Thursday, November 15, 2018

Review: Once Upon a Cowboy (Copper Creek #2) by Stina Lindenblatt

Cinderella's fairy godmother just turned hot. And male. Very, very male.

Sexy cowboy Jake Daniels has three priorities in his life: his horse ranch that he manages with his brother, his family, and Sophie West. Sophie is the ranch’s horse trainer and his close friend. The one thing he doesn’t have time for is a girlfriend. And he especially doesn’t have time for a relationship with an employee. Mixing business with pleasure never ends well. Been there. Done that. Had it branded on his ass.

Not a problem—until Sophie asks for his help. She’s tired of being single. She’s ready to find her soul mate—or at least a nice man. The issue? She’s socially awkward around guys she’s interested in. The solution? Recruit Jake to be her “fairy godfather” and help her be more confident, especially around the new veterinarian who just moved into town.

Great plan, except Sophie's no naive Cinderella and Jake realizes if anyone's going to be her Prince Charming, he wants it to be him. If only he didn't have to put his heart on the line to win hers.



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You can find the two chapters HERE.


What I thought about Once Upon a Cowboy

In this second installment of the Copper Creek series from Stina Lindenblatt, Jake Daniels is busy. Too busy.  The ranch is priority #1 and he doesn't have much time for anything else, especially a girlfriend.  Certainly not any time for a girlfriend that is an employee, no matter how much she turns his head.  

Sophie West is the horse trainer for the ranch.  She gets to spend lots of time with Jake.  She's also looking for a man -- soul mate would be even better.  But she's not good at attracting men and so she asks Jake to help her in  her quest.  This makes for a mash-up of friends-to-lovers and employee-boss tropes with a dash of Cyrano / Cinderella - tossed in for good measure.

I'm not a big rom com reader, but I've really been enjoying this series.  It has just the right elements to keep me reading and even have me chuckling now and then.  Jake is no fool -- he realizes what he's going to lose if he really helps Sophie.  Sophie is smart as well, realizing that Jake is really the one she wants.  It's all so very romantic and sweet.  Perfect for after a hard day of work when you just want to escape to some place different and the ranch setting works nicely for that.

Once Upon a Cowboy is a fun story with some really nice romantic elements.  While the story is predictable, I was drawn into it with the awesome characters and wanting Jake and Sophie to get their HEA. The story is told in Jakes's point of view and I also really liked that about it.  It gives the story a different flavor than an alternating point of view typically seen in contemporary romance.

Overall, a sweet story that works well as a standalone.  I'm loving this series!

An ARC was provided for review.
 


About the Author


Born in Brighton England, Stina Lindenblatt has lived in a number of countries, including England, the U.S, Finland, and Canada. This would explain her mixed up accent. In addition to writing fiction, she loves photography, especially the close-up variety, and currently lives in Calgary, Canada, with her husband and three kids.


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