Judith's review of Red's Hot Cowboy
(Spikes & Spurs #2) by Carolyn BrownWhen Pearl Richland inherits her aunt's 1950s motel she returns to her roots. Tired of the big city, she's ready for small town life, especially when sexy cowboy Wil Marshall comes in to escape an ice storm. Pearl never thought she'd turn in her high heels and start dating a cowboy, but Wil's got an awful lot to offer if a girl's available for a whole lot of fun, sizzle, and unexpected trouble...
Ok, so I'm into cowboys right at the moment and that is just the way it is! I never thought I would be--there have been many years when I looked at an American historical or contemporary "Western" novel and just shuddered. No way, no how! Just give me another gorgeous Regency historical and I'll be a happy camper, or so I said. Yet I find myself enjoying American historicals more and more and as well as gravitating toward those tall, broad-shouldered, dark, handsome, mysterious cowboy types. Go figure.
In the process I have discovered some really good books and some very good authors. I think Carolyn Brown is one of those. This particular novel is the second book in her "Spikes and Spurs" series. The main characters are completely new and references to the first book are not very obvious unless the reader has read that first novel: Love Drunk Cowboy. This is definitely a stand alone book. Yet it bears the marks of good writing, unique characters, sparkling repartee, humor, and an underlying emotional stream that also embraces a social ill or two.
Another reason I liked this book will be obvious to anyone who knows me personally--as a redhead I had a really hard time when people referred to me as "Red." I would invariably respond: "That's not my name!!" The only person who got away with that was my favorite uncle who I adored, who I saw very little because of geographical location, and who always treated me like I was his daughter (as he had no children of his own). Anyone else got a dirty look and perhaps a few well-chosen "not nice" words. So it was with this heroine. Pearl just didn't like it, period! And she made her feelings known whenever the occasion arose. She finally caved and allowed Wil to call her that because of his solicitous care and kindness when she sustained a mild concussion and multiple bruises after a bad fall. And I think she became more and more accepting of his calling her by this nickname because her feelings for Wil were getting warmer as time went on.
This story is really about the need for a very bright, very driven woman to make her own way in the world even though her education, family expectations, and career path seemed to be pointing in a different direction. Throughout the narrative Pearl reasserted her desire, her need to be her own person, even though her refined, Georgia-raised aristocratic mother seemed unable to accept her for who she was. Pearl loved being the owner of an old motel in a little burg in Texas rather than an up and coming banking executive. She loved opening her doors to people of all kinds, of being a part of an "underground" effort to protect abused women and children, of using her mind and resources to live her own style. She loved driving a vintage Cadillac, of sharing her cat with Lucy who lived and worked at her motel, of sharing her life with her best friends, of using her inheritance to allow a best friend to launch her own dream. Pearl was her own person and she was determined to remain so.
Yet Pearl's heart was no longer satisfied with the thrill of the chase, the flirting, the dizzy tingles of lust and first attraction. She knew she had to face her past, her collection of "demons" associated with love, her fears of being once again abandoned by someone to whom she had given her heart. Both she and Wil needed to trust--I think she more than Wil, really--and recognize that being with one man, especially a man to whom she was precious, was what she desired and for which she hungered more than anything.
I really love a good story, a good love story--to be exact--but a story that brings in lots of interesting side issues. This novel does just that. Pearl's good friend Austin (whose story is featured in the first book) is still lurking. But Pearl's best childhood friend, Jasmine, is a woman who also had a dream and the account of her "liberation" is a part of this novel is a way that does not take away from Pearl and Wil's story, but really enhances the reader's understanding of how Pearl's mind works and her degree of loyalty to those who have stood by her through thick and thin. Austin's two bachelor brothers-in-law are hanging around, wafting in and out of the narrative, actually being present to put just a bit of pressure on Wil to make up his mind about his relationship with Pearl, not a presence to be taken lightly, as it turns out. Both those guys would have loved to date the beautiful redhead. (Raylen's and Dewar's stories are coming up in future books, I have a feeling.) I think you'll like Pearl's grandmother and great-aunt Kate--two very open-minded and open-hearted women who bicker constantly about tradition vs modern thinking where women are concerned, and their responses to Wil are just a hoot!
If you like cowboys, I think you'll like this series and this book. Just lots of fun, good relationship, fun family scenes, the push-pull of a growing relationship between two people who have been around for a while and who feel a growing need to be "settled." It is about friendship and loyalty, generosity and healing, kindness and caring, and lots of good humor. It is the kind of book I found incredibly satisfying for an afternoon read and one I am delighted to have encountered. This novel will be turning up in stores very soon if not already on the shelves, and I encourage you to get it.
I give this novel a rating of 4.25 out of 4
The Series:
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