SUMMARY

What happens when your occasional sex partner becomes pregnant and saddles you with the baby? Place an advertisement in the newspaper seeking a wife and mother for the child. What do you do when you discover your fiancée cheating on you with your best-friend and business partner? Respond to the advertisement and abandon one’s life in the city and move to Oregon.

🎧︎Unbridled Cowboy introduces unapologetic player Sawyer Bennett. Sawyer has no interest in a committed relationship and neither does he desire to be a father. However, when his casual hook-up got pregnant and wanted nothing to do with the baby, he chose to raise the child on his own. When the situation became overwhelming, he placed an advertisement in the newspaper seeking a willing female to be his wife and mother to his baby girl. 

Evelyn Moore is a successful businesswoman who was on the verge of marrying the love of her life, or so she thought. Then she discovered that the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with was cheating on her. Sawyer’s advertisement came at the opportune time as she sees it as her chance to start over. So she departs New York City and shows up in Oregon. Not only does she fall in love with her new life, she also fell for Sawyer and his baby girl.

🎧︎Unbridled Cowboy had many interesting elements. First, we have a man who, despite his reluctance to be in a committed relationship or being a father, willingly stepping up to take on his new responsibility. As the story progresses, Sawyer’s past is revealed and the circumstances from which his phobia for commitment arose came to light. Another interesting revelation within this story had to do with his reason for stepping up to his responsibility with no hesitation. The revelation will break your heart.

Evelyn didn’t have an easy life growing up, so her success in the business world meant a lot to her. It was her biggest accomplishment to date, along with her upcoming marriage to her fiancée. Then she lost it all in one fell swoop because of betrayal from persons whom she trusted. Her move to Oregon saw her gaining more that she lost. She gained a family and trusted friends. She discovered unconditional love and repaired the broken relationship with her mom.

I enjoyed interacting with the secondary characters, the most intriguing one being Sawyer’s brother, Wolf. I am so looking forward to his story. 

The pacing was off. I am not sure if it was me or if the pacing was naturally slow. It took me a while to get through the story. At the moment where it appeared to be picking up; it ended. It had me wondering where was the rest of the story. I didn’t buy into the romance. The physical attraction was present, but the emotional connection was non-existent. 

Samantha Cook narrated. I enjoyed listening to her female voices, but was not a fan of her male voices. Notwithstanding my dislike of her male voices, I found her narration befitting of the story. 

Overall, a solid read, which has me curios about the next book.

Story Evaluation
Plot	3.5
Characters	4
World Building	3
Writing Style	4.5
Pacing	3
Cover	4
Narrator (Audio)	4
Enjoyment	3
Ending	3
Overall:

Once Upon A Cowboy is one of three prequels to the Four Corners Ranch series.  Although it can be purchased separately it is also featured as a bonus novella in Unbridled Cowboy. It provided an interesting and entertaining twist of Beauty and the Beast.

Title: Once Upon a Cowboy
Author(s): Maisey Yates
Series: Four Corners Ranch #0.7
Published by HQN Books on April 1, 2022
Pages: 75
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Source: Netgalley, Scribd
Format: Audiobook, eBook

Purchase: Amazon
Reading Challenges: 2022 Audio Book Challenge, 2022 Netgalley and Edelweiss
Rating:
Series Rating:
Heat Level:

Will this single dad cowboy get the happily-ever-after he never thought possible?  
When Belle Langfords moves to Pyrite Falls, Oregon, to take a job as a live-in housekeeper and nanny, she’s ready for a new start. Shutting down her grandmother’s beloved bookstore had been devastating, but she’s hopeful that the three motherless young children she’ll be taking care of will ease that pain. The only challenge? When Belle arrives at her new employer’s house, the brooding cowboy has no idea who she is or what she’s doing there.
Adam Winchester knows exactly who to blame for Belle turning up on his doorstep out of the blue—his kindhearted former mother-in-law is playing fairy godmother. Adam is convinced he doesn’t need Belle in his life, but when he agrees to let her stay for a month, the transformation he sees in his children tells a different story. As does his entirely inappropriate, but impossible to ignore, physical attraction! For Adam knows that Belle couldn’t be more off-limits—all he can offer her is nights in his bed—but it’s clear that Belle deserves the whole fairy tale…

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

In Once Upon A Cowboy the reader meets Belle and Adam. Adam is a divorcee and a father of three rambunctious children. He loves his children, but struggles with raising them, not that he will admit to it. His mother-in-law, seeing his struggles, hired a nanny without his knowledge. So you can imagine his surprise when a strange young lady showed up at his front door claiming to be the nanny he hired. 

Belle Langford was content to continue the operation of her grandmother’s bookstore. However, mounting debts made it challenging to maintain. The job offer for a nanny couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. She closed the bookstore and set out for Oregon. Imagine her shock on her arrival to discover that the man she believed to be her employer did not hire her. However, not one to back from a challenge, she struck a deal where she had thirty days to prove she was more than capable of taking care of his children.

Once Upon A Cowboy was a short, but sweet and entertaining read. Belle proved to be just the person Adam needed in his life. Initially, she experienced challenges with the kids and their father, but she won them over in the end. Despite its brevity, the story spanned several months and delivered a sweet slow burn romance. I loved the characters, and I enjoyed how the romance developed. 

Overall, a fun and cute story and perfect for those times when one is looking for a quick read.

 

Story Evaluation
Plot	4
Characters	4
World Building	3
Writing Style	3
Pacing	4
Cover	4
Narrator (Audio)	4
Enjoyment	4
Ending	3.5
Overall:

About Maisey Yates

Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred romance novels. Whether she’s writing strong, hard working cowboys, dissolute princes or multigenerational family stories, she loves getting lost in fictional worlds. An avid knitter with a dangerous yarn addiction and an aversion to housework, Maisey lives with her husband and three kids in rural Oregon. Check out her website, maiseyyates.com or find her on Facebook.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2022 Audio Book Challenge
• 2022 Netgalley and Edelweiss