I loved the characters and the storyline development of this book. It was absolutely one of my favorites so far and I can't wait to delve in to the next one that this author writes. The storyline was simple, enjoyable, and entertaining.

A real feel good cowboy romance. A Christmas setting is always romantic, and this one is absolutely lovely.

Cowboy SEAL Christmas is the newest book in Nicole Helm's Navy SEAL Cowboys series. While I enjoyed reading it, I did not enjoy it as much as I had the first two books.

The third book in the Navy SEAL Cowboys series by Nicole Helm, which focuses on Gabe and Monica.

Both characters carry a lot of emotional baggage and are unsure how to move forwards. Both need to learn how to trust others with the details of their pasts and their emotions without being afraid of being hurt.

Over the Christmas period they are given the chance to develop their relationship but only if they are willing to put themselves out there.

I'm a huge Nicole Helm fan, and this book did not disappoint! I really appreciated how thoughtful/nuanced the approach here was re: therapy (& appropriate guidelines with doctors!), and I loved the slow burn romance going on with bonus plot moppet! Just what I was hoping for :)

Single mom and Revival Ranch's on-site therapist Monica Finley has dedicated her life to helping brave servicemen and women, but former Navy SEAL Gabe Cortez is the one man whose shell she just can't crack. Yet with the holidays fast approaching, she may finally have a plan. In a bid to get Gabe to open up, she'll ask for as much help as possible—cutting down the Christmas tree, stringing lights, the whole nine yards.
This was a cute read that gives you the warm fuzzies just in time for the holidays. I really enjoyed reading this story. It felt like it belonged on the Hallmark channel. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Cowboy SEAL Christmas by Nicole Helm with a fitting end to an emotional trilogy that examines the effects of various forms of PTSD on the sufferer and everyone around them. This story revolves around Gabe, the SEAL who hides his trauma behind a humorous façade, and Monica, the on-site therapist with scars of her own. Together, they may just heal each other.

Cowboy SEAL Christmas is the final book in the Navy SEAL Cowboys trilogy that started with Cowboy SEAL Homecoming where we are given a visceral example of military based PTSD where the male lead, Alex, has to come to terms with the trauma of combat and losing a man (and friend) under his command. In Cowboy SEAL Redemption, the focus moves to a more personal experience, where the female lead, Rose, must examine a form of PTSD brought on by years of physical and psychological abuse from her father. In Cowboy SEAL Christmas, Gabe, also must come to grips with his own PTSD in the form of psychological abuse and betrayal from his family, particularly his brother.

Despite the often viscerally emotional scenes, these books are marked by their humour. There is a lot of it, which breaks up the intensity of the issues the characters are facing. Even with the seriousness of the subject, these books are not hard to read. They flow superbly, the author has the fantastic ability to delve into the serious aspects of trauma, but to then quickly segue into a more humorous situation so it never feels overwhelming. Then there is the romantic aspect, for books one and three, the romance is slow to build, but that doesn’t mean it is not passionate and very satisfying.

I love this author’s writing style. It is smooth, the plot well developed, and the characters are always three dimensional and real on the page. There is a certain addictiveness to her writing that keeps you turning the pages. Although she puts her characters through the emotional wringer, be assured there is always a happy ending. For me this is extremely important, life is devastating enough, regardless of what the characters go through, I want to see them have a happy ending.

I can’t recommend the Navy SEAL Cowboys trilogy highly enough. Although this book could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend starting from book one to really appreciate the characters. Each book builds on the previous one, and all the characters constantly reoccur in all three books.

I have been waiting for Gabe’s story, pairing him with Monica was as perfect as one could get from an opposites attract romance. Not only is there heat between the two, there are also times of depression that weighed heavily...then to balance that out there is the camaraderie and banter between the men that gives a light hearted feel to aspects of the story. Well written and touching.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

I was really looking forward to this third novel in Nicole Helm's Navy SEAL Cowboys series, especially since I read, reviewed and gave the first and second novels in the series 4.5 and 5 star ratings, respectively, but, while I couldn't put it down until I finished reading it at 4:30 a.m. today, I felt that it was my least favorite novel in the series for a couple of reasons, and while it's as well-written and emotional as the previous novels, I can only give it 3.5 stars.

