Reviewed for A Book Nerd, a Bookseller and a Bibliophile
Cowboys and Christmas, my two favorite "c" words. I couldn't wait to crack this book open!
I did not realize that this was a book in a series when I started reading. It was definitely hard to read in isolation. I struggled to understand the first couple of chapters because I had not read the other books in this series.
However, I still enjoyed reading this book. It was a nice read for this time of year because of the Christmas theme. Ellie and Caleb's story is heartwarming and exactly the romance I craved when I picked up this book.
Maisey Yates’ cowboys started my love for all things cowboys: her books never fail to be page-turners. I may not be over the moon about them all, but they are reliable and usually get me out of my reading slumps.
Ellie, a widow, was married to Caleb’s best friend who was tragically killed before the birth of his daughter. Caleb stepped in and has been Ellie’s psuedo husband, minus the romance part until Ellie enlists Caleb’s help with her “Christmas Wish List” to help her get her spark back. She thinks because Caleb is someone she trusts it could all work out with them having a bit of fun and then going back to normal…yeah, not so much.
Like all my Yates’ reads, I read this one very quickly. I downloaded the audio to keep the story going and I think that is where I messed up. The narrator set a tone that didn’t work for me.
Out of all the Dalton brothers this love story was the weakest, but I still love them. I wanted more from Caleb and Ellie’s story after so much build up in the previous books – when they were supporting characters – that I was left disappointed.
If you never read Yates’ before I recommend starting with Last Chance Rebel, you’re welcome.
We love a good hero who yearns and burns for a heroine, and Caleb did just that for Ellie; but because this is the best friend/sibling’s widow trope (which I’m starting to realize I am not a fan of), the story just didn’t grab me as much as it first did in the beginning. The angst and plot points kept on getting repeated and it was just the same thing over and over again. By the time I got 60% through with the story, I had to switch over to audio just so it could be over faster.
All in All though, it was an okay read sans the repetitiveness. I liked seeing a different angle of Ellie's feelings as she tries to sort through her differing feeling for her former love and this new flame with her late husband's best friend; and like I said we love a man who pines for the woman he has always loved.
This was an intense and emotional book. Caleb has been in love with Ellie since he first saw her, but she was already with his best friend, Clint, so he buried his feelings deep. When Clint died, Caleb stepped in to be the support he knew Clint would want him to be, and still kept his feelings to himself. As a result, he and Ellie became best friends themselves. So when he found out that Ellie had a very unusual Christmas list, he was ready to help fulfill it.
Ellie loved her husband and grieved for him for four years. But she's tired of being that pitiful widow that everyone feels sorry for, so she's ready to make some changes. Her Christmas list for herself is short, but powerful, starting with buying herself a new dress and getting kissed under the mistletoe, and moving on to making out by the fire and more.
I loved both Caleb and Ellie. Caleb is a good man with a kind heart, who doesn't see himself as worthy of good things. Caleb had a rough childhood with his father constantly comparing him to Clint, leaving him convinced that Clint was always the better person. I loved how he stepped up to be the support that Ellie needed, from holding her through her grief to being there when Amelia was born. There were also times when he frustrated me because of his inability to see his own worth. Ellie is sweet and a lot stronger than she thinks she is. She also has some deep-seated fear of intense emotion thanks to her mother's wild emotional swings in her own love life.
I loved the development of the relationship between Ellie and Caleb. It has an excellent start with the depth of their friendship and that they have an undeniable trust in each other. While their bond is strong, Ellie has no idea that Caleb has stronger feelings. When he shows up the first night she puts her plan into motion, she is shocked by the feelings he stirs up in her. She is further stunned by his reaction to her Christmas list. The chemistry between them is explosive and starts crumbling the walls both of them have around their hearts. I did get a bit frustrated with Ellie at times because she was so oblivious to Caleb's feelings for her. He would say something that made it evident that he felt more than friendship, and she would completely miss it, or misunderstand what he said.
Just when I had high hopes that they were both finally going to "get it," everything fell apart. Caleb was ready to propose but was so afraid of being compared to Clint/not measuring up to Clint that he left out an essential point. Ellie knew that there was something that didn't feel right, but she couldn't admit what it was. And when she finally faced the truth of her feelings, she allowed her fears to send her running, devastating Caleb and reinforcing his fears. Thank goodness for family members who helped each of them see the truth and find the courage to go after what they wanted. I loved their big moment at the end and seeing both of them finally let go of the past and embrace the potential of the future. I loved the epilogue and seeing that they both gave themselves time to get to know who they are now.
I loved the secondary characters. The most adorable one was Amelia, Ellie's little girl. She was such a sweetheart. I loved how big a part of Caleb's life she was, and the depth of her love for him. She just about broke my heart when she told him her Christmas wish. Caleb's parents were interesting people, and the storyline about Hank's past coming home to roost is intriguing. I must admit that the more I heard about how he treated Caleb as a kid, the harder it was to like him, but he did redeem himself somewhat at the end. Caleb's mom was more forgiving than I expected, though she had made some egregious mistakes too. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series and finding out more. I also hope that West gets his own story because he needs to find someone to give him the love he deserves.
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.
I am a huge Maisey Yates fan. I can always count on her for a good, sweet romance. She doesn't disappoint here either! This was the first of this particular series that I have read and I have no idea why now! I am in the process of going back and reading all of the others.
Caleb and Ellie are connected through the death of her husband who was Caleb's best friend. They have both been through a lot and it has taken him a while to come to terms with his feelings for her. One of the things I loved was how Caleb faced this head on. I'm not sure I could have when I finally was honest with myself. How do you tell the widow of your best friend that you have feelings for her and her daughter? Where do you fit into their lives?
