Tabs’ review of Take Me, Cowboy (Copper Ridge: Desire, Book 1) by Maisey Yates
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Desire 01 Apr 16
This Harlequin Desire spin-off to Maisey Yates’ HQN Copper Ridge series takes a friends-to-lovers romance, mixes in some Pygmalion, and cranks up the heat. Anna and Chase are best friends who have both been suppressing their romantic feelings for each other for the last fifteen years. Are hot sex and a possible future together worth risking their friendship for?
I’ll be honest that I was pretty apprehensive when I saw there was a makeover plot to this story. The makeover/Pygmalion trope is one I sincerely dislike most of the time. Luckily, Yates does a take on the trope that I appreciated. When Chase suggests he can “teach” Anna “how to be a woman,” she laughs in his damn face because that’s absurd. They do attempt some makeover-type things, but it doesn’t go over as planned. I flat-out cheered when Anna reaches a “so done with this shit” moment and lets her anger take the reins. Go, Anna.
Anna and Chase are both emotionally dysfunctional. Anna is a tomboy, heavy-equipment mechanic who was raised by her emotionally distant father and two older brothers. She has abandonment issues and erects walls and lashes out to protect herself. She’s aware that she does it and is actively trying to stop. Chase doesn’t wear his issues quite so on his sleeves. His parents died when he was a teenager, and he has kept his heart on lockdown ever since.
The stakes feel real in this romance. Anna and Chase are both extremely cautious and selective about who they let into their lives. They’re each other’s support system, so jeopardizing that is pretty terrifying to both of them and is the major obstacle that needs to be overcome for their happy ending.
This book felt shorter to me than a regular Copper Ridge novel (and the sex scenes are definitely more explicit), but I enjoyed it. It also has a similar vibe to the recent Copper Ridge Christmas novella, so if you liked one, you’ll likely enjoy the other as well. Every time I review a book in this series, I end up saying “I should really catch up with this series.” I’m not wrong. I really, really should.
Grade: B+
Summary:
She’s just one of the boys, but with a new business in Copper Ridge, Anna Brown needs to change that. Her brothers bet she can’t land a date for a fancy charity event. So Anna turns to her best friend—the hottest bachelor in town—for advice.
Rancher Chase McCormack wants in on that gala. If Anna takes him, he promises to turn her into a lady. But the makeover reveals what he’s long suspected—Anna’s irresistible! Is his best friend prepared to be taken—heart, body and soul—by her very own cowboy?
