Slow Burn Cowboy

Copper Ridge #7

by Maisey Yates

In Copper Ridge, Oregon, a cowboy's best friend might turn out to be the woman of his dreams…

If Finn Donnelly makes a plan, he sticks to it. After his brothers left Copper Ridge, Finn stayed behind, determined to keep their ranch going by himself. And when he realized his feelings for Lane Jensen were more than platonic, he shoved that inconvenient desire away. It was easy…until it wasn't. Suddenly his brothers are coming home to claim their share of the property. And Lane is no longer just in his fantasies. She's in his arms, and their friendship is on the line…

He's been her buddy, her handyman, her rock. But until that one breathtaking kiss, Lane somehow overlooked the most important thing about Finn Donnelly—he's all man. They're right together, no matter how much his volatile past has bruised him. Finn wants to hold Lane's body, but he doesn't want to hold her heart. But Lane is falling fast and now she's got a plan of her own…to show Finn there's nothing hotter than friendship turned to slow-burning love.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Westerns, Friends To Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Cowboy Romance

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 18, 2017

About the author

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit. In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book.

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard.

She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow Burn Cowboy by Maisey Yates is a 2017 HQN publication.

Will Finn and Lane be able to meet halfway to make their relationship work or will one have to move on without the other?

I enjoyed watching Finn and Lane work through their thorny issues and realize the depth of their feelings for each other and the full potential of their relationship. The emotional level is deep, but the banter is mostly light, which made the book well rounded and balanced.

If you are looking for a mature, but fun and sensual contemporary western romance, ‘Slow Burn Cowboy’ should satisfy your craving.

This review is the copyrighted property of Night Owl Reviews. To read the full review, click on this link:

https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Re...

[♥ℳelody · Rating 1 out of 5]

I skimmed the last 15% of this. I never skim endings so that's how little I cared for this. Honestly this was such a chore to get through, I just wanted it over with.

3 for 3 now. I don't know what's going on but this is the third consecutive Copper Ridge (full length) book I didn't enjoy. I love Maisey Yates's writing. I love her work. Her writing is so fluid and smart. She writes realistic flawed characters with depth and grit. But maybe because the couple and story wasn't working for me here the flaws stood out more. Same issues I had with Tough Luck Hero and Last Chance Rebel happened here. This was too overwrought and dramatic.

But there was always the chance that what she had to say would break things even more. All that thinking about rebuilding. And now here she was. But then, it was entirely possible that this was new construction. That the old building, the one that housed their friendship, was condemned. Had nothing to do with what they had now. What they would have in the future. Suddenly, it all seemed black, blank. She couldn’t see back; she couldn’t see forward. She was far too different from whom she’d been. And so was he. Well, no. He wasn’t different. That was the problem.

And also so contradictory and confusing:

That whole thing with Rebecca and Finn—as much nothing as it was—was suddenly at the forefront of her mind. But, more than that was the discussion they’d had after. When Rebecca had grilled her on whether or not she and Finn were just friends and Lane had insisted they were. It made her feel horrifically transparent, and also a little bit like a liar. Even though at the time, even under cruel and unusual forms of torture, she would have sworn that she and Finn were only friends. She hadn’t meant to lie to Rebecca. She really hadn’t. Or maybe she had. Because she had certainly been lying to herself. So all the lies were certainly born of self-protection. And were maybe not entirely unintentional as far as her subconscious went.

This reminded me a lot of Jill Shalvis’s Always on My Mind. Same plot, same pattern, best friends attracted to each other but for reasons that aren’t well grounded for why they can’t be together both parties dig their heels in, deny deny deny and go back and forth and in circles (and reverse) for 90% of the story.


I was totally expecting to come on here and rip the heroine Lane to shreds. With her melodramatic manic "how can you do this to meeeee! I'm emotionally vulnerable" meltdowns you are tempted repeatedly to throw this book out a window. But surprisingly she got her act together at the halfway mark. I still didn't care for her but she no longer made my lip curl. As for the hero Finn, same can't be said for him unfortunately. This was such a replica of Rebecca's book, where the first half the heroine is so dramatic and up in her own head and in extreme denial mode then the second half it's the hero's turn to be the bullheaded drama queen. That role reversal happened here too and I'm beginning to suspect is a Maisey Yates staple. And of course the quick jump from "I won't ever get married. Everyone I love leaves. I don't understand what love is" bullshit to "Omergawd I love you. Let's get married" is so clunky and unrealistic. There is no natural progression. And a lot of that had to do with the heavy handed repetitive dialogue. When you constantly have your characters going in circles and contradicting themselves and in their own heads 90% of the time there is little room for actual growth and movement forward. At least that's what it felt like here. Both hero and heroine are always talking in circles and repeating themselves nonstop and mentally working themselves up to such an extreme degree it makes the story feel like a soggy wet towel. Or an overly frothy beverage where all you get is foam. Sorry....it seems I can't stop today with the awful analogies. 🙈😅 Or is it similes? Whatevs.

The thing that really tripped me up is I read this on my kindle and it includes a novella at the end which I totally forgot about, so when you have your leads blurting out ILYs and your kindle says you are at the 60% mark, you are expecting to get more or something big to happen next, right? Wrong. Nothing happened but a rushed resolution cause tada!....a novella awaits you. Which made the ending fall very short. It just capped everything off as unsatisfying as a whole.

And as for the leads, everything about Lane and Finn felt incredibly forced and just off. It felt very hamfisted. Nothing felt real about these two, individually and together as a couple. From their flat chemistry to their 10 year long friendship (that we are reminded about on every page) to Finn being attracted to her, to Lane not realizing her BFF is a hot man until 10 years later and acting weird about it. Also the whole "weird" factor was so overdone and gave the heroine an obnoxious immature tone I didn't care for. Lane to me kept coming off like an awkward hormonal teenager discovering her first crush. You are attracted to your hot best friend. OMG!😱 So WEIRD. Oh nooos! How could this have happened? The sky is falling!


Grow the fuck up and deal with it. Jesus.

And Finn was in permanent state of asshole mode through majority of the story which did him no favors. I mean...what's the point? There's being an asshole and being sorry and there's being an asshole and not doing shit about it. Finn is the latter. He's very self-aware of being a moody jerk, that's a typical Yates character trait, but he does nothing to change it. Which is the same issue I had with Gage. The no follow through made him such a one-note weak hero IMO. Yates did a very poor job of fleshing this character out or letting him grow. And I'm sorry but if you got handed an unfair inheritance deal, you have your couple of days of kicking rocks and raging then you man up and try dealing with it. Finn's grandfather left the ranch to all 4 of his grandsons, Finn being the only one who has worked and lived on the ranch for the past 10 years, so he resents this surprising move and wants ownership of the ranch. I understood his sense of feeling wronged. But him constantly thinking the worst of his estranged 3 brothers who so clearly just want a stable home base made him come off like the worst kind of immature douchehole. Having to sit through him constantly throwing petty sneering jabs at them, stomping around and growling cause grandpa is so unfair! and referring to his brothers as "terminal illnesses" was insufferable to say the least. Ugh. Grow up Finn.