If this is your first read in the series, I'd recommend reading the previous novels in the order in which they were written, all are set at Revival Ranch, where veterans dealing with PTSD and other service-related psychological issues can see a licensed therapist (the heroine, Monica Finley) and receive counseling and equine therapy. The ranch has still not accepted its first two veteran clients, but it's getting close. The cast of characters isn't overwhelming, comprising the two couples featured in the first and second novels, Becca and Alex, Rose and Jack, Gabe Cortez (the hero in this novel), and Monica and her ten-year-old son, Colin, you should be able to read this book as a standalone without a problem.

It's getting close to Christmas time at Revival Ranch, and there's a wedding being planned for Becca and Alex, and Rose and Jack are getting ready for the birth of their first child. The only two adults not already paired off are Gabe Cortez and Monica, and this is their story. Gabe was a tough character to like because the emotional walls he put up between himself and the others were so high and strong as to be impenetrable. He can relate to his fellow SEALs on the surface, since they all were wounded, damaged in the same explosion which ended their military careers, but Gabe believes that he's not like his brothers in arms. He fakes having PTSD , but he has issues that began in childhood, issues he's never told anyone, and he's nursing a fierce dislike of "shrinks," and avoiding all of Monica's attempts to understand and help him--hiding behind a insincere smile and jokes that's as transparent as it is annoying.

Monica, was widowed at age 20, when her husband was killed in a helicopter accident, leaving her to raise their infant son, Colin, alone. She's certainly attracted to Gabe, and wants to help him, but all her efforts are met with distrust, a cold shoulder, anger and a smirking smile. To say that he was a hard character to like is putting it mildly. It was hard for this reader to understand Monica's attraction to the big, surly hunk beyond her wanting to help him deal with his issues, yet pursue him and challenge him she does, in spades. It's the why of it that escaped me.

These two characters finally get together after Colin demands that Gabe ask his mom to dance at Becca and Alex's wedding. A duty he grudgingly performs, and then walks away, leaving her standing alone on the dance floor wondering what happened. It was really difficult to get past his rude behavior, but apparently Monica is not so easily put off by it, and things come to a head when they are snowed in at Monica's cabin. Becca and Alex are enjoying a stay-at-home honeymoon, and Colin is in Denver spending the week with Monica's parents. Alone at last, right? It's clear that Monica is willing to risk herself by agreeing to, and even formulating a friends with benefits until Christmas deal with Gabe. It's the first of several deals these two make, but Monica is hoping that in addition to scratching an itch she's developed since she was widowed 10 years ago, that sex with Gabe might help her get into his head and peel back his defenses to the man she senses underneath his insincere smiles and joking ways.

To say that each of these two characters get more than they bargained for while snowed in together, as well as less than they bargained for, is putting it mildly. I really liked Monica as a character, whose life hadn't been a bed of roses. She's the daughter of a difficult and hard to please father with PTSD, she was widowed at such a young age, and raising her son alone. Through it all, she managed to care deeply about helping others with PTSD, did a good job of raising her son, and managed to care for others and put their needs ahead of her own. I understood her physical attraction to Gabe, after all, what woman wouldn't be attracted to a big, handsome, Navy SEAL, but I simply had a hard time understanding her emotional attraction to him because of his often rude remarks, inability to communicate, and his abject avoidance of even something so little as a decent, rational, innocent conversation with her. My issues with Gabe and his behavior really hampered my ability to sympathize with his inner struggles, or even understand why Monica kept pursuing him.

