Cover Image: Cowboy Up

Cowboy Up

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Member Reviews

The perfect way to end the perfect cowboy romance series.

If there was ever a time to use a one-liner to sum a series conclusion, this would be the time. Sloan has not only cemented her place in the romance reading world with this series, she breaks the genre mold with it. The Coming Home series has it angst-filled moments, but the romance is truly the front and center portion of the story. So many books these days focus on the drama, and Sloan just took the reins, and gave us a heartfelt story. Davis might be a damaged man from previous relationship, but when Caroline barrels into his life, he takes the reins and leads us all on a ride through the sweetest romance story possible of the year. I could go on and gush about just how perfect this story is, but I want other readers to really experience their love story. It’s one for the ages, and will be long remembered for years to come.

Cowboy Up, and grab it today!

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As a bookworm who has swooned over my fair share of fictional heroes, I must admit that Clayton Davis is pretty darn swoon-worthy. For fellow bookworm, Caroline Michaels, the tall, dark, and dreamy cowboy is like a hero in one of her romance novels come to life. The cowboy and the bookworm sounds like the makings of a captivating love story, doesn’t it? Well, get ready to swoon because Cowboy Up, the third book in Harper Sloan’s Coming Home Series, is indeed a love story that’ll captivate you and make you wish for your very own handsome cowboy.

After watching his two younger siblings find love, it’s finally time for Clayton Davis to hop on the saddle. The responsible, strong, silent eldest Davis sibling isn’t exactly looking for love yet, when Caroline Michaels strolls into the bar, determined to have some fun and escape reality, a few drinks leads to a smoking hot, unforgettable one-night-stand that ensures the memory of one another is branded in each of their minds. The normally-timid bookstore owner gains confidence under Clay’s self-assured, determined pursuit as she rebuilds her life and rediscovers herself.

With an Alpha hero that is as sexy and drool-worthy as he is bossy and overprotective, a heroine that’s fierce and lively, and a romance that’s fun, flirty, and oh-so-steamy, Cowboy Up is a delightful conclusion to the Coming Home Series. If you’re in the mood for a hopelessly romantic, unabashedly sensual love story that’s light on the angst and heavy on the romance, Cowboy Up is guaranteed to have you smiling and swooning from start to finish and will leave you feeling blissfully and perfectly satisfied.

*complimentary copy provided by publisher for an honest review

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This book was a lovely read with likeable characters. The heroine, Caroline Michaels, has been going through a lot of hardship, she had an abusive boyfriend and her fears have kept her from moving on. Her childhood was dysfunctional and as a result, she finds it hard to trust anyone. She is back to her hometown but she is still under a lot of stress, her life feels out of control. Clay Davis is lonely and convinced he is better off alone. He is allergic to relationships and very private. And yet he is kind, caring, trustworthy and a gentleman above all else.

The Davis siblings are wealthy, but they grew up without love. Clay was Caroline’s first crush and her best friend’s older brother. Clay got burned by the wrong woman, he is no longer the carefree boy he once seemed to be.

The author wrote Caroline and Clay’s relationship as a friendship underpinned by their intense attraction to each other. The progression of their relationship was satisfying to read and well-thought-out. Some of my favorite scenes were the ones they spend with Clay’s family. These scenes give a lot of insight into how they fit in each other’s life. Caroline brings out Clay’s protective side, he makes her feel safe and grounded. There is a sweetness about her, bringing joy to his life. Being around her makes him need everything he thought he never would, including a family.

Cowboy Up is full of intriguing and sweet events, intense suspense, colorful and heartwarming characters. Caroline not only gets the swoon-worthy cowboy, she gets an extended family. This author has a way with characters, writing engaging heroes and heroines you are happy to see fall in love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is definitely a story to get lost in and forget about everything else for a while!

