Cover Image: Cowboy to the Core

Cowboy to the Core

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Member Reviews

Jamie has grown up surrounded by boys, men, and cowboys. She thinks she knows everything there is to know about the male species. Boy-oh-boy is she proven wrong. In a quest to be taken seriously and prepare for professional barrel racing she has taken a job at the neighboring ranch overseeing horse assessments and training. Her new boss, Gabe, just happens to be an ex-rodeo cowboy. He is everything she doesn't know she needs.

Gabe is struggling to build his father's ranch into something he can be proud of. He does not respect his father. for his past choices and is losing respect for his mother as well. He has a dream of returning to the rodeo but knows it may not happen. Jamie could be the answer to so many of his problems, or at very least a much needed distraction.

Beautiful story about finding everything you need when you aren't looking. Jamie is a strong independent woman. Gabe is a couple years older but still has a lot to learn about trust and leaning on other people.

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(4.5 stars) [ARC Review]
This book was SOOOO GOOD!!! This is my second Maisey Yates book, the first one being Unbroken Cowboy (my review), the book before this one in the Gold Valley series. I seem to be on a winning streak with her, and I'm loving it!! I've gotten both of these books as ARCs, but I've already gone to her backlist and started buying them up, because she clearly has amazing romance game. Her characters are well-written and defined, intriguing and different, and very compelling. The romance aspects are equally amazing, with terrific chemistry and relationship development. (And now for my long-as-fuck review ... I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself!!! Such a great and emotional read).

Our Heroine, Jamie Dodge (25). I was introduced to Jamie in the previous book, since she was one of Beatrix's (that book's heroine) best friends. I was already intrigued by her from that book, because she seemed very different from other heroines I've read—and she is. That's one of the things I loved best about this book. Don't get me wrong, I adored Gabe, and the dynamic and chemistry between them is killer, but Jamie totally steals the show. She truly is unlike any other heroine I have read, and having read 300, 400, maybe 500 (????) romances, that's definitely saying something.

She's a straight-up tomboy and very, very closed-off emotionally. She is also super blunt, always itching for a fight, doesn't take shit from anyone, knows who she is and is confident in that. HOWEVER, at the same time, there is this supreme vulnerability to her, of which she is just scratching the surface at the beginning. What we got a taste of in Unbroken Cowboy and start to see more of here is her solitude, which has become increasingly apparent to her as her brothers and everyone around her have started to pair off. She is an island unto herself on multiple fronts, and that's one of them. She also has a bit of discomfort with and lack of knowledge about sex. She thinks she knows everything there is to know—she grew up on a farm and around three brothers who were players to varying degrees; to her mind, that means she understands sex and all there is to it. And it's never been something she's really been interested in or cared about. She has her life planned out, knows what she wants, and is focused on becoming a competitor in the barrel racing circuit.

When she starts to work with Gabe Dalton on his ranch, she is shocked when she starts to feel something (physically) because of his presence and proximity. The first few days, she's her normally prickly self, and Gabe decides to take a different approach than he figures most others do—and he might normally—and instead doesn't take the bait and responds calmly to her needling and pushing. It throws her off a bit and she doesn't really know how to handle it. That, combined with this newfound awareness of him, leaves her at a bit of a loss.

And I'm telling you, watching her handle that and how she responds ... OMG so good!! There are some serious laugh-out-loud moments involved, one of my favorites being when she goes with two of her friends to the bar and sees Gabe flirting with a "buckle bunny," with her big hair, tight dress, makeup, sparkly all over, etc.—basically the complete opposite of Jamie, with her sports bras, shapeless jeans, white tank tops and flannel shirts (which leads to my one annoyance about the cover, because although Jamie wears a dress in one scene, that's it). But Jamie, being Jamie, doesn't withdraw into herself when she sees this, or just stew in her feelings, as most heroines would—no, no, even though she's struggling with this new awareness of herself and her vulnerabilities, and doesn't even know WHY she's bothered by the scene (or is completely willing to admit the possibilities of why), she's still hardcore, tough-as-nails Jamie, and so goes over to see what's what. I don't want to say more, but it's definitely the beginning of one of my favorite sections of the book. HA!

