Lone Wolf Cowboy

Gold Valley #7

by Maisey Yates

Will Gold Valley's most reclusive cowboy finally find a reason to heal?

As a former EMT and a wildland firefighter, there's no one Jacob Dalton can't rescue--except himself. Since his best friend's tragic death, Jacob has isolated himself...until Vanessa Logan returns to Gold Valley. He saved her life during a medical call years ago, and he's never forgotten her. The instant jolt of heat between them takes him by surprise, but he knows that giving in to it would only end in disaster...

For Vanessa, returning home was about healing, not about exploring her attraction with Jacob. He is the guardian angel from her past--with strong, capable hands and an irresistible mouth. A temptation she knows she can't afford. Until the chemistry between them explodes, and unites them in a way they could never have imagined...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Westerns, Audiobook, Harlequin, Ebooks

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2019

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

[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Made me think about all the struggles a sober person has to deal with and the strength it takes to do it. I admired Vanessa, but there was a little too much introspection and inner monologue going on here for my tastes. Loved Jacob's devotion once he found out about the baby. He was hooked on Vanessa even before that, but it brought out that possessive/protective edge, but he wasn't overbearing either. Loved the support he gave in the face of her family, too.

Lone Wolf Cowboy was an emotionally moving story bringing out all the feels and the HEA I was hoping for.

Can't wait for Caleb and Ellie's story next.

A copy was kindly provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by NetGalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 3.5

This had some triggers for me so I'm trying to be fair rate this as best as I can.

Jacob is dealing with a lot of unresolved issues. Death of dear friends that affected his life profoundly and unresolved grief and resolution that lingered and hung around him constantly. He ignores the pain and tries to hobble his way through life.

Vanessa experienced a horrible episode that traumatized her and made her spiral down a deep and dark hole. She suffered in that darkness for years until she was able to pull herself out and start to make something of her life.

But one moment that was seared into the memory of both these sad and flawed characters is when Jacob rescues and saves Vanessa.

Years later Vanessa returns home and is ready to deal with the past and continue healing. Jacob is still struggling but the two reunite and a relationship develops. Each has a lot to resolve and heal from before the two can truly make their relationship work.

I found this a little too depressing of a read. Yes, there is redemption and healing for both, but I found that a lot of repetitive thought and discussions on their "issue". Yes, I know it's part of the story but I think for me personally I would have liked more on the positive parts and points of their lives. I also found it was a slow start and a lot of inner dialogue and it did drag at times. But all in all a nice read.

[Anna's Herding Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. I never thought I'd say this about a Maisey Yates book but Lone Wolf Cowboy was tedious.

The Gist: Ten years earlier Vanessa blew out of town as a teenage junkie. She's finally gotten her life back on track and is coming home to work at a new school for troubled teens as an art teacher. Of course she's surprised that the one man she doesn't want to run into and who knows her deepest secret works there, too. Not sure why since he's a Dalton and the school is run by Daltons but there you go. Surprise!

Jacob and Vanessa. Honestly I have no attachment at all to them. They're very bland despite all their various dramatic issues. Jacob is a hero who doesn't want to be a hero because his two best friends died decades apart and he couldn't save either. So he isolates himself and is grumpy. Vanessa she's a drug addict former junkie who's now clean. Sanctimonious and full of condescending "therapy-talk". There were moments when I didn't mind her but mostly I just didn't care for her personality at all.

Their romance wasn't all that romantic, either. They fought and fucked. That was about it. Had an "accident" so sorta became a couple to deal with it. I didn't feel much of a spark or connection between them other than between the sheets and those were quickies where they quickly dressed and left and then wallowed since they shouldn't have done that.

The set up, I did like overall. The ranch school for troubled boys. Art therapy, working the ranch, etc. It's a nice backdrop for the series, I think.

Okay so my big issues.

--repetition. There was so much repetition. Same issues talked over and to death by different characters or internally hashed and rehashed and never really progressing.

--the heroine. She's a former junkie and now clean. That was fine. Interesting to see. But I had issues with her over it, too. Getting outright hostile when reconnecting with her family after 10 years because HOW DARE they be concerned about her stability or not fully trust her right away!! She's worked so hard to get clean! How dare they! Except she's been gone for 10 years and never told them she got clean 5 years back so it's new to them. She burned bridges and just wants them to magically forget all the drama and issues she caused the family acting out and as an addict and disappearing so they never knew if she was dead or alive.

--she shifts blame, too. Yes, she admits she took drugs on her own and made bad choices but then she's like "but you could have..." at her parents and sister. Yeah, her 16 year old sister. She should have done better to help her and known something was wrong and maybe then she wouldn't have done what she did for so long. Mad her parents didn't do enough, mad her sister tried to keep her from acting out but never asked why she was acting out, etc It was like the person who apologizes (though I never felt she took any responsibility for how much damage she did to the family) then is like well now you owe me an apology. *eye roll*

--she's constantly getting prickly about others judging her (even though they've not done it yet) and how dare they they don't know her full story and how hard she's worked they've had such easy lives and wouldn't understand because blah blah blah. She's basically a hypocrite. Judging others when she doesn't know their full story anymore than they do hers and just assuming everything in their lives is perfect and they've never had a struggle like she's had to overcome and she's so much stronger!

--I also had an issue over her and teen sex. As a teen she did a grab bag pill pop at a party and blacked out but admitted she's fully functional when she blacks out she just doesn't remember any of the things she does and says the next day. But then she's blaming the teen boy she had sex with for taking advantage even though they were both doing drugs and she apparently took her clothes off and wanted to have sex and then she didn't remember in the morning because she never remembers after blacking out. But but! He should have known better! *eye roll* Having the current "boyfriend" beat this guy up at a bar 10 years later and accuse him of sexual assault was so fucking out of line it's not even funny.

So, yeah, there were struggles. It was depressing, melodramatic and, sadly, fairly boring even with all the drama. This is not the Yates I know and love. Quite disappointing.

[Simply Love Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was totally looking forward to Jacob’s story. He is the brooding one with guilt enough for everyone. I was surprised with everything that he was battling and was totally surprised with the woman that finally gets him to see himself for the man he is today and not for the boy that he was.

