Cowboy's Pride

Welcome to Covendale #1

by Morgan Blaze

The hardest second chance they'll ever take...

Cameron Thatcher runs the only ranch in the small town of Covendale. So when Sydney Davis needs a horse-drawn carriage for her dream wedding, she has to ask him. Unfortunately, he's also the boy who broke her heart six years ago and hasn't spoken to her -- or anyone else in town -- since.

Cam is shocked when the girl he used to love turns up at the Leaning T, and furious to hear she's marrying the man who's trying to take his ranch from him. He agrees to lend her the carriage on one condition: after she's married, she never comes back.

But after six years of silence, the sparks between them haven't died. As tempers flare and emotions blaze, Sydney finds herself wondering if she's been wrong about him all this time -- and Cam races to stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life.

WARNING: This is a steamy contemporary romance. If you're not into sexy times, you may want to give it a pass.

Genres: Westerns, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Cowboy Romance, Fiction, Amazon

182 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 10, 2014

Reviews

[Trish R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read AGAIN but terrible narration..

I first read this on October 15, 2015 and recently got into a book-funk so I decided to read something I’d already read, and listen to it since I found it one audible. And I enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first, ((except for the listening part.))

Everything about this book was wonderful, ((except the listening part.)) Without all the angst and misunderstandings you get in most love stories. It was about a love that was a long time coming. I just loved Cam and Sydney, but boy, what an a$$ and a nice person Cam’s mother was, both at the same time. I liked Sydney’s friend Luca, too. And Tommy and Boyd got just what they so richly deserved. I love to read about greedy-a$$ men getting what’s coming to them.

There was a little sexual tension in this book and some terrific sex scenes. There was swearing and the F-bomb was released 5 times.

I got this book through KU.

As to the narration: Pretty terrible. She couldn’t make up her mind whether she wanted to make the men sound a little manly or just said the heck with it and let them sound like girls, so 95% of the time Cam WASN’T manly sounding at all. And with Deputies Nick, Byron and Dean the narrator didn’t care at all, they all sounded like girls, all the time, as did Tommy and his father Boyd. With it being narrated in 2016 I thought it would be fine since enough readers complain about the narrators sounding to manly for females or too feminine for men and they would try harder. I guess I was wrong. One other reviewer said this, “Gwendolyn's voice is amazing and so "clean and crisp" as she changes her voice for each character. Her tones were so sexy during the steamy parts! Each character she portrays was totally believable.” Ummmm, NO! She never changed her voice for anyone and when Cam and Sydney made love it sounded just like 2 women.

[Ilonita50 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the cover kind of funny as I don't read these type of books, it's like the reader is supposed to find the guy on the cover attractive and thus would buy the book? Lame, this always makes me not choose the book, so I decide to challenge myself this year and give a try.

Apart from my thoughts on cover, I chose this as it said it will a short read and thus hoping if I wont like the book i could easily go through it. In fact the story moves pretty fast, and that's credit for the book. I did enjoy the plot, there were some gaps where I believe it could have expanded to make it more believable, because now, at the times of total despair

So what this is about? Imagine, You are about to get married to the guy who has come at the right time to let you forget the crush you had for years on a guy who only laughed of you in front of whole school and you destroyed your whole world. Now the times are different and you are planning the most amazing weddings in your life, there are odds which drives you nuts about your fiance, but you try to ignore them...then you want the weddings to be amazing and you need the only carriage there is in town, and the owner is the same man who once laughed about you. But you have grown up and head to the ranch to ask for the deal..Its then when fate plays its part and lets the reader actually know the other side of the story...the guy have had the crush on the same girl for years and its mote complex as she is getting married to the guy who is the biggest pig in the whole world...its funny and while reading me, as a reader gets the idea it will work out for them both, eventually something is going to happen in the plot and I only need to read through.

I consider these books good when you are about to wait somewhere, either on bus and need something short to read.