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Save a horse. Ride a …
Cowboy Up is the third book in the Coming Home Series by Harper Sloan. It features Clayton of the Davis Clan and his relationship with Caroline. They turned a one night into a real romance after dealing with their pasts.
I liked the song titles for each chapter. It was a great detail which made me want to pull up each song on Spotify. I truly enjoyed the romance between Clayton and Caroline as well as their relationship with their friends and family. The author really gave a taste of the small town feel. I plan to venture back to Pine Oak , Texas and read the other books in this series.
Thank you Netgalley and Pocketbooks for ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Cowboy Up is the best in the series, loved Clay hard he has been my favorite from the start and his story was soooooo GOOD! This story is sweet, funny and super sexy with romance to the highest level. I do recommend reading this series but they can be read as stand alone.

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This is a book that has a pretty high rating on Goodreads (4.4 stars), so I know there is a readership for this book and people who will love it. I’m just not part of that group.

I read the first two in the series and I wanted to finish the series out. I was hopeful as the heroine in this one is a bookshop owner. I love reading books where books themselves play a role in them; but this one just missed a lot of the marks for me.

The hero, Clayton, has made it clear in his life that he doesn’t ever want to get married nor have children. This is partly to do with the fact that he did not have a great relationship with either of his parents. I can understand how he is hesitant, even put off by the idea of getting married and having kids since his parents did not represent a good marriage nor were they supportive parents.

What I don’t understand, and what is extremely difficult to believe, is that just one night with the heroine, Caroline, and Clayton is all about having and building a permanent future with her (full of marriage and babies). I don’t think that is realistic - especially for someone who has said all his life he didn’t want that. Romance novels are notorious for being touted as giving women unrealistic expectations, and while I think that is unfair on some accounts, honestly, this book falls into that category. I think it gives women the idea that they can someone change a man, but I don’t think anyone can change someone else. People can only change themselves, not others.

Caroline was all over the place. She’s described by others as shy and quiet but I didn’t ever really see that side. She had one encounter with Clayton and now she’s all confidence and speaking her mind. While I think the fact she gained confidence is realistic, it happened awfully quick in my opinion.

Something I noticed while reading this series, is that all the men are extremely similar with their actions and words in the bedroom. I felt like there wasn’t much originality in these scenes. In all honesty, they were just too much for my preference. Too much description, too long, too much everything. The whole “being bad” thing (which was coined during the first chapter when Caroline decides to “be bad” with Clayton, aka have a one night stand with him) was quite frankly stupid to me and it got old really fast.

The drama that occurred was predictable. Jealous exes who are also crazy. Not much else to say about that.

I was trying to describe this book to a friend, and I said that if someone who doesn’t read romance novels wrote down everything they believed them to be, this book would be the result. It was tropey, unrealistic, had over the top drama, bad dialogue, long waxing poetic monologues, excessive descriptions of bedroom scenes, and a very cliche HEA. That’s probably really harsh, but I said I’d give my honest opinion and that is my honest opinion.

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I’m so happy after reading this one. Cowboy Up redeemed this series for me after almost DNFing the last one. Clayton is the strong silent type and he’s the one I loved the most. He’s been a strong support for his siblings over the years. He’s an alpha with a bit of a darker side, but the way he takes care of Caroline is everything.

This book was a bit different from the other two because it had a bit of a mystery thrown in that really amped up the action. I think this added so much to the story that I hadn’t expected.

Then there was that epilogue…I LOVED it! Epilogues are very popular in this genre but it isn’t often that we get an epilogue from 15 years later. It made the Davis family story feel completely wrapped up in a way that was comforting.

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4.5 Stars

Honestly for me each book in this series just gets better, and I was incredibly eager to read teh ever stoic, yet loving eldest Davis' siblings story.

Clay is serious, brooding, intense, strong, possessive alpha who takes his responsibilities very seriously. He had a tendency to not form lasting relationships having been burned in the past and is quite a loner.

