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Hitting Rocks Cowboys #4
A Montana Cowboy
A Cowboy's Legacy Ten years ago, Trace Rafferty left Montana to serve his country. Now the wounded Navy flier is coming back to sell the only home he's ever known. But someone else is living on his hundred-year-old family ranch-a woman Trace hasn't seen since she was a teenager. How can he turn attractive, widowed-and pregnant-Cassie Bannock out of her home? Cassie knows her housekeeping days on the Rafferty spread are numbered. Yet she can't believe Trace would turn his back on his heritage. In or out of uniform, the former F-16 pilot is still the handsomest man she's ever seen. Without a true home, in addition to a real and looming threat to her and her unborn baby, can Cassie protect her legacy and help a homecoming cowboy claim his?
- GenresWesterns
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2015
22 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Winters
1,136 books206 followersaka Rebecca Brown Burton, Rebecca Burton
Rebecca Winters, born Rebecca Brown Burton, was the author of over 175 romance novels published with Harlequin, delighting readers worldwide for more than 35 years. Her stories, translated into many languages, have sold nearly thirty million copies. A French teacher turned novelist, she combined her love of language, family, and storytelling into a remarkable literary legacy.
Rebecca Winters, born Rebecca Brown Burton, was the author of over 175 romance novels published with Harlequin, delighting readers worldwide for more than 35 years. Her stories, translated into many languages, have sold nearly thirty million copies. A French teacher turned novelist, she combined her love of language, family, and storytelling into a remarkable literary legacy.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 11, 2020
His pulse raced. Trace had been hoping she'd let him feel the baby again. He hadn't dared touch her since the night he'd wanted to go on kissing her senseless. That seemed like a century ago. After she'd left his arms to go to bed, he'd forced himself to put his desire for her in cold storage. pg. 201
Perfectly mediocre book by Rebecca Winters. There's nothing objectionable in it, but neither is it interesting.
Trace is a former Air Force pilot who comes back to his Montana ranch. Living on his ranch is Cassie, a pregnant widow.
This book is a bit unique in that even though Trace comes back to Montana, he's left a beautiful, spoiled, socialite fiancée behind in Italy. They are engaged and still saying 'I love you' and kissing until about page 132.
Now. There's no PHYSICAL cheating here in the book, but people who care about this stuff should know. Trace is having romantic/sexual feelings for a woman who is not his fiancée. If this bothers you, avoid this book. Cheating - sexual, physical, romantic, emotional - doesn't always bother me in fiction and I have a higher tolerance to it than most romance readers IMO depending on the circumstances, situation, characters etc.
Winters deserves credit for not making Trace's Italian fiancée a bad person. She may be a pampered socialite, but she loves Trace and they apparently have a lot of good sexual chemistry. She's not evil. Likewise, Cassie's dead husband is not bad, either. Cassie loved him, he was a good man. Kudos to Winters for not falling into the 'every romantic partner but you was a piece of shit,' which is common in romance and lazy, IMO.
There's also a (relatively minor) plot about Cassie's psychotic, evil brother Ned.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
There is an off-page sex scene at the very end of the book. So I have no idea.
TL;DR Mild book in which a hero who is described as 'depressed' but doesn't act depressed at all and has no symptoms for depression returns home to Montana and falls in love with a pregnant widow with a psycho brother. This sounds a lot more exciting than the book actually is.
ROMANCE CATEGORIES
Contemporary Romance
Cowboy/Western Romance
STEM Heroine - Her degree is in Wildlife Conservation; but in this book she is working as a housekeeper.
Non-Virgin Heroine
Cheating - Non-physical cheating
Widow Heroine
Pregnant Heroine
He's a Rancher, She's a Housekeeper
Takes Place in Montana, U.S.A.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
Perfectly mediocre book by Rebecca Winters. There's nothing objectionable in it, but neither is it interesting.
Trace is a former Air Force pilot who comes back to his Montana ranch. Living on his ranch is Cassie, a pregnant widow.
This book is a bit unique in that even though Trace comes back to Montana, he's left a beautiful, spoiled, socialite fiancée behind in Italy. They are engaged and still saying 'I love you' and kissing until about page 132.
Now. There's no PHYSICAL cheating here in the book, but people who care about this stuff should know. Trace is having romantic/sexual feelings for a woman who is not his fiancée. If this bothers you, avoid this book. Cheating - sexual, physical, romantic, emotional - doesn't always bother me in fiction and I have a higher tolerance to it than most romance readers IMO depending on the circumstances, situation, characters etc.
