Secrets Nights with a Cowboy is the first story in a new series from Caitlin Crews and it was an angst-filled second chance at love story. Riley Kittredge and Rae Trujillo married young and lucky for them they found their soulmate. Unfortunately, it was a tumultuous relationship and they split up after a few years. Living in a small town they’ve created a détente and their friends and family tiptoe around their relationship. Recently, Rae realizes she wants something different and decides to move on. But can she leave behind her marriage when her heart is still in love with her husband, but a big secret lies between them?

When I heard that this was a spin off series I was elated knowing that we would get Riley Kittredge’s story. What I hadn’t anticipated was the angst and the heartache that these two would go through to get the second chance at love. Rae left and returned to the marriage over and over throughout the last 8 years, and kept her secret too. It was frustrating and I wanted to shake some sense into Rae for being so selfish and not communicating. I stuck with it and felt some satisfaction when they got back together. Courage to face the facts spurred her to spill the beans. I understand her reason but couldn’t get passed the years it took for her to come to this conclusion. Both Riley and Rae had to face the truth of their relationship and decide to put the past behind them and move forward. They wanted to make it work since living without the other was sheer misery.

The main story was trying at times but it was the secondary characters that kept me invested. The Kittredges and the Trujillos are both large family and Rae and Riley’s siblings came in all different temperaments and professions. Of course, they felt they needed to put their two cents in regards to their relationship whether it was welcomed or not. They definitely piqued my interest and can’t wait to read their stories.

To my delight, there was a novella starring Riley’s younger sibling Connor Kittredge and his high school girlfriend Missy Minton. Sweet Nights with a Cowboy, was short and sweet and also a second chance at love story, that ended this holiday story on a high note.

Secret Nights with a Cowboy is the first in the Kittredge series and a return to the small community of Cold River. The story was well written and they did find a way to move past the hurt. I’m looking forward to reading more from this series because it looks quite promising.

Secret Nights with a Cowboy by Caitlin Crews
Subgenre: Western romance
Release date: 1 Dec 2020
Publisher: St Martin’s Paperbacks
Format: ebook and print
Length: 398 pages
RRP: $8.11 (ebook); $17.50 (print)

Young love, is it true and forever, or will it burn out?

The whole town gets to see the on again, off again relationship, courtship and marriage of Rae Trujillo and Riley Kittredge, of the Kittredge boys (hopefully, just between you and me, there are more stories on these men!). They marry straight from school, and to others it seems they have grown apart. Most of the town thinks they are divorced, as they live in separate places, but the reality is they are still married, and see each other from time to time when Rae suddenly appears at their home. Finally, Rae asks for a divorce and Riley is shocked. He will love Rae forever.

Their respective families also have issues and often offer input into the lives of Rae and Riley. Both see mainly the faults in their families but when they see the good and the courage over some decisions, it changes their perspectives.

As the couple work out their issues, and one secret will be exposed, it is entertaining to watch Rae and Riley try to offer each other dating advice on who might be the best new partner for the other. They also try not to offer a critique of the dates, but it is hard when you are in love with your spouse. Naturally, inside both are hurting. The town is divided and, in some cases, takes a side which makes it difficult for them to work through what hurts them. It can also make it hard for their businesses.

When the secret is exposed, one hurts the other more than they believe they could. When this secret comes out, each has to retire from the fight to lick their wounds, but it also means that they can be together in the end. Our HEA.

It can be easy to forget that these characters are so young in age. Their experiences make the reader believe they are older, but you can see that youth in some of actions and reactions. This story does include characters from previous books, and it is nice to see where they are at in their lives. There is also the hope the glimpses we see of some characters <cough> Zach Kettredge <cough> will get their own story.

I am really enjoying this cowboy series.

