Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

2018 will prove to be yet another Maisey Yates year for Miss Bates, as she can’t seem to quit Yates’s romances. Last year, she read seven … let’s see how many MissB manages to read in 2018?! If Slow Burn Cowboy is any indication, then MissB’s love affair with the Yates romance isn’t over. Every time she reads one, Miss Bates ponders what draws her to Yates’s romances and every time, her understanding of what makes Yates a great romance writer grows. Not every book is perfect, or memorable, especially after you read so many, you’re no longer reading for individual storylines, but for those writer “tells” that make the books so attractive to a reader-fan. Miss Bates finds in Yates a combination of an upholding of love and fidelity with a healthy dose of raw sexuality. This is not a new observation to Miss B.’s readers. This time around, however, Miss Bates noticed yet one more thing that she loves about Yates: she puts wit and sophistication into her banter/dialogue for characters who’d normally not be associated with wit and banter: cowboys and uneducated, albeit successful, nonprofessional, carpenters, builders, and small-business-owners, or as the hero of Slow Burn Cowboy identifies, a “laborer”. Her characters are wonderful combinations of earthiness and clever wordplay. Does Slow Burn Cowboy hold any surprises for the Yates reader? Not really. Does it satisfy? Absolutely.

At last count, thanks to Miss Bates handy referencing of Fantastic Fiction, there are eighteen novels making up the Copper Ridge, Oregon, and environs series. Some to come and already in Miss Bates’s TBR, some already read and reviewed, and this isn’t counting the novellas. A Maisey Yates romance has graced every year’s Miss Bates favourites, from 2013 to 2017.

Slow Burn Cowboy has long left the world of the Garrett brothers that introduced Copper Ridge to romance readers. But “brother” trilogies are one of Yates’s “tells” and Slow Burn tells the story of Finn Donnelly, brother to Liam Donnelly, Chrismastime Cowboy‘s hero. (In the meanwhile, Slow Burn‘s heroine, Lane Jensen, is one of Rebecca Bear’s best friends, heroine of Seduce Me, Cowboy, the Yates romance that made Miss Bates’s 2017 favourites list.) Finn and Lane’s journey to the HEA is a friends-to-lovers romance, with Yates’s signature sharp humor and plenty of angst. Like all of Yates’s couples, Finn and Lane rib each other, growl at each other, fight, make love, regret, confess, and heal their way to admitting their love and joining in a love, fidelity, and babies marriage. As perfect an unapologetic romance as a romance reader can find.

When the novel opens, Finn’s and Lane’s pasts have returned with a vengeance. Finn’s grandfather died and left the ranch he’s worked his whole life to him – and, not surprisingly causing resentment and anger – Finn’s four half-brothers. Half-brothers who scream sequel-bait, but if you know and love Yates, not a bothersome idea. As Lane hangs with her friends at the local watering-hole, she espies an aspiring senator, Cord McCaffrey, who brings on unwanted feelings and memories, painful ones. About the only steady thing in each other’s lives is each other, their ten-year-old friendship. But Yates is not a great believer in men and women being able to be friends, and neither is Miss Bates. Finn has always desired Lane and Lane has buried her own lust for Finn, but it’s still there. Separate but simultaneous personal pressures see Finn and Lane unravelling. Typical to Yates is the idea that this kind of personal confrontation with long-buried hurt also leads to cracking open relationships that have been held “in check” as tightly ignored, suppressed feelings and desires.

Yates sets the Finn and Lane scene beautifully, succinctly showing the reader how well they’ve integrated into each other’s lives, how well they fit, how well they get along, how important they are to each other, and how much they’re lying to themselves:

He took care of everything in her house that she considered to be man’s work. Any kind of plumbing or wiring issue, arachnid-related concerns and the extermination of the odd errant vole in her yard. In return, she often took care of things like feeding him, or buying him clothes when she went into Portland or Eugene. He never even had to ask. She just appeared with things. … Basically, Lane was his wife.

