Rebekah Weatherspoon kicks off her Cowboys of California series with a challenging trope – the Amnesiac Lover. The Amnesiac Lover has one member of the pair unable to remember who they are or some aspect of their identity which opens the door for a romance that would not otherwise occur. It’s a problematic trope, because so much of who we are is formed by our experiences. Even though I knew she would do it well, I was still anxious about how she would pull it off. I received A Cowboy to Remember from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Romance novels are about the journey. We know that the destination will be at the very least a happily for now. How the reader gets there then is the point of the story. How do these two or more people come together and decide to partner up, and what does that look like in our contemporary world? How do two people build a romantic relationship when one of them has amnesia?

Yvonne “Evie” Buchanan has not talked to childhood friend Zach Pleasant in 10 years, not since the night after her grandmother’s funeral when he refused to admit he loved her. A decade later, she is a celebrity chef and a co-host one a popular new daytime talk show. At a holiday party, she is found unconscious in a stairwell. She wakes up in the hospital with no memory of her life, or any of the people around her. Evie returns to her childhood home in Charming California to recuperate and, she hopes, recover her memory. Though she doesn’t remember Zach, he’s the person she connects with the most. Weatherspoon navigates tricky waters making sure that we know Zach is not taking advantage of a vulnerable woman by focusing on Evie’s agency. Zach makes sure she knows that he was at fault for the estrangement between them and puts her firmly in charge of where their relationship goes. I, personally, would have liked to see a few more pages of grovelling.

I’m certainly not advocating head injuries as a way to solve life’s problems. Evie’s fictional head injury/amnesia gives her a clean(ish) slate from which to reset her life. She’s able to connect with people who were important to her, connect with her family legacy, and connect to her love of cooking without the baggage that a decade of life will give you. Evie gets to know and value herself without her worth being tied up in her work. Her clean slate is temporary. But when her memory does return she still has those connections and she’s able to move forward with clarity and support. Evie’s amnesia serves two purposes in her relationship with Zach – it let’s her get to know him as an adult, and it gives him the extremely hard kick in the pants he needed to recognize how much he has always loved Evie.

A Cowboy to Remember is a lovely romance. Weatherspoon has turned down the heat (which may disappoint some people and make her more accessible to others), but it has a good dose of pining and emotional connection. I loved Miss Leona and hope there is a lot more of the matriarch in subsequent books.

What a charming, sexy, feel-good romance about Evie - an award-winning tv chef with amnesia - and her childhood love Zach - a Californian Cowboy and previous rodeo champion. After a 10 year separation, their paths cross once again, yet she cannot remember anything.

Rebekah has become an auto-buy author for me and I trusted her skills to lead me into my 1st cowboy romance. There's so much to love about this real-world representative novel with
- diverse characters galore, not just diverse 'token' characters,
- a wonderful supportive cast who I can't wait to get to read about in upcoming books,
- characters who you'd want to hang out with in person,
- a beautiful love story between two people who have so much history yet have to re-discover each other with love, respect, and care to secure their future together.

Both casual and blatant racism as well as physical assault are addressed in the romance and might be considered as content warning for some readers.

This is a 5 star read for me!
I hope it won't be too long until we get to read the next one in this series.

I received a free copy of #ACowboytoRemember via #NetGalley in advance of the publication date. All views expressed in this review are a true representation of my own opinion.

One of my most anticipated reads for 2020 and I loooved it! I really don't read many cowboy books but I was excited for this one because BLACK BOWBOYS??? YES! Rebekah gives me the main cast are all POC...sexy black cowboy...sleeping beauty retelling with a twist that I didn't know I needed!

This book is sweet and funny and I just love how Evie had to relearn herself and Zach, because of her memory loss. Rebekah really knows how to start off a book with a bang, and from the first chapter you are like: OMG! then you're just keep engaged throughout.

Rebekah always gives me some secondary characters that I just want to be friends with and honestly they do remind me of my friends and our chats. ALSO we get a bunch of casually queer secondary characters, some who are on page longer, some we just meet briefly but they are there!

I especially swooned at Zach's sweet gesture to Evie at the end there. (THE NUTMEG IN THE BOTTLE!) a gesture that makes sense for the character and linked to an earlier scene in the book. I love hiiiim and his brothers! I can't wait for their books!

also more fun, fashion savvy grandmas in books please. Miss Leoana was a great character with style and some good advice and just pure love for her family.