Jacob’s past was filled with womanizing and living life for today and not worrying about tomorrow until it gets here. One tragedy made him see life that way … a second tragedy made him see the error of his ways and made him decide to just stay out of peoples lives. He wore his guilt like a badge and didn’t think himself worthy of any woman.

Vanessa was healing herself. She had her own problems and her own guilt to deal with. But, unlike Jacob, she knew that she was worthy of love, no matter her past. She dealt with a lot in her life and was well on the way to recovery. She had to make amends with people and knew that it would be difficult but, being there for these troubled boys was definitely a step in the direction she wanted her life to take. But, she couldn’t ignore the chemistry she had with the hero from the past. She knew that he could be nothing but trouble but, the electricity between them was too explosive to ignore. One night was all it took for them to realize that their lives were changing.

Now, can Vanessa convince Jacob that he deserves to be loved? Can Jacob ignore the feelings that he has for her? I loved this story. The back-stories of both Jacob and Vanessa were both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Watching Jacob begin to heal with the help of his brothers and Vanessa was a beautiful thing. I both cheered and cried for Vanessa and definitely shed a tear or two for Jacob as well. But, it was their interactions with the boys that made me smile. How they helped them, how they got through to them and then how they turned it all around on Jacob to make him see the error of his ways. It was truly moving.

Maisey Yates really touched me with this story. She showed us how love and understanding can heal people. How patience and kindness can mean more to a person than we ever know. This was a story of two broken people who found a way to put themselves back together, help some people along the way, and give and find forgiveness along the way.

Review copy provided for a voluntary review.

[Nikki (Saturday Nite Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

Maisey Yates is my go-to when I am in a reading slump or if I want to keep my reading momentum going. Her cowboys never fail me.

Unlike a few of the recent ones I've read from this author, the heroine in this one is not perfect and I love it (I'm a bit over the self-conscious, doesn't know her real beauty, virginal trope).

Vanessa and Jacob ignite something in each other and I felt their rapid love story which started more as chemistry in the beginning was believable.

Its not a perfect story, and parts were a bit repetitive but its a quick page turner with an ending that doesn't disappoint.

[Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two wounded souls trying to find themselves again.


Vanessa Logan didn't always made the right choices. In her teenage years she rebelled against being a twin and her parent's expectations. She left home, had bad frequentations and became an addict. After five years of sobriety, Vanessa is back in Gold Valley to make amend. But her family is on the fence and communication with her parents and her sister can't be fix in a few days or a couple of try. Art saved her life when she had to face the consequences of her acts so she just accepted a job as an art teacher for a new project for an alternative school for troubled teenagers at a ranch.

Fate put a man from her past right in her path. Vanessa doesn't really know Jacob Dalton, but she immediately recognize him as the EMT who saved her life a few years ago. Jacob is now a wildland firefighter who accepted to play a part on his brother's new project, the alternative school for kids. Jacob might not have the same history as Vanessa or the teens coming at the ranch, but he's familiar with trying to atone for past faults. He feel responsible for not being able to save some people in his life and live with guilt for his coping mechanism of avoiding and not being reliable. These days, he prefer to be alone, working on himself and trying to be a better man. Vanessa own her mistakes and is open to talk about it. She's searching for a quiet and normal life now. Falling for Jacob Dalton is anything but.


What an empowering story Vanessa and Jacob's journey was. For them individually and together too. One of the many great things with Maisey Yates' books is that she always create flaw characters but you can't help fall for them. There's no half-mesure with them and it was especially true with this book. Jacob thinks he doesn't deserve love and Vanessa spent so many time feeling like no one understood nor listened to her that they fought their sentiments even when they gave in to the attraction. They knew who they are, what they wanted and didn't want in their lives anymore but I think their biggest mistake was to not listening to their heart or trusting it. But it gave us a solid, deep and touching romance.

Now let's talk about the painting session. It was one of the most real and beautiful scene I've read. A pretty memorable moment.

There was some repetition at time and both MC were pretty stubborn in their way of thinking but I don't care about it because their journey made me feel so much!

[Jewlsbookblog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Jacob and Vanessa’s character growth and enjoyed seeing how Gabe’s idea for the family ranch to foster kids has played out since the last book. Things occasionally slowed down in the emotions department, especially with repetitive mentions about Jacob’s guilt over losing his best friend(s), and Vanessa’s addiction recovery, but there’s no denying the physical attraction between these two! Their romance was insta-lust and all that spontaneous heat combusted with fireworks.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. There was a yarn ball of tangled tropes to work through, but the romance was good and the character development stood out most. Jacob especially grew leaps and bounds. There are some heavy topics discussed, i.e. drug addiction, sobriety, and unplanned pregnancy to name a few-and while I think they were handled reasonably well, it was a lot to dig through.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Anne Z. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Maisey Yates. But not this books.
There was lack of connection between the main characters and it was all very repetitive and therefore boring.
I got what she was trying to do. Both characters suffered a lot and needed to grow, but in the end they both came across as selfish, self centered, and weak.

[Teresa (Reads_Romance) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Until today, I’ve never finished a Maisey Yates book and thought, “well, thank goodness that’s over.” I discovered Ms. Yates’ books last year, and since then, I’ve read a good portion of her backlist and all of her recent releases. Most of them were good, some of them were fantastic, but, unfortunately, LONE WOLF COWBOY fell flat for me.

The book follows Vanessa, a recovering drug addict and art teacher for troubled youths, and Jacob, a wildland firefighter and slight hermit because of his guilt complex over the death of a friend. I understood where Ms. Yates wanted us to go. Jacob and Vanessa were both on a difficult journey of healing in their own ways. There are a LOT of heavy emotions and topics discussed in this book.

The best part about this book is that Ms. Yates is a ridiculously talented writer and storyteller. If it had been anyone else writing this story, I would have DNF’d early. Of course, because she is so gifted, I forced myself to finish a book I was not enjoying. It took me DAYS.

