Cover Image: Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy

Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy

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Member Reviews

This was a captivating, charming story about second chance romance. I don’t read many second chance romances and I really think I should! Unfortunately this wasn’t quite a perfect match with me (though I feel it was a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”). But I thoroughly appreciated the story for what it was and can safely say that it matched up to what the synopsis promised it would be. It was a thoroughly powerful story with a unique storyline that had me turning pages at the speed of light! The love story between these characters was incredibly intense to the point wherein you could feel everything between the characters; everything felt so palpable, so real and true. It added so much to the story to be able to experience the characters in such a natural, realistic way and helped me forge a tight bond with the two of them which led to me further enjoying the story. These characters definitely are some of the most well rounded characters I’ve ever read.

This story was definitely a character driven story for me as I felt that some of the descriptions of setting/events were a little too fleshed out and thus a little too difficult to plod through — so I tended to move over those and focus on the characters, which worked out well for me!

Will definitely be checking out more books from this author and would recommend it to everyone who finds the premise intriguing!

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Short Synopsis:
The second in Caitlin Crew’s Cold River Ranch series follows Hannah Monroe, ex Rodeo Queen, who arrives at the ranch ready to ask for a divorce from her husband, Ty Everett. She finds that it’s much harder cut ties and leave when he doesn’t even know who she is.

Ty Everett was lucky to walk away from his last bull ride with his life, but in the process lost the last two years of his memory, which happens to include his entire relationship with a beautiful stranger claiming to be his wife. While he may not remember her, he knows deep down he’s not willing to let her just walk away.

My Thoughts:
It took me a little bit to really feel attached to the relationship between these two characters. There was a lot of pushing each other away after they spent so much time trying to find the love they once shared, and that is what really annoyed me. Ty’s personality was very much “let me put on this false smile while inside I’m a mess”. I hated that he thought himself to be just like his father (the famous mean drunk, Amos Everett) and would only chase away his family.

There seemed to be a lot of talking/dialogue in this book and, while the writing was excellent, I wished to be “shown” more instead of told. Something as simple as the weather or going about running the ranch and the physical actions that took.

Of course, I loved seeing Abby and Gray and seeing their relationship still going strong. I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for the third brother, Brady. While a “city” boy, he seems like he has a lot to offer to Cold River Ranch.

Would I Recommend:
This is my second book of Caitlin Crew’s that I’ve ever read, the first being A True Cowboy Christmas (Cold River Ranch #1). Her writing is as amazing as I remember, and even while I was annoyed with the characters, she still had the power to bring out emotions in me as I was reading and I love that quality in a writer. So, yes I definitely recommend this!

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Someone send a therapist to Cold River, STAT! Those poor, tortured Everett men are in desperate need of someone to help straighten them out because good grief they are hard on their women…

When rodeo star Ty Everett first saw Miss Rodeo Forever queen Hannah Monroe, he was smitten for the first time in his 30 years of life. But rodeo queens aren’t allowed romantic entanglements, so she rebuffed his attentions. That didn’t matter to Ty, and he chased and chased until Hannah finally let him catch her. And not wanting to let down the people who helped her get to her position as queen, Hannah insisted their relationship stay secret (which included a wedding!) for the next several months - until the end of her reign.

But before they could go public, Ty is seriously injured by a bull and he no longer remembers the last two years of his life...the whole time he was with Hannah. When Hannah doesn’t hear from Ty for 18 months after his accident, she decides it’s time to cut her losses and hunt Ty down to ask for a divorce. And as much in life, things don’t go as easily as she thought they would.

When Ty feels himself inexplicably drawn to Hannah, he asks her to spend some time with him on his family ranch. With each passing day, Hannah is falling even more in love with her husband and his family, while Ty grapples with the after-effects of his injuries, his family dysfunction, and where he goes in life now that his rodeo career has ended. Throw in the emotional issues Hannah has from her childhood, and the child she wants to protect from a potentially-absent father, and there was a whole lot of drama going on. The GOOD kind of drama!

Once again, Caitlin Crews gives us a compelling, heartrending story that steers clear of the tired, cliched storylines. She steers clear of the tired, cliched writing. (Tired and cliched = SO MUCH writing about how hawt the hero is and how much the heroine’s body parts are affected…) The characters have big feelings, and they feel them all. They work through them all, without letting their hormones take over. And it’s SO FREAKING refreshing.