See that's the second time I've said grow up in this review. See the pattern here?

So overall this clearly didn't work for me. My original rating was 2 stars but as I sat down to review this I realized there was literally *nothing* I enjoyed about this. I think my gut instinct was to give the extra star since it's an author I love and her writing is very strong, but here even the writing didn't really draw me in unfortunately. So 1 sad star it is. 😔 And I just bought Alex's book and I'll be honest I'm not rushing to pick it up right now, I'm having serious buyers remorse. At this point I hate to say this but the redundancy of that last 3 books makes me hold off buying any Copper Ridge books in the future. I'd much rather wait on library copies right now. 😕

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something just off about the pacing and balance of this. It's Maisey Yates, so it's fluently written, but I had problems with both the plot strands.

Finn has worked his fingers to the bone on his grandfather's farm, but on his death, Finn inherits only a quarter of it, and needs to accommodate himself to his three absent brothers returning and demanding their share. I burned with rage on Finn's behalf: his brothers had no sympathy or understanding of his position, and the whole plot point eventually dissipated in a mushy "oh, but we are all family: we can all work together" gooiness. Didn't work for me - I wanted the fundamental unfairness to be righted and it wasn't.

The other main strand is Finn& Lane moving from besties to lovers. I've never been a big fan of "I mustn't touch her, for she is my best friend's little sister", and Finn's holding back for ten years wasn't really convincing me of his undying love. Lane (who has, OK, a sad back-story, which isn't revealed for a bit) comes across as a prissy bitch a bit too much as they renegotiate their relationship.

Altogether, I felt depressed more than anything else reading this. Not a lot of fun, romance or wit. There were some interesting passages about cheese, though, which definitely made me want to go to Oregon. So that was nice.

[Stacee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I always enjoy books in this series, so I just request when I see Maisey's name.

I liked Lane and Finn. She's snarky and he's stoic and their friendship works. Everything was a bit more complicated with Finn's brothers showing up, but I liked the dynamic. Oh and their chemistry is palpable.

I did enjoy the BFF to more; honestly, it's one of my favorite tropes. In this instance, the drama and the arguments did get a bit repetitive. Thankfully, the time between the inevitable break up and grand gesture didn't last too long.

As always, it was another enjoyable piece of sorbet. I just wish it would have been a bit more fluffy.

**Huge thanks to Harlequin Books and NetGalley for providing the arc free of charge**

[Anna's Herding Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for herding cats & burning soup.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pEcT4R

Oh.My.Word. These two were a handful! Best friends to lovers and one helluva awkward growly leap to get from just hanging out to naked fun. Whew! Slow Burn Cowboy was quite the ride.

The Gist
Alright so Lane and Finn have been best friends since ever. They've totally got a flow going where he takes care of all her handyman issues and she feeds him-- but life has a way of fucking with ya and both of them are feeling that pretty damn hard--a secret from Lane's past is sending her in a tailspin and Finn's not doing much better after his granddad died and divided up the farm between Finn and his estranged brothers. So things are spiraling and Finn's control kinda snaps. He's been wanting Lane something fierce for a decade and apparently that's the bit he just can't keep under control anymore. He's ready jump in cock first...consequences be damned.

Things I Loved

Okay. So. Yes. Finn and Lane. I enjoyed them. I wanted to hug away their pain. And wanted to shake them, too. They were head strong and stubborn but sweet and endearing, as well.

Changing the dynamic in their friendship really sent them both for one helluva loop and they didn't always handle it well. It was pretty hilarious sometimes and man real frustrating other times. For them, too.

I loved their shared history. How they were together, that they knew what the other needed most of the time, took care of each other, teased, etc. They're best friends and it showed. But at the same time there were new revelations and they were realizing that they'd both kept some things private all these years.Their journey was definitely rocky. But so worth it.

They're both hard workers, too. He works a dairy farm and she runs a town specialty store. Made for some funny moments.

"When I said yes, it's because I wanted you. Really. It wasn't because I wanted your help, it wasn't because I wanted your milk in my store--which right about now sounds like an inescapable euphemism."

"That's disgusting," he said.

"Yeah, you knew what you were getting into." She tried to keep her tone light, but she felt like she couldn't breathe.

What Made Me Growl

Oh yes. I had a growl. I was really ticked at Finn's brothers and Lane over something. And on Finn's side at being pissed at his granddad for willing the dairy farm Finn had spent his whole life helping build to his estranged brothers and Finn equally. What a slap in the face. Everything he's worked for suddenly now belongs to three other people who haven't been around for a decade or cared at all about the farm. Who now live in his house, expect to take part in the business, and never acknowledge that he got the shaft over it. It's going to be hard for me when it comes to their books, I think. If they could have just once acknowledged that he had a right to be hurt over it. Grr! But no they were all 'eh we're here and you can't do anything about it so get the fuck over it'. Yeah. It got my back up. lol

But, overall, I had a good time with Slow Burn Cowboy and watching Lane and Finn finally figure out that they were meant to be more than simply best friends. Yates has a way of twisting you up in the best way and really making you feel for her characters.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the town of Copper Ridge and with this book we meet the entire Donnelly family, or at least the brothers. Finn is our hero, but his three half-brothers come back to his ranch after their grandfather dies and leaves each man a quarter interest. Finn has put his entire life into this ranch and hasn't seen his brothers for many years. He assumes his brothers will want to be bought out, and be back on their way, which is totally fine with him as he wants the ranch all to himself.

His blood, sweat and tears were there. Soaked into the ground, the wood and basically every other damn surface in the place. Like the rest of his brothers he had spent summers here as a kid. Unlike them, when he was sixteen he had decided that he was here to stay. Finn had never felt anything quite like the peace that came from working his body boneless out in the field.

But his brothers have other plans. One is fresh out of the army, one has a troubled teenage daughter, and one just wants to cause trouble - and they all want to move in and live at the ranch. I could spend the entire review talking about them because I enjoyed them so much but I'll save it for each of their own books.

Finn is a rancher, a very sexy rancher who has a best friend named Lane. They complete one another on so many levels. He helps her around her house if she has a problem, and she gives him food (she has a passion for cooking) and generally keeps him happy on a daily basis. They are besties and that is the way it has always been.

Lane owns a specialty grocery store in the town and really wants to expand it to include more local items. She starts to put the pressure on Finn and his dairy ranch to start producing organic cheese and milk, knowing she has the clientele for it - but he won't hear of it. He thinks his money is better spent in big dairy contracts. When his brothers all come back to the ranch, they seem to each have an opinion, giving Finn an extended headache. As they invade his house and his quiet, Finn finds himself spending more time at Lane's to get away from the chaos. And one night their friendship turns into more. But then there is resentment, and questions, and doubt and basically they are both scared about losing their friendship should their romance turn sour. It's well done and realistic.

Finn is so sexy with his scruffy face and hard abs. He wears a Stetson and is grumpy - just how I like my romance hero. His banter with Lane is fun - they are both grumpy at times and they know each other so well they know just how to push each other's buttons.

"It's probably just a fuse, and it's probably just going to take me a minute."