My most significant problems with this book were a lack of connection to Vanessa and Jacob, and their lack of connection with each other. Both characters annoyed me to the point of dislike at many times in the book. Vanessa was the ultimate victim with her family, and while I respect her journey, I didn’t agree with her attitude for half the book. Jacob was the biggest sad sack. He felt guilty for EVERYTHING. Which, TBH, made him seem like the most self-centered person

I could have gotten past my general dislike of Vanessa and Jacob if I had felt even an ounce of deeper feelings, outside of sexual, between them. Their connection was fast, surface, and both of them were so mired in their own problems, I have no idea how they managed to “fall in love.”

Overall, I highly recommend any Maisey Yates book except this one. I love her writing and this series, but I would safely say you’re okay to skip this one.

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

Find/Follow me on Twitter Instagram and my blog !!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD. Read at your own risk.

One, what took me so long to read this book, and two, why was I so freaking afraid of this story because it was freaking amazing, and it just blew me out of the water with how awesome it was.

The reason I was dreading reading this and why it took me so long to pick it up was of because of who the heroine was in the romance was none other Vanessa Logan, the twin sister of Olivia Logan. In Olivia’s story, Smoothing Talking Cowboy , it referred the troubled Vanessa Logan, who was drug addict, sexual promiscuity, and alcoholic, and she kind of scared me based on Olivia’s description of her, and how Vanessa’s life impacted Olivia’s life because of that. I love Olivia so much so to know that her sister caused her all this type of pain, drama, and just all the things that impacted Olivia at loosing her twin to drugs. So I thought it was going to be very hard to like Vanessa and root for her and be behind her in her road to happily ever after. Plus I wasn’t really looking forward to her book. I thought I didn’t need it in my life.

But boy was I wrong..This book surprised me so much, and in a very good way. I should know better by now when it comes to Maisey Yates’s stories. The characters that I didn’t care for or didn’t anticipate their stories compared to other characters, were the stories that I loved the most because I wasn’t expecting them to be as good of stories as they were, and I wasn’t expecting to connect with the characters as much as I did. And this one was no exception.

I really came to adore Vanesa Logan. I connected to her in a way I was expecting to. I felt for her a lot more than I thought I would. I sympathized with her a lot more than I ever thought I would especially with her being a former drug addict. The way she was explored in this story was absolutely brilliant because of how much her journey touched me. The growth that she experienced over the last ten years of her life as went from a traumatized teenager, to an alcoholic and drug addict to numb her pain, to a woman that got her life in order by going to rehab and using the power of art to heal her, and finally to a healthy adult that was committed to her sobriety. Her journey in her sobriety was what I found most intriguing and interesting about the story and kept me glued to the pages. I was expecting to be that into that part of her journey in the story. I thought that would be the part of the storyline that I would like the least, and be the most turned off about, but I wasn’t. It was very real. Very raw. And very heartbreaking with all the pieces coming together. It just really got to me, and it was quite the emotional journey to go with her in this story as she furthered her sobriety by coming home and healing past family wounds. The fight she had with Olivia in the beginning was an emotional punch and emanated all the pain she had bottled up towards her family for these years. The scene with her father at the end brought tears to my eyes because it was just really heartbreaking, raw, emotional and evocative moment that I couldn’t help just feel that moment to my bones. It was such a great healing moment for Vanessa, and I loved it.

As for the romance between Jacob and Vanessa was just as good. It was a relationship that had very much healing and loving qualities as they both dealt with past hurts. Jacob and Vanessa helped each other overcome many emotional obstacles along the way, and they made each stronger because of that. I loved that they had each other’s backs. I loved the support that they provided each other. I loved how they understood each other despite having gone through different traumatic things, the emotions were very similar reactions of hurt and guilt. It was beautiful to see them get closer physically, emotionally, and mentally throughout the book as they boned more deeply, the more time they spent together. They really saw the other for who they truly were, which was very beautiful as well. They just really fit well together, and were truly meant to be.

The love scenes were so scorching hot that it nearly lit the pages on fire. Wasn’t expecting that first time scene between them, but it totally worked in that situation because it fueled with lots of passion, tension, and major heat were they worked off some energy together. It showed off their passion and connection to a tee. As for the second love scene, I totally saw it coming as soon as the introduction to paint came into play, and it reminded me of a scene in a book that Jessica Lemmon wrote that had a very similar scene in it. Yet despite knowing that it was coming, it was still hot and sexy as they painted each other in the classroom. Again showing off their heat and passion. The other two love scenes were no less hot and passionate, but they were more intimate and emotional with their connection being the most important thing between them in that moment not just the physical. It was where they could show their love each other. There were great moments of tenderness and love between them in those scenes. They were just done really well.

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the storyline about the school for trouble youth on the Dalton family ranch. There were these three youths that were introduced and explored. I loved seeing the interaction between the boys, Vanessa and Jacob. It showed a connection between them all that I really enjoyed seeing especially the relationship between Jacob and Aiden. It really added a lot to the story without taking away from the romance or Jacob and Vanessa’s journey in the story. In fact I think these boys helped them on their journey, especially Jacob, and helped them heal. It also amazing to see the boys heal as well because both Vanessa and Jacob understood what they were going through because they had some of the issues themselves. I loved seeing them not want to make the same mistakes that they made when they were younger. It was awesome layer to the story that just enhanced it so much more. It also makes me curious for the future of Gold Valley series and the possibility that these boys might come back into the series further down either working at the school themselves or the ranch, and possibly getting a story of their own one day especially Aiden. I can see it happening, not any time soon, but I can see it.

Overall, I loved this story. It blew me away with just how much I loved and adored it. It wasn’t just the romance that drew me in either, it was the entirety of the story. I loved Vanessa’s journey and just how far she came from ten years back to the present. She had to overcome so much, but she did it in the end and became a sober and healthy adult. It was very gritty and raw part of the story, but that was what made it feel real and really made feel connect to her and the story. It didn’t shy away from the hard topics, which I really appreciated. It made the journey all the more satisfying in the end when she did get her happily ever after with Jacob. Jacob went through a similar transformation and did it with the help of Vanessa just like Vanessa took strength form him in order for her to heal. I loved that aspect of their relationship, and how they fell in love with each other. It was very clear to see them falling in love with one another as they spent more time together. Just that need that they had for one another was clearly portrayed. I just loved it. There’s was really nothing to complain about this story.

I will be reading this one again just like I will reread Maisey Yates other books in this series.