[McGee Magoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, quick read. A little suspense, a little sexy-time, a moody cowboy...I liked it.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sydney Davis had a major crush in high school...until she asked him to a dance and he laughed at her! She’s despised him ever since. Now grown up and about to be married to the town ‘prince’, Sydney has to swallow her pride to ask Cam to rent his carriage for her wedding. The encounter didn’t go that well...at least Sydney will get her carriage. That said, Sydney felt a spark after that encounter, well several more encounters...that can’t be right!
Cam Thatcher has been struggling to keep the family ranch ever since his father passed away a couple of years ago and his mother left him alone. Now, with imminent foreclosure, he’s fighting off a wolf...the town’s local business man and bully...incidentally Sydney’s soon-to-be father-in-law. With Boyd Lowell and his son, Tommy, spreading rumors, Cam has become the town pariah. Will he stand by and watch the girl he’s always loved make the biggest mistake?
This is a sweet story of a misunderstood cowboy and the one who got away...and some drama with a small town bully! Great narration by this new-to-me narrator. Looking forward to the next book in this series!
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Alex (Bri's Book Nook) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sydney has been in love with Cam ever since they snuck off together to talk for hours when she was on a sixth grade field trip to his father’s farm. However, when she asked him out to Junior prom, he simply laughed at her, causing the whole cafeteria to laugh, embarrassing her. For the past 6 years after that, she has avoided him and ignored him. However, now, she is going to be married to a man named Tommy, and she wanted the carriage that Cam and her sat in during the field trip to the farm. When she confronts him, for some reason, he is upset when he hears who she is marrying, but he agrees to fix the carriage. Since she is now spending more time around the ranch, she is learning the truth about cam, and about her fiancee.

Y’all already know what’s about to happen. It’s a cliche story. But I actually enjoyed this cliche. It’s been awhile, but I found that I liked this a lot more than the normal INSTALOVE+AMAZING SEX=STORY plotline. I found both characters to be likeable, the story was sweet, and it was just simply written in a style I enjoyed. The only thing that’s keeping it from getting a 5/5 is the end, where I felt that there was an unnecessary “plot twist”, but it was still a standalone, and I didn’t feel as if at the end of the story that everything just fell apart.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful Read

I just adored this book. It took 6 years but they finally found a way thru the muck to find their true destinies in each other. What Sydney thought of as ridicule changed her life, but it was Cams life that really changed that day and his reclusive life just became normal. The characters were engaging the storyline was captivating.

[Jocelyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Morgan Blaze's book. This is the first book in the Welcome to Covendale Series, a standalone story. Sydney and Cam's story is a sweet second chance to love. The storyline is filled with secrets, a little suspense, and twists and turns. The secondary characters are great. Gwendolyn Druyor did a great job with the narration. I enjoyed it.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

What a beautiful love story! I love everything about this book. It has love, rivalries, great characters, and a lot of romance. Enjoyed it so much!

[Pat Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free Ebook

She fell in love with him in fourth grade, but he laughed at her asking him to the prom. Life is upside down for both for years but they find one another in the end.

[Kl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story

[Mandy Menasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book to read

[Jessie Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

good story

Tommy and his father turning out ‘bad’ gave the storyline a good edge. Well written and smooth. HEA for Cam and Sydney. Too bad the other books are not available.

[Kathleen Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

This was a fantastic read. I couldn't put it down. What a wonderful.book Morgan wrote. I highly recommend it. Thank you so much Morgan Blaze.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read

Misunderstandings, cruelness, unrequited love. I was in love with Cam in the first 2 chapters. Sydney was not what I was expecting, planning a wedding & a huge move. So glad Tommy made so many mistakes, he was a stupid little punk. I really did like Luka & Nick. Future arories b sound great too.

[Jacqueline Driggers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, enjoyable read.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reading

A hardworking life with many disappointments before the happily ever after. Sydney met Cam young and naive she feel in love. The humiliation of high school drove a wedge which was knocked out when they grew up good reading

[ysar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sidney's still carrying around the pain of being laughed at and humiliated by Cam when he was the high school it-boy and she was the overlooked junior. Now that she's getting married to the mayor's son, though, she trying to plan the perfect wedding. And it won't be perfect without a horse-drawn carriage, but the only one in town is owned by none other than the guy she'd rather forget.

