
Series: Gold Valley #4
on September 25, 2018
Source: the publisher
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It’s Christmas in Gold Valley, and this wounded widower is about to get another shot at love…
Grant Dodge didn’t expect to find a woman sleeping in an abandoned cabin on his family ranch. Or to find her so intriguing. Unlike every other woman in town, McKenna Tate doesn’t know Grant’s a widower. There’s no pity in the looks she gives him. McKenna wants him, and Grant has forgotten what it’s like to feel like a man. A no-strings fling for Christmas might be the kind of holiday cheer Grant needs…
With only a suitcase to her name, McKenna came to Gold Valley to confront her birth father. She didn’t plan to work at the Dodge ranch or fall for the gorgeous cowboy who keeps his heart roped off. But there’s no denying the way their broken pieces fit together. Hope brought her to Gold Valley—but will it be the gift that could finally heal Grant, and McKenna’s own wounded heart?
Also includes a bonus Gold Valley novella, Snowed in with the Cowboy!
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Review:
I start reading Christmas and winter stories fairly early every year. This is a later than normal start for me, but I’m excited that I got to start with this Maisey Yates story. She is a new-to-me author, even though I’ve had my eye on her books for years. A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas is the fourth full-length novel in the Gold Valley Series, but I had no trouble using this book as a starting point.
This story features Grant Dodge and McKenna Tate. Grant and his siblings run the Get Out of Dodge Ranch in Gold Valley, Oregon. He is working thru grief associated with tragedy in his past, after marrying young and losing his wife to a terminal illness. Grant isn’t sure that he can love again and finds himself going thru the motions of life. Early in the story, late one night when he should be sleeping, he sees a light outside of his window and goes out to investigate. Grant finds McKenna sleeping in what should be an empty cabin out in the woods. After a brief, informal interview, she is offered a job. McKenna’s truck broke down nearby, so she decided to sleep in the empty cabin since she didn’t have any money. She has come to Gold Valley to track down her father after aging out of the foster care system. And she thinks Grant is handsome.
Neither Grant nor McKenna were looking for love, which is probably what made their story fun to me. I love a grumpy hero, and while Grant certainly wasn’t the grumpiest, he wasn’t always the most pleasant either. I think McKenna was fairly even-tempered and open-minded, for all that she had been through. I liked that they both were coming out of shaky pasts, but that they gave one another a chance and ended up with something wonderful. Reading their romance story set against a wintry, holiday ranch backdrop on a ranch made it all the better.
I mentioned that this book was a fine starting point for this already-established series, but it is obvious that there are other couples and stories from earlier books that I don’t know yet. I very rarely start mid-series but did in this case because it is a holiday story; if it were another part of the year, I would have started at the beginning. But I don’t really think there is meant to be a definite, set starting place here.
Contemporary romance series like these are certainly my favorites, and since I liked this one so much, I want to continue with this series and go back to the beginning as I am able to obtain them. I would also be up for reading Maisey Yates’ other cowboy books. I’m not sure if they connect to this series or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an overlap in at least a character or two.

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