… he was gruff and he didn’t share his feelings easily. He was the kind of guy who led with angry, then made up for it with grand gestures. Finn was more hammer and nails than hearts and flowers. He had a soul of gold beneath his general cranky exterior.

The above passages show you, dear reader, if you haven’t read Yates, that her prose is sharp, funny, easy, but packs an emotional wallop. Finn and Lane know each other, love each other. It’s so obvious to everyone around them and the reader, as obvious as it is hidden to them. Which is why Yates loves to crack them open, “unravel” them as her characters refer to the experience of letting go of the holds on their feelings.

And, for Yates, the most important way they do so is by revealing whatever it was that: a. makes them vulnerable to the other and b. whatever has caused them to resist the call of the heart, usually nicely foiled by the call of the body, which also cracks things open. Sexual intimacy is bound up with emotional intimacy and emotional intimacy has its being in confession to the beloved. That may lead to more resistance and emotional betrayal, running away, denying the other, denying the desire for marriage and children. It takes a variety of forms, but the latter is the crux of the matter. Integrity and honesty are often some of Yates’s characters most important qualities because being honest about your past, your feelings, your vulnerabilities and desires is the only way to being open to loving and being loved. Yates proves this in every romance and no less in another Copper Ridge addition, in the story of deserving, maddening, volatile, sexy Finn and Lane. With Miss Austen’s gimlet romance eye, Miss Bates says of Slow Burn Cowboy “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Maisey Yates’s Slow Burn Cowboy is published by Harlequin Books (HQN). It was released in April 2017 and may be procured from your preferred vendor. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Harlequin, via Netgalley.

Maisey Yates does it again. I loved this book. I love this series. I hope it never ends.

Finn thought he would inherit his grandfathers ranch, after all he's been the one there actually working the land while his brothers were off doing who knows what.

Lane is Finn's best friend and he has loved her for as long as he can remember. she is also his best friends little sister.

The sparks start flying almost immediately and they never stop. You will not want to miss this book or any of the other cooper ridge series, you won't be disappointed. Just one word of advice, do not pick this book up unless you can read it through because you won't want to put it down.

I recieved this title from Netgalley for an honest review.

I'm always happy to return to Copper Ridge, and this seventh novel in the Copper Ridge series is no exception, and I give it 4 stars.

At it's heart, Slow Burn Cowboy is a friends-to-lovers romance, a trope I've always enjoyed, and when Maisey Yates writes one, I generally enjoy it even more, although this one seemed a bit more slow-moving and redundant than her previous novels.

Finn Donnelly and Lane Jensen have been best friends since she showed up in Copper Ridge ten years ago, a sad, hurt, depressed and lonely teenager. As the novel opens, she shows up at Finn's house, casserole in hand, because she knows his half-brothers are due to arrive soon, and she's been keeping Finn fed for years. Finn has spent the last 20 years working hard on his grandfather's dairy farm/ranch, and, as he learned after his grandfather's recent death, rather than inheriting the ranch he's come of think of as his, his late grandfather left the ranch to Finn and his 3 half-brothers, sharing it equally among them. To say he's livid and feeling betrayed is putting it mildly--and Finn is a man who has become used to betrayal thanks to an absentee father and his mother, who chose to leave him to be with her abusive boyfriend many years ago.

As his brothers start arriving, Finn doesn't hide what he's feeling--anger and betrayal, especially when one of his brothers shows up with his moody and belligerent teenage daughter in tow, and announces that he wants to keep his share of the ranch and doesn't care about the money Finn offers to buy out his share. The other brothers feel the same way. Finn has turned the once broken-down ranch into a success, and had hoped his brothers would accept the payoff so that the ranch would be his and his alone, but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

With his house now overrun with his brothers, he takes refuge at Lane's tiny house, something he's done before, the two best friends sharing meals, chatting, and watching movies together, as Finn repays Lane's generosity and friendship by becoming, in essence, a pseudo-husband without benefits, keeping her tiny house in good repair when necessary, and helping her start up and open her small business, a specialty foods shop on Main Street in Copper Ridge.

