The Christmas Cowboy Hero by Donna Grant

The Christmas Cowboy Hero by Donna Grant
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

After leaving the Navy Seals Clayton East was not ready to return home to the East Ranch owned by his family so he’d taken a job elsewhere and tried to avoid heading home. The ranch had been hard for Clayton to visit since the death of his brother but when he gets a call that his father is ill and the ranch is in trouble he packs up to head home just in time for the Christmas holiday. When Clayton arrives he finds that there have been a lot of the cattle stolen and the family is in trouble financially and that may have led to his father being hospitalized.

While working to get the ranch back on track Clayton finds out that a teenager has been arrested for stealing some of the East Ranch cattle but he is unwilling to talk and tell who he is working for. Abby Harper gets the call about the arrest because the young boy in question is her little brother who she has been raising since their mother left. When Clayton sees how Abby has been struggling and doing the best she can to raise her two younger brothers Clayton gets the idea to offer the boy a chance to work off his debt at the ranch and hopefully get him to admit who was really behind the theft but also giving him more time to see Abby.

The Christmas Cowboy Hero by Donna Grant is the first book in the contemporary romance Heart of Texas series. While this one is considered romance it really was right at the edge of being romantic suspense with a nice little addition of the missing cattle being involved in the story. There’s some action and adventure added to the book that gave it more depth than just a story of two people meeting and falling in love.

The book also has the nice added element of focusing on family with Abby raising her two brothers and Clayton reconnecting with his own family. I”m often a fan when a single parent finds someone to fit into their life with their children and this one fit that mold as the boys became involved on the ranch. My only real complaint at the end would be it could have used a touch more Christmassy magic but overall I enjoyed this one especially since there wasn’t the added over the top angst included in a lot of romance and would rate it at 4.5 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.