Caroline doesn't have an easy life, and she's quite insecure and due to her past quite often doubts her worth, the bright point being her friendship and connection with her twin best friends Lucy and Luke.

The attraction and chemistry between Caroline and Clayton is instant, intense, passionate and believable.

Clay's siblings who appeared in Lost Rider, and Kiss My Boots, both appear quite frequently within the story line.

Cowboy Up is a well written, heartwarming romance full of emotion, heat, heart and humor. For anyone who loves a small town contemporary romance, with strong themes of friendship and family, this is a book for you. Cowboy up is passionate, and exciting with a touch of intrigue, and suspense that kept me completely enthralled and glued to my kindle.

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Excellent contemporary western romance. Clayton raised his brother and sister. He's happy for them now that they're settled in loving relationships. Clay wants nothing to do with love, marriage or children. His ex did a job on him. Caroline has worked hard to survive her abusive ex. When she meets a handsome cowboy she's surprised by her response. The story has a lot of romance, intrigue, suspense, family issues and lots of love. I received a complementary copy of this book via Net Galley and chose to write a review. I look forward to reading future books by Ms. Sloan.

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I could not wait to read Clayton’s story. His character intrigued me from the very beginning and I was not disappointed. I love everything about this book - the story, the narration, the characters❤❤❤
Cowboy Up’s synopsis really says it all. However there is SO MUCH passion and greatness in this book.
“Who would’ve thought that one night with a dark cowboy would heal my soul”
As soon as I met the character of Caroline and learned more about her past, I knew that she was made for Clay and I was rooting for them. She also own a bookstore!!!!
“There’s no better smell on this earth than the pages of a book.”

Caroline is not your typical heroine- she is a broken soul who wants more in her life. She is determined to get her life back after running away from an abusive partner. She knows what she wants, knows what her insecurities are – She is strong and vulnerable at the same time. Her two friends, Luke and Lucy are her lifeline, they are her family. The interaction between them is sweet, hilarious and real. Her encounter with the dark cowboy has changed her life forever.
““I’ve never felt anything better than what I get when you give me you.”

I LOVE Clay Davis, he is ALPHA TO THE CORE - He is an endearing ALPHA COWBOY God who is protective, caring, determined and the Head of the Davis’s clan - He made me smile, cry, swoon and blush.
“You make me need everythin’ I never wanted.”
He has it all!! Clay’s focus has always been his ranch and his family. After a disastrous relationship, he decided that love was not for him.
“My loneliness drove me to her, and it kept me from finding her after, but it won’t keep me away from her”
Reading Cowboy Up was such an enjoyable experience- I was back in the world of Pine Oak and I felt like I knew everybody. Meeting Maverick, Quinn, Leigh and Tate again brought a big smile to my face. At some point Maverick and Clayton’s interaction got me in tears- I could feel everything… I am not going to say much more but I can pledge that Cowboy Up is another winner in this series.
“Life might toss us some ugly. But I’m ready to take it on now if it does.”
It is the story of how a chance encounter helped two people find a deep profound love... how when it is meant to be , it is meant to be. I really, really loved Linney and Clay’s story and the epilogues were pure bliss and perfection!!!!!! Harper Sloan has delivered another very beautiful and captivating love story .


“It’s his affections, after all, that have shown me how to complete the puzzle inside of me—that have allowed me to finally shed the past and start living.”

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Clayton Davis knows a heck of a lot about being a cowboy and even more about keeping the family businesses running and ensuring his younger siblings are taken care of…Clayton is a shrewd businessman and incredibly controlled in all aspects of his life. He’s already been burned by love once before and he’s not looking to repeat that trend anytime soon, but what he doesn’t count on is a shy but passionate woman showing him another way to live his life - one that includes fusing uncontrolled pleasure with the strictures that control every action he takes.

Caroline Michaels knows a thing or two about heartache and she learned these lessons the hard way, and as much as she’s tried to put her past behind her, she’s still a work-in-progress, but that doesn’t stop her from living her life or from growing into a much stronger and bolder Caroline.