Now that his crowded house keeps him relying on Lane's house as a refuge, he's forced to face the fact that he's wanted to add those sexual benefits to their friendship for years, believing it to be possible that friends can add sex to their friendship without having it destroy the friendship. Lane, with secrets and betrayals in her own bottled-up past, has also been keeping her feelings for the handsome Finn Donnelly bottled up for years, knowing deep down that in her experience relationships don't work--until Finn pushes her into it, and starts to push her into slowly opening up about her past, something she's never done with him, or with anyone, not even her female friends. But when Lane dares to push back, their long-term friendship is seriously at risk.

This is an emotionally charged story, and as Ms. Yates has done repeatedly in previous novels, she draws us into the lives and backstories of her characters and their angst and drama, making the reader alternately like, hate, become angry with and eventually love these characters and this small Oregon town. While I did feel at times that there was a bit too much rehashing and redundancy in this novel, it was nevertheless a very good, very moving and very well-written novel and if you've not yet visited the cast of characters in Copper Ridge, I encourage you to do so.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance reader copy of this novel and received no compensation for doing so. The opinions expressed are my own.

I'm sure this is a great book, I tried the cowboy romance genre out and it may not be for me.

Maisey Yates does it again! Her newest book, Slow Burn Cowboy, kept me enthralled! I can hardly wait to see what she comes up with next!

Slow Burn Cowboy by Maisey Yates was a sexy read!

Will Finn and Lane be able to meet halfway to make their relationship work or will one have to move on without the other? The characters were dynamic and easy to follow. I enjoyed the story line, the characters and the overall flow of the story.

I would recommend, this book to anyone who wants a good sexy read.
Enjoys!

I loved that this is a friends to lovers romance. I hate the inst-love that seems to pop up so often in romance novels but this romance was simply awesome. I throughly enjoyed seeing the backstory that led up to this romance. Finn's family is so dysfunctional, but I loved every one of them. I can't wait to read the upcoming books on the rest of the family.

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. I didn't feel any chemistry between the hero and the heroine.

Finn Donnelly likes control, so when his entire life is turned upside down he begins to unravel. Finn has spent the last 20 years working on the Laughing Irish Ranch with his grandfather, so when his grandfather passes away he can't for the life of him understand why his grandfather didn't leave the ranch only to him. Instead the ranch was left in equal shares to Finn and his three brothers. Finn is at a loss as to why his grandfather did this to him since his brothers haven't ever been involved in the ranch. Still, Finn has a plan. He's certain his brothers don't really want to work on the ranch, so he will just buy out their portion and send them on their way. Well we all know what they say about best-laid plans.

When Finn finds out things aren't going to go quite the way he planned, he also discovers that his willpower to keep his hands off his best friend Lane Jensen isn't quite what it used to be. He's spent years wanting Lane but kept his desire in check by reminding himself that she was too young for him and it wasn't worth risking the most important relationship in his life by changing the rules. Finn's not cut out for relationships and certainly not marriage material but maybe he and Lane can both get what they need out of their friendship if they add a physical element to it.



Lane Jensen came to Copper Ridge at 16 to live with her brother Mark and put her painful past behind her. She's built a life she's happy with and believes she's moved on until she comes face to face with her past when her ex-boyfriend is suddenly all over the television. Now every time she turns around she feels like she's facing reminders of her past and is suddenly questioning the life she's built. As if that wasn't enough, now Finn is trying to change everything about their relationship. Doesn't he realize that he's the most important person in her life? She isn't about to let him risk their friendship when she needs him the most. The problem is that now that she see's Finn for the hot cowboy that he is, she can't seem to stop fantasizing about him.

