Chef Evie Buchanan has what appears to be a charmed life but is soon met with an unfortunate, life altering event that pushes her towards a past she'd like to leave in the past. This story features a sexy as hell cowboy who knows he has swagger and a (mostly) confident chef who has to learn what's important in life when what she's known is gone.

I'm not usually a fan of an amnesia story line and had some how missed that aspect when I went to read this book. Even with that, I really enjoyed this book. Evie had just the right amount of confidence and apprehension considering what she's going through. I also really liked seeing the dynamics between her and the Pleasant family. There was a moment or two where I felt like Evie and Zack were moving fast in their relationship considering the whole amnesia thing but they worked it out.

If you like cowboy or food related romance this book is for you.

I just didn't connect with the characters or care about the story at all. There wasn't anything WRONG with it. This is a case of "It's not the book, it's me". I've loved Rebekah's books before and will do so again. But this one was a bit of a slog and I was just happy to finish and move on to something else. Nothing stood out for me and this was easily forgettable after I finished the last page.

Not my favorite by Rebekah Weatherspoon, but I'll read anything she writes! The only disappointment was that it didn't have her signature spice-level to it, but I can't wait to read about the other brothers!

Dear Rebekah Weatherspoon,

As a child, Evie Buchanan had come to live with her grandmother who was a horse trainer at the Big Rock ranch, owned by the Pleasant family, after the death of her parents in a car accident. “Nana Buck” was a fixture at the ranch and much beloved by the Pleasants as well as, of course, Evie. The Pleasant brothers took Evie under their collective wings. Jessie, Zach and Sam were all very close to Evie growing up but it was Zach Evie developed more-than-friendship feelings for very early on. At first Zach tried to ignore it and treated her like a kid sister. However, as Evie grew up he began to realise that his feelings were not at all brotherly. After Nana Buck died, Zach, not wanting Evie to give up her dream of becoming a chef, “set her free” and told her he didn’t want a relationship. Evie left and never came back. It’s been ten years since then and Evie is still angry and hurt by Zach’s rejection.

Evie is a successful TV chef, having won a reality show and then moved on to co-hosting a cooking show. At a Christmas party she steps out into the stairwell to take a few moments to herself and somehow ends up at the bottom of the stairs with a head injury. Evie’s agent suspects foul play but when Evie wakes up she has amnesia.

Given her TV contract and possible risk to her if the fall was the result of someone’s deliberate action and, because the injury to Evie is obviously quite serious, Evie’s friends and agent decide to call her “in case of emergency” person – Jesse Pleasant in California. Jesse and Zach come running to New York.

Read the rest: https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-minus-reviews/review-a-cowboy-to-remember-by-rebekah-weatherspoon/

Rebekah's stories always entertain. This was no exception. Full thoughts and review posted on bookbub at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nisha-sharma

This is the first time I have read amnesia as a plot line outside of fanfiction, and what a brilliant way to start it. I want to preface this review with saying that I don't actually know details of the medical condition of amnesia, only that I enjoyed the way that it was portrayed in this book.

The first chapter of this book, we have Evie in full control of her memories. She is at a party for a TV show that she has been on. She is clearly liked, popular. And then comes an altercation with the one person at the party who doesn't like her. This altercation ends with Evie being pushed down stairs.

The next chapter opens from the point of view of someone who is not either the romantic lead or the love interest. I found this an interesting thing, and liked how Nicole's view points were carried through the book every so often. She is Evie's agent, and is also the one who finds her and rushes her to hospital, where it becomes evident that Evie is experiencing total memory loss.

This is when Jesse and Zack get called in. Jesse is the contact Evie has on file for emergencies and Zack is... complicated. He's the one who broke her heart many years ago, and who, in her right mind, she has not forgiven for past issues. He is also the love interest of this novel, who she has dreams of in the midst of her memory loss, and who clearly has never stopped thinking of Evie from his own point of view chapters.

There was a concern that I had about Zack taking advantage of Evie, but this was also verbalised by some of the characters within the story, which made me a bit more comfortable with his actions as they were addressed.

Ultimately, this came across as an incredibly sweet novel of childhood sweethearts having a very convoluted way of finding the way back into each other's hearts, and finding what they truly wanted to do with their lives in the process.