I did have a little bit of an issue with how things ended. Minor spoiler alert here...I think I would have liked it better if Ty’s memory hadn’t all-the-sudden come back. Yes, I know this is fiction. Yes, I know this is a romance and all the wrongs are supposed to be righted and everything upside down should be turned back to right-side-up. Of course Ty is going to get his memory back. But to me, what would have been more romantic would have been Hannah not giving up on Ty AND Ty falling in love with her again, despite not remembering their past. I like when a couple has to fight hard for their love, and I feel like the way things ended was the easy way out. But that is the ONLY thing I didn’t care for. Everything else was really, really good.

I am a huge fan of second-chance romances, I’m a huge fan of secret babies, and I am becoming a huge fan of Caitlin Crews. Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy satisfied in so many ways. I can’t wait for the final book in this Cold River Ranch series!

* thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

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"You and I are complicated, whether you remember it or not."

In Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy by Caitlin Crews, everything about Ty Everett and Hannah Leigh Monroe is definitely complicated - secret relationship, secret wedding and a secret family - and Ty doesn't remember any of it.

After a rodeo accident where Ty had been thrown and then stomped by a bull, Hannah went to the hospital to see him. He didn't remember Hannah, but she isn't aware of his condition. When he tells her to leave and never come back, she takes him at his word.

Fast forward 18 months, and Hannah goes after Ty to find out her status and "clean up her messy life" - is she a wife or not? She is strong, has learned to handle what life has thrown at her, and is raising her son, Jack, alone. What does the future hold?

Faced with the documented evidence of their marriage, Ty believes Hannah even though he doesn't remember. His life has been on hold but now has a jump-start.

"He had a wife. That probably meant a lot of things he didn't want to face, but it was possible it also meant that she could remind him how to live. How to feel."

Crews paints a vivid picture of the rodeo and life on Cold River Ranch. She develops the relationship between Ty and Hannah based on their new dynamic, and they both learn to accept the past and look forward to their future together.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Two characters fall in love then split up, can they work through their past for a second chance? Their relationship had a lot of secrets and when one of the characters has amnesia there could be a disaster. I quite enjoyed this story.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆
3.5 stars

This is the second book in the series, although I have to admit this was the first that I have read. There was enough detail to ensure that I knew enough of the romance from book one, but I may have got more in-depth knowledge of the death of the brothers' father.

I found this story to start very slowly, and as the two leads both tell us the story through their inner voice a lot, it got a bit frustrating at times. However, with Ty that made a lot of sense, given his hidden memory loss. And the confusion which a lot of thoughts can create worked really effectively.

The storyline was clever, once we got to the crux of the abandonment and hurt that Hannah had felt – and seeing her rise above the expectations that she has had placed on her was satisfying. It was an interesting insight into the loneliness of the rodeo queen role – which is not one that is often examined in cowboy romances. With cowboys it is all about friendship, so that was a rather sad thought – but now she has a chance to have girlfriends and it was rather sweet to watch.

After a slow start, I think this had an interesting and satisfying conclusion.

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Wow, there was a lot going on in this story. Ty, a rodeo bull rider, has amnesia after a bad ride. His wife Hannah, who he doesn’t remember, aA1comes to find him to get a divorce. They each have a lot of baggage...separately and together, that get in the way over and over again. Throw in a child Ty doesn’t know about, and we’ve got a lot of twists in this book. I liked the characters, and their personalities. They were well-written and felt real. I got tired of repeatedly hearing about issues with their parents. That just seemed to drag the story needlessly, as did their inability to come clean with all their secrets—especially the child. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. This is my freely given, honest review.

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Middle son, Ty Everett, was subjected to both verbal and physical abuse from his cold hearted father, until he left the Cold River Ranch, the family ranch, right after his 18th birthday, to join the rodeo and became a champion bull rider. The child of an abusive father and a mother that abandoned her 3 sons to said father, he does not see love or a family in his future and fears becoming his father, so walks around with this obnoxious grin to mask his fears. Until he lays eyes on Rodeo Queen, Hannah Monroe, daughter of a single mother, whose boyfriend, parents and grandparents had abandoned her, when she became pregnant at the tender age of 16. She has taught her daughter that men are all liars and can't be trusted, so she vigilantly chaperones her daughter, but Ty and Hannah manage to spend enough time together that they do fall in love and elope to Vegas, but must keep the marriage a secret, until her reign is over. Their storybook story crashes after a fight when Hannah finds that she is pregnant, followed by Ty falling off the bull and along with serious bodily injuries, loses his memories of the last 2 years- including all memory of Hannah and the fact that they has a baby on the way. He had told her to go away, so she went back to Georgia, but after giving him 18 months to cool off, she goes to his ranch in Colorado, to confront him and learns that she has been wiped out of his memory. It took grit to become a Rodeo Queen for 2 terms and she is not about to lose the man she loves without giving it everything that she has.