I enjoyed watching both Finn and Lane work through the demons of their past and being forced to reevaluate what they wanted from their futures. I could relate to struggling with having to evaluate what you were worth or capable of after a less than ideal childhood. I think this story worked so well because given the issues that both Finn and Lane had, the only way they were going to work through them rather than running away was with each other because nobody else mattered enough that they would stick around when things got uncomfortable.

I am really looking forward to learning more about Finn's brothers Cain, Alex and Liam. But then, who doesn't love a whole new group of sexy cowboys. I have a feeling the other Donnelly men are going to have some very diverse and emotional backstories.

Maisey Yates writes creatively and brings alive characters in a way that I always keep wanting more and more and more.

Wonderfully crafted friends to lovers story about best friends Finn Donnelly and Lane Jensen which focuses on the drama's of Finn's brothers coming back and the dramas of Finn and Lane realising their feelings border on MORE than platonic friends.

Cooper Ridge is a town that has been dreamed up by Maisey that I want to live there. I'd pack my bags today! The descriptive writing, the dialogue and the side characters make for a world I never want to shut the last page on.

A huge sigh of Wonderful!

A beautifully written love story from best friends to lovers and so much more, with deep emotions and fervent passion, plentiful of angst, and family trouble.
From the very first scene, the author's words lured me into the tale and I was emotionally invested in the characters, in the events occurring, in the story. It felt like coming home, to be at the Copper Ridge again, and watch Finn Donnelly and Lane Jensen find their destiny.
Finn and Lane had had an easy and comfortable friendship for years. The way they were with each other, their interactions, every moment they were together, it was obvious how important they were to each other, how deep their feelings for each other were. The warm comfort, the security in the friendship, the confidence they had in each other was strong and admirable.
I loved how Lane's eyes opened to see Finn in a new light, as a man, and how her desire to know more about him, after all the years as her best friend, shocked her to the core.
There is an abundance of drama and trouble in Finn and Lane's story. They both have past baggage that they still carry with them, hurt and disappointments that affect they life and faith in the future possibilities.
I understood Finn's struggles to accept that the ranch was divided in four when it was him that had put his tears, blood, and hard work into it. The tension between the brothers, the undercurrents running in the house was tangible and somehow heartbreaking at the same time. It was impossible not to get my feelings involved in the conflicts between the brothers.
Lane is nearly paralyzed when suddenly the reminders of her past mistakes as blasted on her face constantly. The secret that she never wanted to share with anyone is now messing with her head, as well as the new burning desire she feels for Finn, all mixed up in a bundle of her chaotic thoughts. She is conflicted with her feelings, with her needs, with her wants and future goals.
I adored Lane and Finn together. The way they knew each other, the way they were with each other, it was a solid foundation to built something more, something ​special, something unique.
The push and pull between them, the fear of the change, the development of the new kind of relationship, it goes on for an extended time. There were moments when I felt a frustration as I wanted them to figure it out and accept their new, flaming feelings and deeper emotions for each other, find the peace of mind with the past, the hope, and faith in the better future.
An engaging and emotion-filled story that smoothly flew off the pages entertaining my mind and touching my heart. A lovely visit to Copper Ridge to witness the bliss, drama, and passion between Finn and Lane.
~ Four Spoons

I loved Last Chance Rebel, and my friend Amy loved Hold Me Cowboy, so I expected to love Slow Burn Cowboy. But that’s not what happened.

Instead I have very much of a mixed feelings review on tap. Very mixed.

The friends-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites, so again, I was expecting to like the story line in this book. But something, actually multiple somethings, don’t quite work.

The set up is excellent, Lane and Finn have been best friends for ten years, ever since Lane left her parents’ home back East and moved to Copper Ridge to live with her brother Matt. At the time, Lane was sixteen and obviously just a bit fragile. Finn was 23 or 24 and more than a bit too old for her.

But that 8 or 9 year gap closes pretty quickly after a few years. Now Lane is in her late 20s and Finn is in his mid-30s. They’re both adults. But they are both still awfully fragile.

