This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
Welcome to Rustlers Creek, where you’ll meet the cowboys whose hearts are as big as the Montana sky and the women who can’t help but fall in love with them.
Hadley Wayne is known all over America as The Cowgirl Gourmet. A beloved star on The Cooking Network, the success of her show has turned her sleepy Montana ranching community into a Hollywood backlot and everyone knows all about her perfect life with her perfect rancher husband–but it’s not real.
Zack Wayne has never felt further apart from his wife, even while they play up an ideal marriage for the cameras. They’re living separate lives in separate bedrooms. The love he has for Hadley is still there, underneath mountains of resentment, but he doesn’t know if their marriage can last for much longer. He can’t keep up with the fa�ade anymore, for the cameras or Hadley.
When their work forces them to take a break from the constant schedule of the set, they begin to rediscover who they are and why they fell in love all those years ago. If they can mend the hurts that brought them here, will they still want to say goodbye to their life together? Or will the cowboy discover he can only say yes to their future?
My Review
The Cowboys Says Yes is the first book in the Rustlers Creek series and I have had this on my kindle for quite a while. I always get nervous when trying out new authors but I was also curious about this one and it was definitely not what i expected. But I did find it to be an enjoyable read even if it was a bit different than I thought it would be here. It’s always a new experience to enter a story that throws you for a loop and I will be honest that I didn’t even glance at the blurb. This is definitely not me at all, but I was so intrigued to see what Addison Fox would deliver with this one. I do love a marriage reconciliation type of romance, and yes it wasn’t quite what I was expecting it to be honest. I was relieved that the level of angst was actually pretty low. And we have a unique setup with a primary romance and a side story romance. I really found the dynamics interesting.
Our primary pairing is with Zack and Hadley. They are a married couple and haven’t been close in a long while. They suffered a loss of a child and with the focus of the cooking show that is featured in their home, they have let their career focuses lead them away from each other. But both Zack and Hadley have had enough of distance and fighting, and desire to repair their marriage and what they once had. We don’t see much angst, and that is not the norm in these types of scenarios so I was fascinated to see how this author would handle this and it really threw me for a loop to see this heroine be a star of a cooking show. I haven’t read this type of setup in a western and it kept me on my toes. The author definitely had me interested all the way through to see how their relationship would play out and if they would find any common ground like what they once had. There is a conflict of sorts, but it doesn’t really happen until the end of the story. It does surprise you though because you won’t see it coming but it also adds more depth to their relationship and seeing the various facets that are built throughout the story was a unique mix. I did love seeing the depths of emotion and connection that Zack and Hadley have for each other though. I will be honest in that this story was super challenging to rate and much of that is that I have mixed feelings on this one and what it delivered. I was intrigued all the way through by the romance, but I wasn’t automatically pulled into the story. I wanted to be more into this story but it didn’t quite get there for me even though I found the story to be interesting for this reader.
Overall I found The Cowboy Says Yes to be a warm and open romance that delves into matters of the heart in a unique way. It’s a story of healing, reconciliation, recovery, and embracing a changed relationship that is founded in life.
Title: The Cowboy Says Yes
Author: Addison Fox
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Avon Books
Length: 384 Pages
Book Links
Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 3.5
Story Itself: 3.5
Character Development: 3
Writing Style: 3
World Building 3
Feels + The Romantic Heart 3.5
Pacing 3.5
Plot 3.5
Cover Art 4
Ending 3.5
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
Steam Level
Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.
About Addison
Addison Fox can’t remember a time when words weren’t a part of her life. In addition to being an avid reader, she loves writing novels about strong-willed and exciting heroes and heroines – individuals who are meant for each other and who deserve their happy ever after. After she makes them work for it, of course!
First published in 2010, Addison has written across romance genres including paranormal, contemporary and romantic suspense. A romantic at heart, she’ll take her heroes any way she can get them – from ancient warriors to computer geeks to sexy cowboys. She’s not picky – but she is deeply grateful her readers are willing to come along for the ride.
That is an interesting set up in a cowboy story.
I don’t think that I have read this author before. This sounds pretty good and good for you for getting to a book that you have had on your kindle for a while.
I do wish this one had pulled you in more. It sounds like an interesting concept. I have liked second chance love stories between married couples. There’s usually something really special about them. Wish this was one of them 🙂 Great honest review, as always! ??