On the surface, Clayton and Caroline couldn’t be more different, but what connects them is so much stronger than their differences, and while it’s all about instant lust with these two at the beginning of the story, that attraction continues to build as the story line progresses, and even though there are a few hitches when it comes to them building a bond beyond sex, it’s clear that what’s between them is something worth risking just about anything for…

Clayton and Caroline’s journey to a happily ever after is one filled with passion, suspense, and strong family bonds. There’s not much that the Davis siblings wouldn’t do for one another and that now includes their significant others and while Clay and Caroline were only supposed to be a one-night stand, it was clear pretty early on that they weren’t done with one another, and as their feelings grow and they work on opening themselves up to each other, their broken/bent pieces start to fuse together, proving just how easy it is to fall in love when it’s with the right person, even when the fear of getting hurt again tries to overpower what the heart wants and frankly what it needs to rebuild itself and move beyond everything it has already faced.

Cowboy Up was the perfect way to send the Davis clan riding off into the sunset and finding the true definition of what it means to come home!

4.5 Poison Apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)

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I’ve enjoyed all three books in Harper Sloan’s Coming Home series, but I have to say, the third book, Cowboy Up was my most anticipated and favorite of the bunch. I’m not usually a fan of reading about Cowboys, but these books and these Davis siblings… I just love them!

Clayton Davis is the oldest of the Davis siblings. He’s the reliable and dependable brother, the one who runs the ranch, who everyone can count on. He keeps to himself and doesn’t really do relationships. That changes when he meets Caroline Michaels. Caroline’s life has been turned upside down and she’s back in her hometown and runs into Clay. They hit it off right away, and their chemistry and attraction is off the charts.


I loved how much Clay and Caroline needed one another, even if they didn’t realize it at first. They truly were a perfect match. Both of them have issues with their parents, and both are a bit resistant to be in a relationship at first. But they really worked together and grew together! As always, it was great to see the other Davis siblings! I loved the family aspect of these stories so much!

I loved the way this series ended. The epilogue was amazing not just for Clay and Caroline, but the other couples as well! If you’re looking for a sweet and sexy romance, this is a book (series) I recommend!

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Clay’s story was worth the wait. He and Caroline were suited and watching the struggles they overcame was re-affirming. Clay was the oldest, the protector. He loved his siblings so much he gave what happiness. Caroline was perfect in illustrating there is more to life

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What an incredible book. One of my top favorite Harper books for sure.

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First I would like to take the time out to talk about this lovely, talented woman that we all know as Harper Sloan. I have been a fan/reader of her work ever since the beginning of her career, no lie there people. I read Axel four years ago and I never looked back. This woman have a way with telling a story that will leave with this feeling deep down in your soul because her books will break your heart in little tiny pieces but by the time you are done with reading it she would’ve put those pieces right back together again. I can NEVER read one of her books in two sittings, no ma’am, I have devour those suckers because she just draws you in to the story and hold you captive and that’s exactly what happened to me when I read “Cowboy Up.”
Clayton and Caroline story is one that will pick you up by the time you are done. To watch these characters go from a cynical place to one where they’re able to trust and love again is something to behold. Caroline thought she wouldn’t be able to love and trust again but Clayton showed her that it is possible, not only that, but Clayton never thought the same for himself until Caroline.
“Darlin’, you’re not broken. You still standin’, which means you’re just a little dinged up, maybe even a little bit bent, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t”
OMG!! This line is probably one of my favorite from the book because it speaks true to so many and I am sure many can understand where Caroline and Clayton stories. This is why I love Harper’s books so darn much because you cannot help but to get attached to the characters and the journey that they take.

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Clayton and Caroline were an interesting couple. You meet Clayton in the first 2 books in the series, and you get to know who he wants to be, and who he thinks he should be. And, you know that he is the kind of man who tries to be what he thinks he should be for everyone.