They are best friends. Really, truly. They spend time together and they care for each other and they need each other. But they are filling the gaps in each other’s lives that would normally be filled by a spouse or significant other. Not that their relationship isn’t significant, but they have fallen into a situation where they are friends with a different set of benefits. She cooks and buys his clothes, he kills spiders, changes lightbulbs and fixes the porch steps. It works for them.

Until it doesn’t.

Finn’s grandfather has just died. Instead of leaving his ranch to Finn, who has been working with him for that same last bunch of years, the old man left it to Finn and his three half-brothers equally. The Donnelly Brothers are all at crossroads in their lives, and they all move back to the ranch, into the house and the land that Finn expected would be his.

All of their relationships are strained and distant, and no one seems to be happy about any of it. So Finn, in a crazed need to re-establish control over something, anything, in his suddenly chaotic life, decides that he wants more from Lane than he’s ever asked for. He wants to push past their carefully maintained boundaries and turn their relationship into that of friends with the usual benefits.

He thinks its possible to make love and not feel at least a little love. And he’s an idiot.

Finn’s perfectly happy to tear down all of Lane’s defenses and push for whatever he wants. But when Lane turns the tables on him and starts pushing him for what she wants out of a relationship, he pushes her away as hard and as fast as he can.

The question of whether Finn can get his head out of his ass long enough to figure himself out is an open one. Finn needs to open his eyes, and his heart, before he throws away his best chance at happiness. And he needs to grovel.

Escape Rating C+: There was so much potential in Slow Burn Cowboy, but it never quite gels into the book that I was looking forward to.

Both Lane and Finn are damaged people, and neither of them thinks that they are worthy of happiness or love. They protect themselves in different ways. Lane by walling off what hurts her, and Finn by pushing away anyone who might get close enough to hurt him.

It’s amazing that they have managed to sustain a friendship, but they definitely have.

While Finn is a bit of an arsehole about it, his trauma is understandable. His dad seems to have been a serial philanderer, leaving a string of exes with his sons all across the country. Dad left everyone. But his mom also abandoned him. And he’s just sure everyone else will too.

Lane’s trauma just isn’t one that was easy for this reader to identify with. Her sense of loss at giving a baby up for adoption when she was sixteen is understandable, but she’s been wearing the past like a hair shirt ever since, to the point where the hair felt like it had been woven from a drama llama rather than anything real. Her story felt like angst for angst’s sake.

Also, these are two people who live inside their heads an awful lot, which also doesn’t feel right for Finn’s character. It felt like there was much more internal dialog than actual dialog. And Lane tended to think and talk in circles a lot of the time. That’s a habit that drives this reader crazy in real life, not just fictional life.

There are a lot of moments when the reader wants them to just stop talking inside their heads and let those words out where they might do some good!

But, and this is where the good stuff comes in, Copper Ridge just feels like a wonderful place. I like the people a lot. One of the great things in this story is all about the enduring power of women’s friendships. Lane, along with her best female friends, have a terrific, supportive and caring friendship. One of the ways in which Lane comes out of this story stronger than she went in is the realization that she is so much better off than she was when she arrived in Copper Ridge because those friendships will always see her through. She’s not alone, with or without Finn.

Finn’s supporting cast is his family, his three half-brothers and his niece Violet. They have all moved into the ranch and are now part of his life, where they have all been separate and alone up til now. Finn is really, really bad at letting people in, but having them be part of his life, whether he originally wanted it or not, is terrific. They bite and snap and growl at each other all the time, but they are all great characters and I’m looking forward to their stories in future books in the series.

Slow Burn Cowboy is the seventh book in the Copper Ridge series and the second one that I have read. I thought this one did a much better job as a stand alone novel as it introduces a lot of new characters and didn't rely on a lot of back story. This is Finn and Lane's book. They have been best friends for 10 years, but lately, they have booth been having trouble denying their feelings for each other.

