by Andrea Renee Cox
Courted by a Cowboy was a sweet tale of forgiveness and family ties. I was surprised, though, that the forgiveness wasn't from God. Faith played a large role in the story, yet when it came down to the core theme, it seemed vacant. If "forgiving yourself for the mistakes of the past is the only way you'll ever be free of it," then why do we need Jesus? The Bible declares that Jesus is the only one who can cast sin as far from a person as the east is from the west, so I found this main theme to be severely lacking in biblical truth.
The only other thing I disliked was the use of history dumps to fill in the reader on the backstory of the lead characters. I understand novellas don't allow a lot of space, but this one was a bit on the short side at only seven chapters, so there was room to spare to get a bit more creative in how to catch up the reader on the history of the characters without dumping a lot of information at them, which is often difficult to absorb so quickly. This is the reason it took me two days to read this book rather than only one; I had to pause in my reading to absorb all the history.
The opening line was fabulous. It intrigued me. I also liked the sweetness of this story. My favorite character was Winnie, but I wish she played a larger part in the story, especially since she was so key to the lead female's story arc.
I was not compensated for my honest review.