Synopsis:
One night is never enough…
Jobless, broke, and struggling to support herself and her invalid mother, paramedic Sophie Miller doesn’t have time or energy for a relationship. Especially with her mother’s clock ticking down. So when the sexy cowboy she meets at a carnival proposes a no-strings, one-night stand, she’s all over it. Until her one-night stand shows up again and turns out to be everything she’s ever wanted.
Tucker Haywood has his hands full running Paint River Ranch and trying to deal with all the changes pulling the rug out from under him. His past has taught him it’s better to keep women at arm’s length, for their sake. Stubborn and temperamental, Tucker doesn’t have a clue how to deal with a city girl who’s scared of squirrels and dirt.
So when Sophie gets under his skin, he has to do whatever it takes to push her away. Even if it means losing the part of himself he never thought he’d find.
My review:
One Night With a Cowboy is the second book in author Elizabeth Otto’s Paint River Ranch series and after falling in love with the Haywood brothers in the first book, I was so anxious to get to Tucker’s story. Well, Elizabeth sure as hell gave this rugged cowboy one hell of story. I adored every second!
Sophie Miller really does have an overflowing plate these days and doesn’t know how much more she can take. City budget cuts have caused her to lose her job as a paramedic, her mother has taken a turn for the worse so she’s had to move to be closer, and the already strained relationship she has with her sister is only getting worse. Jobless and lacking any kind of support, emotionally or financially, Sophie is just about at her wits end. That all changes when she eyes the deliciously hot cowboy one night at the local fair. He is just the kind of temporary distraction she needs. Not one to normally go for a one-night stand, Sophie isn’t sure what draws her to him, only that she needs this. Anything to take her mind off of all of the negative in her life. And the denim wrapped, cowboy hat topped, tall drink of water is just that…a temporary distraction. Unfortunately with her mother getting worse, and with limited finances, Sophie finds herself staying longer than she expected in this town…and longer in her cowboy’s bed. Will she be able to leave when the time comes?
Tucker Haywood has learned a lot of lessons in his life. One of them being that he isn’t one for the long term relationship. His ex-fiancé will agree with him on that. He probably has his father to blame for his inability to love properly but looking at the happiness one of his brothers has found, he thinks instead that maybe it’s just him. Whatever the reason, he’s been happy with his one-night-love-‘em-an-leave-‘em mentality…up until he meets Sophie. What is supposed to be one night together turns into the desire for much more and Tucker soon realizes he’s in uncharted territory. And it scares him to death. He isn’t meant for this…love and commitment beyond the temporary. But every time he sees Sophie he realizes he’s only lying to himself. Tucker soon starts to wonder if he could be the man she deserves…and would she want him to be?
The hurdles Tucker and Sophie face are many…both as individuals and as a couple. They will have to face loss, unfamiliar emotions, and personal journeys that will either make or break their chances at a happy ever after together. Will they have what it takes to face what life throws at them?
I loved this book. I really, really, really, loved this book. I blame my puffy eyes today on this book. I cried, laughed, and my chest physically ached over this book. We met Tucker Haywood briefly in the first book in this series and I already knew he was a bit surly but sexy as hell. His father had royally screwed up Tucker’s emotions when he was a young boy when he decided to treat their mother like dirt and the boys just as badly. He had accepted his emotional lot in life and did the best he could…by keeping women at a distance and avoiding any kind of real relationship. He had tried it before and was proven right when he broke things off with his fiancé. Enter Sophie. This gal turns his whole world upside-down and it was magical to read. Sophie is strong with a touch of vulnerability that makes her such a real and believable character. She has so much weighing on her but never gives up. Her mother is dying, she doens’t have her father, and has a crap relationship with her only sibling, but always bucks up and keeps going. When she shows her emotion in this book it is earned and not some girly breakdown. It didn’t matter that neither Tucker nor Sophie wanted anything beyond their first night together…they had an unexplained pull that just kept getting stronger. Neither one wanted to admit there was something meaningful between them, and both of them were scared away when they contemplated the idea. There were a whole lot of tense moments between these two and I was so worried they wouldn’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. That they wouldn’t be able to admit their feelings and they would miss out on their chance at happiness together. Luckily, Elizabeth knows how to write one hell of an ending. I was sobbing my eyes out for the last few chapters. It went from sad sobbing to big ‘ol happy tears of joy. I won’t give anything away but I will tell you that the covered bridge ending is one of my favorite endings of all time.
Oh, and the smoking hot heat and chemistry between Tucker and Sophie? From the very beginning is was on freaking fire. Amazing, intense and really well written.
If you love sexy cowboys, smoking hot chemistry, and beautiful emotion, One Night With a Cowboy is the book for you. Trust me, you will love it as much as I did! Thank you, Elizabeth, for another amazing trip to the Paint River Ranch. I cannot WAIT for the next in this series!
Five Loves
Author Bio:
Elizabeth Otto grew up in a Wisconsin town the size of a postage stamp, where riding your horse to the grocery store, and skinny dipping after school were perfectly acceptable. No surprise that she writes about small communities and country boys. She’s the author of paranormal romance, and hot, emotional, contemporary romance, and has no guilt over frequently making her readers cry. When not writing, she works full-time as an Emergency Medical Technician for a rural ambulance service. Elizabeth lives with her very own country boy and their three children in, shockingly, a small Midwestern town.
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