I did enjoy this one for the most part. I liked Lane and Finn. Their relationship felt comfortable and the leap from friends to lovers wasn't so hard to buy into. There was also very little angst and that was refreshing. More than the romance, I liked the story-line of Finn's brothers coming back home. Each of them seem to be looking for something and they are hoping that the ranch their grandfather lef them will hep provide that. None of them really grew up together, so it will be interesting watching the brothers' relationship develop over the next few books.

The only thing that I didn't care for in the book was the long passages of inner thought in the middle of a conversation. Who does that in real life? Sometimes, I forgot what they were talking about. I also didn't care for the way Lane rambled on and on over everything. I get that it was supposed to be amusing, but it got old after a while.

Despite that, I do recommend this pone. It's a cute friends to lovers story and a pretty quick read. I look forward to the next one.

This is the seventh book in this series by this author and it can be read as a stand alone read. This is a best friends to lovers romance story. This story will draw you in and get you emotionally involved with the characters. This book has lots of dialogue between the characters. Another outstanding read from this author. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.
Highly recommended
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Feisty meets dependable as best friends take a second look at their decade long friendship and decide to add a little fun to the mix! This was a super fun read. I had a smile on my face throughout from the sass that came out of not only Lane's mouth, but also from the interaction between the brothers. Emotions are flaring as we go on a roller coaster through their history and watch them come out on the other side of the pain to see a brighter future.

Cowboy Finn Donnelly has spent his entire adult life working hard at his family farm in Copper Ridge, Oregon to make it all that it could be ... while his brothers have been out making it in the big bad world. Now they are all scurrying home to claim a piece of the pie and it really makes him mad. He built this business, not them!

Lane Jensen is trying to be there for her best friend Finn, but she's not sure how to help stave off the tension between the brothers, and when Finn throws another twist her way, she's really confused. He's telling her he wants her ... as more than a friend ... and always has! What?! They've been best friends for years ... just friends ... how can he want to change that now?

One simple kiss turns their lives upside down. They're now fighting to save their friendship ... and opening doors that have always been closed. Finn wants to have her in his bed, but not in his heart ... and now that he's opened her eyes, she's falling hard! Will they be able to move forward together ... even as friends?