Reviewed by Heather

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

This is the story of Rae and Riley and their train wreck of a marriage. Separated for 8 years, they each carry a world of hurt and anger. Riley never understood why Rae left, and Rae was afraid to tell Riley the truth. As the years dragged by, the hurt and anger deepen. When the truth emerges, both Rae and Riley must face their choices of the past before they can move forward. 
This novel is written well with a lot of emotion. The characters are flawed, but I felt that made them more relatable. I loved the way the author ended the book, with an epilogue and a satisfying HEA ending. Kudos to the author for navigating through a marriage mired in serious issues with compassion and empathy. This book will leave you with a lighter heart and hope for new beginnings.

Ok read just not my favorite. A lot of angst and drama not enough communication between R & R lead characters. A lot of characters from a previous series that I haven't read so didn't feel that connected.
Gifted read by Netgalley, this is my honest review. 2.5 stars

Secret Nights with a Cowboy by Caitlin Crews is the first of the Kittredge Ranch series and after reading this one, I am definitely looking forward to the ones that follow. The main characters are Riley Kittredge and Rae Trujilllo, a pair that have been a couple since high school and known each other since they were little ones.  These two married right out of high school and have since broken up over a secret Rae is holding, something I did not figure out until it was revealed, but that is typical of me. This story follows the two of them trying to work out their issues, sometimes in extremely frustrating, yet entertaining ways.

I didn't really enjoy this second chance romance. I thought it was too angsty. I'll never understand how a couple stays married but separated for seemingly forever. Let him loose and move on girlfriend. This book is also a major red flag for couples therapy. This couple needed it. Please people, talk about your feelings.

This was a tough read for me and I LOVE second chances - just too much angst and unknown between the main characters to just keep on reading - this caused me to put this book down several times and read others instead.  I usually love Cailtin's books - sorry!

A complicated story about a complicated relationship, I really liked this book.  Rae and Riley go back to high school, and that’s where the story and conflict has it’s roots.  Ms Crews does a masterful job of writing the deep love these two have for each other, while accurately portraying the conflict they have in staying together.  It’s such a classic “If they’d just talk to each other”, but that isn’t happening.  The push-pull of their attraction/rejection/love is so well written, I frequently wanted to slap them both.  You could easily sense their feelings and desire for each other, as well as the dilemma in how to deal with it.  I loved the support they each received from their friends (NOT their families), and how it helped them work toward their sometimes painful HEA.  I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my freely given, honest review.

Such an emotional book, with characters that make you giggle on one page and maybe want to smack sense into them on the next page. Caitlin Crews doesn't disappoint.
Rae and Riley haven't been "officially together" for years but in the they seek comfort in one another. Their mountains and communication may to much to overcome to make this a real relationship again.
Happy reading!!!

No pude avanzarle a este libro. Tiene mucho que ver con que mi interés por las historias de vaqueros ha disminuido en este año pero también es que la escritura de la autora es demasiado dramática y nada más no logro interesarme por los personajes. 

Rae dejó a Riley y nunca le dijo la razón. desde ahí no puedo querer al personaje porque se me hizo increíblemente egoísta y me imagino la razón pero no tengo tantas ganas de seguir leyendo para saber si tengo razón. Tendré que dejar el libro sin leer

Wow. This one was...interesting. I didn't realize I was walking into a spin off series, but now I'm interested in learning more about the Cold Creek world that Caitlin Crews has built. This book felt a bit more realistic to me than most idealized relationships in romance novels because these protagonists are...far from perfect. 

This is a second chance romance between two characters who have been holding grudges and keeping secrets for the better part of a decade and now those chickens have come home to roost. Iwas fascinated with their relationship and how they could overcome the self-imposed obstacles between them, and I am excited to learn more about this series.

This is the first book in this spinoff series from the Cold River Ranch series. Now that the Everett boys are all married and Brady Everett married Amanda Kittredge, Kittredge Ranch becomes the focus. Second chances are my favorites, but this one was tough. Not really sure why so many of these families in these small town cowboy/rancher series (not just from this author but from many others) are so dysfunctional. While the characters from the previous series are all here too, the author provides enough backstory that this book can be read as a stand alone.

Riley Kittredge and Rae Trujillo had been friends since they were little, then became high school sweethearts and married right after Rae graduated high school. But four years into the marriage, something happened and Rae moved out of the house that they had built together and back with her parents. But Rae would not tell Riley what happened and why she left him. I think that most readers like me, figured out her secret right away, but she never told anyone. Eight years later, they are still not divorce, and she comes to their house most night for a bootie call. She finally realizes that she needs to make changes, but doesn't know how. Riley encourages her, because he still loves her and hopes that she will realize that she still loves him and will come home.

This book was quite sad and at times tedious. But the characters are interesting and they do get their HEA once they start listening to the advise from family members and each other. Marriages do not work with secrets.

I read an ARC from NetGalley and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

3.5 Stars

I've gone back and forth on my thoughts about this book. I truly loved the writing and the characters as a couple, in the end. I wasn't, however, a fan of the lack of communication and how it kept Rae and Riley at odds for so long. 

Basically I have a love/hate relationship with this book. I love the writing and how it all turned out but I hated the idea of the time the characters lost because they were too afraid of sharing their feelings and issues with each other.

Author Caitlin Crews creates characters that feel like they will walk right off the pages into your living room. This is both exciting and emotional as you get more absorbed in the plot. Face it all of us have a lost love, someone we can’t forget or get over no matter how hard we try.

This book is filled with characters that are real. They don’t have perfect lives. They argue, cry, get angry and walk away, hold grudges, and treat each other poorly (or so we think). It is refreshing to be able to feel their emotions in a manner that makes you sad or happy for them or want to be a cheerleader for them no matter what. 

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would like this style of writing since I usually read books to escape life but after spending 2020 and now the beginning of 2021 in a pandemic, I find that I understand things so much clearer and this book made me feel like I was part of a family with real struggles learning things about each other they never knew or understood. It’s about widening your perspective to see that not all things are what they seem and that if you allow yourself you will see love you never knew existed.

Both Rae and Riley are strong characters with fortresses around them creating a very interactive storyline around their long tumultuous relationship. As they volley back and forth trying to find common ground the reader will begin to feel hope for their marriage being saved.

For me the standout theme the author does well is showing each of them choosing to communicate in a different more loving manner while courageously opening themselves to possibly being hurt again.

This read more like real marriage life.  
Riley Kittenredge and Rae fell in love when they were 12 and 14.  Right out of high school, they were married until Rae decided to move out one day.  Rae never filed for divorce and Riley never knew the reason why Rae moved out.  They acted like divorced couple yet they were not technically divorced.  
Riley and Rae's family life didn't help to heal their marriage.  Each of their parents loved each other in some way but in their eyes, their relationship looks toxic.  They didn't really have a great role model in marriage.  Rae and Riley kept pushing their buttons and argued every time they were together and it led to passion but never resolved their problems.  
Riley and Rae deeply loved each other but they really didn't know how to communicate their real feelings so they ended up in marriage limbo.  Now Rae finally wants a divorce and this can change everything for both.  Living in a small town with all their family, it's not easy for both but they will have to find their way back or they will finally get a divorce.  
It really makes you think about marriage and how important communication is.  It had a very slow pace but it had enough dramas between Riley's and Rae's families to entertain.  
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for ARC in exchange for honest review.

I can’t remember when I’ve read a book with a more irritating, immature heroine or a couple who had a more dysfunctional relationship. As I said in a review for this author’s previous series, someone needs to send a therapist to Cold River...pronto.

Rae and Riley were high school sweethearts who married right after Rae graduated from high school. But eight years ago - after four years of marriage - Rae left Riley, never telling him why she walked out.

Except...she still goes back to the house they shared for booty calls - multiple times a week. Has been the whole time they’ve been separated. AND THE HERO LETS HER. Here’s the thing...if the roles were reversed and the hero was the one who left for an unknown reason and kept coming back just for sex, us romances readers would NOT be down with that. So I can’t be okay with the heroine doing it. So yeah, those secret nights??? Not so romantic...

And what’s with not telling the poor man for EIGHT YEARS? That’s just the epitome of immature right there, and she’s now in her 30s. I finally was able to get through all the arguing, and all the fighting, and all the angst, to get to what actually happened to make the heroine leave her husband, and yeah, it made sense. But you lose me as a fan when you hold onto that info after years and years of being asked what happened.

Even though second-chance love stories are my favorite, there was nothing enjoyable about reading this book. There was so much immaturity, so much arguing, so much dysfunctional behavior. I just wanted to keep screaming “have an honest discussion for crying out loud!” I’m all for wading through family dysfunction and difficult relationship issues, but it can’t be just for the sake of drama and angst, which is what it seems we have here and I want no part of it.

This Kittredge Ranch series is a continuation of Caitlin Crews’s Cold River Ranch series (same town, different family) - and while I liked the first book in that series (A True Cowboy Christmas) and really liked the second (Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy), the third (The Last Real Cowboy) was a hot mess filled with unlikable characters and SO MUCH arguing between pretty much everyone in the book. If this series is going to be more of that, you can count me out. I’m officially tapping out of this series. Will I read Caitlin Crews again? Eh, maybe...but it’s not looking good.

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

3.75 stars rounded up because the author had me crying for these two!

This story was so frustrating and beautiful and emotional and frustrating. Did I mention frustrating? Jeez! If two people needed a lesson in communication, it was Riley and Rae. This whole cluster-fest could have been avoided if only Riley and Rae would have sat down and had a serious talk. That being said, I enjoyed the hell out of the resulting "conflict" not having had that talk brought upon.

The author did an amazing job of drawing me into Rae and Riley's story. I felt their frustration, the emotional toll the separation was taking on them and the love they had for each other. I admit, 70% of the time I wanted to shake some sense into them and smack them upside their heads for being so clueless and stubborn, but in the end I was invested in their relationship and wanted them to work their stuff out. 

There's not a lot I can say without giving too much away, but I will say that I enjoyed Riley and Rae's chemistry, their camaraderie and their antics. I especially appreciated the range in emotions that was brought to the page. There were some light moments and some that were pretty hard, but they all added to the story and kept me even more invested in Rae and Riley's HEA. 

All in all, a pretty good start to the series and a touching, romantic read.

This had a bit of a twist of second chance as Rae and Riley got married very young and it hasn't been working for 6 years, with Rae leaving and secretly coming back but always leaving again. She hasn't told a big secret of why it hasn't work. It took me a bit to get into this one as the angsty no communication part of their relationship was a bit hard to not yell at them. But as time go on and they start being friends and talking it get so much better. 

This was my first book by Crews and I look forward to more of this series. Loved the small town Colorado setting and mad me miss it even more. We have the other brother set up for the series and loved some of he side characters! 

4 stars
3.5 steam

This book also included a bonus novella, Sweet Nights with a Cowboy, where the youngest  of the Kittredge brother, Connor, gets his HEA. Really enjoyed this one! 

Thanks to St. Marting and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an advance readers copy of this story.

Secret Nights With A Cowboy, by Caitlin Crews, is available at booksellers on 12-1-2020.  With this, book 4, we've come to the end of the Kittredge Ranch series.  I've not been happy with the series and book 4 was also not to my liking.  In the case of Secret Nights I didn't care for the characters, The female lead is not likeable and the male lead needs a backbone.  The plot is supposed to be emotional but the heart of it doesn't appear until too late in the story.  As with the other books in this series I found the inner dialog to be long, too much, and covering the same ground over and over.  It took me quite a while to finish the story, I kept putting it down.  I wish I could give a better review but I just can't.

#CaitlinCrewes  #KittredgerRanch  #SecretNightsWithACowboy  #Netgalley  #StMartin'sPaperbacks

One of my favorite cowboy romance authors and with good reason! This was a great, angst filled second chance romance.