This is a bit of a tear jerker, with wonderful characters and a strong story, about dysfunctional families, fear, ranching, rodeos and second chances. I received a free ARC from NetGalley.com. this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

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Hannah Monroe was left broken hearted and in disgraced. Eighteen months ago her secret marriage to Ty Everett imploded after she told him that she was pregnant. Next his near death bull riding accident wiped Hannah from his memory. Fate is not on their side. Can they save their marriage and become a family? Ty is a difficult character to connect with. He's afraid that he's like his cruel father. I understood how his abusive past influenced the man he is today. I wanted him to move forward not dwell in the past. Hannah is strong woman. I admired how she loves her baby and will sacrifice to make sure Jack isn't hurt. I wasn't sure that Hannah and Ty would be able to overcome their problems. I enjoyed seeing Hannah face Ty when she traveled to Cold River Colorado to deliver her news. I could relate to her emotions. Plus I found the rest of the Everett Family interesting. Caitlin Crews did an excellent job with this emotional story. The characters and the story kept me reading.
I received a copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. My comments are my honest opinion.

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TY has amnesia he is not willing to share this fact with his family. He was thrown in a rodeo that he knows but he is missing a chunk of his life.\Hannah was the rodeo queen and happens to be married to tY only he has no idea. This rodeo queen is coming trailing for him to get his signature for a divorce.

All hell is going to break loose and things forgotten may come back but that may or not change the love they had for each other a long time ago. This was a good read it brings a lot of emotion out.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review**

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A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I believe this .is part of a series but it reads great as a stand alone. I have to say the family dynamics on both sides are very odd. I mean I come from a dysfunctional family but geez!! I enjoyed the book. I didn't understand the characters at all. Why not just tell the truth? I have amnesia, we have a baby! The whole rodeo lifestyle is very foreign to me so it was interesting to read about that aspect as well. 3.5 stars.

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Ty Everett is hiding a secret from his family. He has memory loss due to a bull-riding accident. This partial amnesia has cost him two years of his life. He is home at the Cold River Ranch and is trying to figure out his future. For starters he has a difficult relationship with his brothers. But when Hannah Monroe shows up claiming to know him, his life is really turned upside down.

Discovering that he is actually married to Hannah is shocking to Ty, to say the least. He has no memory of her at all. She can prove their marriage. What she doesn't do is to tell him that they have an infant son. On the one hand, Hannah wants a divorce. On the other hand, she still loves Ty to distraction.

Ty has an agenda. He plans on getting back on the bull. His family is fighting him every step of the way. He almost died. Will he lose the battle this time? Will Ty realize that he has more to fight for than a huge bull?

Hannah struggles to be honest with Ty - and with herself - especially considering the attitude towards men that her mother pounded into her. This was so very sad. Hannah must reach deep inside to find her own joy, her own happiness. She must learn to trust.

I loved Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy. It is the second book in the Cold River Ranch series. I love Everett family. Tough on the outside, marshmallows on the inside. Just my type of heroes. Although this book could do well as a standalone, for the sake of continuity, I highly recommend the first book, A True Cowboy Christmas. I look forward to Brady's story in The Last Real Cowboy, which will be available January 2020.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This is my honest opinion.

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I enjoyed this book, but did have some trouble getting through the first couple of chapters. Inner dialogue was a bit much. Characters were each dealing with issues. Reading how they resolved things to move forward made up for it. Some times a second chance is needed to get things right!


I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my open and honest review.

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I really enjoyed the first book in the Cold River Ranch series, and I am happy that netgalley gave me a chance to read and review the second.

This book could be read as a standalone without feeling lost, but I would still recommend reading book #1 first - we get a lot of background about the characters and the ranch, plus it is really good (and Abbie is still one of my favorite characters).

In this book, Hannah comes to the ranch to find her estranged husband Ty. Last time they saw each other, he had just been in a terrible accident, and they exchanged some extremely cruel words. But Hannah needs closure. She doesn't know that Ty cannot remember anything that happened in the past two years, including her and their marriage.

Hannah was a Rodeo Queen - big hair, lots of makeup, rhinestones, big belt buckle, etc. I liked her, but I identified MUCH more with Abbie from the first book. I also got quite frustrated that Hannah had a big secret that she knew she should tell Ty, but never did. Her angst drove me a bit crazy.