"I told you I flipped the switches," she said, sounding grumpy.

"I know you did," he said.

"You think I flipped the switches wrong," she said accusatory.

"I'm sure you're a great switch flipper," he responded, deadpan, as he continued to the fuse box.

Finn is the one to push for the relationship to start, and Lane is the one to fight for it in the end. They both had crappy childhoods and some drama, and once they get it all in the open and are there to support each other, their relationship gets stronger.

As I said above, Finn's brothers really add a lot to this story, as well as Lane's girlfriends. I really enjoyed their inclusion and I can't wait to get more from this family. A super sexy, best friends to lovers story that worked very well for me.

Grade: B+

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

Slow Burn Cowboy is the latest book in Maisey Yates' Copper Ridge universe; it is the first of The Donnellys -- four half brothers: Cain, Finn, Alex, and Liam, who get together again after their grandfather died and left equal share the ranch to all of them. Even though Finn is the only one staying and taking care of the ranch while the rest of the brothers build their lives somewhere else.

Lane is Finn's best friend for the past decade. He has been pressing his feeling for Lane because he doesn't want to ruin their friendship. But with his brothers coming to stay indefinitely, Finn feels like his life is changing and he cannot control it. Then suddenly his feeling for Lane is getting stronger more than ever...


I do love friends-to-lovers theme ... BUT there is a downside to it, unfortunately. The arguments can be really repetitive and frustrating. And that was what I felt here. I liked the beginning just fine. I could get why Finn is upset when his half brothers are all coming down to the ranch, taking what they consider as legally theirs when they never help Finn with the ranch all these years. I'm probably going to be quite bitter too.

I also liked that Finn was the one making the first move. Usually when the heroine is the hero's friend's younger sister, he will be the one dragging his feet. Not here though.

It is Lane that I was having trouble to connect. Yes, Lane had a past, but I failed to see why it made her reacted the way she did. I couldn't understand her arguments when she pushed Finn away after he made the first move. I just didn't get it. I thought Lane's past wasn't 100% her fault (Lane got pregnant when she was sixteen and then gave the baby for adoption)

Lane has been Finn's friend for so long, she knows him well, does she really think that Finn will blame her? Does she think that Finn is not good enough for a steady relationship? I guess, I thought Lane was being a bit unreasonable. When Finn challenges Lane, that she seems to only needs Finn to do things like changing the light-bulbs, or getting rid of a mouse, simply because he's a man, I could totally see Finn's point.

Simply put, Lane frustrated me because her reasons are not convincing enough for the hot and cold attitude she put on Finn. And THAT made the book less enjoyable for me.

We did have a a turn-around with Lane suddenly being the one wanting more and Finn that says he can't -- and for me this also didn't feel convincing with how both characters act with each other prior to that particular moment.

The epilogue is sweet though :)

While this isn't my favorite of the series, I'm still quite intrigued with the next story. It will be about the oldest brother Cain, a single father with a teenage daughter and Alison, Lane's good friend who is previously in an abusive relationship. I think that has potential, right?





The ARC is provided by the publisher for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel had everything that I should love: 1) It's set in Oregon! Hey, I'm an Oregonian; I have some pride. 2) There is a cowboy who inexplicably wears a cowboy hat on a dairy farm. (This literally made me laugh out loud multiple times. That hat would FLY OFF on the Oregon Coast, Maisey!)

However, I hated it.

Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. This review will contain spoilers.

I hated it because:
1) These characters literally. never. shut. up. The dialogue goes on FOREVER.
2) There are so many characters. So many. I get that it is a series of a series of a series so like everyone in down is gonna have a book about them eventually. But dear god. So many characters. brothers and kids and friends and etc etc. And oh my god.
3) Did I mention these two idiots never stop talking?
4) It's so melodramatic. Everything is a fight! Everything is DRAMA! The back stories are TRAGIC!

Let's work through this.

We open the novel meeting Finn, who runs a dairy farm. His grandpa just died and he's like sad, but not sad enough to not check out Lane's ass. Because she's got a nice ass, y'all. There is a really gross, multiple paragraph explanation of how he's always wanted to bang Lane, but can't. So that's nice that that's how he thinks of his best friend. Not objectifying or gross at all! Lane has brought him casseroles (EYE ROLL) to feed him and his brothers. Finn is PISSED that his grandpa left the farm to not just Finn, but his brothers as well--which like, that's how wills work, Finn. I don't know how to explain this to you, but you're gonna owe a shit ton of taxes on that 1/4 of a farm, FYI. Anyway, as the brothers show up and Finn sulks, Lane leaves.

Lane owns 1) a cute, adorable little cottage, like the nymph sprite she is, and 2) a shop in the town that sells specialty foods. We're supposed to believe that this is somehow profitable, but we've all been in those specialty food shops in tourist-y areas. You know that don't last long. Everyone knows this. But ok, let's suspend disbelief and act like Copper Ridge is like magical or whatever.

Lane has her own very tragic back story, of course, that involves someone who is now a SENATOR. Spoiler alert: she had a baby when she was a teenager. Once she gave birth, the baby was put up for adoption and she moved to Oregon to live with her brother. That's like, whatever. It sucks, but it's not like... the worst? I mean, who am I to judge but that's kind of a lame TRAGIC back story.

On the opposite side, Finn has super sadness because his dad was a deadbeat and had 4 children with three different women and cared about exactly none of them. Dude, it happens! Finn's mom also sounds like a real winner and Finn is terrified of rejection and abandonment. Aw, what a poor wittle cowboy.

Here's another spoiler: Lane and Finn to end up together. But not after they literally suffocate themselves TALKING NONSTOP. ENDLESSLY. FOR PAGES. Dear god, Maisey Yates, chill out on the dialogue! No one talks like this! Lane was especially annoying because she talked in circles; it was supposed to be this cute quirk, like omg guys she's rammmmmbles she's so RANDOM and QUIRKY. No, it's annoying as shit. No one does that. She never said anything straight or normally; she told jokes, she danced around it, she gave MONOLOGUES. No wonder Finn was like, "girl, STFU" all the time because DEAR GOD.

Not that Finn was any better! This stoic cowboy would occasionally turn into a therapist and psychoanalyze Lane. Like, cool, I'm glad we're suddenly in a Intro to Psych 101 class with the kid who thinks he is an expert already. (If you choose to read this book, which, bless, please note the scene where Finn literally f***s the sadness out of Lane. ON A DOCK. ON A PUBLIC LAKE. ON WHICH THERE ARE OTHER HOUSES. This is never mentioned, but I literally started laughing thinking about it. Just one of Lane's neighbors looking out their kitchen window like "WTF?")

It's absolutely not the worst book you can read. If the dialogue was cut in half, it would be infinitely better. I've not read any of Yates' books before, but I suspect she's one of those authors where her characters have to have ~TRAGIC back stories to explain their 90210 dramaaaaaa. I guess to me that's just annoying because it's not true to life; not every relationship is dramatic and to make it so is unrealistic and frankly, boring.

[Maria Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can also be found at All About Romance: http://allaboutromance.com/book-revie...