Highly recommend for Maisey Yates lovers, Gold Valley lovers, and just anyone who wants to see a refreshing love story that deals with raw and hard topics explored and dealt with as love heals, and anyone that just wants a good emotional read that will make your heart twist, break, and then refill all over again with some tears thrown in along the way.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Maisey Yates because I know exactly what I’m going to get. I don’t mean this in a predictable, comfort-read kind of way. Yates is NOT a comforting read; she is an angst-queen. I read her because I like her ethos: it’s as close to sexy inspie minus-God-talk as you’re going to get in contemporary romance. In Yates’s romances, encounters are meaningful; the past, redeemable; sex, mystical and earthy all at once; and, love, something huge, frightening, wonderful, and as much to be run away from as to run towards. These themes are reiterated in every romance, but they never get old and are expressed with urgency as the basis of self-fulfillment and a happy marriage. Most importantly, for Yates, as for my long-lamented absent romance-writing friend, Ros Clarke, the body knows before the mind and heart can come into its orbit.

In Yates’s seventh Gold Valley romance, she tackles a heroine with a daunting backstory. Vanessa Logan (Olivia’s sister, heroine of Yates’s first Gold Valley romance, Smooth-Talking Cowboy) returns to home-town Gold Valley because it is “the last refuge for her demons, and the final locked door in her life … her origin story. And everyone needed to revisit an origin story. She’d gone out on her own, failed, hit rock bottom and healed. But she had healed away, not at the site of her first fall from grace.” Teen-age Vanessa had shamed her family by drinking, carousing, and indulging in promiscuity. Running away to LA, she became an addict to drugs and alcohol. Now, she’s back to confront her family and teach art therapy to the hero’s, Jacob Dalton’s, brother’s therapy ranch for troubled boys.

One troubled night, before she left town years ago, Jacob Dalton, then an EMT, was her life-line, as she lay on her parents’ bathroom floor, suffering a miscarriage. From thereon, Vanessa “hit rock bottom” and brought herself back up by art and therapy. She’s back sober and beautiful. At present, Jacob is a troubled soul, without Vanessa’s conscious awareness of what she needs to do, where’s she’s come from, and how to never return to the bad place in herself. Jacob is haunted by guilt, over being the one to survive a helicopter crash that killed his firefighting best friend, Clint, and left Clint’s pregnant wife, devastated. Jacob is equally haunted by a childhood loss. Guilt compounded on guilt confronts a woman to reckon with in an art therapy classroom for delinquent youth. The attraction is immediate and the love-making wild, passionate, and intense. But, for Yates, an HEA-marriage cannot come about until the hero and heroine have worked things out in themselves. For Vanessa, this means reconciliation with her family; for Jacob, the working-out of his guilt, isolation (he lives a hermetic existence on a mountain-top), and self-loathing before he can admit his love for Vanessa and merge with her in a unit of happiness and purpose.

With Yates’s first romances, there was a diffidence, maybe reluctance?, to come out and say that couples are fated for each; their connection, visceral and permanent from first meeting, or reuniting. But Yates makes this explicit in Lone Wolf Cowboy:

He met her gaze, and it was the strangest thing. It was like looking into the past, and looking into the future all at once. He could remember her, scared but so very brave that night she called for help. He could see her now. Reckless and untamed. But there was something else. Something deep and wide that stretched out beyond the present moment, and for the life of him he didn’t know what the hell that was. What it meant. It was so momentous, he had to look away from it. It echoed inside of him, and places that he didn’t want her to touch.

There was just something about her. It wasn’t the first time he felt it either. Like he was staring into his future every time he looked into her eyes.

Sex was the dividing factor between marriage, and not. It was a strange thing. And some people would say, sex could be a small thing. A casual thing. She would have said that in the past. But that was because she’d never had sex the way she did with Jacob. Sex with him went down beneath her skin. It touched places inside of her that she hadn’t known existed … She would never be able to keep her feelings neutral. And it made her wonder how much ground was between neutral and … love.

These passages encapsulate Yates’s romance ethos, what she explores over and over again with each romance narrative, with each both unique and yet-familiar couple: that bodies are wise, minds are slow to understand, and hearts must “open in a fundamental way” (thank you, once again, to my favourite poet, Leonard Cohen, for the words) for love, marriage, family, a deep, everlasting, and elemental commitment to take place. In the scheme of Yates’s oeuvre, Lone Wolf Cowboy can stand with the best of them. With Miss Austen, we’d say it’s inspired by “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Maisey Yates’s Lone Wolf Cowboy is published by HQN Books. It was released on July 30 and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from HQN Books, via Netgalley.

[angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good cowboy romance, but this one wasn’t one of my favorites. I enjoyed the set up of the story and the beginning plot. I was looking forward to exploring their pasts and her struggles with addiction. However, the plot took a couple turns I wasn’t expecting. I’m not particularly into the pregnancy trope. And at one point the main character worries about getting pregnant in her late 20s.

Excerpt:
“The likelihood of her being pregnant was very low. She was in her late twenties, which was not advanced in terms of age, but it wasn’t exactly the most fertile either. And they had sex once. Standing. Against the wall.”

As someone who hopes to get pregnant and is in her late 30s it made my eyes roll a bit honestly. Obviously you can struggle with fertility at any age. But the worrying as a 20 something rubbed me the wrong way. Your fertility doesn’t drop that much in your late 20s. And then of course she got pregnant first try. This is probably my issue. If you struggle similarly, I would skip this one. If the synopsis interests you, check out other reviews. I do like this author so I’ll definitely read future releases.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Stacee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. This was the first Maisey book where I thought about DNFing and yet somehow I couldn’t stop reading it.

Vanessa and Jacob are decent enough characters. They’ve both got a lot of baggage and that defines most of how they act. I didn’t see the chemistry between them at all and felt like it was a weird leap from strangers to lovers to engaged. I do really like this family and enjoyed seeing the other characters.

Plot wise, it was very repetitive. There’s more inner monologue than dialogue: for her it’s drug use, him the deaths of two friends. It’s basically all either of them thinks about and that made a lot of that book a struggle for me.