But the relationship was good. The book points out the very real ways that abusive parenting, and even parental bad examples, can damage children. And I love that it also points out that we can change.

I'm now excited to read Brady's story in book #3.

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When you’re a book reviewer, there are times when real life and fiction intersect each other in a very delightful way. Writing a review for “Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy” was on my to do list last weekend, but I found myself with a friend at the Mesquite Rodeo.

As I watched all the competitions - tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding and barrel racing - the cowboy stories I’ve read flashed into my mind.

And when there was only one cowboy who actually made it 8 seconds on a bull among the 8 entrants, I actually thought of Ty Everett, the romantic hero in “Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy.”

Ty’s last ride 18 months ago did not go very well. Everyone, including his doctor said that he was lucky to alive but he many never walk again. Ty proved them wrong. He was riding horses and walking again, albeit with a slight limp.

Ty was neither happy nor sad; it felt like his emotions were in the middle of a fog, that was until Hannah Monroe walked into his life.

Ty did not remember her, but he knew that if he met Hannah in his past, he would remember the beautiful Rodeo Queen. He was not sure though. Two years of his life was missing, thanks to concussion he received in that fateful bull ride.

Hannah claimed she knew Ty. And she did. After all, they were married and even had a toddler between them. But, Hannah did not seek Ty to reconcile; she wanted a divorce. Only problem was, she still loved him, foggy memory and all.

So, she agreed to a pretend relationship, their agreement to be revisited the moment they have learned to trust each other.

“Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy” is a story of second chances with a twist. To Ty, this was a new beginning because of his amnesia. To Hannah, it was the first time that she was truly spending time with her husband and not hiding or in a hurry because they did not want the people at the rodeo to know about them.

In more ways than one, this was the first time they were living as husband and wife. So, there were so many surprises. Both Ty and Hannah will tug at your heartstrings. Both were on a tightwire. A single misstep can cost them their marriage and a chance to be a family.

In a time when divorce rates are high, it is always heartwarming to read a story about a couple who try to work out their problems. This might be fiction but still, it is a good feeling.

As for the Mesquite rodeo, the funny thing is that my favorite event is not the bull riding but the tie-down roping. I love seeing the cowboy and his horse work together to tie down a calf. The calf has to be down for 16 seconds for a cowboy to qualify for the next round. And that that means that the horse has to stand still for more than that. It is just amazing to see these beautiful animals standing proud.

Back to the book… “Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy” is Rated T for Teens. Parental guidance is strongly advised to due to adult situations like the topic of divorce and dangers of bull riding. There are no sex scenes in this book.

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Cold Heart, Warm cowboy by Caitlin Crews gave me lots of feels. As the wife of a former cowboy, it brought me back to days of boots, cowboy hats, and wrangler jeans! Enjoyed very much and would read more from this author in the future.

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"What do you think marriage is? As far as I can tell, it's a collection of mistakes, strung together by hope and stubbornness. There was so much to love about Caitlin Crews's Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy, but that quote is in the top five for sure.
Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy is about second chances and loving someone enough to dig in your heels and hang on. No matter what. I loved Hanna and Ty. I kept thinking 'bless his heart' over and over while thinking 'that's right, hang on, girl'. I laughed and cried actual tears all the way through. Can't wait for Brady's story.

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I received an advanced copy of this book. This is the second book in this series, but I read it as a stand-alone, and didn’t feel lost. In this one, Hannah decides that she’s tired of raising her son by herself and that it’s about time that her husband take part in their marriage and raising of their son too. So, she tracks him down at his ranch in his hometown. Little does she know that the fall off of the bull that she knew about stole not only his ability to walk, but his memory as well. Hannah is determined to make Ty remember her and the son that he turned away a part of his life. Will they love that they had before his fall? Can she make him remember and can they be happy again? This was a great book and I highly recommend it!

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A truly emotional, engaging and exciting second chance that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. A great read from beginning to end and one experience that I really enjoyed on a relaxing summer day.

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I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure if I would like this one because though I liked the first novel it took me awhile to get in to. This one I was into it right away. This is a wonderful second chance romance. Ty lost about two year of his life to a bull and no one knows that the time is missing. Except the wife that he apparently doesn't remember having. When Hannah arrives to confront Ty and demand a divorce, she finds it harder to do that than she expected. This book had can't put it down qualities and definitely made it so I just didn't want it to end.

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