I could keep rambling on and on about the things i loved with this so let me just end by saying that the conversation between Evie and Zach, that was the black moment was so well written and emotional that I felt like I was there in Evie's shoes and wanting to cry along with her as they both expressed their true feelings but we got to the HEA !

I just want all the books set at this very charming ranch with the sexy cowboys!

This was so worth the wait, the first chapter captivated me and I was so mad I had to wait for the rest but it was so worth it!!!!! The slow burn longing, amazing chemistry between not only Evie and Zach, but the chemistry and love and history between Evie and the rest of the family on the ranch. I wouldve loved for Evie to cuss Chef Burns out and beat her ass but the ending was perfect I cant wait for the next book

I received an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Evie is a celebrityety chef that grew up on a ranch. She was friends with three boys one of which she had major crush/hots for. It didn't end on good terms. Fast forward to now when Evie looses her memory and the guy from the past comes to her aid. He looks and feels like a cowboy superhero. I may have fallen in love with him upon first reading about him; He is so charming.

The book was really good. It does get slow off and on from the 25%-75% mark. I enjoyed the book. It just wasn't keeping my attention for very long. I had to take breaks and come back.

It's no where near my favorite book by Rebekah Weatherspoon but I don't regret reading the book. I would ever recommend it cowboy lovers or other fans of the author. However, it's a one read and that's it type of book; I won't be rereading it in the future.

4.5 stars!

When I heard Rebekah Weatherspoon was coming out with a cowboy romance, I was all in. I didn't even need to read the blurb. I just knew that I needed to read it. The Cowboys of California series kicks off with a modern day amnesia story and second chance romance in A Cowboy to Remember.

Evie can't remember what happened, but she wakes up in a hospital bed not remembering any details of her life. The only thing that might jog her memory is an old family friend listed as her emergency contact.

I loved our two MCs. Evie is a successful chef living in New York City only she can't remember that. She has to relearn how to cook, relearn the connections to her friends and family ties. That includes a re-meet with one cocky and sexy-as-sin cowboy, Zach, who appears in her dreams but who she can't remember.

There's also the knowledge that Evie and Zach didn't leave on good terms. So what's a woman to do when she wants something, but doesn't remember the history behind the connection?

Evie may be scared of this new reality where she has to start over, but she's determined to do it. The support of her found family made this such a charming read. Miss Leona had to be my favorite side character.

Then there's Zach. He's got charisma and charm, and him and Evie instantly have this attraction and chemistry. I loved the small town atmosphere and getting to have this slow burn romance and friendship connection re-built. Evie and Zach have an amazing repertoire together with delightful bouts of teasing & sarcasm, but with as much comfort and communication.

Le sigh!

I was delighted with the intimacy to this story that's layered so deeply, I couldn't look away. This cowboy romance satisfies on all counts with romance, humor, and family.

I requested this ARC because I've read almost all of Rebekah Weatherspoon's other books, and I think that for the most part, it's good stuff. A Cowboy to Remember, though, does not rank in the top tier of her works.

The story follows Evie Buchanon, a celebrity chef who loses her memory after an incident, and returns to the ranch she grew up on to recover out of the limelight.

The memory loss plotline really made the romance feel kind of icky to me. Evie reunites with high school crush Zach, but she can't remember why they haven't spoken in ten years. Although he and others do their best to explain the rift from their own perspectives, having Evie get involved with someone she'd already rejected but can't remember why just felt kind of uncomfortable.

There were also, frankly, too many side characters. Evie had three friends in New York who popped up, and then there was the entire Pleasant family, as well as several other people working at the ranch, and honestly, it was really hard to keep up with who they all were. The last thing I didn't like about the book was the villain. We know from the beginning who the culprit form the amnesia-inducing incident was, and she's just a ridiculous cardboard cutout of a villain who confesses the first time she's confronted about it with a gleeful villain monologue. I know that wasn't really the main focus of the book, but I wish there'd been a little more effort put into that part of the story.

For the good things: some of the side characters were really lovable, like Zach's grandmother and Evie's nurse. I enjoyed the parts of the story that involved Evie relearning her life and how to cook. Honestly, though, if you're looking for a good romance, turn to Weatherspoon's Loose Ends books instead.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dafina for providing an eARC of this book!