The Copper Ridge series by Maisey Yates is at book seven now, but it’s been kept fresh by featuring different families who live in this rural area of Oregon. Slow Burn Cowboy is the first of four stories about the Donnelly brothers. Unfortunately the title turns out to be a little too apt – it’s not just a slow burn romance, it’s a slow moving story, with excessive dialogue and internal musings; the author could easily have cut about a third of theose musings and ramblings and ended up with essentially the same book. While the complications involved in transitioning from a friends to lovers relationship are approached realistically, a heavier hand at the editing table would have made the story more enjoyable.

Finn Donnelly has worked for several years on his grandfather’s dairy farm, the Laughing Irish. Coming from a fractured family, with a father whose infidelities resulted in three half-brothers with whom he is not close, the farm has been Finn’s bedrock. The death of his grandfather, and subsequent revelation that he and his brothers are now equal partners in the farm is a blow to his ego, as he had assumed he’d have sole responsibility for the Laughing Irish and its future. Even worse, his three brothers – Cain, Alex and Liam – have returned to Copper Ridge for their own reasons and don’t appear to be interested in Finn’s plans to buy them out. They want to claim their heritage and work the farm, too. The saving grace to Finn’s sanity is his best friend Lane.

Lane moved to Copper Ridge with her brother Mark when she was seventeen, for reasons she’s never shared with anyone. When Mark became friends with Finn, she did as well, though the difference in their ages made a romantic relationship out of the question at the time. In fact, they both got very good at ignoring any possible development in that regard and have stuck to being platonic best friends for the past ten years. Finn has wanted Lane for a long time, but he’s also carefully kept those feelings to himself, unsure of what Lane would do if he made his interest clear. Although lately, he’s sensed that Lane has started looking at him differently. The stress of his family situation combined with his frustration over the feelings he’s buried for her finally push him to act. Lane is shocked at Finn’s advances, mostly because she is also undergoing some personal turmoil of her own. Once the desire is out there though, there is no going back. They both have hesitations when it comes to committed relationships, and a friends with benefits arrangement at first seems to work for them both. But will it lead to a real future together or shatter the friendship they’ve relied on for so long?

I love a good slow burn romance, where the sexual tension is thick and the heated glances, and innocent (but sizzling!) touches eventually lead to more. But I didn’t feel that here. Finn may have been secretly lusting after his best friend for years but he’s kept it so hidden that Lane never noticed a thing. Lane’s feelings about men are complicated by a failed teenaged relationship. It’s definitely not helped that her boyfriend from high school is now a successful politician, married with children, whom she sees on television. It makes her feel rather unsuccessful as the owner of a small specialty foods shop with dreams that aren’t getting off the ground. She carries a lot of guilt and resentment with her that has made it difficult to engage in any kind of meaningful relationship with another man – except for Finn. But even then, she’s always kept him at arm’s length, relying on him for practical things but not emotional and physical intimacy.

Finn forces her hand and makes her confront the past head on. Even now, as she’s starting to see him in a new light, her reaction is more annoyance and concern than desire. She actively avoids situations that make her uncomfortable, and now that she’s feeling that way around Finn, she literally runs away from him on more than one occasion. Eventually they do end up in bed together, and the love scenes are very sexy, but it sure takes a lot of effort to get there. They both have a constant internal monologue of circular arguments for why they should or shouldn’t change the status quo that gets wearing on the reader. Neither character takes the transition from friends to lovers lightly. A good portion of the story feels repetitive and this has the effect of dragging the reader along, with a sense of relief when Lane and Finn finally get to their happy ending.

Romance aside, the more interesting aspect of this story is Finn’s relationship with his three brothers. There are several scenes with them either all together or one on one with Finn where they confront the reality of how distanced they are from their separate childhood experiences. This is their chance to make up for the past, to forge new sibling bonds and build a common future. Used to having no one to rely on but himself for the farm, it’s a difficult adjustment for Finn to make. Watching their bonds grow is quite enjoyable and there is definitely enough of a tease here for Cain, Alex and Liam’s characters to make me want to read their stories, too. While Slow Burn Cowboy won’t go on my reread shelf, I found enough to like (editing issues notwithstanding) to want to continue the series.

A copy of this story was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I broke one of my rules to read this book--I jumped ahead in a series! I read the first three and really liked them but none of the following books really interested me, so this series fell off my radar. When I read a review and learned this was a best friends-to-lovers story (MY FAVE), I pushed the other books on my TBR back, got over the horrible anxiety I feel when I don't read a series in order, and got this one right away.

This book is not only friends-to-lovers but also a twist on the best friend's sibling trope because Finn and Lane met over a decade ago through her brother Mark when she moved to town (for reasons we learn later in the book) at age 17. But Mark has since moved away and now Lane and Finn are best friends in their own right.

Their road to romance isn't smooth by any means. Actually, it was a bit of a mess. This book has way more angst than I was anticipating and while I love a dash of angst in my romance, this felt so overwrought. There are pages and pages of internal agonizing and then circular arguments. I mean, it basically goes like this:

Finn: The sky is purple
Lane: NO, it's blue. It has to be blue. You're my rock. How can you do this to me?

*10 pages of thoughts, often coming to one conclusion and then 5 seconds later, changing her mind*

L: You're right. The sky is purple...I was just scared. Here's my pain.
F: No. You said the sky was blue and that's how it had to be. You changed the rules. I don't want this.
L: Are you kidding me? THIS WAS YOUR IDEA.

*Lane leaves*

F: Oh so you're just going to give up?!

*10 pages of Finn admitting to himself he's a massive hypocrite and being unfair and he's going to change yet never does*

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Obviously I'm being a bit of a smartass but that's what I felt like reading this book. I never understood what the purpose of half their conversations were because they don't say what they mean or they DO say what they mean but then argue about it. And that's when they even bother to talk because it felt like 85% of this was all internal. So frustrating and melodramatic.

The only things that save this:

- The self-awareness. Like, Finn knows he's a jerk--too bad this doesn't result in him acting any differently. I was hoping at first he'd be one of those lovable grumpy heroes, but nope, he's really just a dick. And Lane knows when she's maybe overreacting (yet continues to do so...anyway).

-Due to ^^ I sometimes felt like the characters poked fun at themselves, and there are some funny parts that I enjoyed.

-Secondary characters, in particular Cain (one of Finn's brothers) and his teen daughter, Violet. (I could tell Cain was being set up to have a romance with Alison before I even saw the sneak peek at the end.) Oh, that's another thing--this book was shorter than I expected. It ended around the 64% mark in my Kindle.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow Burn Cowboy was an excellent friends to lovers romance that perfectly sets up the Donnelly family portion of the Copper Ridge series.

When his brothers left Copper Ridge, Finn Donnelly stayed and kept the family ranch going. Now, the remaining Donnellys are coming home to claim their share in the ranch. Finn wants nothing to do with their sudden return or the resurgence of his desire for Lane Jensen. Finn and Lane have been best friends for a long time and they would do anything for one another. After one breathtaking kiss, everything changes but Finn is determined to keep his heart safe. Lane, however, is falling quickly and wants to show Finn just how good they could be together.