Judging Covers: I can't say I'm a fan of this one. It's a little on the kitschy side, if you ask me, and I almost passed it up, immediately assuming it was just another one of the all too prevalent badly written and rushed to publish novellas that plague Amazon. But since I was in the mood for something countrified, I gave the synopsis a read and figured at the very least, I could bail if it sucked. Which it didn't.

The Verdict: When I sit down and try to describe this one, I find myself listing out a bunch of romance novel cliches, but it didn't feel that way at all when I was reading Sydney and Cam's story.

Sydney had the biggest crush on Cam when she was younger, but he laughed in her face the one time she asked him out, and she's avoided him ever since. Fortunately, he's not difficult to dodge, since he's practically turned into a hermit in the years since then. The popularity he enjoyed when they were young has long since passed, and it seems he now has a reputation as the town's angry loner, eager to fight or maybe even shoot.

Cam hasn't had it easy, and that's putting it lightly. His father died toward the end of his senior year, and life hasn't been the same since. The additional hardships he's faced are the kind that would have destroyed a lesser man, but he's endured, even if it meant relying on no one but himself. At first he's just about impossible to like, even though there's something definitely intriguing about him. But when his full story comes out, his behavior is not only understandable but practically justified.

The relationship between these two moves pretty quickly, in part because at 182 pages, Cowboy's Pride is about half the length of your standard romance novel. But it's also nice to read a story in which the characters don't go back and forth for an interminable length of time before finally coming to their senses and working things out. That's not to say there's no drama — it's quite the opposite, in fact — but it moves at a swift pace, so there's no chance to get bored.

The only real drawback, I would say, is that when it does comes to an end, it wraps up and is done before you even realize it. Just a few more pages, a little more insight into the future, would have made a big difference. Still, it's a really fun, sweet read, and while it's only the first of several in the series, it's part of the Kindle Unlimited program, making it super-affordable to read them all.

[Jen_C · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

Fairly good story. Cam seems like a total jerk at the start. Cam raised an eyebrow. “Still want it? I’ll rent it to you cheap.” Now she really was going to cry. Not just about the carriage, but the way he was rubbing it in—like he hadn’t hurt her enough six years ago and wanted to make sure he finished the job. She backed away, shaking her head and unable to utter a word. Then she turned to leave. She never should’ve come here in the first place.

I liked Syd's friend Luka -
“I don’t know, Luka. I think people might have the wrong idea about him.”
“Sure. He’s not really a world-class douchebag, he just plays one on TV.”

Eventually we find out why Cam acted that way, but his reaction is convoluted to me -
“I thought I’d die having to touch you, knowing…” He looked back at her. “That you weren’t mine.”
“You…wanted me?”
“I’ve always wanted you, Sydney.” His eyes burned with the truth of it. “Hell, even back in school. You asked me to that dance, but Dad was already so sick I barely had time to make my classes. I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to graduate. There was work to do here, and my mother wasn’t any help.” His hands clenched into fists. “You don’t know how bad I wanted to say yes. But there was no way I could, and the whole thing hit me just right…”
“You weren’t laughing at me,” she whispered.
“No. I was laughing at myself, at the whole damned situation. The bullshit irony of it all. I could see I’d hurt you, and that only made it worse. I couldn’t stop.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a rueful smirk. “I was laughing because it figured.

Fav quotes:
“Yesterday I had nothing,” he said. “But today I have everything.”
She smiled. “Your ranch.”
“Yes, the ranch. The bike, whenever I want to get it. A future without broken bones.” He stepped closer to her and touched her face. “But all that doesn’t mean a damned thing. It never did, without you.”

The way he made her feel was beyond words—she never knew a body could contain this much sensation and still draw breath. When he drew back, she smiled and murmured, “I missed you, too.”

“If you really want ambiance, I could open a can of beans and stick a spoon in it for you,” he said with a smirk.

Cam took her hand gently. “The first day we ever talked, the day you came out to the ranch on a field trip, I said something to you when you left. Do you remember?” She nodded, unable to speak as tears slipped from her eyes. “I said you were worth it. You still are.” He smiled and opened his hand. In it was a slim, elegant engagement ring with a small single diamond, sparkling in the light of the street lamps. “I loved you that day, and every day since. I’d like to love you for the rest of my life, if you’ll have me.” He drew a shaking breath. “Sydney Davis, will you marry me?”
“Yes.” Her voice broke on the word, and she reached out to touch his face. “I love you,” she said. “I’ve always loved you. And I always will.”