Yes, there's plenty of angst and emotional drama to go around in this novel, but very little forward momentum, beyond each characters' internal dialogue, which became rather repetitive. Yes, I more than understood Gabe's issues once they were revealed, having a tough and bitter relationship with a stepparent and parental betrayal in my own life, but since I managed to rise above it and find happiness, I had a tough time understanding why Gabe couldn't do the same. And yes, there's the HEA ending romance readers expect, set against a snowy Christmas background, but the bottom line for me was that it's hard to love a novel when you don't think much of its hero.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

This is book 3 in the Navy Seal Cowboys series. This story concentrates on Monica and Gabe. Lots of updates from previous books but can be read easily as a stand alone. Monica is a therapist who specializes in military PTSD and works at the Revival Ranch, a haven for vets. As winter and Christmas are at hand the work is cold and brutal. Gabe doesn't like either but helping Monica's son learn to enjoy life without his mom hovering is something he enjoys. A good Christmas romance. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Cowboy SEAL Christmas is the third part in the Navy SEAL Cowboys series, so I'd recommend to read the previous books before or otherwise you won't understand a lot in the begining (like what is the Revival Ranch, who's Alex, Bec, Rose... )

First of all, Gabe is a former Navy SEAL who had a fucked up childhood and that's why he can't love/thinks he doesn't deserve to be loved. He basically goes from 0 (I can't love you, I'm fucked up, and I still hear my stepdad saying me I'm a loser) to 100 real quick (Hey, we just started dating but... let's get married, if you're ready, although I was the one who wasn't sure about this relationship).

Monica, on the other hand, has a deeper personality, but I personally didn't like her or trust her at all. She's a control freak, overprotective and petulant. She's the mother of her friend group. She remembers her late-husband Dex here and there, but there wasn't deep conversations with her son (Gabe didn't meet his real father and his mother didn't want to talk about him. Monica's son says he doesn't remember his dad because he was a baby when he died so Monica doesn't talk to him about Dex. Does the past repeat itself?)

I've read before other book by Nicole Helm (A Nice Day for a Cowboy Wedding), and I found a lot of similarities between them both, especially in the way Monica (or Cora) thinks about motherhood, protecting her kid, treating her kid like a baby although he's almost a preteen, or how she 'lost' herself in motherhood. I love romantic novels and I really like the way this author writes, but it'd be good, for once, to read a book where, instead of being controlling and trying to protect her kid from the dangers of the world, the mother would be a strong woman who tries to prepare him for the world and to face his fears and how to react in case of danger.

Ms. Helm clearly saved the best for last--I loved Monica and Gabe's story! The previous two books (this could be read as a standalone, but do yourself a favor and read all three) teased a Monica-and-Gabe pairing, but even so I didn't suspect the awesomeness that was in store for us :)

Gabe's been hiding all kinds of issues behind his smiles and easygoing charm, and though those closest to him suspect that there's something there, it's Monica, the ranch therapist who he's the most determined to keep away from. He. Doesn't. Need. A. Shrink.

Though he does rather like her kid...and darn it, he's more than a little attracted to her as well. Kicking and screaming doesn't even begin to cover how it is that Gabe gets drawn into this slow burn romance--there's also relentlessly cheerful Christmas bedding, a Montana blizzard, and a llama--and that's just scratching the surface of it.

Monica is a widow and a recovering (okay, she's not doing a very good job of recovering. But she tries. Kind of) helicopter parent where her ten-year-old son is concerned. She's attracted to Gabe and more than ready to move on after her loss, but has convinced herself that getting involved with one of the ex-military men at the ranch would destroy her credibility as the staff therapist. (Now that I think about it, I'm not 100% sure this issue was resolved...? It didn't seem like that big a problem anyway, so that's probably okay...) I loved watching her try to forge a relationship with Gabe, even though at times it was as painful to read as it was wonderful at others.

Let's just say the man does a darn good grovel, and it's fortunate for everyone that he does--even if he did have help. (He needed it. Good grief, the man practically tried to incinerate all the bridges in Montana when he pushed her away...)