Overall, it was sort of like a car wreck I couldn’t look away from. I never felt fully invested in these characters, yet I still needed to know how it ended.

FYI: talk of underage drinking, heavy drug use, miscarriage, and having sex while blacked out

**Huge thanks to HQN for providing the arc free of charge**

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Cowboy Romance, and this is the 7th book in the Gold Valley series. This is the romance of Vanessa and Jacob. Both of the main characters are getting over a lot of stuff, but they find light and happiness with in each other. I found this book to be a very beautiful story about two people that has buried them some with guilt. There is some hard two read topics talked about in this book, so if you get trigger by hard hitting topics in books please check the triggers warnings before picking this book up. I can say how they are talked about in this book is done really well, but they are there.

[Carma · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We’re all different kinds of messed up, Jacob. I guess it’s not really my place to comment on your particular brand of it.”

Vanessa has been an interest of mine since reading her sister Olivia’s story. I was wondering if she would get a book of her own and how Maisey would spin it. Knowing she had some addiction problems, and that can be a touchy subject, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever read her back-story. Well here she is and it is a great story.

Vanessa left town in a cloud of disappointment and addiction 10 years ago. Her family and friends were toxic for her and she just needed to disappear. Yes she could’ve let them know she wasn’t dead by the side of the road but they fueled her desires in a negative way. She needed to get herself sober, stronger and stable before even considering any type of relationship with the Logan’s. Being 5 years sober now, she accepts a job back in Gold Valley, the place it all went wrong.

Jacob Dalton is depressed, lonely and possibly on the road to becoming an alcoholic. He is fighting guilt through ghosts of the past and can’t seem to get himself back into the land of the living. He spends his days held up in his cabin high in the hills and on the edge of the land. To escape, to punish himself, to find strength, he doesn’t know why he feels the need to remove himself from society. As much as he doesn’t want to be anyone’s hero, situations keep finding him smack dab in that exact position.

Jacob and Vanessa share a history only the two of them know. He was there for her, years ago at her lowest point. He held her fate in his hands and he wouldn’t let go, he is the face she sees when she needs to draw strength in her life. Meeting him unexpectedly again, all these years later, has her wondering if he remembers her as well.

Vanessa starts work at the Dalton ranch in the new youth center they’ve built. She is teaching art therapy classes, as that is the thing that saved her during rehab. She feels a kinship with these kids and thinks she can reach them. Jacob also feels a kinship in how not to behave. He has the same attitude these kids do and can relate to the anger they feel at the world.

Vanessa and Jacob are drawn to each other, neither can control it, and the more they fight it the more powerful it becomes. There is a thin line between love and hate and when their emotions take over, passion erupts. Keeping a lid on that passion proves easier said than done and it takes strong willpower to keep away from each other. When an unexpected hiccup takes the wheel, they work together to be a team as best as they know how. But will it be enough?

I’ve read some reviews where people have said this is too dark for a Maisey Yates book, too much, too everything. But addiction, depression and guilt is too dark, too much, too everything. Addicts have different vantage points than the people they leave behind. More inner reflection, more pain associated with past events and personalities. I felt Vanessa’s handling of her family was right in line with my personal experiences with addiction and alcoholism. It isn’t light, it isn’t pretty, it’s heavy, it’s deep and it’s depressing. These sides of our culture need brought to light to not only show the bad side of addiction, overdoses etc but also the hope. Recovery and rehabilitation is a real thing. People can pick themselves up and refocus and succeed. Depression too is debilitating but can be overcome. Jacob has survivors guilt for both of his best friends, knowing honestly he couldn’t have changed the outcome but feeling no less guilty living a life of what-if’s. How many of us live the what-if life daily?

The quote I started this review off with was one of my favorites in the book. Vanessa realizes they are both screwed up, not one more than the other. But acknowledging this between them gives them strength to know they aren’t alone in it. Together they can weather any storm and come out the other side stronger, together.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy and once again, Ms Yates gets right into the nitty gritty with life and all her ups and downs. While this 5 star read was on the darker side, it wasn’t unnecessarily dark or depressing. It fits the story, it fits the characters and I’m thankful she wrote these characters for us to experience.

[Books and Spoons · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing, emotional, dark, edgy, and inspiring story this was.
I haven't had this kind of emotional connection to a story since Eagle by Janie Crouch and I have not shed as many tears as I did with this one since Redemption by Kelly Moran.
I loved every moment of the story, it just got deep under my skin. It had the raw feels, the utter despair that is so real and lifelike, I could feel the pain of the protagonist, as well as triumph and victory when the inner demons were won.
Vanessa has faced so much in her life, it was inspiring and encouraging to see her shine, clean from the drugs and alcohol. She had conquered the past, was doing the work with her dysfunctional family, facing the old teenage drama and trouble that set on the hazardous path. I loved how she had found her place in the world and was able to use the dark times in her life to shine the light to those who needed it. She truly is a heroine, a woman to admire.
Jacob was the perfect match for Vanessa, in all the possible ways one could imagine. He had his own dark secrets and regrets, he had his own hickups with his family and friends. Yet there was that man inside Jacob who was willing to stand up for and with Vanessa when needed, who had her back, who believed she was worth sticking around and saw the woman she truly was, inside out.
There were so many layers in this story, things I loved, like the victorious, inspiring, engaging story of Vanessa and Jacob, as well as the new side to Olivia, Vanessa's twin sister whom we met in an earlier book. I enjoyed the banter, admired the work they did at the ranch, and swooned over the romance between them but even more swoon-worthy I found the support they gave each other in everyday life, that was so admirable and adorable!
The author has taken some very raw, difficult issues from real life, showing the hurt and pain, the true tragedies one can face, and made them into a beautiful, fragile, powerful story of redemption and conquering your inner weaknesses, finding your place, and finding your soulmate.
Get some tissues ready and let the feels come as you experience this remarkable​ story of life, love, and family drama...
~ Five Spoons!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Lone Wolf Cowboy
Series: Gold Valley #7
Author: Maisey Yates
Pub date:July 30th 2019
Pages:384
Genre: romance
Will Gold Valley’s most reclusive cowboy finally find a reason to heal?

