Cowboy Comes Back

by Jeannie Watt

Now that his rodeo career is over, Kade Danning has nowhere else to crawl but back home. He wishes he could just keep his head down, fix up his father's abandoned ranch and then sell it so he can afford to spend more time with his daughter. Move back, then move on—quickly. Unfortunately, after ten long years he can't avoid Libby Hale.

Kade has loved Libby all his life and he'd give his championship titles never to have hurt her. But he did. And convincing her to forgive him is the hardest challenge he's ever faced—in or out of the arena.

Genres: Romance, Westerns, Contemporary Romance

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jeannie Watt lives on a small cattle ranch and hay farm in southwest Montana. When she's not writing, she enjoys making mosaic mirrors, sewing, and pretending that the house is neat and tidy.

Jeannie loves to hear from readers. Please contact her via her website www.jeanniewatt.com.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is built around a very difficult topic that seems to be rearing it's head more and more in romance novels. Cheating. Unlike the current trope in NA books where the cheating happens in the present or very recent past this story takes place 10 years after.

Kade our "hero" is upset that Libby his girlfriend doesn't want to get married. She's in college and isn't ready. So hero is angry and sleeps with somebody else which results in a pregnancy. He does the right thing and marries the woman. Libby, needless to say, isn't thrilled with him even all these years later.

He comes back to town a divorced mess which is where my two stars come in. I like this much better than the jerk who comes back a billionaire while the little betrayed woman is struggling. YUK.

Here Libby has made a life for herself and is no pining woman never letting a man in her bed again. Granted she never married. She is dating the local Vet whom I liked a lot better than Kade.

Kade's excuse for cheating is very lame. He felt her pulling away and was insecure. She said she needed a little space NOT that they were broken up. He was pushing her for marriage. You do not then go out and sleep with somebody else, even if you're young. I don't buy this "oh so and so was young and made a mistake" I personally think there are code of ethics that transcend age. Yes. Be angry. Then break up. Tell that person fine, then I'm going to see other people. That might be immature but at least it is honest. Had he left her in a huff and then gotten somebody else pregnant that's one thing.

His anger at Libby and his ex-wife's easy dismissal that Libby can't forgive is rich. Uh. Right. How would the two of you feel?

I know people are able to put the pieces back together when a partner cheats but things broken like that are never the same. How can you trust that person not to do this again if things get a little rough at home and he's not happy?

Then there is the constant reminder in the shape of his child. It isn't the child's fault but like it or not it'll forever tie everyone involved to the past.

I didn't believe in this relationship but I also can not stand cheating stories. Those able to forgive and forget as they say might enjoy it more than I did.

[Vivi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of the book was promising. I love the second chance/reunion plot and I was looking forward to seeing how the H worked to redeem himself and earn the h's forgiveness. Spoiler alert...he doesn't. The main characters barely interact with each other, instead we read pages upon pages of mind numbing information about horses and office politics. The hero has the gall to blame the heroine for being angry about the fact that he cheated on her. I really felt very little remorse from him and their romance just ended up being completely unbelievable.

PS: I'm really sick of authors including a scene in the final pages in which the OW tells the h how to react to the H's betrayal...how about minding your own business perhaps?

[Lu Bielefeld]

hero is a loser and cheater + heroine deserve better

[Kalyee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic plot- H/h are childhood sweethearts, h goes off to college ,their relationship is strained and H has a one night stand. ONS girl gets preggo, H dumps h and marries other girl. Cut to 10 years later, H is back in town, jobless, penniless,divorced and living in a horse trailer.


Unlike other reviewers, I really didn't have a problem with the H cheating When you ask someone to marry you and they say "I don't know, I need more time" .... That's a serious emotional blow. I thought the H saying it felt like the h was pulling away was believable, especially since the h was emotionally distant the whole book

What didn't work for me, and why I gave it only two stars is ... I found it really boring. There were a LOT of pages taken up with horses, old horses, wild horses, horse politics( I think you get the idea) but there weren't many scenes where the H/h actually interact.


For a book about a cheating H who comes home to reconcile, I expected a lot more emotional angst and sexual tension. Alas what I got was a book about horses, with a dabble of romance on the side.

[ALPHAreader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book needed to take out about 98% of the snooze-fest content around The Ecology of Wild Horses and their Environmental Impact, and the too many scenes set in a government office wherein the heroine is snooty about her incompetent boss. That's a little too much reality in a genre that's all about fantasy.

And, seriously, the hero and heroine probably only spend about 35% of the book in each other's company (hence, why some of that "pasture biomass and population growth" jargon should seriously go), which on the one hand is understandable because they're both boring and awful but might want to be reconsidered in a romance book.

Yeesh.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, maybe I read a different book. This book, I enjoyed. The H and h were long time friends and lovers. The H wanted marriage and his proposal was rejected by the h who wanted 'more time.' She intended for them to postpone marriage; he thought he had been dumped. One night stand equals pregnancy equals doing the right thing marriage for child's sake.

There were really no bad guys among the main characters. The only negative ones were the wanna-be boss of the h and the super rich guy rancher. The H did not cheat, he thought he had been dumped. Both the H and h had had horrible childhoods and were greatly influenced by fear. The ex-wife was not a bad person and, in fact, saved both the H and h from legal troubles.

I enjoyed how both main characters grew and adulted. Even the ex-wife knew how the H felt about the h. When communications finally happened, they got the HEA they were seeking.

[BETH BUSS · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a really good non-HQn book. Loved the hero, hated the heroine. Enjoyed the parts involving him sorting out relationship with daughter and her mother. Would have been fine having a buddy/pal of the cowboy in the heroine's role. Or at least not a snippy bitch who got no sympathy from me.

The horse/mustang biomass part of the story interested me and I could have read more of that and simply dropped the non-romance between the two leads.

[Martha B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK story but slow. I was interested because there was a fall out in the past. The H had a kid with someone else. I skimmed through some parts that I didn’t find that interesting. Maybe if I was more into ranching... I wasn’t either that interested in the conflict with heroine’s boss. It didn’t feel quite as romance novel even if there was romantic involvement between MCs. There were many other things going on. In the end I had mixed feelings.

[Carrie Billig · Rating 5 out of 5]

5

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip. Draggy and boring.

[Beckie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not a goodreads book. However, this was an excellent story. Its about a cowboy named Kade, who is in love with a young girl named Libby, but they are too young to make a commitment to each other. He doesn't have a very good family life, so he leaves and becomes a big rodeo star. He gets married and has a child, all the while still being in love with Libby, his young love. The marriage doesn't work and he falls into a streak of bad luck and has to return to his hometown. He comes back and tries to fix up is his father's old ranch to sell so he can move closer to his young daughter. He discovers that Libby has never married and he tries to get her to forgive him for the things he has done as he still loves her and he's sure he loves him. He wants nothing more than to make her his wife and to find his old mustang that he had as a child and had left go to run wild. When he does find him that too causes a lot of problems. This is an excellent book to read if you love the west and horses and romance. Definitely a book I would read again.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After his career and finances torpedo, and his abusive father dies, a former rodeo star comes back to his hometown to face his past--his father's property, his daughter, the horse he released to the wild, and the woman he's always loved (who is now a wild horse conservationist). This one was another really good one if you like horsey contemporary western romance that also involves work/life conflict (and I apparently do).

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

She packs a lot into the last couple pages.

[Laura's Book Addiction · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good thing about this book has to be the fact that it had a cowboy in it.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the story line and characters of this book. It was definitely original and very interesting.