Okay, now that all three of the Navy SEAL Cowboys have their HEAs, surely there's some other neighbors of the Lanes, Shaws, and/or Revival Ranch that need their turn? Please? :D

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

This book took me a while to get in to it, but once I did it was a good read. Loss wasn’t unusual for Gabe or for Monica as they’d both lost something important in life.....love. Gabe lost his family due to an evil stepfather & Monica lost her Air Force husband in a plane crash. Revival Ranch has brought them together & with the prodding of their friends & the weather they get closer only to have Gabe’s fears pull them apart. The push & pull of this story was intriguing as we learn more & more about Gabe & his past. I recommend to read.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

For me, romance is a tough genre. I look for a book to take me away and make me believe that true love can conquer all. I want that to be done with a minimum of angst and with a plot that intrigues me. I didn't find that here, although some very real issues were dealt with.

Monica Finley came to Revival Ranch to be the on-site therapist, she also came seeking a new chapter in her life. As a widow with a 10 year-old son, she is looking for a place she can make a difference and Revival Ranch with its' outreach to recovering veterans sounds like a good fit for her. Of the three vets that have founded the Ranch, former Navy SEAL Gabe Cortez is the one most resistant to her as a therapist, and the one who intrigues her the most. Personally, Monica has no idea how to be anything other than a mother or a therapist. Relating to people in any other way is just not something she does well, but will need to learn fast to fit in at Revival Ranch.

Gabe Cortez is not interested in having his head shrunk and he sure doesn't need a mother. He has shut down Monica's attempts to "therapy" him, but he is more than open to something more, personal, if she were willing. He sure likes her kid, too. Perhaps, to much. Due to a lousy childhood, Gabe has problems relating to all the family stuff that the holidays bring and when you throw Alex and Becca's wedding into the mix, Gabe just wants to be anywhere else. But, there is just no escaping the wanting to belong he has. Alone is how he has lived for the past 15 years and it's tough to see his SEAL brothers with their new families at Christmas time and not want something more, something he tells himself he doesn't deserve.

Another fantastic book by this amazing and talented author. I always look forward to her books, especially this series and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her books. This book is definitely one to cozy up with on a cold day in front of the fire and a warm blanket and get ready to settle into one amazing and fabulous story. The author brings to life such a sweet romance which is set in a Montana ranch and the healing power of love especially at Christmas time. Loved it!

This story is dull and lacks excitement. The therapist is in her head so much she is shrinking herself and she knows it but doesn’t do much about it, because she is a control freak. She wants to wrap her kid in bubble wrap and not live out his life as a kid. Monica is pretty boring in this book and as the role of leading lady this is a pass. Gabe seems nice enough on the surface but you just know he is pushing down all his emotions and trying not the deal with things but just push them down until he implodes. I just wanted more from this book, more new drama and action and adventure.

After nearly a month of reading Harari’s 21 Lessons, I sure needed a heavy romance dose. Who better than Nicole Helm to provide an antidote to Harari’s intellectual harshness? Why Helm? There are romance writers who love romance and that comes through in their writing, say Mary Balogh, the romance classicist, or the contemporary Lucy Parker. Then, there are romance writers who believe in romance and one of those is Helm. Another is her sister-in-writing, Maisey Yates. There’s a genuine belief in their stories as being tangible, possible, and attainable outside the pages of a book, no matter how idealized their characters. Though I’d recently read and reviewed a Helm romance, I knew she was going to cleanse the reading palate: Harari was nice, like having an exotic meal once in a while, or eating on vacay what you wouldn’t at home. But I was ready for my usual fare and enjoyed every but five minutes of it (more of that later).

I don’t know that you can really trust my review: maybe it’s too coloured by my relief and happiness at reading a hopeful book? I wanted the whole deal, a romance, yes, and one set during Christmas, with a Christmas “deal” of friends-with-benefits between what have been two antagonists through the first two books in Helm’s Navy SEAL Cowboys series – WOW, bring it on.

