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The Last True Cowboy: A Classic Western Romance of Passion and Untamed Love in Wyoming

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The sudden death of her brother brings Julia Weslin home to the High Horse, the family's sprawling yet cash-strapped Wyoming cattle ranch. A burnt-out member of the urban jungle, Julia is spiritually rejuvenated by the wild, still untamed land and reconnects to her home, family and heritage.

Her sister wants to sell the property to a neighbor whose lucrative offer she finds irresistible, but Julia along with her irrepressible grandmother is fiercely determined to keep the High Horse in the family and to realize her brother's dream of saving a herd of wild mustangs that neighboring ranchers want destroyed.

Blowing into her life on a south wind from Texas comes a charming drifter of a cowboy, a skilled horseman who can touch the wildest places in a horse's nature. K.C. Houston is a bright beacon of hope for Julia - and the only person capable of helping her rescue the mustangs.

372 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

27 people are currently reading
239 people want to read

About the author

Kathleen Eagle

117 books165 followers
Kathleen Eagle published her first book, a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award winner, with Silhouette Books in 1984. Since then she has published more than 40 books, including historical and contemporary, series and single title, earning her nearly every award in the industry. Her books have consistently appeared on regional and national bestseller lists, including the USA Today list and the New York Times extended bestseller list.

Born in Virginia and raised "on the road" as an Air Force brat, Ms Eagle earned degrees from Mount Holyoke College and Northern State University. She taught at Standing Rock High School in North Dakota for 17 years.

Eagle's work is often singled out by book reviewers for its exceptional quality and appeal. THE NIGHT REMEMBERS was a Chicago Tribune Notable Book. SUNRISE SONG, THE NIGHT REMEMBERS, THE LAST TRUE COWBOY, and WHAT THE HEART KNOWS made the Library Journal "Five Best Romances of the Year" list. BookPage listed WHAT THE HEART KNOWS among its "Top Six Romance Picks" for 1999. THE LAST GOOD MAN was a finalist for the 2000 Minnesota Book Award for Popular Fiction--the only Romance so honored thus far. YOU NEVER CAN TELL was named to RWA's "Top Ten Favorite Books of the Year" list. She is an RWA RITA award winner.

Kathleen Eagle lives in Minnesota with her husband, who is Lakota Sioux. The Eagles have three children and three grandchildren.

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5 stars
116 (35%)
4 stars
117 (35%)
3 stars
70 (21%)
2 stars
19 (5%)
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9 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Karla.
1,457 reviews371 followers
April 27, 2020
Re read April 2020

5 stars**

review added September 2018

I really didn’t think I could love this book anymore but I was wrong. This is my third or fourth re read and this time I felt like I savored it even more.

Kathleen Eagle is such an amazing story teller she took me on a while ride to the beautiful country side of Wyoming, the endless rolling hills of the painted mountains. “The last true cowboy” is more than a love story, it’s a story of two sisters that are distant from each other that somehow find themselves adrift along the way. It’s the story of a grieving grandmother who’s lost the most important men in her life while trying to keep her beloved ranch. It’s the story of a cowboy, the last true cowboy who thinks he’ll never find a home where he truly feels like he belongs.

This author has a heartfelt way of balancing her stories with just the right amount of emotions. I felt like I went through everything with this book. All her characters were so essential and beloved and felt so realistic nothing over dramatic. The relationship between the MC was done so realistically but beautifully too. I always find myself with a heavy heart when I finish read this book because I honestly want for it to just go and on. But I know there’s more re reads for the future till then it stays in a special place in my heart till the next time. ♥️
Profile Image for WhiskeyintheJar.
1,523 reviews695 followers
September 12, 2021
3.7 stars

“[...] At heart they’re still wild.”
“And we hold that in our hands,” Chevy said, quoting him. “That heart. That wildness.”


This was a trailed finger, Texas drawl, slow burn of a story.

K.C. Houston is our Last True Cowboy and he shows up at the Weslin Ranch looking for Ross Weslin who offered him a job training horses. When he arrives he finds out Ross just died and the three women left to run the ranch, Gramma Sally and her two granddaughters Julia and Dawn don't even know if they are going to keep the ranch or sell.

