Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Cowboy Comes Back by Jeannie Watt
Contemporary Romance released by Harlequin SuperRomance 14 July 2009
When someone asks me why I like to read category romance I tell them it’s because of the strong focus on the romance. When the author is working with shorter word counts, they don’t have the time or space to delve into multiple character story arcs and secondary plot threads. Every single word counts, and those words have to be used towards building the romantic relationship between the hero and heroine. All that being said, one of the reasons I enjoy the Harlequin SuperRomance line is that it is one of the longer category romance lines. Authors can introduce some secondary characters and maybe a secondary plot thread. Unfortunately when it came to Cowboy Comes Back, I felt the author tried to juggle one too many balls and the romance ended up suffering.
Kade Danning and Libby Hale were childhood sweethearts. They had a lot in common – Kade living with an abusive single father and Libby with two parents more concerned with slowly drinking themselves to death than with her. They were young and in love. Until Libby told Kade that she didn’t think she was ready to get married. He translated this into rejection (because he’s a moron) and then proceeded to knock up the next available woman that came along. He married his first wife, they had a daughter, he made a name for himself on the rodeo circuit. Then it all went to hell when he found out his financial man swindled him, the IRS came calling, his wife divorced him, and Kade fell into the nearest bottle.
Kade’s come crawling back home now that his asshole Daddy is dead. He has settled his debt with the IRS, but his rodeo career is finished and he needs money to move closer to his ex-wife and daughter. He’s home only long enough to fix up the family ranch and sell it. Then he’s out of there. Which frankly, suits Libby just fine. Kade’s betrayal still stings and she’s nursing a serious grudge. It doesn’t help matters that Kade’s daughter has also been in town visiting her father. So not only does Libby have to see Kade’s handsome face, she also gets to be smacked up side the head with the evidence of his infidelity.
The conflict between Kade and Lily is pretty serious stuff. It’s certainly serious enough to sustain the entire length of a Harlequin SuperRomance novel, especially since Lily had every right to 1) skin Kade alive and 2) slice off his Mr. Happy. Instead, the author keeps the romance dangling on the line for entirely too long. Lily and Kade don’t really spend much time together, on the same page, until almost half way through the story. Instead the author introduces a mountain of secondary conflict – such as Lily’s evil bitch of a boss, Kade’s job search, a wealthy man who is unhappy about a herd of wild mustangs grazing on his land, and Kade’s horse, Blue, who he let loose in the wild after he left home. All of it is marginally interesting, and certainly the stuff about the mustangs and ranching add a lot local color to the setting of the story…..but none of it was the romance. And that’s why the reader is there. For the romance!
Because so much time is used to set up other aspects of the plot, I never really got on board with the happily ever after. This is probably because I thought Lily had every right to be majorly pissed off, and towards the end the author turns it around so she has to take some of the blame for their initial break-up all those years ago. Look, Lily had cold feet. She was unsure of herself. Kade was the one who couldn’t keep Mr. Happy in his Wrangler jeans. While certainly most break-ups take two people, and it’s usually not just one person’s fault – I didn’t see that here. Frankly, Kade’s lucky Lily didn’t gut him with a steak knife.
All this being said, this is a well-written story, and the characters were all interesting people that I could get behind. I just felt the pacing was off, and the time spent on other aspects of the plot made for a weaker romantic storyline. Which isn’t necessarily good in any kind of romance novel, but it’s really detrimental in a category length one.
Grade: C+
Summary:
.
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.
.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