After arriving in Copper Ridge, Lane built a life for herself despite the difficulties that led to her escaping to Copper Ridge. She's incredibly dedicated to her store and comes up with some great ideas on how to keep her business from becoming more of the same. Lane's love of food and cooking had me constantly wanting to snack while reading. Also, she's quite the sarcastic person which is one of my favorite personality traits for my heroines.

Finn had a difficult childhood and really found a purpose in life on his grandfather's ranch in Copper Ridge. He's incredibly dedicated to making the ranch succeed and feels a deep connection to the place that saved him as a teenager. Finn harbors a lot of anger and resentment towards his family and to an extent, he feels betrayed that the land he's worked for is being partially handed over to virtual strangers. In part because of the way he was raised and his current situation, Finn also comes off as a bit of an ass and is quick to take his anger out on the person closest to him, Lane.

Lane and Finn had a great friendship that provided a good foundation for when their relationship was taken to the next level. Their conversations are filled with excellent banter and some hilarious double entendre. There is obviously some hesitation on both sides to get involved with each other due to their friendship, so that does lead to a lot of repetitive back and forth. However, once they do get involved, it's incredibly sexy and very enjoyable. Both Lane and Finn had some serious issues to work through and I liked that their relationship wasn't overly easy.

The situation with Finn and his brothers was definitely one that kept me interested. I understood Finn's anger at the situation and it was great watching him work through that as he got to know his brothers. All four of the Donnellys are very different from one another, so I liked watching them interact and seeing the different ways they would react to situations.

Overall, Slow Burn Cowboy did the friends to lovers aspect very well and I'm excited for the rest of the Donnelly romances as this family may be my favorite in the Copper Ridge series.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018 will prove to be yet another Maisey Yates year for Miss Bates, as she can’t seem to quit Yates’s romances. Last year, she read seven … let’s see how many MissB manages to read in 2018?! If Slow Burn Cowboy is any indication, then MissB’s love affair with the Yates romance isn’t over. Every time she reads one, Miss Bates ponders what draws her to Yates’s romances and every time, her understanding of what makes Yates a great romance writer grows. Not every book is perfect, or memorable, especially after you read so many, you’re no longer reading for individual storylines, but for those writer “tells” that make the books so attractive to a reader-fan. Miss Bates finds in Yates a combination of an upholding of love and fidelity with a healthy dose of raw sexuality. This is not a new observation to Miss B.’s readers. This time around, however, Miss Bates noticed yet one more thing that she loves about Yates: she puts wit and sophistication into her banter/dialogue for characters who’d normally not be associated with wit and banter: cowboys and uneducated, albeit successful, nonprofessional, carpenters, builders, and small-business-owners, or as the hero of Slow Burn Cowboy identifies, a “laborer”. Her characters are wonderful combinations of earthiness and clever wordplay. Does Slow Burn Cowboy hold any surprises for the Yates reader? Not really. Does it satisfy? Absolutely.

At last count, thanks to Miss Bates handy referencing of Fantastic Fiction, there are eighteen novels making up the Copper Ridge, Oregon, and environs series. Some to come and already in Miss Bates’s TBR, some already read and reviewed, and this isn’t counting the novellas. A Maisey Yates romance has graced every year’s Miss Bates favourites, from 2013 to 2017.

Slow Burn Cowboy has long left the world of the Garrett brothers that introduced Copper Ridge to romance readers. But “brother” trilogies are one of Yates’s “tells” and Slow Burn tells the story of Finn Donnelly, brother to Liam Donnelly, Chrismastime Cowboy‘s hero. (In the meanwhile, Slow Burn‘s heroine, Lane Jensen, is one of Rebecca Bear’s best friends, heroine of Seduce Me, Cowboy, the Yates romance that made Miss Bates’s 2017 favourites list.) Finn and Lane’s journey to the HEA is a friends-to-lovers romance, with Yates’s signature sharp humor and plenty of angst. Like all of Yates’s couples, Finn and Lane rib each other, growl at each other, fight, make love, regret, confess, and heal their way to admitting their love and joining in a love, fidelity, and babies marriage. As perfect an unapologetic romance as a romance reader can find.

When the novel opens, Finn’s and Lane’s pasts have returned with a vengeance. Finn’s grandfather died and left the ranch he’s worked his whole life to him – and, not surprisingly causing resentment and anger – Finn’s four half-brothers. Half-brothers who scream sequel-bait, but if you know and love Yates, not a bothersome idea. As Lane hangs with her friends at the local watering-hole, she espies an aspiring senator, Cord McCaffrey, who brings on unwanted feelings and memories, painful ones. About the only steady thing in each other’s lives is each other, their ten-year-old friendship. But Yates is not a great believer in men and women being able to be friends, and neither is Miss Bates. Finn has always desired Lane and Lane has buried her own lust for Finn, but it’s still there. Separate but simultaneous personal pressures see Finn and Lane unravelling. Typical to Yates is the idea that this kind of personal confrontation with long-buried hurt also leads to cracking open relationships that have been held “in check” as tightly ignored, suppressed feelings and desires.

Yates sets the Finn and Lane scene beautifully, succinctly showing the reader how well they’ve integrated into each other’s lives, how well they fit, how well they get along, how important they are to each other, and how much they’re lying to themselves:

He took care of everything in her house that she considered to be man’s work. Any kind of plumbing or wiring issue, arachnid-related concerns and the extermination of the odd errant vole in her yard. In return, she often took care of things like feeding him, or buying him clothes when she went into Portland or Eugene. He never even had to ask. She just appeared with things. … Basically, Lane was his wife.

… he was gruff and he didn’t share his feelings easily. He was the kind of guy who led with angry, then made up for it with grand gestures. Finn was more hammer and nails than hearts and flowers. He had a soul of gold beneath his general cranky exterior.

The above passages show you, dear reader, if you haven’t read Yates, that her prose is sharp, funny, easy, but packs an emotional wallop. Finn and Lane know each other, love each other. It’s so obvious to everyone around them and the reader, as obvious as it is hidden to them. Which is why Yates loves to crack them open, “unravel” them as her characters refer to the experience of letting go of the holds on their feelings.

And, for Yates, the most important way they do so is by revealing whatever it was that: a. makes them vulnerable to the other and b. whatever has caused them to resist the call of the heart, usually nicely foiled by the call of the body, which also cracks things open. Sexual intimacy is bound up with emotional intimacy and emotional intimacy has its being in confession to the beloved. That may lead to more resistance and emotional betrayal, running away, denying the other, denying the desire for marriage and children. It takes a variety of forms, but the latter is the crux of the matter. Integrity and honesty are often some of Yates’s characters most important qualities because being honest about your past, your feelings, your vulnerabilities and desires is the only way to being open to loving and being loved. Yates proves this in every romance and no less in another Copper Ridge addition, in the story of deserving, maddening, volatile, sexy Finn and Lane. With Miss Austen’s gimlet romance eye, Miss Bates says of Slow Burn Cowboy “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Maisey Yates’s Slow Burn Cowboy is published by Harlequin Books (HQN). It was released in April 2017 and may be procured from your preferred vendor. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Harlequin, via Netgalley.