This had a cute premise - Evie, a TV chef, is pushed down the stairs by a reality show rival and loses her memory. She then goes to her childhood home - now a Dude Ranch run by hot cowboy and childhood crush Zach Pleasant - to recover hear health and (hopefully) her memory.

If this premise sounds compelling, I think you'll like this one! All of the characters were sweet and the family and found family dynamics were lovely. I always love a <i>Persuasion</i> feel in a romance. Here's hoping Jesse is the next cowboy!

With 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 had read the excerpt for this book through Netgalley some months ago and was pissed because I got sucked into the book and didn't realize that it was a excerpt. This book takes your attention instantly and you just want more. 

I liked this book but I didn't love it. I liked the fact that the author took her time to build up the characters not just Evie and Zach but everyone. It was such a relief to see that the author didn't rush the overall story. But with that being said, this book is slow. A whole lot of nothing happens for a very long time and I am not talking about the romance. Nothing really happened and with that being said the romance wasn't spectacular either. It was hard for me to believe Evie and Zach and that was disappointing. 

However, with that being said, I loved Zach's brother and I hope that book two is from his brother's point of view and his love story. 

Overall, not a bad beginning to a series but there needed a bigger spark and much more investment to keep things going and going as strong as the beginning of the book was. 

3 Pickles

Rebekah Weatherspoon starts off a new series with a charming (see what I did there?) cast of characters. I want everyone to get their own books: Blaire, Jesse, Sam, Lilah, Miss Leona, EVERYONE. The highlight of this first book for me was the female friendships that Evie had and the unconditional support she received from her friends--Weatherspoon is so good at creating community in her books.

However, there were a few things that didn't work for me here.
- Instead of the usual dual POVs of the love interests, there are occasional POV shifts to Evie's first nurse (briefly) and to Evie's agent Nicole, which were distracting and not wholly necessary.
- Zach and Evie are both super likeable characters, but Evie's memory loss makes it so that she doesn't really know who she is, which I think makes it hard to connect to her because she's so hesitant and unsure of herself even as she's trying to figure out who she is/will be. [SPOILER] Once she recovers her memory and is her true self again, she totally comes to life and jumps off the page.
- The reveal of Zach's reasons for pushing Evie away when they were younger comes too late for the reader--there wasn't a strong enough parallel between his reasons then and his reasons for chasing after her now, and I think that could have used more emphasis from the hospital to the reveal.

I am really looking forward to seeing more from this series--hoping for Jesse next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington/Dafina for the ARC.

This was my first cowboy romance book and also the first book I have read by Rebekah Weatherspoon. I thought it was a charming romance and I devoured it in one day. The main characters Evie and Zach are so cute and likable, so are the rest of the Pleasant gang. We all need a second family like them to swoop in and lift us up at times of hardship and trouble. Zach’s grandma Leona, the matriarch of the family was another great character, it was so sweet how much she loved and genuinely cared for Evie. Very touching. Overall, this was a delightful second chances romance that kept me reading all day and I can’t wait for the rest of the trilogy to come out.

Rebekah Weatherspoon’s ‘A Cowboy to Remember’ is everything a good romance should be. With compelling protagonists, witty banter, and a whole lot of chemistry, first-time Weatherspoon readers and hard-core fans alike will be delighted by this novel. The best part? This is the first of a new series, and I already can’t wait to see what comes next.

After chef Evie Buchanan loses her memory after a terrible fall, she finds herself back in Charming, California in the presence of the man who once broke her heart. Cowboy Zach Pleasant is set on righting the wrongs of the past, which is tricky, since Evie doesn’t remember them. As Evie and Zach grow closer, and fragments of her memory begin to return, the question becomes whether or not these two will have a second chance at love, or whether the faults of the past and the realities of the present are too insurmountable.

This is the first Rebekah Weatherspoon novel I have ever read, and it most definitely will not be the last. Weatherspoon takes an interesting spin on what could perhaps be viewed as an unrealistic trope, and makes it So. Darn. Entertaining. I am here for all of it. And don’t even get me started on the simmering chemistry between Evie and Zach. I felt all of the feelings and then some. Weatherspoon is a world-building genius, and populates the narrative with vibrant, actualized characters. The story is fun, with minimal angst, and the ending will leave you with a huge smile on your face.

Hold on to your (cowboy) hats folks, and add ‘A Cowboy to Remember’ to you TBR pile, stat. And start getting excited for the rest of the series.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.**