The beginning was pretty slow and I had a hard time getting into it but around 30% I was able to sink into the measured and time taken flow the author had created. The western vibe is strong in this, it's in the way they talk, walk, live, and breathe and I really felt like I was on the ranch.

There's angst and drama but all in a deliberate and timed perfectly way, the reader is enveloped in as it is revealed to us and then builds. The two sisters have a careful relationship because of past hurts, their grief over losing their brother Ross and feeling like they never had a close relationship because Ross being scared to come out definitively that he was gay to them, and then the back and forth of if they should sell the ranch.

K.C. comes into the picture with his own background of losing his mother young, on the road and working ranches starting at fifteen, becoming semi-famous for his ability to work with horses, and then losing his business when a child got hurt and they didn't have insurance. He's a lady's man but in the most caring way; he's genuine and caring. K.C. and Julia had a steady connection that was mature and developed and I can't stop thinking about some of their little moments (him sitting on the porch railing and slowly but surely drawing her in-between his legs and then putting his hat on her).

The romance is extremely slow burn but all those little moments and touches sizzle under the surface in the best way. The author took time and care with her characters and story and it shows, this was a rich world. You'll want to sink into this, need a long attention span, and maybe a porch swing and Afghan blanket wouldn't be amiss.
Profile Image for Sometime.
1,718 reviews171 followers
October 8, 2022
Reread 10/22 changing rating from 4 to 3 stars

When Julia's brother dies, she goes back to the family ranch in Wyoming. She meets KC who is the last true cowboy of the title. KC is always moving on and never stays anywhere for long. He agrees to stay at the ranch until fall to see if they can improve things. Julia doesn't want to sell but she's not sure what to do.

This book is very atmospheric. KC is a slow, rambling hero and the book felt that way a lot of the time. I had to put it down now and then because the slow pace got to be too much. There are multiple POV from Julia, KC, Sally (the grandma), and Dawn (Julia's sister). There is a neighbor who is pressuring them to sell the ranch and Dawn's estranged husband is putting a lot of pressure on her as well.

The book shines during the parts with the summer program. Julia's brother wanted to start a summer program for boys in the local reform school. With KC's reluctant help, they bring the boys to the ranch every day to have them work and train the horses. There's also a secondary plot surrounding the wild mustangs that live in the mountains. I loved these parts of the book.

The romance wasn't great for me. First of all, KC keeps talking about how he's just a rolling stone and he never settles down so we keep waiting for him to take off. Julia is uptight and doesn't feel like she deserves love so she is jealous of any woman KC talks to and avoids him a lot of the time. We're reminded ad nasuem, that KC just loves women and that he's had his fair share of them. He tells us again, and again, and again. I got so tired of hearing about it. Ugh. Enough! by the time the H/h finally get together, it's like two steps forward, one step back. They just circle each other for the majority of the book.

I did like all the secondary characters. The world the author creates is rich and full of well-developed characters and the setting of the ranch feels real. Overall, a nice western.

Safety

ORIGINAL REVIEW
Slow and rambling kinda like our hero. Great H and h, great character development. Enjoyed this book.
Profile Image for Jeri.
557 reviews1 follower
October 20, 2010
THE LAST TRUE COWBOY is about Julia Weslin, come home to the family ranch in Montana for her brother's funeral. She and her younger sister Dawn have to decide what to do about the ranch. Dawn knows what her answer will be, but Julia is not so certain of her own feelings. In comes K.C. Houston, a cowboy with an extraordinary skill with horses, come to High Horse ranch expecting a job. He ends up staying to help run the ranch, and to help Julia find a way to save a unique herd of mustangs that are an integral part of it.

Sometimes I think Kathleen Eagle writes books just for me. Characters I care about, who feel very real to me, and a love story I can believe, all wrapped up in an interesting setting and plot. And now she's done it again.