Winters deserves credit for not making Trace's Italian fiancée a bad person. She may be a pampered socialite, but she loves Trace and they apparently have a lot of good sexual chemistry. She's not evil. Likewise, Cassie's dead husband is not bad, either. Cassie loved him, he was a good man. Kudos to Winters for not falling into the 'every romantic partner but you was a piece of shit,' which is common in romance and lazy, IMO.
There's also a (relatively minor) plot about Cassie's psychotic, evil brother Ned.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
There is an off-page sex scene at the very end of the book. So I have no idea.
TL;DR Mild book in which a hero who is described as 'depressed' but doesn't act depressed at all and has no symptoms for depression returns home to Montana and falls in love with a pregnant widow with a psycho brother. This sounds a lot more exciting than the book actually is.
ROMANCE CATEGORIES
Contemporary Romance
Cowboy/Western Romance
STEM Heroine - Her degree is in Wildlife Conservation; but in this book she is working as a housekeeper.
Non-Virgin Heroine
Cheating - Non-physical cheating
Widow Heroine
Pregnant Heroine
He's a Rancher, She's a Housekeeper
Takes Place in Montana, U.S.A.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
April 8, 2015
Good story. Trace is coming home for a while as he recuperates from a career ending injury. His father has been keeping the family ranch for Trace, but Trace isn't interested in running it. He wants to sell the land, giving his father the money to purchase a home in town, while Trace moves on to a different career. He doesn't expect to find someone living in the house when he gets there.
I liked Trace and Cassie. Both of them have some trouble going on in their lives. Trace is facing the end of his career as a pilot, and his Italian girlfriend isn't too keen on the idea of moving to America. He wants to sell the family ranch, which doesn't make his father too happy. And selling the ranch would make Cassie jobless and homeless at the same time, which makes him feel guilty about his plans. Cassie and her husband were hired to take care of the ranch by Trace's father after her father kicked her out for marrying Logan. A few months earlier, her husband had been found dead of a bullet wound, but no one knows how it happened. Cassie also has a brother who hates her and her late husband and is known to be violent. She discovered she was pregnant after her husband's death.
I enjoyed the developing romance between Trace and Cassie, though it didn't start out that way. Trace was still attached to his girlfriend and trying to get her to come to America, and Cassie was still mourning her husband. From the time they met there were sparks between them, but they tried to ignore them. They did become friends as Cassie continued her work by taking care of the house and Trace. I liked the way they were able to talk to each other from the beginning about what was going on in their lives. I really liked the way that Cassie had of listening to Trace talk about his plans without judging him, but also encourages him to think about not giving up the ranch. As he spends more time with Cassie, Trace begins to admit to himself that things are not going to work out with his girlfriend. Trace gets very protective of Cassie as he learns more about her brother, and finds a way to keep her at the ranch where he can watch out for her. Living together as they are, they continue to get closer and their attraction increases. Their friendship grows into love, though it takes a while for either to admit it to themselves. Things got pretty scary at the end with her brother, but once again Trace was there when she needed him. The ending was really sweet, especially with Trace and the baby.
I liked Trace and Cassie. Both of them have some trouble going on in their lives. Trace is facing the end of his career as a pilot, and his Italian girlfriend isn't too keen on the idea of moving to America. He wants to sell the family ranch, which doesn't make his father too happy. And selling the ranch would make Cassie jobless and homeless at the same time, which makes him feel guilty about his plans. Cassie and her husband were hired to take care of the ranch by Trace's father after her father kicked her out for marrying Logan. A few months earlier, her husband had been found dead of a bullet wound, but no one knows how it happened. Cassie also has a brother who hates her and her late husband and is known to be violent. She discovered she was pregnant after her husband's death.
I enjoyed the developing romance between Trace and Cassie, though it didn't start out that way. Trace was still attached to his girlfriend and trying to get her to come to America, and Cassie was still mourning her husband. From the time they met there were sparks between them, but they tried to ignore them. They did become friends as Cassie continued her work by taking care of the house and Trace. I liked the way they were able to talk to each other from the beginning about what was going on in their lives. I really liked the way that Cassie had of listening to Trace talk about his plans without judging him, but also encourages him to think about not giving up the ranch. As he spends more time with Cassie, Trace begins to admit to himself that things are not going to work out with his girlfriend. Trace gets very protective of Cassie as he learns more about her brother, and finds a way to keep her at the ranch where he can watch out for her. Living together as they are, they continue to get closer and their attraction increases. Their friendship grows into love, though it takes a while for either to admit it to themselves. Things got pretty scary at the end with her brother, but once again Trace was there when she needed him. The ending was really sweet, especially with Trace and the baby.