The Copper Ridge series by Maisey Yates is at book seven now, but it’s been kept fresh by featuring different families who live in this rural area of Oregon. Slow Burn Cowboy is the first of four stories about the Donnelly brothers. Unfortunately the title turns out to be a little too apt – it’s not just a slow burn romance, it’s a slow moving story, with excessive dialogue and internal musings. While the complications involved in transitioning from a friends to lovers relationship are approached realistically, a heavier hand at the editing table would have made the story more enjoyable.
Finn Donnelly has worked for several years on his grandfather’s dairy farm, the Laughing Irish. Coming from a fractured family, with a father whose infidelities resulted in three half brothers with whom he is not close, it’s been his bedrock. The death of his grandfather, and subsequent revelation that he and his brothers are now equal partners in the farm is a blow to his ego, having assumed he’d have sole responsibility for the farm and its future. Even worse, his three brothers Cain, Alex and Liam have returned to Copper Ridge for their own reasons and don’t appear to be interested in Finn’s plans to buy them out. They want to claim their heritage and work the farm too. The saving grace to Finn’s sanity is his best friend Lane.
Lane moved to Copper Ridge with her brother Mark when she was seventeen, for reasons she’s never shared with anyone. When Mark became friends with Finn, she did too, though their age difference made a romantic relationship out of the question at the time. In fact, they both got very good at ignoring any possible development in that regard and have stuck to being platonic best friends for the past ten years. Finn has wanted Lane for a long time, but he’s also carefully kept those feelings to himself, unsure of what Lane would do in response. Lately, he’s sensed that Lane has started looking at him differently. The stress of his family situation combined with his frustration over the feelings he’s buried for Lane finally push him to act. Lane is shocked at Finn’s advances, mostly because she is also undergoing some personal turmoil of her own. Once the desire is out there though, there is no going back. They both have hesitations when it comes to committed relationships, and a friends with benefits arrangement at first seems to work for them both. But will it lead to a real future together or shatter the friendship they’ve relied on for so long?
I love a good slow burn romance, where the sexual tension is thick and the heated glances, and innocent (but sizzling!) touches eventually lead to more. I didn’t feel that here. Finn may have been secretly lusting after his best friend for years but he’s kept it so hidden that Lane never noticed a thing. Lane’s feelings about men are complicated by a failed teenaged relationship. It’s definitely not helped that her boyfriend from high school is now a successful politician, married with children, whom she sees on television. It makes her feel rather unsuccessful as a small specialty foods shop owner with dreams that aren’t getting off the ground. She carries a lot of guilt and resentment with her that has made it difficult to engage in any kind of meaningful relationship with another man – except for Finn. But even then, she’s always kept him at arms length, relying on him for practical things but not emotional and physical intimacy.
Finn forces her hand and makes her confront the past head on. Even now, as she’s starting to see him in a new light, her reaction to it is more annoyance and concern than desire. She actively avoids situations that make her uncomfortable, and now that she’s feeling that way around Finn, she literally runs away from him on more than one occasion. Eventually they do end up in bed together, and their love scenes are very sexy. But it sure takes a lot of effort to get there. They both have a constant internal monologue of circular arguments for why they should or shouldn’t change the status quo that gets wearing on the reader. Neither of them takes the transition from friends to lovers lightly. A good portion of the story feels repetitive and this has the effect of dragging the reader along, with a sense of relief when they finally get to their happy ending.
Romance aside, the more interesting aspect of this story for me is the relationship that Finn has with his three brothers. There are several scenes with them either all together or one on one with Finn where they confront the reality of how distanced they are from their separate childhood experiences. This is their chance to make up for the past, to forge new sibling bonds with a common future. Used to having no one to rely on but himself for the farm, it's a difficult adjustment for Finn to make. Watching their bonds grow is quite enjoyable and there is definitely enough of a tease here for Cain, Alex and Liam's characters to make me want to read their stories too. While Slow Burn Cowboy won't go on my reread shelf, I found enough to like (editing issues notwithstanding) to want to continue the series. 3.5 stars (C+)

This review will be posted at All About Romance and feedback updated with the link.

I just love the town of Copper Ridge and with this book we meet the entire Donnelly family, or at least the brothers. Finn is our hero, but his three half-brothers come back to his ranch after their grandfather dies and leaves each man a quarter interest. Finn has put his entire life into this ranch and hasn’t seen his brothers for many years. He assumes his brothers will want to be bought out, and be back on their way, which is totally fine with him as he wants the ranch all to himself.

His blood, sweat and tears were there. Soaked into the ground, the wood and basically every other damn surface in the place. Like the rest of his brothers he had spent summers here as a kid. Unlike them, when he was sixteen he had decided that he was here to stay. Finn had never felt anything quite like the peace that came from working his body boneless out in the field.

But his brothers have other plans. One is fresh out of the army, one has a troubled teenage daughter, and one just wants to cause trouble – and they all want to move in and live at the ranch. I could spend the entire review talking about them because I enjoyed them so much but I’ll save it for each of their own books.

Finn is a rancher, a very sexy rancher who has a best friend named Lane. They complete one another on so many levels. He helps her around her house if she has a problem, and she gives him food (she has a passion for cooking) and generally keeps him happy on a daily basis. They are besties and that is the way it has always been.

Lane owns a specialty grocery store in the town and really wants to expand it to include more local items. She starts to put the pressure on Finn and his dairy ranch to start producing organic cheese and milk, knowing she has the clientele for it – but he won’t hear of it. He thinks his money is better spent in big dairy contracts. When his brothers all come back to the ranch, they seem to each have an opinion, giving Finn an extended headache. As they invade his house and his quiet, Finn finds himself spending more time at Lane’s to get away from the chaos. And one night their friendship turns into more. But then there is resentment, and questions, and doubt and basically they are both scared about losing their friendship should their romance turn sour. It’s well done and realistic.