In a sea of white cowboys and racist subgenre aficionados, this stands out. So happy that this book exists and I’m excited to recommend it far and wide!

I am a fan of this author and was looking forward to this title. Unfortunately for me the characters and plot fell flat and it did not actively keep my attention. I will not be sharing my opinion of this title outside of Netgalley.

When I saw that Rebekah Weatherspoon was coming out with a cowboy series all I could think was “Where do I sign up?”. So exciting! Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of the amnesia trope but sometimes it can be fun. I was all prepared to buckle in and enjoy a fun ride. Instead, sadly, A COWBOY TO REMEMBER was vastly underwhelming.

There are some things that I expect from a book by Ms. Weatherspoon. Great chemistry between the main characters, lovable side characters, fun storylines that don’t necessarily take things too seriously and, most of all, to be extremely steamy. This book hit the mark on almost all of those things. The chemistry between the main characters was pretty flat, the steam in this story was non-existent, and the plot left me extremely bored most of the time. I did like some of the side characters but that wasn’t enough for sure to keep me interested in the story.

I did finish it because I was hoping things would get better. But I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading the next one.

I was very excited to read this book after I saw the beautiful cover. I would like to start off by saying I think Rebekkah Weatherspoon is a talented writer and I had high hopes for this project. This turned out not to be a great reading experience for the following reasons.
Before I get into the things I didn't like let me focus on the positive. The opening for this project was great, it caught my attention and it sucked me in initially. After the MC tragic accident, I was disappointed. The book was bogged down with too many mundane details I kept waiting for the book to pick up but it felt like a chore reading this.
The supporting characters and the love interest did nothing to move the plot forward. I could appreciate when a writer makes fiction more believable and I usually hate when characters suffer from serious real-life injuries and move about unscathed but this lacked movement. I couldn't connect with any other character; it felt like a name that I had to remember. I didn't feel the chemistry between both Zach and Evie. It felt like they should be together based on memories but I wasn't convinced that they felt anything other than obligatory feelings of love.

Highly entertaining, heartwarming, fun and action packed adventure filled with engaging charters, witty dialog, heart racing twist and undeniable emotional thrills. Was a great read from beginning to end. Really enjoyed reading this fun and engaging read!

I received a free copy of a Cowboy to Remember in exchange for an honest review. This was a mediocre read. I liked the initial stairwell incident leading into the plot. Evie's amnesia was an interesting twist, and kept me engaged as a reader. It would have been great to have a prologue with Evie and Zach in high school showing how their relationship was flourishing, and then ending the prologue before their "fallout.. This would have set this book up for a terrific read.

I also wasn't crazy about the showbiz, actors, and professional athletes references. I enjoy everyday characters with real life problems and situations. Adding the "rich and famous" lifestyle really ruined it for me.

With all of the options out there, I'd skip this read.

A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon is about culinary chef Evie Buchanan who is assaulted by a chef and loses her memory in the incident. She has no family except the one she grew up with in Charming, California so she stays with the family as she recovers from her injury.

I picked this one up because I loved Weatherspoon's writing and I am always ready to have her hit me with all the good romance and familial and friendly feelings. No one writes female friendship like Rebekah Weatherspoon, FYI. It's been a good while since I finished the book but I am somewhat disappointed by it. I don't want to focus on negativity, but I didn't expect this book to leave me feeling so...unsatisfied. It's probably because I am so used to Weatherspoon's indie work that I felt, delivered more emotional scenes that suited me better.

The book delivers on my expectations of tender moments. Evie has to recuperate her cooking skills and none other than the person who first taught her is there. Ms. Leona is an excellent character who didn't just help Evie learn how to cook again but also allowed her the space to recover some bits of herself. The cast of characters surrounding Evie was great too. There is her nurse, Leona's god-daughter, and her grand-daughter. They were delightful women who surrounded Evie and kept her safe. Evie also had friends of her own such as her assistant, her publicist, and her best friend and roommate.

Moving on to the romance. Evie's return to Charming means the return to Zach, who is the only person she vaguely remembers through her dreams. This plays a big role in how Zach asks if they could have something again. I liked that Zach addressed the falling out they had, and how Evie was given so much space to evaluate her want for him and whether she needed to enter a relationship.