Our Hero, Gabe Dalton (33). Gabe is Mr. Player and has been around the block—or in this instance, around the rodeo circuit ;-). He's jaded and bitter and closed-off and somewhat elusive. He's unsatisfied with life, and it becomes clear as the story progresses that there are many root causes for this, including external circumstances beyond his control, and then also his own choices and reactions to these events.

He always wanted to run his father's ranch and his father, who was convinced that the best thing for him was to go to school and get the opportunities he himself had never had, sold all of Gabe's horses out from under him when he was 15 years old, which basically broke his heart and tore him in two. He had always felt at one and at peace working with the horses—basically how Jamie is now—but he felt betrayed by his father's decision and it really scarred him. He ended up going on the rodeo circuit, kind of as an F U to his Dad, and he was supremely successful, so even though it was never all that rewarding or what he had originally wanted to do, he ended up getting sucked into that life.

His father asked him to come back and help him on the ranch, because he's not doing very well health-wise anymore, and so Gabe came back and took some time off the circuit, though his plan is to go back eventually. He decides to use this time off though to setup a type of horse retreat and hires Jamie, who is kind of a horse whisperer, to come work for him and help him set everything up. He is intrigued by her, but having been so put off by his father's behavior, he is very clear with women about only wanting one night stands and not fooling around with anything more serious. So as soon as he starts to note his attraction to Jamie and how intrigued he is by her, he tells himself to put that on lockdown.

Amazing Character Development. Much of Jamie's development centers around her family, and the same applies for Gabe. Both of them have built super protective shells around themselves, a lot of it caused by internal family dynamics. Jamie's mother died two days after her birth and she was left to be raised by her three older brothers and her father; she's always felt a lot of guilt at having, as she sees, taken her mother's life, and made her family swap their mother for her. She missed not having a mother and a female influence in her life, but at the same time she never wanted to be a burden and wanted to fit in with the family, so she tried as much as possible to lay low, be one of the guys, make do, take care of herself—not ask for help or show or admit that she needed any.

When it comes to Gabe, there are hugely complex family dynamics going on there that I won't get too much into, but needless to say, his parents' marriage has kind of been a wreck for much of his life. It has led him to be afraid of being in a relationship himself, afraid of being a negligent, devil-may-care charmer who invariable hurts the people in his life, like his father, and afraid of being on the losing end of love, like his mother. Over the course of the book, a lot of things in his family come to a head and he has to deal with them and figure out how he wants to manage them, how he will or won't let them impact his life, and what the rest of the course of his life will be like. He is kind of at loose ends and trying to find his place still, even though he's 33 years old. He thought he was so clear on why his life has been the way it has and the choices he has made, but it all seems to be coming apart and he's no longer sure about anything.

Watching him and Jamie's development is so lovely and enjoyable, sweet and also heartbreaking. Jamie develops the most, and is the one who pushes Gabe in the end to face his demons and come to the realizations he needs to. For her part, Jamie is so brave and I had so much admiration for her; at the beginning, she's such a prickly, closed-off little thing, and watching her open up, to herself and to everyone around her, and to finding the strength in vulnerability, is SUCH a lovely experience. There are so many sections of this book that I highlighted, and many of them weren't necessarily related to romance or sexy lines or anything like that, but just the beautiful character development that happened within and between them.

Criticism. My only real criticism is about the end section, and there are two points. First, there seems to be a little too much dialogue in the final section. There's a lot of back and forth between Gabe and Jamie and it's a bit repetitive and long-winded. Now, in some instances they were repetitive in the scene, but I think in others it may seem repetitive to the reader because we've already heard these thoughts from the character's perspective, but their romance counterpart hasn't, which I get can be a bit of a bind, but whatever—it's still annoying.

Second, I wish Gabe's lightbulb had come about a bit differently; I get tired of how often in romances the only obstacle is one of the characters being unwilling to admit their love for the other, and then there's some breakthrough moment in the last two pages (or whatever) that then makes them run to the other and pour their heart out. Especially in this instance, I feel like it almost cheated us a bit, because we had SUCH character development from Jamie, and there was the exact same potential with Gabe, and so I wish the end had unfolded a bit differently, in a way that was worthy of how amazing the rest of the book was.