I enjoyed the story about the mustangs (okay, I'm a horse person anyway) and I loved K.C. and Julia's developing relationship, characterized by a lot of humor and tenderness. Even the secondary characters become living, breathing people when I'm reading the book, and the main characters feel like people I know. I still can't figure out how she can create characters who are both so appealing and so real, since usually a hero that good is a bit too good to be true (if you know what I mean). But who cares how she does it when it works so well?
Profile Image for Suzie Quint.
Author 12 books149 followers
October 22, 2011
I've read a couple of Kathleen Eagle's books before and they were enjoyable but they didn't have that zing for me. This one has zing. I love the hero and the heroine. They're grown-ups. There's an attraction they both know is there, but while they're cautious, there are some lovely moments when I see clearly how well they fit together. Their romance is the kind I would want for myself, and maybe that's what provides the zing.
Profile Image for Jacky Faber.
305 reviews5 followers
March 14, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It takes place in Wyoming which is one reason why I liked it so much. I love the West and I have been camping in Montana, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Colorado, Idaho, N. & S. Dakota, Utah, Arizona, plus all over Calif.

I don't usually have much sympathy for ranchers per se, but Eagle portrayed the Weslin ranch and the people who owned and ran it as folks who loved the land and loved the wild mustang horses and wanted to keep it that way. Away from developers and carving up the ranch for rich folks and ski slopes.

I also liked Julia Weslin very much. A woman I can relate to. Plus, K.C., the last true cowboy, was no slouch either. Funny I liked K.C. though because I hate country western music. I can't stand to listen to it. The twangy voices drive me crazy.

But, it was a good story, well told.
Profile Image for Tory.
217 reviews
December 22, 2019
3.5 stars....I enjoyed this book. A light, cowboy romance with a good amount of horse handling thrown in. Strong female characters, which is a plus. When I scanned through reviews of Eagle's other books, I was surprised that this one was near the bottom. I already had decided to read more of her books -- with this one being less popular, I am looking forward to the others!
Profile Image for Sarah Berry.
44 reviews
July 24, 2023
Plot 2/5
This character-focused book takes its time introducing each of the main cast in detail, addressing their individual personalities and interests while revisiting their unique and detailed pasts, before gradually incorporating romance between Julia and and her cowboy. The narrative reads very slow, steady, and often repetitive. I think the second half of the story is more entertaining than the first, but it was a slog to get there. Honestly towards the first through second quarters of the book, there was many times I hesitated in whether or not I was interested enough in finishing it as—for lack of better word—I found it rather boring, which was why I gave this such a low score. However, I'm glad that I managed to stuck it out as there's a few little treasured scenes later on in the story. One of my favorite chapters was the one where I wish they'd focused on touching, rare moments in the story like this, rather than having the Weslin women partake in the same "whether or not to sell their land" conversation over a cup of coffee a hundred times. To me, that was by far the more interesting side of the story than petty sibling rivalry and financial troubles.

Characters 4/5
Despite taking place on a ranch, the humans are definitely the focus and highlight of the story. Considering all the main characters are likeable (except maybe Dawn and her husband) as fully fleshed out and real individuals, the only thing that kept me from giving this a perfect score was the horses, which play a key role in the story. I would've like that same individuality as presented in the human characters to be portrayed in the horses. Anyone who's spent enough time around animals can tell you that even creatures of the same species will have unique personalities, but I didn't feel that here. I think adding some lovable horse characters for the reader to grow attached to would've really livened the slow-paced story up a little as opposed treating the horses more like a collective with a one-personality fits all.

Setting 3/5
I personally love rural farm and small town settings, so I really appreciate a good ranch story. While there was some wonderful imagery of the horses and the land, for the most part the story focused more heavily on the characters living on the land and how profitable it was, than the land itself. Presenting a more factual portrayal than a sensual, poetic one. While this tactic gets the job done—painting the basic image of being on a cattle ranch—I would've liked a little more detail and attention drawn towards the countryside and the surrounding wildlife of Painted Mountain (aside from the horses). Anyone's who's experienced such beautiful wonders would surely know there's a lot to be said and this story is lacking a "wow" factor.