The thing I loved the most about the writing was the food and cooking description. It left me so hungry. The thing I didn't like was how some scenes were so full of dialogue and lacked emotion. It felt like I was a simple audience to their life rather than engaging with Evie or Zach's emotions. I don't know if it's the editing or the writing but I felt like past books of this author were so much... more engaging emotionally.

I am looking forward to the sequel and I have great hopes that no one can give Jesse, Zach's brother and my favorite character, a satisfying story like Rebekah Weatherspoon.

Unresolved feelings abound in Rebekah Weatherspoon’s A Cowboy to Remember, when Evie loses her memory and goes to the closest thing to a home she has to recover.


A Cowboy to Remember CoverWith a headline spot on a hit morning show and truly mouth-watering culinary skills, chef Evie Buchanan is perched on the edge of stardom. But at an industry party, a fall lands Evie in the hospital—with no memory of who she is. Scrambling to help, Evie’s assistant contacts the only “family” Evie has left, close friends who run the luxury dude ranch in California where Evie grew up. Evie has no recollection of them—until former rodeo champion Zach Pleasant walks into her hospital room, and she realizes his handsome face has been haunting her dreams . . .

Zach hasn’t seen Evie in years—not since their families conducted a campaign to make sure their childhood friendship never turned into anything more. When the young cowboy refused to admit the feelings between them were real, Evie left California, making it clear she never wanted to see Zach again. Now he refuses to make the same mistake twice. Starting fresh is a risk when they have a history she can’t recall, but Zach can’t bear to let go of her now. Can he awaken the sleeping beauty inside her who might still love him?
Goodreads

I received an eARC of A Cowboy to Remember from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m not usually a cowboy romance reader, though I’m not sure why. I liked that this didn’t go too hard into the day to day life of living as a cowboy. It showed just enough to keep me interested but not enough to feel like I was mired in the details. I think the next book will focus on Jesse, which will probably give us a little more detail into the day-to-day because it is basically his entire life.

A Cowboy to Remember needs trigger warnings for temporary memory loss, mentions of racism, racism on the page, physical assault leading to hospitalization and memory loss, discussion of parental death, discussion of grandparent death, and an extremely misogynistic parent to a minor character leading to leaving home.

I absolutely loved the Pleasant family. From the movie star grandmother to the brothers running the ranch to the girls living with Leona, the whole family felt really real and well developed. It reminded me of growing up in a big family that lived really close together – though not quite as close as they did to each other. It was really good to see. Family, and chosen family, is really difficult to get right, but Weatherspoon did it beautifully and worked a great romance into it.

One of the things I really liked about A Cowboy to Remember was that no matter what was going on around them, Evie, the Pleasant’s and Evie’s New York team worked really hard to communicate with each other about everything. Especially because it was something they hadn’t done so well at in the past, leading to most of the drama. Heartfelt apologies were made when they were needed and dealt with from there. It’s part of why I loved this romance so much.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and will definitely be picking up more of Weatherspoon’s work in the future. You can pick up a copy from Amazon, Indiebound, The Ripped Bodice, Bookshop, or the Book Depository through our affiliate links.

I first got a teaser of this book before I got the full story. The teaser had me dying to read this story to see exactly where it was headed. I was pleasantly surprised with all the twists and turns it took and the outcome of all the drama.
So much happened during the course of this second-chance love story that had me smiling. It was extremely interesting watching Zach earn Evie's trust along with every other member of his family. Everyone in the family, except Evie, knows what happened 10 years ago. He's apologized but didn't tell her everything that really went on. She doesn't recognize anyone but grows to love them all again. Including Zach. As she is learning about her past, she's also realizing that she may have been in a place that she doesn't want to go back to. But, when her memory suddenly comes back and she remembers everything and everyone, she has some really hard decisions to make. The first one … does she really forgive Zach for what he did.
I adored all the characters in this story. Miss Leona was a blast. I loved every scene she was in. She was smart, fun, extravagant and looked out for everyone in the family. Jesse was, I guess, interesting … quiet, moody and was grating on my nerves about Zach and Evie. He had his reasons but, boy did he push my buttons the wrong way. I think I know what he needed but … Then there were Evie's friends that really rallied around her. They were exactly what she needed when she needed it most.
As I said, I was pleasantly surprised throughout this story. I love how it ended and look forward to the next book in this series. It wasn't a fast-paced story and, at times, I felt like it dragged and the same things were being rehashed. But, that was the only drawback in the story. It was original, interesting and fun.

