bit. She’s already heard enough and knows it’s only going to get worse.

Her high-heeled walking tour of her old stomping grounds is interrupted by the one man she’s never forgotten, Colton Thorpe. He wasn’t just the older brother of her one of her high school best friends, Colton was the bad boy secret crush she never truly got over. While she’d rather that anyone else in town have driven by to witness her lonely walk, in some ways, Colton is the perfect witness; she has nothing left but pride to hold her up, and she won’t let herself break down in front of him.

But maybe she should. Jenny has spent all of her life abiding by a set of self-imposed rules and regulations so that she could leave Marietta behind her. She’s done her level-best to become someone other than just “one of the Wright girls”, because everyone in town saw the Wright girls as poor white trash. All those rules have gotten her has been a nose to the grindstone life lived for other people’s goals and other people’s dreams while ruthlessly suppressing any hopes of her own. It’s been a fake life that lead to a dead-end job and a fake fiancee who left her at the altar because he decided she was good enough to be his assistant and his playmate but not his wife.

She finally realized that she didn’t love him. She worked hard to make him successful, but that wasn’t love.

Jenny had forcefully buried her heart when she buried herself. Being left at the altar was the second best thing that ever happened to her. Being picked up by Colton Thorp turned out to be the best.

Escape Rating B+: If Marietta and Parable are examples of life in small-town Montana, I definitely want to visit. The series set in these two towns (which must be in neighboring counties!) have marvelous people with tremendous heart, and seem to be terrific places for romance.

Take Me, Cowboy makes a terrific conclusion (or pause) to the Copper Mountain Rodeo series (after Tempt Me, Cowboy, Marry Me, Cowboy and Promise Me, Cowboy all YUM!) so far. Jenny Wright is an easy woman to empathize with. She’s worked so hard to escape her upbringing, because there were a lot of rough patches, especially in a small town where everyone knows everyone’s business. But she lost a lot of her essential self along the way. Coming home, along with reconnecting with her BFFs, gives her some much needed perspective.

The story of getting to have a second chance (or maybe that’s first chance?) with her high school crush, is a classic for a reason. It was lovely to see her get to make her dream finally come true, AND get the bad boy she dreamed about to sort of settle down, or at least fall in love.

Anyone who loves Linda Lael Miller’s Parable, Montana series really should give the Copper Mountain Rodeo a ride!