[Mugdha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Anne-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kijk, toen ik begon met dit boek wist ik al dat dit geen 4 of 5 sterren zou zijn. En ik heb me oprecht geamuseerd tijdens het lezen. Soms heb ik gewoon een no brain boek nodig om deftig te kunnen lezen. MAAR dit boek was vreselijk irritant. ZOVEEL herhalingen, like damnnnn ik begrijp het, jullie zijn al mega lang beste vrienden. Het is echt niet nodig omdat op elke pagina nog eens te vermelden.

Ook sommige dingen just didn’t make sense… de ruzies waren zo out of the blue. Ma goed, ondanks dat alles heb ik me wel geamuseerd.

Ik hou van no brain, cringe ass, kinda sexy boeken. okayyyyy laat mij zijn.

[Beth C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

…he never wanted only part of her. And part of herself was all she ever gave to her friends. He wanted all of her. All of this.

In the small town of Copper Ridge, all the cowboys are hot, all the women are sassy and all the hipsters want to invade to get their hands on the town’s best organic, hormone free, probiotic-enriched, hand-tilled, vegan-butter-laden goods.

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration.

But hey, that’s part of the charm of this series from Maisey Yates, now on its seventh book. It’s set in an idyllic, borderline boutique Oregon town, and it’s fun. I’ve enjoyed, to varying degrees, each and every book in this series. Slow Burn Cowboy is just another good book in a successful series of sex, steam, friendship and feels.

But it’s not my favorite. I liked Finn, absolutely. I felt bad for him, and I understood his frustration regarding the return of his brothers. And Lane was quirky—not in a bad way—and she rambled (which I can identify with). I enjoyed her interactions with her friends and his interactions with his newly returned brothers (and the set-up for book eight), and I loved Finn and Lane together.

When they finally got together, that is.

I knew going in this one was going to be a slow burn—I mean, that title couldn’t make it any more obvious—but for me, it was a touch TOO slow. There was talking… lots of talking, and it was so circular that I began to get frustrated. There wasn’t anything new, except the words used to describe what everyone was thinking and feeling and hiding from.

Which means two things. One, I found myself less focused on the whole book and more focused on when I’d start to feel some progress. And two, that when progress was finally made, it was rewarding in a different way. I felt happy, for sure. But my main emotion? Relief. I’d made it.

And I am glad I did. I know it seems like maybe I am not, but I do adore this series and this author, and yes, even this couple. I loved being back in Copper Ridge, getting glimpses of the characters I know and love. Of all the sassy women who make me smile. And of all the hot cowboys who make me swoon. Like Finn.

”For you, I want to be open. I want to be free. I want to be everything.”

~ 3.5 STARS ~

[Lisa Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that this is a friends to lovers romance. I hate the inst-love that seems to pop up so often in romance novels but this romance was simply awesome. I throughly enjoyed seeing the backstory that led up to this romance. Finn's family is so dysfunctional, but I loved every one of them. I can't wait to read the upcoming books on the rest of the family.
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

[Silvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed all the other Copper Ridge books (some more than others). But this one was a real head-scratcher for me. Why was it so long? The endless, pointless, annoying arguing between the H and h and between the four brothers At one point I lost my place in the Kindle book and I really couldn't tell if I had missed anything because it was all starting to run together.

Yates' books usually come with a big dose of the main characters overcoming their personal demons, and that's one of the things I like about them. But in this case it felt like both Finn and Lane were whiners. I wanted to slap them both at various times throughout the book.

I'm moving on to the next book in the series with high hopes that this one was an aberration.

(Oh, and it took Lane 10 years to notice that her best friend was an attractive man? That's some serious eye-rolling denial there. )

[Flo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh boy, Slow Burn Cowboy... excruciatingly slow burn....to slow for me and j didnt enjoyFinns character, I felt like everything was on his terms.
I received a NetGalley arc copy of this book for an honest review.

[Steph's Romance Book Talk · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @35% / 1 Stars / 1 Steam Fans

Video review available in Week 31: Jul 26 – Aug 1 weekly book reviews.

For other video book reviews, check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Romance Book Talk.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect for my recent plane trip from Michigan to Boston. Here is a link to my review and giveaway: http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/201...

[Dani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I'm just not on the same wavelength as when I binged the first six Copper Ridge books or what, because I really struggled with this one. A lot of it is the whole friends-to-lovers thing. I don't think I've liked it in a single Yates book, and this one is no different. I just hate reading about the couple essentially putting their lives on hold for each other and avoiding their relationship for 10 years. Their constant self reflections also got kind of irritating, and I noticed this short, repetitive sentence structure in this book that really got on my nerves. Once I saw it, I saw it everywhere in this book, and I was not a fan.

I had a whole bunch of other reasons why I wasn't a fan of this book, but I'm writing this review long enough after I read it that I can't remember them all anymore. But it was a combination of the trope, storytelling, and writing style that made it hard for me to enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed all of the other Copper Ridge books. Fingers crossed this was just a one off and that I'll enjoy the rest of the series just as much.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Maisey Yates has done it again and created another incredible addition to the Copper Ridge series. I love these books so much, and this one was almost flawless with great emotional, intense scene full of angst and great drama. It was just so good. It was more than half way through the book that I fell in love with this book and Lane and Finn and their story. It just was so good especially the back half then I was really locked into the story and them as a couple.

Although in the beginning of the book, I was kind of nervous because I wasn't quite digging it as much as other Copper Ridge stories that I have read. At first I just wasn't into it. It wasn't that it was bad or anything, but it just felt kind of slow and drawn out before getting to the yummy juicy stuff. Granted there was a reason that it didn't quite jump into the action right away, which I understood because there needed to be tons of set up. This book was the first in the Donnelly brothers' saga so each of the Donnelly brothers had to be introduced because aside from Finn none of them had made an appearance as of yet in the series. So Cain, Alex, and Liam had to be presented and shown for the first time, showing off their different personalities as well as set up their potential storylines and conflicts for later on. I will say I enjoyed how they were introduced and enjoyed the set up behind it all. And I have to say that I loved all the Donnelly brothers and can't wait for their books down the road. I also loved the interaction between the brothers it was really funny. I loved how they bounced off of each other. It was really entertaining. But because those three characters had to be introduced the way they were that it took time and did take away from the romance in the beginning and it slowed the story down a tad.

Another thing that slowed it down a tad was the setup between Lane and Finn and their relationship. I appreciated that they had a backstory and a friendship already. And it was in fact why I was really looking forward to this book was because it was a friends to lovers story, but it felt different than any friends to lovers story I had read before. I think the fact that they kind of had this husband and wife relationship without the physical intimacy. It was pretty clear that they loved each other but because of their emotional issues that they each had they wouldn't admit it. Even though they did have this bond and friendship where they bounced off of each other, there wasn't quite that will they won't they fall in love aspect because I believe they were already there. They had ten years to fall in love and did but just didn't completely go there because of fear. So because there wasn't that there it made it a little less exciting because I already knew. It wasn't until they gave into their passions and let go it really got good.