As a former EMT and a wildland firefighter, there’s no one Jacob Dalton can’t save—except himself. Since his best friend’s tragic death, Jacob has isolated himself…until Vanessa Logan returns to Gold Valley. He saved her life during a medical call years ago, and he’s never forgotten her. The instant jolt of heat between them takes him by surprise, but he knows that giving in to it would only end in disaster…

For Vanessa, returning home was about healing, not about exploring her attraction with this strong, silent cowboy. Jacob is the guardian angel from her past—with strong, capable hands and an irresistible mouth. He’s a temptation she knows she can’t afford. But after the chemistry between them explodes, she must tell Jacob he’s not alone anymore—she’s pregnant with his baby

My thoughts
Rating: 4
Would I recommend it? yes
Will I read anything else by her : maybe
For a romance it took me a little while to get in to the story ,not saying it was slow but in some place it was slow , and it took me that long to like the characters as well, some times it felt like the story was never going to come together but I'm glad that I kept reading it and didn't stop , because then when it finally did come together the characters and the story came to life. Without said I want to think netgalley for letting me read and review in exchange for my honest opinion

[Autumn Miller ~ autumnbookreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

4.5 Stars
MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:
I loved this book! From the dedication (which was truly touching) right until the end. The pacing was great and I couldn’t put this book down. The romance was smoking hot and had my heart strings tightly clutched at all times.

Vanessa- I loved Vanessa’s character growth. She proved that through adversity and trials you can still overcome. She was such an amazing character and easily relatable. I couldn’t help but root for and connect with her.

Jacob- Jacob was such a strong character. He had been just so broken and in desperate need of healing at the beginning of this book. I really connected with Jacob and I was so happy for him by the end of the book. He truly was a hero that couldn’t see his worth and it just warmed to my heart when he finally did.

The relationship between these two characters was beautifully written. I loved the banter between Jacob and Vanessa. It made me laugh until I cried. The paint scene was one of my favorites and just so precious!

[Holly Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a regular romance reader, at least not hetero romance, but this had such a respectful and nuanced portrayal of Vanessa's addiction and sobriety that it blew me away. I was really rooting for her throughout the book! Sobriety is difficult, love is difficult, and starting a new life in an old town full of heavy memories is difficult. I've read a lot of books with misinformation and platitudes for addicts, clearly written by someone who has never been, or possibly even met, an addict. This was not that book. Thanks, Maisey Yates!

[Lori Jorgensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maisey always always does good with a cowboy, a romance and all he feels. I found myself yelling at her hero and heroine, they refused to admit they loved each other!! Jacob and Vanessa definitely had some past issues that were holding them back from trust. So go grab this book and find out how it ends.

[Veda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Jacob and Vanessa's story. Both have things from their past that effect the present, and how each of them handle it goes to their character. I also enjoyed getting to know some of the troubled boys and seeing their growth in their new school environment.

[Nate Brightman · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re not familiar with Maisey Yate’s writing you should know from the start that she most often doesn’t do light and breezy contemporary romance. One or both of her main characters come into the story with a wagon load of emotional baggage. As I’ve followed her writing over the past few years it seems that in her Gold Valley series the baggage gets even heavier and we spend a lot of time feeling like we’re on the therapist couch as we are privy to the inner workings of the character’s mind. In Lone Wolf Cowboy the ‘therapy talk” as the characters call it, the self-introspection, the constant dialogue about self-forgiveness, self-healing is near exhausting. Our female lead character is Vanessa Logan is a recovering heroine addict and she may be the most emotionally sound character in this story. So what does that tell you? I’m not trying to discourage you from reading this book. I enjoyed it as I have all of Yate’s work. I’m just trying to give you a heads up that if you’re looking for a low angst summer beach romance, this book may not be for you.
The first full novel in the Gold Valley series centered around Olivia Logan and Luke McAllister’s romance. Olivia’s issues centered around the fact that she was a twin and where her tendencies were to seek praise and color within the lines her twin sisters were not. As the twins got into their teens Olivia’s twin sister got into more and more trouble hanging with the wrong crowd and Olivia felt more and more compelled to be the perfect daughter for her parents to compensate. Eventually her twin got into drugs and left town at 17, never to be heard from again. With the help of Luke Olivia learned as she says in this story, that she doesn’t have to be perfect, just happy. Olivia’s twin sister is our female lead Vanessa. As Vanessa says at one point, she and Olivia have the same face and the same birthday but that’s about all they share. Vanessa after ten years has returned to Gold Valley, five years sober, to teach art therapy at a school for trouble teens Gabe Dalton is starting. She’s hoping she can re-establish a relationship with her family but accepts it will be a difficult task. While she recognizes her behavior and long term disappearance hurt them she too feels hurt and victimized by what she perceives as her parents and sister’s lack of support when she was struggling as a teen. Oh, and Vanessa was raped and impregnated by her then boyfriend Jared when she was passed out from drugs and alcohol when she was seventeen. Jacob Dalton then a paramedic was the help that showed up to save her life when she miscarried. Because he saved her life and helped her keep her pregnancy a secret she’s always seen him as a hero.
Jacob Dalton is an emotional mess. His best friend Clint died leaving a pregnant widow while filling in for him as a smoke jumper when his helicopter crashed. Jacob also suffered childhood emotional trauma when he watched his friend fall off a cliff and die. He never told anyone he was there and has never spoken to anyone about it. Jacob has learned not to talk about feelings, not to feel anything too deeply because it might hurt. Jacob has been alienating himself from his family and life since Clint’s death. To try and help him past his guilt his oldest brother Gabe convinces him to come help him at the school he’s setting up. Also helping at the school is youngest Dalton brother Caleb and Clint’s widow Ellie who is a teacher and more or less the schools administrator. Caleb is in love with Ellie but after four years she’s still not over Clint’s death so he’s stuck in the BFF zone. Their story will be released in time for a Christmas book.
Jacob and Vanessa of course meet and both immediately remember each other from that fateful night ten years ago. They are drawn to each other despite neither wanting to be in a relationship. After angry, unprotected sex, Vanessa finds herself pregnant with Jacob’s baby. The story is all about Vanessa reconnecting with her family falling in love and them both healing enough to love each other. As I said there’s an awful, awful lot of therapy speak here about healing, forgiveness, shame, guilt and life. You either like that sort of story or you don’t. I do. My problem with this book is that the story arc follows almost the exact path as two other Gold Valley books. The male character proposes marriage and offers the woman everything (financial support, fidelity, great sex) with the caveat that he will never love her because he doesn’t believe in or is incapable of love. The female character at first accepts and then later comes to realize she wants more, she wants a marriage where she is loved. The maie character at first rejects her love and then gets his head out of his ass and grovels and they live happily ever after. Come on Maisey, three times in seven books? Good book, just not for every modern romance reader.

