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Title: Cowboy Christmas Redemption

A Gold Valley Novel

Author: Maisey Yates

Publisher: HQN Books

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 24, 2019

 

Blurb
As
snowflakes fall in Gold Valley, Oregon, will this rugged cowboy finally win the
woman of his dreams?Cowboy Caleb Dalton has loved single mom Ellie Bell, and her little daughter,
Amelia, for years. But since Ellie is his best friend’s widow, Caleb’s head
knows Ellie will always be strictly off-limits. If only his heart got
the memo. So when Caleb discovers that Ellie has a Christmas wish list—and
hopes for a kiss under the mistletoe—he’s throwing his cowboy hat into the
ring. If anyone’s going to be kissing Ellie and sharing this magical time with
her and her daughter, it’s him.

Ellie has dreaded the holidays since losing her husband. But this year, she’s
finally ready to make some changes. She never expects the biggest change to be
the heart-stopping kiss she shares with Caleb. For almost five years, Caleb has
been her best friend, her rock, her salvation. This Christmas, can Caleb prove
he’s also the missing puzzle piece of Ellie’s and Amelia’s hearts?

 

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Excerpt
“But you are… You’re going to run a Christmas tree farm?”
“At least temporarily. Everything’s ready to go now, which means
finishing out the year, or the next few years, is guaranteed money in the bank
to begin other ventures. There’s contracts already made with outfits around the
country, truckers on hand to drive the things to their destinations. And he
owns that small lot down on the main street of town. So, I’m all set not only
to sell this year’s crop around the country, but also sell it here.”
“But you don’t… You don’t actually want to…be a Christmas tree farmer?”
“My ultimate goal is cattle,” he said.
She’d had no idea. None at all. Not that he wanted his own ranch, not
that he’d been unhappy at the school. Was he unhappy at the school? Was he
leaving?
“What does this mean for your position at the school?”
“I will be leaving. Which I will be talking to Gabe about later tonight.”
“But…”
“With West Caldwell coming into town, there’s no need for me to hang
around. He’s going to be working on the ranch.”
“Your half brother that you’ve never met. That’s put­ting a lot of stock
in a man you don’t even know.”
“Gabe figures we owe him. And, since Gabe is awash in guilt over the
whole half sibling thing, I fig­ure that works in my favor.”
As much as Ellie loved Hank Dalton, the patriarch of the Dalton clan, it
was becoming more and more clear that he was problematic. A couple of years ago
it had been discovered that he had a daughter that none of them had known
about. McKenna Tate. She’d come into town after discovering the identity of her
family, and after some adjusting, the Dalton family had wel­comed her into the
full. But on the heels of that revela­tion had come another one.
There were three more children. All adults now.
Hank had never known about them. But Tammy had.
It had changed the relationship, that reveal.
But Hank was awash enough in the guilt from the actions in his past, that
the two of them were trying to work through it to an extent. And Ellie really
hoped that they did. For some selfish reasons, if she was honest. Because she
loved them, and they were the closest thing to a family for her, and she didn’t
want to lose them.
“But… Don’t you want to wait and see if it’s going to work out?”
“No,” Caleb said. “I don’t want to work at the school forever. This is
what I want.”
That made her…angry and she couldn’t figure out exactly why. He deserved
to have dreams; of course he did. But she’d just…assumed he was happy with the
way things were. She’d somehow meshed his dreams together with hers.
Had decided that what she was doing with his fam­ily ranch, with the
school, was what he wanted, too.
But if she didn’t feel great about him fighting fires anymore, maybe he
didn’t, either. And she’d never asked. She’d only thought about it in terms of
her own comfort. That wasn’t right at all.
Still, the idea of him having his own endeavors, his own life farther
away from her and not right all around her while they worked…
She needed him. She really had. She still did.
She didn’t like this…this change. But she should be happy for him, and it
made her feel… She felt bad. And she didn’t like feeling bad about something
that was good for her friend.
“I’d… Well, congratulations,” she said. Even though she didn’t feel like
congratulating him at all. She felt like having a tantrum.
She really didn’t know why.
“Thank you,” he said, his mouth quirking up into a half smile that made
it very clear he was well aware she wasn’t having the best reaction to his
news.
“I’ll miss seeing you.” The words more plaintive than she intended.
“I’m not moving away,” he said.
“Yeah, but I see you all the time,” she protested.
“You will still see me all the time.”
“But you won’t be dropping Amelia off when I want you to.”
“Probably not.”
Her stomach twisted, but that wasn’t what was up­setting her. She knew it
wasn’t.
And then it hit her, as strongly as that melancholy had when she’d
realized it was nearly the Christmas season.
This phase of life was over.
The one where he was here to carry her. Where she had a crutch to get her
through what life looked like without Clint. Being a single mother.
It was changing.
It had begun to change months ago, when the idea for the school had come
about. She had gone back to work.
But she’d been a fledgling, and he’d been there to help her.
Maybe she needed to make some changes, too.
Maybe, instead of dreading Christmas, she needed to get started on her
wish list.
Author Bio
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.

 

 

Review

Although Ellie did not have a happy childhood she had created a happy life for herself with her husband Clint and was expecting their child when he passed away in a tragic accident. Engulfed by grief Clint’s best friend Caleb was her support system and has become her best friend. Five years later she has decided it is time to start living and has created a list of things that she believes will allow her to do that.

Caleb fell in love with Ellie the moment he saw her, but he knew that she was off-limits because of his friendship with Clint. Believing that friends is all they will be he has decided he needs to put a little distance between he and Ellie and that starts with buying a ranch grows Christmas Trees which will evolve into a cattle ranch. When Ellie wants him to help him with his list their relationship will never be the same.

Both these characters are damaged by their pasts as because of their pasts they both feel that they are not enough. Ellie has an idea of what she believes that love should be but reconciling it with the feelings she has for Caleb she is torn while Caleb has always felt like he was second best and believes that it is all he will ever be. It is always fun to return to Gold Valley and this book is no exception.

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