As soon as they kissed for the first time, the book just took off because it got real. It wasn't only that their passions that got me hooked but the fact that the layers were finally get pulled back to who they really were not only to me but too each other, and it was really emotional. It was gut wrenching to see Lane show him her pain as well as deny why she couldn't be with him or deny the feelings that she had for him for so long as well as her attraction to him. It was beautiful and heartbreaking because she had been through so much and why she believed she didn't deserve being with Finn. He was her rock, and she wanted it to stay that way and tried to push him away so that they wouldn't have to confront these issues. But it was already bought at that point and there was no going back.

Their relationship was just so beautiful. They were friends yet they really didn't know each other because their friendship had walls to it that were deeply erected so that they didn't see each other's true self. But when they do and show their pain it just became so emotional and intense that it was gripping and gut wrenching at the same time. They shared a deeper closeness than they ever had before. They had both the physical and emotional intimacy that they needed to be fulfilled each other. They needed each other. It was just so beautiful to see it play out. It was the emotional depth that really struck me and touched me. It wasn't just about the physical.

Don't get me wrong the physical was pretty good and so freaking hot. I loved every single scene they had where they came together because it was always more that just the physical. There were deep emotional depth going into those scenes that showed how meaningful their time together was. They were connected in every way possible in those moments. It was about their closeness and not just about their physical pleasure only. That scene at the lake. OMG. It was just well written and I felt so much in that moment because it was really about healing and their love for one another. It just blew me away how beautiful and meaningful that scene was. It just was everything that was them as a couple and what they could be and have in the future together. Plus it was really hot so that didn't hurt. But that scene was really about letting go, healing, and moving on. It really was touching. So good.

Really one the deep conversations and deep emotions came into play that was the pinnacle. It became very consuming and showed how important that relationship was to each of them. They needed each other. This really was the epitome of two damaged loving deeply and healing each other in order to move on and find this consuming love they had for one another. They were just meant to be and could finally be together after ten years being held back with all the walls and issues that were buried beneath the surface. They broke free and released until they couldn't ignore it any longer and face it and their relationship. It was interesting to see it all play out with me rooting for them all the way. I just loved them together and their relationship. I loved seeing them work for what they wanted and worked through their issues together. It just made them stronger and better people. I loved seeing their journey to love. I loved them.

There were a few surprises in this book that kind of shocked me. One was Lane's secret. I totally didn't see that coming. True, I didn't know Lane well only getting the briefest peek at her in Rebecca's book as one of her best friend, but getting to know her in this book I was still surprised by it. It was a secret that I don't think I have ever read in romance, but was new and refreshing. I could understand why she had so many issues. It was a doozy.

I was also surprised by the fact that even know the next book in the series featuring Alison and Caine was kind of introduced, that Alison and Caine had yet to meet. At least in this book, it makes me wonder if we will see their first meeting or if it just jumps right into. I think I was expecting them to meet in this book and kind of introduced the fact that they had an attraction to one another. It wasn't a big deal that it wasn't there, and probably was better because the focus could be on Lane and Finn, but still. Even Liam's heroine kind of makes an appearance and had a bit of set up to it.

My third surprise was the epilogue. I was so happy that it was in there. I was expecting it to be, but it was great. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction especially that it was just what was needed to fully heal Lane. It was a nice moment. Plus I liked seeing Lane and Finn six years in the future.

I really did love this book once it got to the emotional nitty gritty of it all. It just went beyond emotional intense and angsty. I loved going on that journey with them and see them heal with each other. Their relationship was just so healing and so beautiful it was hard not to fall in love with them. They just fit because they needed each other so much. There was no one for the aside from each other. They practically had a relationship anyway just without the physical and emotional intimacy they just needed to get there. It was a hard journey, but a very satisfying one. It was just so good.

Side note: Loved all the Donnelly brothers. They were just beyond yummy and I can't wait for them to get their happily ever after. Caine and Liam's stories were set up here as were their lady loves. I can't wait to read them. It's going to be such a long wait or it will see like it. They should be welcome addition to the Copper Ridge series.

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Finn's grandfather died, he separated the lands in equal parts between the Donnelly half-brothers. Finn is not happy about it. He took care of the old man ranch while his relatives couldn't care less about it and he haven't seem them in years.

Finn's father had four kids with three different women, but didn't stick around to raise any of them. Alex is ex-Army. Caine is divorced and single father of a teenager. Liam is the one who seem more like the business type. Much to Finn's surprise, when his siblings arrive in Copper Ridge, they're all ready to stay and help with the dairy farm. But cohabitation can get tricky when you're suddenly sharing space with basically strangers.

Lane owns a store of specialty food and have plan to specialize in more local products. Being attracted to Lane is nothing new to Finn. He knows her since she was seventeen and him twenty-three. But all the reasons were good to not act on it. She was six years younger, his friend, and he cherish their friendship, her brother would kill him. When he thinks about what is attractive on her, he's not thinking about her physical attributes but her smiles, her laugh, her attitude. But when things begin to shift between them, and she see him finally as a man, she's not happy and feel uncomfortable with the idea, not ready to see it change. She wants him to stay in the box she put him in. In reality, she was in denial all those years, and not just about her feelings for him. She came to Copper Ridge to leave the past away. Too bad it doesn't want to leave her alone. Something happened back then to make her stay away from love and afraid to open her heart again. Being abandoned by his father, and then his mother, did the same thing to Finn. Together, they'll finally be able to heal from the past.

Finn is a little gruff, but hardworking, generous with his time and always ready to help. Lane is more closed off because of what she's trying to deal with and hide at the same time. But when her secret is finally out, she become more hopeful and see what she really wants.

Best friend to lover trope can be risky. I think it bring more difficulty because the author have to find the right balance and the perfect moment to turn the table with the relationship and make us believe in the new dynamic. I'm sad to say it didn't happen for me this time. Maisey Yates's writing style was just as good as always , but this romance was not her most exciting. I missed the banter she's so good at writing. Usually, I like how she handle angry feelings and transform it into a maelstrom of raw but ultimately beautiful passion and her stories become emotional journey. It was emotional yes, but not the satisfying kind for me. Finn and Lane were arguing all the time, there were too many headaches and it made me wonder how their HEA would be possible. I didn't quite believe that Lane could change that quickly her way of seeing her best friend, especially since she was so stubborn about him staying in the friend zone.

[Heather andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lane knows how to give it to Finn straight, no beating around the bush with her, “no one else is cooking for you, Finn. Because you’re a cranky *****le. So maybe you should show a little more appreciation.” Lane is seriously cute, "the color in her cheeks got darker. “I’m also not sure I can talk to you while you’re naked.” I really liked this book, Finn and Lane had chemistry, they understood each other and I loved watching the banter between the two.

[Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, this is a friends-to-lovers story. Slow Burn Cowboy is more than that, however. Yates wrote a story that got me emotionally involved. There were times when this book made me angry - Finn is the brother who stayed in Copper Ridge with his grandfather and "literally bled" for the ranch, as he points out several times in the book. Now that his grandfather has died (his worthless parents died much earlier), the ranch is left equally to he and his brothers. Now there's a kick in the teeth for you. He is justifiably angry. I was angry for him.