[Maureen Hubley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story!

[Pam Graber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two people, damaged emotionally, come together. Can their passion heal their hearts?

Vanessa Logan's life went off the rails years ago. Her parents strict rules combined with her twin's perfect adherence to them made her feel broken, until she actually was. A drug addict, her downward spiral stops when she's arrested for possession. She takes rehab over jail and gets clean, discovering a passion for art in the process. Clean for five years, she finally feels strong enough to return home and try to repair her relationship with her family. Taking a job at the Dalton family's ranch as an art teacher for their fledgling "home for wayward boys", who better to teach the boys about owning your mistakes and moving on to do better? When one of the first people she encounters at the ranch is Jacob Dalton, Vanessa isn't sure she can ever get past her youthful mistakes in this place. Jacob was the EMT who came when she needed help as a consequence of a night she can't remember. Will he see the changes she's made, or does he still see the damaged girl she used to be?

Jacob Dalton's heart has been heavily barricaded since he was 8 years old and saw his best friend die. The barricades went even higher the day another friend died in a helicopter that HE should have been on instead. Seeing Vanessa Logan at his brother's new school takes him back about 10 years to a frightened girl and an emergency call. Is this strong, beautiful woman the same person?

As Jacob is called on to serve as a classroom monitor for Vanessa's art classes, he is impressed first by her beauty, then by her acceptance of each of the boys in her classes. When their passion explodes, leading to pregnancy, can they both open their hearts to the possibility that maybe they're good for each other?

I liked this story a lot. Vanessa came back to town stronger than she's ever been, and yet, still, all her family sees is the druggie she used to be. I was so sad for her when she announces her pregnancy to her parents and sister, only to have her mother jump down her throat about whether she's taking drugs still. Granted, she hadn't ever let them in on her struggle, or her victory in getting clean, but I completely cheered when she told them off and left. They needed to bear some of the blame for her eventual downfall. And Jacob, oh, Jacob was so hurt - some of it at his own hand, but some due to circumstance. He needed Vanessa to show him the hero he was deep down.

This book will appeal to romance readers who like a bit of cowboy flair. I liked it because Maisey Yates wrote it.

[Catherine Wright (Cat's Guilty Pleasure) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did like this one, it's not my favorite. There was a lot of repetitiveness and going over the same subject constantly. What I did like was the growth both characters went through while reading. Vanessa and Logan each have a troubled past, while Vanessa was trying to correct her mistake and reconnect with her family, Logan was still hiding from his. They have an unusual relationship, can they make it or will the past keep them apart?

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacob isn't a former EMT and firefighter for any selfless reasons he's got baggage hes been trying to work out and it seems that the baggage just kept getting bigger. Vanessa has her own sort of baggage and is back in her home town and is less then thrilled when she finds out shes near Jacob who helped her in the past where she was in a vulnerable position. She's not the girl she once was. Jacob and Vanessa work together to help at risk children and the longer they are near eachother its clear there's an attraction that's becoming harder to deny.

I really enjoyed this book and getting to know Jacob and Vanessa's story. Both had baggage that made then believe they are hard to love or couldn't be loved and they had to learn to get past the things that were bringing them down. They both were keeping secrets and it was slowly coming out in the open and the best way to deal with the past secrets is to face them and it was interesting seeing how they were dealing with their trauma. Personally I thought it was interesting getting to see Vanessa's story she and her sister grew up together but had totally different out comes and there wasn't much of a relationship between the two siblings and in this book there is a chance of redemption in making the connection. Then there was that heated romance between Vanessa and Jacob it was interesting seeing how them spending time with eachother helped heal one another, getting that trust and talking things out and clearing the air both of them had so much issues and they needed to get it out and work on it. Overall great book I really enjoyed it!

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lone Wolf Cowboy was a very emotional and compleing story line.
Vanessa Logan has come back to Gold Valley to start a new chapter in her life after dealing with addictions and her rehab. She has taken a position with at the Dalton Ranch to help inner city kids deal with their problems at home or in foster care. She helps them through art, just as it helped her become the person she is today. She has to confront per family and let them know that she is there to stay and they will have to come to terms with who she is now and not what she was ten years ago.
Jocob Dalton was a fomer EMT who was there when Vannessa, just a seventeen yr old at the time, has to deal with a tragic occurance and she was her hero.. Jacob does not see himself as one and he can help other people but can he find it in him to help himself while working on his family ranch and business his brother Gabe has started. When Vanessa and Jacob meet again a new kind of awareness and heat of passion stuns them both and little did they know that they would be bonded in a way neither for saw.

This was a very emotional story and it was for me the book that really dealt with some raw emotions for this couple . They have to confront the past before they could move on.
Thank you Maisey Yates for sending me this book to read and review.

I can't wait for the next book in the Gold Valley series.

[Donna Repsher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start this review by stating that I am a die-hard Maisey Yates fan, and Lone Wolf Cowboy, the seventh book in her Gold Valley series was one I'd been eagerly awaiting because up until now, the brief glimpses I'd had of Jacob made him an intriguing character, one I wanted to know more about, and in this novel did I ever! This novel also unlocks the story about Olivia's missing twin sister, Vanessa, and what a story it is. If you're new to this series, I suggest reading these novels in the order they were written, but this novel does work as a standalone, and it gets 5 stars from this reader.

The novel opens as Vanessa Logan is returning to Gold Valley after a very long absence of almost a decade, and there are many reasons why she's been gone and out of touch with her family for so long. For starters, she'd always felt like and been treated as the black sheep in her family, the one who couldn't and didn't live up to her twin sister Olivia's perfection, at least in the eyes of her parents. She was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, and her parents, especially her father, made no attempt to hide his disappointment in her. But to a child, any attention is good attention, so Vanessa drank, took drugs, slept around and at 17, found herself pregnant, alone and having a miscarriage.