Oh, and it needed an Epilogue. Such an abrupt ending—what's up with DAT?!

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I really liked this book. It was a great addition to the series and I had a lot of fun while reading it. I became immersed in the love story between the two characters quickly and I did not want to let go.

Jaime was such a strong woman both physically and emotionally. I loved the progression of her character and watching her come to terms with her mother’s death. I admired her a lot and appreciated the journey she went through.

Poor Gabe was a pawn in a game he didn’t even know he was playing. I felt a lot of compassion towards his character and he really pulled on my heart strings. I loved his quirky romanticism and his hot cowboy moves.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The banter between Jaime and Gabe was just the right formula for word foreplay for me. I NEED more books in this series and I can’t wait for more of Gold Valley! I need my next fix of hot cowboys and fiery women… and hopefully some fire jumpers in there… maybe.

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Maisey Yates is one of my favorite authors and I was excited to read the next story in the Gold Valley series. Jamie is the 4th child in a family of 3 older brothers who lost their mother shortly after Jamie's birth. She never knew her mom and has kept her feelings about her mom buried deep her whole life. She's always been one of the boys, and treated as such by her father and brothers.

She has a gift with horses and loves the work she does but needs to spread her wings and branch out from the family business. When Gabe Dalton hires her to train horses for his rescue ranch she jumps at the chance. The feelings exposed when she starts working with Gabe confuse her and although they are both loaners they bond. Their working and personal relationship explodes, and this makes both of them reveal painful issues and episodes from the past.

The characters are real and the feelings about blended families, the loss of a parent or friend, infidelity, to name a few make you fall in love with the story and them. It's a brutal and honest ,look at what makes love and life better when shared with an understanding soul. Another great read from Maisey that I highly recommend. It can be read as a standalone but why would you want to as all her books are great. THe story provides many openings for more stories in the Gold Valley series. I can't wait!

I was provided a free ARC eBook from the Publisher and Net Galley in exchange for my honest comments.

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Jamie is as competent as any man at handling chores on the ranch and better than most at working with horses. She doesn't want any man, especially Gabe, to treat her like a woman. Her mother died when she was born so all she's known is how to survive in a man's world. Neighboring ranch owner, Gage, hires her to work with abused and discarded horses on his ranch. He's not interested in being more than polite with Jamie but as he starts to admire her spirit things change. This is the latest book in the Gold Valley series but can be read as a stand alone. I really enjoyed how these two managed to make room in their lives for each other without changing each other.

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I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to everyone.

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Gabe is a real charmer, “horses are big-*** animals who don’t need to be babied.” Jamie just puts it out there at times, “are you ready for bed?” she asked. He looked up at her and grinned..." I liked this book, I loved Gabe, but I loved Jamie even more the woman made her man question everything.

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Maisey Yates never disappoints. I couldn't put this book down,. it's a good thing I started it with the next day off. We know Jamie Dodge and Gabe Dalton from previous books. But it wouldn't mater because this book can be a stand alone book. I love visiting with my favorite characters from previous books, and meeting new ones. I was not sure this one was going to have a happy ending but of course it did.

I highly recommend this title.

Thank you harlequin and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

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Another great one from Maisey Yates! I love the Gold Valley series and she always leaves me craving for more. She is my go to when I need a break from the world and from reading such heavy books.

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I have been looking forward to Jamie's book for along time, so I was a little surprised that it didn't pack the emotional punch I had anticipated. It isn't that there was anything inherently wrong with the writing or with Jamie and Gabe. I just didn't feel the same connections to them as I have with the previous characters in the Gold Valley Series. Even as Jamie and Gabe were falling for each other, it didn't feel like their relationship was much deeper than the surface. Maybe it was because both characters were so protective of their hearts and I am accustomed to at least one of them being all in on the relationship.

I did enjoy seeing Wyatt come to some realizations around how they had all treated Jamie for the bulk of her life. It would have been nice to see the other brothers be involved in that as well, but given the fact that Wyatt is somewhat of a father figure to Jamie I can understand why that didn't happen.

All in all, Cowboy to the Core was a fine read. It's always fun to visit Gold Valley again.

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