Finn is so sexy with his scruffy face and hard abs. He wears a Stetson and is grumpy – just how I like my romance hero. His banter with Lane is fun – they are both grumpy at times and they know each other so well they know just how to push each other’s buttons.

“It’s probably just a fuse, and it’s probably just going to take me a minute.”

“I told you I flipped the switches,” she said, sounding grumpy.

“I know you did,” he said.

“You think I flipped the switches wrong,” she said accusatory.

“I’m sure you’re a great switch flipper,” he responded, deadpan, as he continued to the fuse box.

Finn is the one to push for the relationship to start, and Lane is the one to fight for it in the end. They both had crappy childhoods and some drama, and once they get it all in the open and are there to support each other, their relationship gets stronger.

As I said above, Finn’s brothers really add a lot to this story, as well as Lane’s girlfriends. I really enjoyed their inclusion and I can’t wait to get more from this family. A super sexy, best friends to lovers story that worked very well for me.

Grade: B+

Lane Jensen has only just figured out that Finn Donnelly is a man. Well, she knew, but she didn't know he was A MAN. After being burned as a teen, she has never really considered that love could be something that she could have. And now that she's finally figuring out that Finn could be everything she's ever wanted, but will she be too late?
Finn has trained himself not to want more than Lane can give. But he's done. He's done rescuing mice, he's done being the handyman. Basically, he's done being the boyfriend who doesn't get the sex. So... he and Lane start having sex. All while his life is falling to bits. Well, sort of. All of his brothers have moved back to the family ranch since their grandfather left it to them equally. Even though Lane is the one who's been there, taking care of everything. Now he has to share with the brothers he hasn't seen in years; the brothers who all left Copper Ridge.
It was an interesting book trying to continue a series while bridging into a new set of siblings. The romance between Lane and Finn suffered a little because of it but overall I think Maisey Yates' readers will enjoy.

Comes out tomorrow
Three stars

…he never wanted only part of her. And part of herself was all she ever gave to her friends. He wanted all of her. All of this.

In the small town of Copper Ridge, all the cowboys are hot, all the women are sassy and all the hipsters want to invade to get their hands on the town’s best organic, hormone free, probiotic-enriched, hand-tilled, vegan-butter-laden goods.

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration.

But hey, that’s part of the charm of this series from Maisey Yates, now on its seventh book. It’s set in an idyllic, borderline boutique Oregon town, and it’s fun. I’ve enjoyed, to varying degrees, each and every book in this series. Slow Burn Cowboy is just another good book in a successful series of sex, steam, friendship and feels.

But it’s not my favorite. I liked Finn, absolutely. I felt bad for him, and I understood his frustration regarding the return of his brothers. And Lane was quirky—not in a bad way—and she rambled (which I can identify with). I enjoyed her interactions with her friends and his interactions with his newly returned brothers (and the set-up for book eight), and I loved Finn and Lane together.

When they finally got together, that is.

I knew going in this one was going to be a slow burn—I mean, that title couldn’t make it any more obvious—but for me, it was a touch TOO slow. There was talking… lots of talking, and it was so circular that I began to get frustrated. There wasn’t anything new, except the words used to describe what everyone was thinking and feeling and hiding from.

Which means two things. One, I found myself less focused on the whole book and more focused on when I’d start to feel some progress. And two, that when progress was finally made, it was rewarding in a different way. I felt happy, for sure. But my main emotion? Relief. I’d made it.

And I am glad I did. I know it seems like maybe I am not, but I do adore this series and this author, and yes, even this couple. I loved being back in Copper Ridge, getting glimpses of the characters I know and love. Of all the sassy women who make me smile. And of all the hot cowboys who make me swoon. Like Finn.

”For you, I want to be open. I want to be free. I want to be everything.”

~ 3.5 STARS ~