[Donna Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sydney Davis was teased a lot in school because she didn't belong to the in crowd. Cameron Thatcher was a year ahead of her in school. She wanted to ask him to junior prom but he laughed at her. She was so embarassed she avoided him for the next few years. She is now grown and about to marry a highly successful man Tommy Lowell. After marriage they are moving to New York. She can't believe the change in Cam when she sees him. She goes to his ranch to hire a carriage for her wedding. Little does she know Cam and Tommy are no longer friends and they seem to hate each other. Cam has always loved Sydney even though she doesn't know it. Tommy is a cheater and Cam tells Sydney who doesn't believe it. What will happen next will surprise you as you read this story.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the last book I read, which was pretty unpolished and frustrating, this read was a real pleasure! It felt like a pretty short read but it was still satisfying - it was great to see the bad guys get what was coming to them, and the good guys have a nice ending.

Cam was a really sexy hero and I very much enjoyed reading about him! The whole story had a lightness to it as well, with the comical yet heartrending scene that started the story off - from back in high school when Sydney was publicly humiliated in the worst way. That shouldn't be funny but the way I read it, it was a series of unfortunate events that culminated into the worst day of her life to date.

From having read this as my first Morgan Blaze story, I'd definitely be happy to read more by this author!

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to a series, I really enjoyed the story.

Sydney is due to be married and asks the reclusive Cam if she could borrow his carriage for the wedding. Sydney's fiancé is horrified that she has been talking to Cam, he claims to be worried about her safety but could there be more to the story? Sydney's life is thrown into a spin but will anyone come to her rescue?

I can't wait to read more in this series, I've already bought the next one!

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet high school crush story

Sydney has always loved Cam. So in high school when she asked him out to the junior prom and he laughed she was crushed. Later she discovered why he was laughing and it wasn't what she was thinking. She is set to marry Tommy the man wanting to take Cam's farm and Cam finds Tommy in a compromising position with a blonde. His decision to tell Sydney could go o e way or the other, but he had to take the chance.

[Nancy Luebke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this contempary romance and I've given it a 4.5* rating. This is not suitable for under the 18 group, because of sexual content. While I had to start and stop a lot on this kindle version, it took a little to get into it. There were characters to love and dislike in this story. I found myself wanting to give a lecture to the heroine at one point, but she finally figured it out. It did have an interesting ending that I really enjoyed. Nice job and interesting plot.

[Whispers From · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

Sydney has had a crush on Cam for years. But when she asked him to the prom and started laughing, she moves on. Now she's getting married and wants a horse drawn carriage. The only one with one is Cam. Cam is the town hermit and is about to lose his ranch to Sydney's fiance family. Can he keep his home and the girl or will he lose them both?
Cowboys. Sex. And a second chance at love.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cowboy's Pride

This author can really put the contempt in contemporary. When I started this story, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it. The hero (cowboy) came across as a bit of an ass. As the story progressed I got a better understanding of him, and he became the hero I was hoping for. I like this story and look forward to reading more about Clovendale.

[Joyce Clatterbuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Small town happenings with a lot of anger.

This book was interesting to the point of being into the past progressing to the future. When all is said and done the truth comes out and the towns bad guy turned out to be the best. He had to prove himself over and over but in the end the town applauded him for what he he carried on his shoulders for many years.

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I enjoyed reading this book. I couldn't put it down. The way the story starts and then goes forward is wonderfully written. It is like a fairytale in the beginning then of course there is some growing pains they have to go through but it is a romantically challenged story that is worthwhile to read!!!!!

[Bharti · Rating 4 out of 5]

An american small town story which is a Good mix of sweet, innocent, drama and guts. Just your everyday next door love story that is only if you are looking closely. Read this one and loose yourself in fun and some pretty sweet drama.

[Lenna Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cowboy, old flames+ justice

I have only read a few cowboy trance but this was by far the best one yet. Grab my attention from the beginning and still didn't let go. Can't wait read more.