Sandy M’s review of Her Christmas Wish (from the Wishing for a Cowboy Anthology) by Tracy Garrett
Western Romance anthology novella published by Amazon Digital Services 27 Oct 13

It’s been much too long since I’ve read Tracy Garrett. She writes westerns just they way should be written, with sexy cowboys and the strong and independent cowgirls who love them. So I’m very glad she’s part of the new Wishing for a Cowboy anthology from Prairie Rose, as well another in January. I hope this publisher realizes the caliber of author they have in Ms. Garrett and begins to publish more of her work.

I really like our heroine in this novella. Kathryn McConnell is a widow, a woman on her own who takes care of a Texas stagecoach station, because that’s all she had when her husband died. That and a herd of longhorns she hasn’t done a thing with for two years, if she’d had any options to do anything. Currently content with her lot in life and trying not to look forward nor in the past, Kathryn is surprised when part of her past walks into her life again.

Will O’Brien is just as surprised as Kathryn. Finding her after all these years is like coming home. Will is happy to pick up right where they left off fifteen years ago, but Katie is reluctant since he’s the one who left her, broke her heart all those years ago.  But they quickly discover that there was betrayal from both of their families, those machinations keeping them apart for so long. Now they have a new set of issues to get through, because they’re different people after all this time, and heartache is one difficult thing to let go.

I really enjoyed Katie’s and Will’s first meeting, his reaction to her. Talk about sexy and romantic. It’s small such elements that make me love a character. When Katie decides to help Will during a tense moment later in the story, that’s her way showing she cares – despite the reaction that gets from Will. They work together around the station, bringing them closer to one another, though they don’t realize it at first. Or rather, it’s Kathryn who doesn’t. She resists as long as she can, but it’s that tense moment that brings home to her what she truly has in Will.

I love Will and Kathryn’s strength is awesome.

Grade: A-

Summary:

Her only wish for Christmas was the man who left her behind.

Even a woman capable of living on her own…

Kathryn McConnell is a widow celebrating a milestone birthday alone. Though she feels a woman should be able to mourn the passing of her thirtieth birthday any way she wants, she won’t turn away a cowboy in need of lodging—until she learns it’s the man she’d expected to marry thirteen years earlier.

 …never forgets her first love.

Will O’Brien had challenged his father’s prejudice against the woman he loved only to discover he was unable to stand against his family’s wealth and connections. Without a way to support his bride, Will struck out for the west, determined to earn a living for them both. When he returned after two years with no word from Katie, he found she’d married another and moved away. Heartbroken, he returns to his work, but never stops hoping to find her.

When chance lands Will at the remote stagecoach station run by the widowed Kathryn, he grabs at the opportunity he’s been handed, hoping to win back the only woman he has ever loved.

No excerpt available.