So, to watch him meet and fall for Caroline was interesting, although at points I thought it was a little more of an insta-love situation than I was expecting. There were parts that I thought Clayton and his reactions to things were a little too intense and maybe too over the top, although overall I liked him.

I also liked that Clayton and Caroline talk. They have conversations and they talk about the things that happen to them. There were no misunderstandings or huge issues created because of assumptions the other makes...he tells her they will always communicate, and that it might be harsh or angry, but always with love. I liked this a lot, and it was one of my favorite things about the book...that they were able to communicate.

I liked the ending also, there is an idea of what happens to each of the couples you have met in the series and I liked the ending a lot.

I recommend this title.

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We finally get Clay’s story. Cowboy Up was a pleasant read. Maverick and Quinn found their happily ever after so now it was Clay’s turn. With the way he was in the first two books, I was interested to see what will happen in his book. Clay felt like the most closed-off out of his siblings. He enjoyed his solitary life and wasn’t planning on changing. However all of that changes when he meets Caroline. The connection was intense and there was no denying the chemistry. As the story progressed, I was fascinated on how these two people-who has had roughness in their lives-carry on. Clay and Caroline were a cute couple. Their interactions with each other were so sweet and it made my heart sing. It might have been a little much but still it was nice. It wasn’t all great though. There were some moments that affected the couple but instead of breaking apart-they held strong together. I liked that tackled their problems with the both of them. I also liked how their relationship progressed and the changes they brought upon the other. Clay and Caroline were fabulous characters. I also loved seeing Maverick and Quinn living out their HEAs. The bond between these sibling were magnificent and the love they had for each other and also Leighton and Tate were great and evident throughout the series. I really enjoyed the closeness of this family. Though for the most part I did enjoy this story, I still wanted a little more. Overall this was a good read. I have enjoyed the Davis siblings and their stories.

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probably 3.5 stars. i liked it more than the other 2, it was a fresh storyline and i liked the characters most of the time.

the dialogue and writing were about the same as the last 2, at times just a bit much and too flowery and sappy. like the other 2 books the couple get together fairly early on and get to 'forever' mightly quickly. i don't mind this, i don't like angst for the sake of angst, but still. something is missing in these books for me, i thought it was that - getting to 'forever' super quickly and the book being about other stuff and not really the couple - but i just read a KA book that was similar (in that way and only that way) and adored every damn word of it, so... i don't know.

look, i love romances and i like a good sex scene. when even i am skimming them, you know there's too many. i don't need every detail every damn time.

i liked when clayton said linney, love. totes adorbs.

there were a couple of things i didn't like about this book:
-laelynn. what is that name even.
- look, i get that caroline kills jess and feels no guilt because it was 'her or me' and yeah i get that, but you blew someone's damn head off, you'll have issues, k?
- i feel like the whole abusive relationship with john was definitely glazed over. especially when he came back to town. no fear at all? even if you're happy and feel safe with your new man, damn.
- overall it did feel way more soap opera-y than the previous 2 books

even though i rated all 3 books 3 stars, i did overall like this series and these people. i liked the 15 years later epilogue, that's always good fun. i will try another harper sloan book but this series definitely wasn't a favourite.

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THIS WAS THE PERFECT ENDING TO THIS SERIES. I can't shout it at the top of my lungs any louder. This book wrapped everything up to perfection and still delivered the best story we could have hope for when it came down to Clayton.



This couple was everything. I ate up page after page of their story. This story was filled with pasts come back to haunt and a future that was yet to be seen.

I love a good tortured backstory and this book gave it. It brought the deceit, the fear, and the healing and I loved it. Clayton and Caroline are the perfect match and yet still they fight it. I swear at some points they didn't want to let themselves be happy. It was a wild ride form start to end and I could read it twice over and still be just as much in love.

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