There were moments for me when I had a little trouble with Ellie. She was stuck in her own emotional needs it seemed. However, having spent years watching my mother refuse to let my father go helped me understand her more. Ellie simply had a hard time moving beyond her emotional ties to her husband. When she decides she is ready it's like one step forward, two steps back.
Caleb and Ellie had amazing chemistry but I will say that this book was an emotional roller coaster. I wasn't sure if they were going to make at times. Like I said Ellie struggles I felt more than Caleb. Although he does struggle with his feelings some. He just is much braver about putting himself out there. All in all this was an amazing story.
“But you are… You’re going to run a Christmas tree farm?”“At least temporarily. Everything’s ready to go now, which means finishing out the year, or the next few years, is guaranteed money in the bank to begin other ventures. There’s contracts already made with outfits around the country, truckers on hand to drive the things to their destinations. And he owns that small lot down on the main street of town. So, I’m all set not only to sell this year’s crop around the country, but also sell it here.”“But you don’t… You don’t actually want to…be a Christmas tree farmer?”“My ultimate goal is cattle,” he said.She’d had no idea. None at all. Not that he wanted his own ranch, not that he’d been unhappy at the school. Was he unhappy at the school? Was he leaving?“What does this mean for your position at the school?”“I will be leaving. Which I will be talking to Gabe about later tonight.”“But…”“With West Caldwell coming into town, there’s no need for me to hang around. He’s going to be working on the ranch.”“Your half brother that you’ve never met. That’s putting a lot of stock in a man you don’t even know.”“Gabe figures we owe him. And, since Gabe is awash in guilt over the whole half sibling thing, I figure that works in my favor.”As much as Ellie loved Hank Dalton, the patriarch of the Dalton clan, it was becoming more and more clear that he was problematic. A couple of years ago it had been discovered that he had a daughter that none of them had known about. McKenna Tate. She’d come into town after discovering the identity of her family, and after some adjusting, the Dalton family had welcomed her into the full. But on the heels of that revelation had come another one.There were three more children. All adults now.Hank had never known about them. But Tammy had.It had changed the relationship, that reveal.But Hank was awash enough in the guilt from the actions in his past, that the two of them were trying to work through it to an extent. And Ellie really hoped that they did. For some selfish reasons, if she was honest. Because she loved them, and they were the closest thing to a family for her, and she didn’t want to lose them.“But… Don’t you want to wait and see if it’s going to work out?”“No,” Caleb said. “I don’t want to work at the school forever. This is what I want.”That made her…angry and she couldn’t figure out exactly why. He deserved to have dreams; of course he did. But she’d just…assumed he was happy with the way things were. She’d somehow meshed his dreams together with hers.Had decided that what she was doing with his family ranch, with the school, was what he wanted, too.But if she didn’t feel great about him fighting fires anymore, maybe he didn’t, either. And she’d never asked. She’d only thought about it in terms of her own comfort. That wasn’t right at all.Still, the idea of him having his own endeavors, his own life farther away from her and not right all around her while they worked…She needed him. She really had. She still did.She didn’t like this…this change. But she should be happy for him, and it made her feel… She felt bad. And she didn’t like feeling bad about something that was good for her friend.“I’d… Well, congratulations,” she said. Even though she didn’t feel like congratulating him at all. She felt like having a tantrum.She really didn’t know why.“Thank you,” he said, his mouth quirking up into a half smile that made it very clear he was well aware she wasn’t having the best reaction to his news.“I’ll miss seeing you.” The words more plaintive than she intended.“I’m not moving away,” he said.“Yeah, but I see you all the time,” she protested.“You will still see me all the time.”“But you won’t be dropping Amelia off when I want you to.”“Probably not.”Her stomach twisted, but that wasn’t what was upsetting her. She knew it wasn’t.And then it hit her, as strongly as that melancholy had when she’d realized it was nearly the Christmas season.This phase of life was over.The one where he was here to carry her. Where she had a crutch to get her through what life looked like without Clint. Being a single mother.It was changing.It had begun to change months ago, when the idea for the school had come about. She had gone back to work.But she’d been a fledgling, and he’d been there to help her.Maybe she needed to make some changes, too.Maybe, instead of dreading Christmas, she needed to get started on her wish list.
It was fine. I read this with the Book Lovers Club on Discord and we had fun reading it together, but if I hadn't been reading it with people, I would have DNF'd. The exposition was repetitive and just hit a few too many of my personal pet peeves in terms of syntax and style. The ending was cute and it's obvious that there are some cool characters in this world, but I just spent most of the book wanting to back-hand the main characters.
Guilt, unrequited love, grief, family drama - all of that boils down to angst, lots and lots of angst. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing except when you have angst just for the sake of angst, and after a while, this started to feel that way. Nevertheless, we do have a sexy cowboy to swoon over, and Caleb is such a sweetheart. He's a little bit too guilt-ridden in my opinion, which holds him back, but he's still lovable, and it's hard not to want to see him get his happy ever after. Ellie made me a bit crazy with her back and forth. I get her reasons for being so gunshy, but the repetition of her inner monologue caused a few eye-rolls for me. The conclusion was the saving grace in Cowboy Christmas Redemption, and I have to hand it to Maisey Yates - that scene between our couple, once they have their epiphany, warms you all the way to your toes. In the end, this one had things I liked and things I didn't, but the story was definitely worth the read, and that conclusion leaves you with all the warm fuzzies a Christmas romance should.