Some context for those unfamiliar with the series. Helm’s Navy SEAL Cowboys centres around three physically and soul-wounded SEAL vets, one of whom’s dream is to turn a Montana ranch into a therapeutic centre for hurt vets. Alex McGuire, Jack Armstrong, and Gabe Cortez are respectively the heroes of the trilogy. By book three, it’s Gabe’s turn, the charming rogue, whose devil-may-care smile hides a world of hurt, none of which has to do with his experiences in Afghanistan. Unlike Alex and Jack, Gabe doesn’t suffer from PTSD: his war was fought in the family home and its lingering pain, unfortunately, he carries to Revival Ranch.

His heroine is none other than the ranch’s therapist, widowed, single mother Monica Finlay, who comes to Revival, after ten years with her parents, getting her degree and bringing up her son, Colin. Colin and Gabe, throughout the first two books, share a great relationship. They bond, Colin with some hero worship and Gabe with an opportunity to do manly things (they chop down a Christmas tree in the first chapter, a great scene) and enjoy Colin’s companionship, one of the few relationships he seems to have, outside of his Navy SEAL buddies. Monica and Gabe spend the first two books verbally sparring and needling each other. It’s apropos that Gabe doesn’t suffer from PTSD, otherwise Helm would be in a world of COI when Monica and Gabe resist their attraction – until they don’t.

Helm is good at opening her books with a dose of humour, in this case, Gabe’s shudders over anything Christmas-related (beautifully contrasted with Monica’s Hallmark-Christmas-movie-themed home, down to gingerbread-men sheets): “Gabe Cortez liked to think of Christmas as a ritualized torture simulation that would ultimately prepare him for any horrible war zone he found himself in. If I can survive Christmas, I can survive anything.” This opposites-attract opening serves Helm and her protagonists well: Grinch meet Cindy Lou. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is key to Gabe’s emotional awakening and a lovely running joke between him and Monica. When the novel opens, just as Gabe is being a grump about Christmas as well as Alex and Becca’s wedding, he’s in turn peeved by Monica. Gabe is of the scared of feels and abandonment ilk of hero: “Gabe had learned a long time ago that people didn’t stick … ” Famous last words: Gabe’s attraction to Monica, his affection for Colin and the onslaught of their care, as well as his buddies’ and their wives’, will break him down enough to make him both run from and then run towards love and commitment.

If Gabe is closed-off, then Monica is lifting her head from grief, work, and parenting to look at the mountains, the sky, and herself, and rediscover a desire to be a woman again. Her little boy is ten, her career is exactly where she wants it to be, she has a home and meaningful work. She’s safe and content, but she hasn’t had a lover in ten years. Oh, she has a few emotional weaknesses, like her insecurity about her womanhood and over-protectiveness for Colin. She lost his dad ten years ago and she’s still uneasy about letting him take on too many risks. But Gabe lets him grow up, even while keeping him safe, and she appreciates that. She appreciates Gabe’s shoulders, his smile, and the way he makes her feel: brave, sexy, and daring. When Colin goes to visit his grandparents for a week before Christmas, Monica and Gabe make a deal:

“You’re proposing a Christmas sex deal.” She lifted her chin, [CHIN!!] and though her expression was serious, there was a certain mocking curve to her mouth.

“I am. Are you accepting the Christmas sex deal?”

“On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“We stop saying ‘Christmas sex deal.’ “

*chortle*, no? Though there are dark undercurrents, Helm draws you in with humour and banter. It’s all fluff and fun and Christmas lights twinkling – until it isn’t. Until a blizzard strands Monica and Gabe and we get closed-cabin romance, which I love!