So things did not go according to plan because instead of reading 100 pages and moving on to another book, I couldn't put this one down! Between everything going on with Evie (the loss, the assault, the amnesia, oh my), Zach taking the utmost advantage (in the best way possible) of his second chance, and getting to know the Pleasant family - I was utterly engrossed and captivated. Plus, the scandal of Evie's accident, getting to know this family that is rife with Hollywood AND cowboy royalty, following the life of a chef, and all the fun, witty, and real banter between all of the characters, AND Leona... I can not wait to read the rest of this series! I need HEAs for EVERYONE: big brother Jesse, little brother Sam, cousin Lilah (I so need more tea about what went down with her parents), goddaughter Corie, and even nurse Vega - I need Rebekah Weatherspoon to give me all the stories! This was a delicious slow burn with the perfect amount of tension and emotion to keep me gripped. 4 out of 5 wine glasses.

This was a really fun and charming romance!

We mostly follow Evie as she heals from her brain injury and tires to figure out who she was and who she wants to become. This is also a second chance romance and I liked how these two came together after years of being apart. I also really enjoyed how they could both admit that they handled things badly in the past and how they both acknowledged they need to grow up a bit before their relationship could work.

I think my main gripe is that while this was very sweet and heartwarming, I usually prefer a bit more drama or banter in my romances. This wasn’t boring by any means, but I would’ve maybe liked a few more twists and turns throughout the story.

I think the main shining light of this novel were the familial relationships and friendships. I loved the sense of community with everyone at the Ranch and how much they all cared for each other. There are a lot of characters in this book so I am really looking forward to future books in this seres.

This was my first book by Weatherspoon and while I am not a fan of third person romance novels, this was a good book with well written characters and a nice plot. Zach was a yummy book boyfriend and Evie was smart and strong. However, there were so many unnecessary details in the book that I started to get lost in the minutiae so that's why I'm giving this book three chilli peppers of hotness.

I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts are my own.

Living in New York City, Evie is a television cooking star on her way up in the world. But the evening of the show’s Christmas party, Evie suffers a terrible accident and wakes with no memory. Desperate to help her, Evie’s friends reach out to her “in case of death” contact to see if he can assist in the recovery.

Once close friends, Zach and Evie haven’t talked in ten years. But when his brother Jesse receives a call that Evie is injured and needs help, he and Jesse jump on the redeye from California to be by her side. Although she doesn’t remember the Pleasant brothers, she recognizes they care for her, and she goes to California to their ranch and resort for some R and R, where she reconnects with so many folks from her youth.

A Cowboy to Remember is a slow-burn, second chance romance with the added twist of memory loss. While I’m not usually a fan of amnesia-romances, Ms. Weatherspoon successfully uses the trope to give Evie a fresh look on her crazy life. While recovering, Evie rediscovers her passion for cooking and realizes that she may not have enjoyed the life she was living in NYC. The secondary characters add a lot of value to the story. I love both the NY friends as well as the family and friends in California and hope we continue to see them in the upcoming titles.

The pace of the story is lovely; like a meandering cowboy riding into the sunset. It’s perfect for Evie and Zach’s budding, and rekindling of sorts, romance. They are a “second chance” romance, but with her memory loss, it’s also a new romance. Evie and Zach experience dynamic chemistry and passion, which has the potential to combust depending on what happens once she regains her memories. I appreciate how up front Zach is about his past mistakes, even though Evie doesn’t remember the fight that drove them apart. I also love the Evie is on her own timeline - and if she wants to kiss Zach, she will. She won’t be told what to do. I love her drive to relearn to cook and get used to doing it in front of others.

Overall, A Cowboy to Remember is a delightful slow-burn romance, kicking off what promises to be a wonderful new series from Ms. Weatherspoon.

My Rating: B, Liked It

I did not end up finishing this book. I read up to about 27%, but sadly was not connecting with the characters in the story. I really wanted to learn more about Evie and Zach's relationship and what caused the drift in the first place. I did enjoy reading a few glimpses about how the ranch operated. I think the story premise was great, but I just wasn't connecting to Evie and Zach like I would have liked.