Enter Jacob Dalton, the EMT who showed up just in time to respond to Vanessa's call for assistance. He helped young Vanessa through her miscarriage, kept the entire matter to himself, and, in doing so, became her hero, keeping both her pregnancy and miscarriage a secret, and although it takes quite a bit of reading to fully understand Jacob, and realize why he's been the quiet, brooding one among his siblings, and why he's been keeping his own secrets and guilt since he was 8 years old.

After recovering from her miscarriage, Vanessa leaves town and her judgmental family behind, and, since in her own mind, she's never measured up, she accepts that as fact and begins one hell of a downward spiral, stealing, drinking, sleeping around indiscriminately for both money, sex, and drugs, and it all eventually leads to her having a serious drug addiction, an addiction which finally ended when she was given a choice to either go to jail or enter rehab and she chose the latter. It was in rehab that she found what became her salvation--art. She was finally able to express her inner pain, alienation from her family, and her rage by painting it on canvas, and it was through art and therapy that she finally learned to cope with and find sobriety. Five years of sobriety later, she's ready to return to her home town and take a job at the Dalton Ranch, teaching art and using it as therapy to help deeply troubled youths and teenagers who are much like the troubled teenager she once was.


I was totally looking forward to Jacob’s story. He is the brooding Dalton brother, burdened down with guilt enough for a dozen men. After stuffing a terrible secret and self-blame down inside himself since he was 8 years old, he became an EMT, and eventually a firefighter. He was a womanizer, just like his father, and took nothing very seriously. It was surprising to learn just how troubled he was and why. Jacob could be the poster boy for self-recrimination, his most recent failing was choosing to stay in bed with his flavor of the week instead of going out on a call to fight a fire. His close friend, Clint, took his place and went to fight that fire instead, and he was killed when his helicopter crashed, leaving his pregnant wife, Ellie, a widow, and Jason blaming himself for his friend's death, and after that, isolating himself in a small cabin at the top of a mountain and wearing his guilt like a shield to keep everyone, including his family, away.

Since Vanessa will be working at the Dalton Ranch, she's renting a cabin 2 miles away from Jacob's cabin, and when she first tries to start a fire in the fireplace, Jacob notices the cloud of smoke and once again, comes to her aid, puts out the fire, and this older and wiser Vanessa, can't help but be attracted to her handsome but aloof rescuer. The chemistry between these two characters is explosive and impossible to ignore, but dealing with her own sobriety comes first, and healing herself means everything to Vanessa, as does making amends to her sister and her parents, but no one ever promised her that maintaining her sobriety would be easy, but it is easy for her to see that Jacob is as emotionally damaged as she once was, although he's dealing with his issues by ignoring them rather than facing them.

What follows is a deeply introspective and deeply emotional story as these two broken characters come together, seeking solace, seeking to help each other, battling their own personal demons, reaching out to help troubled young people, and coming to grips with their own pain, their own failings, their own guilt, and with their growing attraction to one another, an attraction that ends up with Vanessa becoming pregnant, and Jacob agreeing that he wants to present in his child's life, while refusing to deal with his emotions and his feelings toward Vanessa, who, through her own fight for sobriety, has made her the emotionally stronger individual in this relationship. So, will these two broken characters learn to heal not only themselves but each other? You'll just have to read it to find out.

If you're looking for a novel with a lot of action, suspense, and forward momentum, this isn't the novel for you. But, if you're looking for an angst-filled, dramatic novel dealing with serious psychological issues, lots of soul-searching, lots of internal dialogue, lots of pain, guilt, and self-discovery that will grab you by the heart and not let you go, I think you're going to love this incredibly personal and deeply moving novel and it's main characters as much as I did.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emotional. This book deals with subjects not normally in Harlequin books. There was a lot of detailed descriptions of feelings and thoughts. Maybe a little too much. At one point I was like, “Okay let’s move on.” Some of the dialogue didn’t ring true. But overall it was an interesting read that left me crying at the end. Flawed main characters are always interesting to read about and these two were definitely flawed.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I should preface this review by saying that I am not a romance reader. If I looked through my goodreads shelves, I'm not sure if I would find one single mass market romance other than this one. I have read some quite a few years ago, but they're not really my thing. I saw Lone Wolf Cowboy mentioned on NPR books as a good one that came out this month, so I thought I'd expand my horizons and give it a try. I mention that because I know people who are more devoted to the genre may have different feelings about that then I do, so take my review with a grain of salt.

The book starts out with Vanessa returning to her home town, which she had left ten years prior as a teenage drug addict. She got sober a few years ago, and has come back to work as an art therapist at a ranch school for troubled kids. Almost as soon as she arrives, she runs into Jacob Dalton, a former EMT who had saved her life years earlier. As it turns out, Jacob is also helping out at the new school, so he and Vanessa will be seeing a lot of each other, even though things are already awkward between them.

As their attraction to one another heats up, they both hold back from the relationship because of things in their past. Vanessa uses her history of recovering from addiction and her work as an art therapist to try to move past it, while Jacob shuts down and keeps her emotionally at arm's length. The story as a whole is about the two of them confronting things in their past and deciding whether or not they have a future together.

The reason I've given Lone Wolf Cowboy two stars is that I found it very repetitive. Every single conversation was very therapy-ish... it was just overdone. Every character in the book, not just the main ones, seemed to have a need to analyze their feelings on every page. I know that was the theme of the book, but for me it was tedious. Even though I felt like the therapy thing was pushed over the top, I do like that it was presented as a huge part of Vanessa's recovery, and that she was able to use it to help other people even if they weren't ready to jump into their feelings head first. I also would have liked a crisis with a bit more action to keep things interesting.

On a positive note, I do think I could see myself reading another book by Maisey Yates. I was interested in her characters, and her writing style was nice. I was a little afraid this was going to involve cheesy cowboy dialogue (again, this isn't my usual style of book), but that wasn't the case at all. It is also necessary to mention that she is good at writing the sexy times stuff.