I haven’t read the previous installments in this series, but they’re definitely on my “must-read” list!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. For me, personally, the author hit home with this incredibly sweet story. I was a single mother and I had a soldier save our day. The mannerisms, the macho-must-be-me attitude and the vulnerability were perfectly depicted. The heroine: Her caution, her fears-all relatable. Steamy scenes were tasteful, and the tearful scenes palpable-not even book characters cry alone around me! I loved these characters, all of them. Backstories were given slowly, building intrigue appropriately and it wasn’t filler-it was interesting. So interesting, in fact, I read it straight through.

I honestly didn’t mean to get sucked in so quickly, but I did. The author hooked me and gave me a perfectly beautiful release. I loved it!

Cowboy Seal Christmas

I’m in love with love in Blue Valley

It’s all come full circle from Rebel Cowboy. I fell in love with Blue Valley from that first book. I feel like this is the last book in that town and it didn’t disappoint.

Gabe is an ex-Navy SEAL who is helping his Navy brothers build a ranch for veterans with PTSD heal. But he’s got a secret, unlike his friends...he doesn’t have PTSD from their accident. Making him an outsider...yet again. So why does he hate the resident ‘shrink’? Well that has a lot to do with his upbringing and his constant feeling like he’s an outsider. But this grinch has a soft spot for the shrinks little boy and while he’s certain his heart would grow three sizes he’s determined to help Colin’s Christmas a good one.

Monica’s been a single mom since her Air Force pilot husband died during a routine flight ten years ago. After raising her son and struggling to get her therapists license she finally leaves her support system to help veterans with PTSD. Something she believes strongly in since she saw her father go through it when she was a child. The rest of Revival Ranch welcomes her and her son, Colin with open arms but her very presence seems to irritate a very sexy SEAL.

A blizzard throws them together a week before Christmas so they decide to give in to their attraction...with an expiration date. But feelings get involved and they can’t help but fall in love.

I loved this book so much. And I’m so glad love (and llamas!) came full circle in Blue Valley.

There seems to be a trend in romance books right now, where the setting takes place on a ranch in Wyoming or Montana, and hosts soldiers with PTSD.

This is apparently book 3 in the series (I have not read the other two). Gabe does not have PTSD, but he is haunted by his past with an abusive childhood. He has dealt with lots of loss and has an attitude that he should expect loss to happen. Monica is a therapist who lost who husband, and she rubs Gabe the wrong way.

They draw closer, as Gabe is a role model for Monica's son. Monica kind of rubbed me wrong, too. A therapist should know how to talk to people without analyzing them, and that seemed to be a shortcoming that Monica had. However, I liked seeing their relationship develop. The interactions with her son were sweet, and I especially liked the ending.

The third book in the series and I am sure the last. Has the third Seal Gabe and the therapist Monica going at it. Gabe gets along with her son Collin but is arguing with her about her not wanting to allow him to do anything. So when she asks Gabe aka the Grinch to help them cut a Christmas tree, his terms are allowing Collin to cut the tree. Well Gabe showing Collin the way to do it. She finally agrees. This is the way they continue to go until the two of them become stuck in her cabin while Collin is away visiting his grandparents during break. Now Gabe and Monica can work out whatever problems they have hopefully before Christmas. The bigger question becomes is whether or not she can make his heart grow three times its size like in the story. Read this good story and the epilogue will tie everything together, a very good series.

I enjoyed reading the first two books in the series, but found Cowboy Seal Christmas to be particularly touching. While Gabe doesn’t have PTSD as his SEAL brothers do, he has deep-seated emotional issues resulting from a horrifically emotionally abusive step-father. Monica is a young widow with a 10-year old son. As Revival Ranch’s resident therapist, she struggles with her professional responsibilities and her feelings for a Gabe. The epilogue provides us with an update of five years in the future. It was nice to see that all was still going well with the three couples.

Gabe is an injured navy SEAl, living on the revival ranch with two of his buddies - apart from them he is alone, never mentioning his family.

Single mum Monica is the therapist at the ranch, but Gabe refuses to talk to her no matter how hard she tries.

Stuck in a blizzard together just before Christmas, something changes and they start to get to know each other, but what will happen when it is back to reality for them?

This is the third book in the series - I haven't read the other two and while I don't think it mattered, now I've read this book I want to read the others.

Love and a Llama, how can a book get any better than this?! Cowboy Seal Christmas is the 3rd book in the Navy Seal Cowboy series (a sort of spin off of Helm’s Big Sky Cowboy series). I have not read the first 2 books in this series (time constraints and a overwhelming TBR pile but I did read all the books in the Big Sky Cowboy series). This book has all the elements I loved from those books and more. Nicole Helm has a way of getting you right into the moment as if you were standing right there alongside the characters. 5/5 for Grouchy Gabe!!!

Gabe Cortez is a grouchy, ex Navy SEAL who hates Christmas. He hates most things actually and is more than happy to tell you how much it all sucks. He had a horrible childhood that led to him entering the military and losing a good friend in one horrifying instance. He comes to Revival ranch with his 2 friends, Jack and Alex, to help start a new program for injured military servicemen and women to get back on their feet. Jack and Alex both find love (spoiler for the first 2 books haha) and he is once again the odd man out. Then he meets the new ranch therapist Monica Finley and hope starts to rise in him again.

Monica Finley is looking forward to working with all the men and women headed to Revival Ranch for therapy and help getting back to civilian life. Growing up with a Marine father suffering from PTSD has helped her understand some of the struggles men and women face upon returning home. She has a 10 year old son named Colin, with her late Air Force husband Dex, who is her entire world. She protects him, well overprotects, as well as she can as a single mother and is hoping the closeness of the ranch will help them all start a new life. Gabe has been the only one to deny needing therapy and keeps his distance from her both literally and figuratively. She has to find a way to crack his shell. Can Gabe help her understand not only his struggles but some of her own struggles since her husband died?

This story flows really well from start to finish. I was able to get a great idea of where Monica and Gabe are in their lives as well as some past situations that have molded their current state of mind. Throw in great friends (who meddle), a Montana snowstorm, being snowed in for days without heat (snuggle alert), past secrets, daily questions (1 for her, 2 for him) and a llama and you have pretty much the perfect love story. Nicole Helm once again draws me into her cowboy world and makes me sad to leave when the story ends.