March 13, 2017
Not feeling the romance in this one. HUGE amount of info given on other people to the point it was hard to keep them and their histories straight. And the mentions of strawberries & strawberry jam were too numerous to count.
Trace has a girlfriend in Italy that he wants to marry. He talks with her, thinks about making love to her, etc. up until kisses her and realizes he wishes he was kissing Cassie instead and then breaks up with her on page 132! He has only spent a handful of days with Cassie at that point....mostly discussing her dead husband, her crazy brother , her pregnancy and living situation. They have not dated or kissed but have realized there is an attraction.
By page 167, he admits he wishes the baby was his, they hug and she kisses his cheek but they do not talk about starting a relationship. By page 182 they finally kiss and you think Yeah! Finally they will begin a relationship. WRONG. They blame the kiss on nerves. WTH? Story jumps ahead one month and she discovers she has pre-eclampsia. She wants to move in with her cousin, he convinces her to stay and he will wait on her hand and foot.
Jump ahead another two months. She has been on bed rest. They finally kiss again when she says she looks like a beached porpoise and he tells her she looks good enough to eat.
The final chapter seemed to move at warp speed and was not very climatic. Mostly tells us how things wrap up without showing much of it. Slightly unbelievable too. Mom has miraculous change of heart? Cassie does not tell Trace (or anyone who would have mentioned it to him) the baby's name for 10 DAYS? They still have not declared their love or talked about being together and then he
To some this would all be really sweet and romantic, but I personally prefer to be asked rather than told. I also would have rather skipped 2/3 of the info about Liz, Connor, Avery, Zane, Jarod, Sadie, Ryan, Ned, Owen, Mac, Millie, Ralph, Grandpa Tyson etc. and spent more time between the main characters doing something other than eating and making jam. I would have loved a scene of Trace actually holding the baby and an epilogue.
Overall, I have loved this author's work and I think if you want a sweet, low-key, clean story (and you are not offended by everyone telling Cassie what they think she should do) this book will be great for you. I think my tastes and expectations have evolved and this doesn't work well for me now.
Trace has a girlfriend in Italy that he wants to marry. He talks with her, thinks about making love to her, etc. up until kisses her and realizes he wishes he was kissing Cassie instead and then breaks up with her on page 132! He has only spent a handful of days with Cassie at that point....mostly discussing her dead husband, her crazy brother , her pregnancy and living situation. They have not dated or kissed but have realized there is an attraction.
By page 167, he admits he wishes the baby was his, they hug and she kisses his cheek but they do not talk about starting a relationship. By page 182 they finally kiss and you think Yeah! Finally they will begin a relationship. WRONG. They blame the kiss on nerves. WTH? Story jumps ahead one month and she discovers she has pre-eclampsia. She wants to move in with her cousin, he convinces her to stay and he will wait on her hand and foot.
Jump ahead another two months. She has been on bed rest. They finally kiss again when she says she looks like a beached porpoise and he tells her she looks good enough to eat.
The final chapter seemed to move at warp speed and was not very climatic. Mostly tells us how things wrap up without showing much of it. Slightly unbelievable too. Mom has miraculous change of heart? Cassie does not tell Trace (or anyone who would have mentioned it to him) the baby's name for 10 DAYS? They still have not declared their love or talked about being together and then he
To some this would all be really sweet and romantic, but I personally prefer to be asked rather than told. I also would have rather skipped 2/3 of the info about Liz, Connor, Avery, Zane, Jarod, Sadie, Ryan, Ned, Owen, Mac, Millie, Ralph, Grandpa Tyson etc. and spent more time between the main characters doing something other than eating and making jam. I would have loved a scene of Trace actually holding the baby and an epilogue.
Overall, I have loved this author's work and I think if you want a sweet, low-key, clean story (and you are not offended by everyone telling Cassie what they think she should do) this book will be great for you. I think my tastes and expectations have evolved and this doesn't work well for me now.
Read
June 30, 2016"A sweet, fulfilling romance sets the stage as previously seen heroes and heroines join with our couple to bring resolution to the long-running, suspenseful arc" (RT Book Reviews, 4 stars).
Miniseries: Hitting Rocks Cowboys
Miniseries: Hitting Rocks Cowboys
January 11, 2015
Trace and Cassie <3
May 28, 2015
Trace is returning home after 10 years. He finds Cassie living in his home. Trace decides that marrying the girl in Italy would be a mistake and keeps his ranch and Cassie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2020
Enjoyed the story but disappointed in the inconsistencies.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews