Cover Image: Colorado Country

Colorado Country

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Member Reviews

This book is a reissue of two previously published novels. Both take place in Colorado in the winter, when the weather makes it hard for the cows. Both have animals named Snow. They are both clean romance with HEA and Palmer's excellent writing. I read an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.com, but I had read them previously.

The first story is about a young woman, Meadow Dawson, an only child to a divorced couple. She only saw her father on his ranch at vacation times and didn't take any interest in the running of the ranch, even though it would be her inheritance. Instead she decided to go into law enforcement, but she is a klutz, and after several fails, is put on desk duty, where she and everyone else will be safer. After her father passes, she comes home to the ranch, where she fortunately has a good and honest foreman. Both of the owners on either side of her ranch would like hers and hope she will give up and sell, but she promised her father, she would keep it. On one side is Dale Blake, 10 years her senior, a man who is a cruel, arrogant jerk, who she had had a school girl crush on. On the other side is Sheriff Jeff Ralston, who offers her a job as he is short handed and could use her investigation skills. Personally, I liked her with Gil, the undersheriff, but she didn't ask my advice, lol. There is a love triangle, as Dale is dating Jeff's ex. The best characters are Meadow's dog and Dale's cat.

The second story goes back to Benton Colorado and this is Parker's story. He is a half Crow, horse whisperer and an astrophysicist . He has appeared in several other Benton stories. He had loved and lost his fiancee, when she died, with their unborn child while he was in the military. He finally meets a woman that he could see future with, Katy and her adorable daughter Teddie. She recently lost her husband who was a military doctor, and moved to the home that her husband had inherited. So two people get a second chance of love.

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Two stories in this book, the first being about Meadow taking over her father’s ranch after leaving the FBI she has a history with a neighbor Dal Blake who is a cattleman and owns a bigger ranch and is just a pain throughout this story. Did not really care for his character all that much. The story itself was okay but ended kind of quickly for me.
The second book has a widow who is a teacher along with her ten-year-old daughter moving from the East to the West. she and her daughter save a horse and then meet a horse wrangler from a nearby ranch who helps them with the horse and around the house. This turns out to be a really good story and I liked all of the characters. Giving the book 4 stars mainly because of the second book and for the characters in the first story but not Dal.

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I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Another great book from one of my favorite authors. Highly recommend to friends and family.

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Two short stories in this nice collection. I really enjoy reading this author. Very easy read and the characters are great. Highly recommended.

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COLORADO COUNTRY by Diana Palmer
The book has 2 novellas in it, The Snowman and Mistletoe Cowboy. They have been previously released as well. These were good. This is 4 stars.

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This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

This is a set of two books with Colorado cowboys as the main attraction!

I enjoyed the Mistletoe Cowboy more than I did the Snow Man. I just could not get beyond the nasty things that Dal kept throwing at Meadow. She was kind of annoying as she was always trying to defend herself and should have just taken the high road and ignored him. I guess what really gave me bad feelings for Dal was that he even ridiculed her in front of others and would repeat embarrassing stories from her youth to others.

The Mistletoe Cowboy was more to my liking, and had a great mix of romance and drama going. How can you not love a cowboy and a horse in a good romance! Loved the chemistry between Katy and Parker and there was a great HEA. Now, I have to go back and read the book with Cassie and J.L.

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I have been a fan of Diana Palmer's for quite a while, and this two book set did not disappoint. Both books were well-written, in the signature style that Ms. Palmer is known for, and while the content may seem somewhat misogynistic to some readers, those of us that grew up in that type of atmosphere will find it familiar, if not what is completely acceptable by today's standards. I enjoyed both stories, and will continue to pick up any new offerings by this author whenever possible.

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COLORADO COUNTRY brings you two amazing reads that will allow you to escape, feel good and enjoy!

Reviewed by Annetta Sweetko for Fresh Fiction

https://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=80178

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Another great story out in the country. The Dal is older and has stayed away from Meadow as much as possible. Fate has a different idea and keeps having them meet up lately and Dal can’t help but be his usual mean self around her. If she hates him then they can’t develop feelings for each other. It was a good plan but the feelings are there anyway and everyone can see it but them. When someone hurts her dog they are no longer able to deny how they feel. I was given a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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If you’ve read Diana Palmer books before, you that: Sometimes, she likes the men in her stories to be arrogant and so cruel that you hate them, the women to be a doormat, pretending to be strong women who sometimes just do and say incredibly dumb things, and the setting is like an old western meets a 50’s drama. No one in the current times uses words like “bounder” or “peace officer”. Or phrases like “he has a case on you.” When talking about having a crush on someone else.
If you know this, you know that Diana Palmer packs plenty of emotion in her stories. You just wait for the moment the man realizes his error and sweep the woman off her feet.
This is the premise of The Snow Man, the first book in this collection of two novellas. It was ok. Dal was, of course, very unlikeable from the beginning and Meadow is made out to be clumsy, mouse of a woman who lets Dal make a fool of her. But I always like the moment the guy realizes he’s been a jerk and has to eat crow. I’d give this one 3 stars.
The second book, Mistletoe Cowboy, I had read in a previous collection of cowboy romances and I really liked that one. It was the better of the two novellas.
Overall, I’d give them both 4 stars.

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*3.5 stars*

Cowboys and Christmas…

I started to read this author’s stories years ago when rummaging through mom’s harlequins hiding in the closet. After a time, and many books read, the stories felt quite pattern-like with a grumpy older man (who didn’t believe in love) eventually falling for the plucky but down (and sometimes out) young woman. Don’t get me wrong, I gobbled them up then. And now, I’m always up for a nostalgic trip where good always wins…

Cowboys, cute kids and even cuter animals – it’s hard to resist a small-town romance especially around the holidays. These classic, re-published stories remind me of a simpler time where circumstances were less grey, the ‘bad’ guys were easy to spot and love still prevailed… Who doesn’t cheer when the heart of gold heroine is chosen by the prince? I enjoyed the stories even as I wished for more from them…

*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher

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2 previously released stories that were very much on the sweet side. The first was the Snow Man. Meadow inherits her father's ranch after he passes. She had a short but unsuccessful stint in the FBI and knows nothing about ranching. She does not get along with her neighbor Dal, older and much more experienced, he is a little mocking and mean to Meadow as she had a huge crush on him when she was a teenager. Usually, Palmer's stories have a bit more heat and intimate moments but this barely had even a heated kiss so it seemed to lack the passion in her past stories.
In Mistletoe Cowboy, Katy is newly widowed and is starting over with her young daughter at her grandmother's Colorado ranch. When her daughter finds a runaway Palomino, horse wrangler Parker comes to her door. They get involved but Katy's cold affectation turns him away and alienates her daughter. This one was slightly better but it missed the mark on the connection and heat between the two main characters.

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Diana Palmer is one of my favorite romance writers, she always writes thing that never disappoint me, and this wasn't the exception. It has two novellas in it and honestly i liked them both.

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Colorado Country is a duet featuring two novella length stories – The Snowman and Mistletoe Cowboy and I suppose it was a touch of nostalgia that made me decide to read this book. I cut my eye teeth on Diana Palmer romances when I was a teenager and have many happy memories of them and probably still own several paperbacks but when I started reading that old proverb about never revisiting the past came to mind. These stories just seemed so familiar to me that it almost felt like a case of just changing the names and details but the overall plot was the same or perhaps its just more my tastes in reading matter have developed more. I’d give this book three stars but that’s mainly for the memories it brought back.

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This is a book with two Romance short stories. The first short story in this book is The Snow Man which I did not love at first, but once I really got into the story I really loved it. The next short story in this book is Mistletoe Cowboy, and I had already read this story because it was in Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy. I remember this story from the very beginning, and I really loved this story and the characters in it so much. The little girl was so cute and sweet. I really loved the fact we got to see the story from both the busy Mom's view and the little girl's view. I think there is so much more than just a romance going on in this story. The only thing I wish that is changed about this book is the fact there was no snow on the cover because the first book took place when it was so cold, and the other book had a little Christmas in it. I just wanted more of a winter feel to the cover of the book to really fit the stories in the book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Kensington Books) or author (Diana Palmer) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

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Colorado Country by Diana Palmer consists of two books, one new to me, one not. The Snow Man was the first book and was an unanticipated loved story between Meadow Dawson and Dal Blake, a man on whom she’d had a crush for years. She had made a thinly veiled attempt to interest him when she’d been seventeen and that alerted he father so he actively started to discourage anything between them. He and her mother were divorced and so she came to the ranch only sporadically so it was not a huge problem. Dal was ten years older so that also kept anything from happening. He had embarrassed her so she kept her feelings to herself and now she hated him. He was always so condescending and she was tired of it. Her mother had died, then her father. Now she owned the ranch and was ill-prepared to run it. She had been in law enforcement for several years, two years with the FBI, and that hadn’t really worked either. Until Sheriff Jeff Ralston appeared at her door and offered her a job as an investigator for his office. He didn’t laugh at her, even when she got into fixes. He asked her to dinner and she enjoyed herself but there had been no spark. Everywhere they went, Dal and his girlfriend showed up. The whole situation was ghastly.

The second story was Mistletoe Cowboy and was a romance between a half-Crow horse wrangler/ mathematical/physics genius and Katy Blake, who was a new arrival and a teacher at the local elementary school. She had a daughter named Teddie who had adopted an abused horse, but was having trouble with it. Parker jumped in to help. He really liked Teddie and grew to like Katy. Things progressed nicely until the previous owner of the horse insisted he be given back. Then sparks started to fly.

Palmer had a handle on cowboy romance. Both had good plots, The Snow Man especially could have been developed into a longer novel. Her characters are good, sympathetic people who know what they need, with just a little prodding. The plots, although thin, were compelling enough to convince a reader to keep reading. The men are strong, good-looking, and knowledgable. The women are not particularly needy but both had some self-esteem problems, especially Meadow. Both lived on ranches without the first clue how to take care of them. Despite how it sounds they were pretty different stories. I enjoyed them. Palmer writes a good romance.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Colorado Country by Kensington, though Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions were mine. #Netgalley #Kensington #DianaPalmer #ColoradoCountry

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There are two novellas in this book. The first is about Meadow Dawson who has inherited her father's ranch. From the moment she set eyes on Dal Blake, she was in love. At 17 she was to young for him. Now she is grown, been a police officer and an FBI agent. Still those two are like oil and vinegar. When Snow, her Siberian husky, was badly injured during the process of a crime, her dog came first. Snow was like family and she felt that if anything happened to her, she would just break. It isn't until Dal gets chewed out by Gil, that he faces his true feelings. Now to convince her to marry him and have a family together.
The second novella is about Katy and Teddie Blake. They moved to a ranch her husband inherited from his grandmother when she died. Only he was in the Army and died also. They've come here to start over with new memories. It seems an abused Palomino was left for them to care for. The county wanted to put the horse down. Only Teddie got attached to the horse. Parker is a horse whisperer and saw her chasing the horse. It was the start of a friendship. He was teaching Teddie to ride and care for a horse and she opened up to tell him all the things she would be telling her Dad. Katy was starting to have feelings for him also. It was all crashing down when the man who abused the horse was let go from jail and wants the horse back. When all the words were said, all the hurts lanced did Katy, Tddie and Parker become the family they were meant to be. The animal abuser was found and went to jail. Best end.

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Two Holiday Cowboy Romances!!

The Snow Man
FBI special agent Meadow Dawson has inherited her father's ranch. As her parents were divorced, she did not live there, and does not know much about ranching. Dariell Blake owns the ranch next door - and always has a scathing remark for her. Sheriff Jeff Ralston shows an interest - but is it for her or the land's water rights?

Mistletoe Cowboy
Parker is a horse wrangler and mathematical genius. New neighbor Katy is a widow with a whipper-snapper daughter. A rescue horse pulls them together, until trouble looms. Caring, family and romance.

***** I am voluntarily leaving my honest review of this book *****

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Enjoy two previously released stories by Diana Palmer, a master of small town romance.

The Snowman

Having just returned home to her father's ranch, Meadow Dawson is the newest investigator on Benton's sheriff's department. Her first task, is to solve a series of antique thefts that have plagued her small town. Her investigation is complicated by the fact that she has to contend with her long time nemesis (and an old crush) Dal Blake. Meadow does her best to keep her distance from Dal. Each time they're together he's insulting and defensive. What Meadow doesn't know is his attitude hides an attraction he doesn't want to feel. When her investigation brings danger to her door, Dal is forced to re-examine his opinion about - and his feelings for Meadow.

Mistletoe Cowboy:

It isn't every day horse wrangler Parker sees a little girl running after a fleeing horse. Jumping into action, he steps in to rescue the little girl and coral her horse. After her husband is killed in action in Afghanistan, Katy Blake and her daughter, Teddie, head to Katy's grandmother's ranch for a fresh start. Parker is taken with Teddie and offers to teach her how to train and care for the horse. While he's there, he takes it upon himself to help Katy with some much needed repairs on the old ranch house. Working together, brings Parker and Katy close. Parker is surprised to find he and Katy have a lot in common - and maybe even a future..

Enjoy these two heartwarming tales of strong women and stubborn men that will leave a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your hearth.

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3.5 stars overall for me

The Snowman was a difficult story for me. I didn’t warm to the hero at all and that made it hard for me to wish for their HEA. The highlights of this story for me were the hilarious pets & Gil.

Mistletoe Cowboy
I enjoyed this story much more. I’m a sucker for a single mum story and this one being a widow made it even better. I loved all the aspects of the hero’s personality and the way he changed/grew after spending time with Teddi. Super sweet HEA.

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