The brothers - well, Finn is a jerk to them. I was angry for them. They will presumably all have books of their own where we will learn more of their terrible lives before arriving at Copper Ridge (as far as I can tell, there are no happy backstories in this book). They take Finn's rudeness in stride and start working the ranch and all of a sudden everyone seems to get along, so I was happy for them.

Then there is Finn's relationship with Lane. Finn realizes that Lane is his wife except they've never been married and they don't have sex, but they do lots of chores for each other and are friends. So they have sex. And again, I'm a bit angry because he's a bit of a jerk. But he is right in the things he says, so I have to like him. And he's hot. Don't forget that.

This was a book that got me hooked. Finn and Lane are great together, eventually. The relationship rockiness that so many authors try to put in books is successfully done in this story. The sweetness that goes into relationships is also successfully added. I liked this story so much that I tried another one in the Copper Ridge series (it was good), and I look forward to the next book.

[Renae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...

This was neither one of Maisey Yates' more problematic novels, nor one of the ones I genuinely enjoyed. Sort of a middle-ground morass of over the top angst. Neither of the protagonists think they deserve love, they wallow a lot in their emotions and take the blame for things that aren't their concern. Example: getting pregnant at 16 apparently means you can never deserve a nice life as an adult because...? IDK why exactly.

At least the heroine wasn't a virgin and/or extremely sexually inexperienced in this one, though! (The bar for small town romances is so low, friends.)

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[Seanna Yeager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep passion is finally found between these two best friends, although love takes awhile to come to the surface. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Finn and Lane, both characters have pasts that hold them back. It is really fun to see Lane tease Finn. Another great Copper Ridge book. I can't stop reading this series.

Thank you Netgalley for the free review copy, in exchange for an honest review.

[Lacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

phewww slow burn was right. had a really hard time with this one.

[Donna Repsher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always happy to return to Copper Ridge, and this seventh novel in the Copper Ridge series is no exception, and I give it 4 stars.

At it's heart, Slow Burn Cowboy is a friends-to-lovers romance, a trope I've always enjoyed, and when Maisey Yates writes one, I generally enjoy it even more, although this one seemed a bit more slow-moving and redundant than her previous novels.

Finn Donnelly and Lane Jensen have been best friends since she showed up in Copper Ridge ten years ago, a sad, hurt, depressed and lonely teenager. As the novel opens, she shows up at Finn's house, casserole in hand, because she knows his half-brothers are due to arrive soon, and she's been keeping Finn fed for years. Finn has spent the last 20 years working hard on his grandfather's dairy farm/ranch, and, as he learned after his grandfather's recent death, rather than inheriting the ranch he's come of think of as his, his late grandfather left the ranch to Finn and his 3 half-brothers, sharing it equally among them. To say he's livid and feeling betrayed is putting it mildly--and Finn is a man who has become used to betrayal thanks to an absentee father and his mother, who chose to leave him to be with her abusive boyfriend many years ago.

As his brothers start arriving, Finn doesn't hide what he's feeling--anger and betrayal, especially when one of his brothers shows up with his moody and belligerent teenage daughter in tow, and announces that he wants to keep his share of the ranch and doesn't care about the money Finn offers to buy out his share. The other brothers feel the same way. Finn has turned the once broken-down ranch into a success, and had hoped his brothers would accept the payoff so that the ranch would be his and his alone, but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

With his house now overrun with his brothers, he takes refuge at Lane's tiny house, something he's done before, the two best friends sharing meals, chatting, and watching movies together, as Finn repays Lane's generosity and friendship by becoming, in essence, a pseudo-husband without benefits, keeping her tiny house in good repair when necessary, and helping her start up and open her small business, a specialty foods shop on Main Street in Copper Ridge.

Now that his crowded house keeps him relying on Lane's house as a refuge, he's forced to face the fact that he's wanted to add those sexual benefits to their friendship for years, believing it to be possible that friends can add sex to their friendship without having it destroy the friendship. Lane, with secrets and betrayals in her own bottled-up past, has also been keeping her feelings for the handsome Finn Donnelly bottled up for years, knowing deep down that in her experience relationships don't work--until Finn pushes her into it, and starts to push her into slowly opening up about her past, something she's never done with him, or with anyone, not even her female friends. But when Lane dares to push back, their long-term friendship is seriously at risk.

This is an emotionally charged story, and as Ms. Yates has done repeatedly in previous novels, she draws us into the lives and backstories of her characters and their angst and drama, making the reader alternately like, hate, become angry with and eventually love these characters and this small Oregon town. While I did feel at times that there was a bit too much rehashing and redundancy in this novel, it was nevertheless a very good, very moving and very well-written novel and if you've not yet visited the cast of characters in Copper Ridge, I encourage you to do so.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance reader copy of this novel and received no compensation for doing so. The opinions expressed are my own.

[Books and Spoons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written love story from best friends to lovers and so much more, with deep emotions and fervent passion, plentiful of angst, and family trouble.
From the very first scene, the author's words lured me into the tale and I was emotionally invested in the characters, in the events occurring, in the story. It felt like coming home, to be at the Copper Ridge again, and watch Finn Donnelly and Lane Jensen find their destiny.
Finn and Lane had had an easy and comfortable friendship for years. The way they were with each other, their interactions, every moment they were together, it was obvious how important they were to each other, how deep their feelings for each other were. The warm comfort, the security in the friendship, the confidence they had in each other was strong and admirable.
I loved how Lane's eyes opened to see Finn in a new light, as a man, and how her desire to know more about him, after all the years as her best friend, shocked her to the core.
There is an abundance of drama and trouble in Finn and Lane's story. They both have past baggage that they still carry with them, hurt and disappointments that affect they life and faith in the future possibilities.
I understood Finn's struggles to accept that the ranch was divided in four when it was him that had put his tears, blood, and hard work into it. The tension between the brothers, the undercurrents running in the house was tangible and somehow heartbreaking at the same time. It was impossible not to get my feelings involved in the conflicts between the brothers.
Lane is nearly paralyzed when suddenly the reminders of her past mistakes as blasted on her face constantly. The secret that she never wanted to share with anyone is now messing with her head, as well as the new burning desire she feels for Finn, all mixed up in a bundle of her chaotic thoughts. She is conflicted with her feelings, with her needs, with her wants and future goals.
I adored Lane and Finn together. The way they knew each other, the way they were with each other, it was a solid foundation to built something more, something ​special, something unique.
The push and pull between them, the fear of the change, the development of the new kind of relationship, it goes on for an extended time. There were moments when I felt a frustration as I wanted them to figure it out and accept their new, flaming feelings and deeper emotions for each other, find the peace of mind with the past, the hope, and faith in the better future.
An engaging and emotion-filled story that smoothly flew off the pages entertaining my mind and touching my heart. A lovely visit to Copper Ridge to witness the bliss, drama, and passion between Finn and Lane.
~ Four Spoons