Could He Be Her Hero?

Hope, Montana, is no longer home to Andy Granger, who sold his piece of the family ranch to developers. He’s only back to run a cattle drive in his brother’s stead. But the community can’t forgive him for selling out.

And Dakota Mason, the beautiful cowgirl he hired, has every reason to hate him…

Ranching is in Dakota’s blood. And now the developers have cut off water her neighboring ranch desperately needs. She’s only on the ride for a paycheck—not to turn her back on her community. And definitely not to fall for some overly protective urban cowboy.

But Andy may surprise everyone…including himself.

Titles in the Hope, Montana series include — Safe in the Lawman’s Arms —♥— Her Stubborn Cowboy —♥— The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride —♥— The Cowboy’s Valentine Bride —♥— The Triplet’s Cowboy Daddy —♥— Her Cowboy Boss —♥— Montana Mistletoe Baby —♥—

This is a romance that includes no swearing, no violence, and no sexual content (beyond a few light kisses).

Title:  The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride
Series:  Hope, Montana #3
Author:  Patricia Johns
Genre:  Modern Western Romance
Published:  November 1, 2016
Publisher:  Harlequin
My Rating:  4.5 stars

There is never, ever a Christmas Romance that goes out of date (for me) – I don’t care if it was published yesterday or twenty years ago, a good story is timeless but especially if it’s a Christmas story!  So while the Hope, Montana series has been out for a while now – I’ve not previously read it (starting with the holiday stories and out of order but that’s fine) so it’s all brand new to me!

It’s easy to not like someone because of their actions – yet.  There is often more to their personal story than other people see, and that is how Andy presented himself to me.  Yes, he made choices, unpopular choices but we won’t get his whole story immediately.  We, like Dakota, will have to give the benefit of the doubt for a bit before the pieces begin to fall into place… not an easy task by any means.  Especially when his actions have had such devastating results for Dakota’s neighboring ranch.  Everyone knows that water rights can be the life or death of not only cattle but a ranch’s future as well.

Both Andy and Dakota are on this cattle drive because (in their opinion) they have no other choice, but those reasons are so far different from each other.  Watching the conflict grow between them, the misunderstandings, the taking something the wrong way opposite of what was intended was at times painful to see.  But as a result of those encounters, we begin to see the core of Dakota and Andy… and we’ll be surprised a bit by what is discovered.

The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride is a well-written romance between enemies who will begin to see their situation a bit differently while in the close quarters of the cattle drive.  Is falling in love going to be easy?  No, it’s not, there’s too much baggage for easy.  Eventually rewarding, yes, but it’s going to take time, attitude changes, and seeing beneath the surface to the truth of a person.  Andy and Dakota work as a couple, but they also have to work to be a couple, one that can make it for a lifetime.  Sometimes, I think people forget that falling in love is easy, but staying in love is a work in progress.  I enjoyed myself in this world and will be back for more.

I own a Kindle edition of this title.

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