Overall 3/5
Would recommend to anyone who loves character depth (at least the human ones) and is able to appreciate a slow burn romance flavored with a slice of life on a horse ranch. Though it wasn't quite what I expected in a ranch story, as it focuses more on the business side of running a ranch and less on the actual practice. However, if the reader can manage to stick with the story through the mundane topics of financial troubles, family ties, business deals, and reflections on the past, there are some little treasures and insights hidden within the pages.
Profile Image for Amber Dulaney.
62 reviews22 followers
February 20, 2015
This book is a western romance. It takes place on a ranch called the High Horse in Wyoming. Julia, her sister, Dawn and their grandmother, Sally have to decide if they want to sell the ranch or try to make it work. The ranch was in Julia's brother's name, but he passed away and left it to them. The ranch had been in the family for years and Julia and Sally don't like the idea of selling it.

In the process a horse trainer named K.C. Houston enters the picture. He was hired by Ross before he passed away. After he found out Ross passed away, he was ready to look for another job, but he ran into Sally at the court house. He had been charged with drinking and driving.

I enjoyed the growth of the characters and the romance between Julia and K.C.
928 reviews
July 21, 2010
My Wyoming past caught up with me and The Last True Cowboy. I have to admit, I loved the line, "If everything is relative, there's no per centage in raising hell in Wyoming. One's barely a step up from the other, and I'm sure I couldn't tell you which is which." This sums up my thouughts on Wyoming exactly. But the novel reminded me of the beauty and wildness of Wyoming and her people, and how those things are disappearing today. This is a soft romance - well-drawn characters - a memorable read.
Profile Image for Helen.
Author 7 books276 followers
January 5, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It has all the cliches, but Kathleen Eagle knows how to create real people out of those cliches. The reader cares how these people and their particular story turns out. The setting is vivid and the relationship believable. A good read, especially for lovers of Westerns and cowboys.
Profile Image for Betty Schaub.
11 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2016
Throw together two sisters and one cowboy add a few wild horses and you've the beginnings of a true western romance set in beautiful Wyoming. Julia and Dawn's brother died. But before he left this world, he put a plan in motion to get one lonesome cowboy and two estranged sisters to work together. It's a good read.
Profile Image for Terri.
2,359 reviews45 followers
February 26, 2014
I have like most of Kathleen Eagle's books. This one just missed the mark. The characters were good, the plot was good, but something just wasn't there...I got tired of reading and did some skipping during almost every chapter. Still got all the story, and the feelings.
265 reviews1 follower
August 7, 2013
It had many great elements: handsome cowboy who is somewhat "wild", many horses, sibling rivalry, feisty old woman (heh, heh), feisty old ranching hand who is love with feisty old woman (smile), and did I mention how many horses???
57 reviews3 followers
July 26, 2008
My favorite book of hers, still. Love this book.
Profile Image for Marianne.
2,341 reviews
July 9, 2010
Learned a lot about working a ranch in Wyoming, ranchers attitudes about wild mustangs. Sweet love story
4,011 reviews10 followers
November 13, 2010
This was a comfortable story with an easy depiction of a family that had grown apart. The theme of home was prevalent throughout the story. The description of Wyoming and the horses were lovely.
11 reviews
January 28, 2012
Um. Either I missed the romance or this isn't suppose to be a romance either way I have read better books.
Profile Image for Jenny.
59 reviews3 followers
May 21, 2013
If I could give this book more than 5-stars I would!
Great story, memorable adventure and inspiring life!
220 reviews
November 15, 2013
I really enjoyed this book! I'm a sucker for books about horses. Although it was a lightweight, easy read, it did have some interesting information about wild horses.
1,524 reviews2 followers
April 7, 2017
A nice little end of an era type story of the western wild horse herds and the rancher that loved them. A story of a family with a large ranch that is in danger of going under or being sold since the man who's ranch it was died and his sisters now had to contend with the place and the grandmother hires K.C. Houston a real horse whisper cowboy. A nice little romance worked in the story too.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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