The fluff becomes tempest-tossed and Helm uses the bedroom’s intimacy (even with the gingerbread and candy cane sheets) to crack Gabe open. Physical intimacy, posits romance, implicates you in emotional intimacy. Maybe this isn’t necessarily true of “real life,” but it is one of the most basic and important of the genre’s tenets. Helm knows how to do this well: making the love scenes organic to Gabe and Monica’s emotional revelations. Unfortunately, one of those revelations, revealed when Gabe tells Monica about his childhood, was distasteful, a bad writing decision on Helm’s part and it near ruined the romance novel for me. Except Helm got me with: “Love isn’t a thunderstorm. It’s the way a river cuts through rock over time … he’d found love in the failures. Losing a man, losing the SEALs. Admitting things to Monica. In all of those horrible, dark places, all the good in this life had sprouted … Love was the river and love was the rock, and somehow, she had to be both.” I don’t know if I can wholeheartedly tell my readers to read Cowboy SEAL Christmas, but I can say I loved every moment of it (minus the five BAD minutes) and it restored my faith in hope, love, and a happy ending. For that, with Miss Austen, I say it offered “real comfort,” Emma.

Nicole Helm’s Cowboy SEAL Christmas is published by Sourcebooks Casablanca. It was released on September 4th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Sourcebooks via Netgalley.

I'm a longtime fan of Nicole Helm's, but COWBOY SEAL CHRISTMAS is the first book I've read in this series. I think it stands quite well on its own, though I'm sure I missed some fun callbacks to earlier books. A sweet and heartfelt holiday romance with great chemistry between its SEAL hero and therapist heroine.

I just loved this book it is the third book in the series and they just keep getting better. After finishing the second book I went straight onto this one. This book will make you laugh out loud one minute and will have you ready to cry the next. While I really liked Gabe I found myself wanting to throttle him at times he could be such an ass I get he had his reasons but still. Monica was a good character but I have to admit she was also a little annoying at times but they had great chemistry. Another really good read and I really enjoyed it

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆
M/F Romance

This is Gabe and Monica's story. I have enjoyed each of the stories and was really looking forward to this one.

Monica is the therapist on the ranch. She moved with her young son and now is hoping to help other soldiers with their traumas. She has been successful at helping two of the three initial men, but Gabe is kind of an enigma for her. Figuring him out is somewhat of a challenge.

Gabe is a tough SEAL. He knows that what he and his buddies are doing is important, but he also knows that he is hiding something. Love isn't in the cards for him and hasn't been since he was a young boy. While he is happy for his friends, he can't help but feel a little jealous that they were able to overcome their issues.

This book was a lot of talking. While Gabe and Monica did have some chemistry, it wasn't as strong as the chemistry between the other two couples. I did enjoy the friendships that were developed in this book. I felt that the women, especially, were able to really get to know each other.

Overall, while this is a sweet story, it was less about the romance than it could have been. I think it would have been better had there been more romance and less about their pasts. But you also needed to know where they had come from and what they wanted.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the third book in the series, but the first I have read – I wanted a Christmas in summer fix, and this was perfect! I think that I would have understood some of the intensity of the men and their mission to set up the Revival ranch, but it was still an excellent story.

Gabe may have been with his friends when their SEAL careers ended, but he is not suffering from the PTSD that they are. He has plenty of other ghosts in his past though, so when resident therapist Monica talks to him, he can only clam up. He can't help but be attracted to her, but that is irrelevant, and he also is forming a good relationship with her young son. But his past has him unable or unwilling to accept the attraction or the potential.

Monica has had to restart her life after her husband died. Her plans to help veterans at Revival ranch are taking a hit because she just cannot get into Gabe's head – and doesn't want to admit to wanting to get into his clothes. Having her son around is useful as a chaperone!

I really enjoyed the head games that these two play, the intensity with which they consider every step, and the risks they are unwilling to consider due to past pain. And how, deep down, they recognise the attraction and the potential for love, even if it is utterly unacceptable. I love it when an author gets inside someone's head yet manages not to make it a long-winded inner monologue – a difficult skill, but definitely worked well here for me.