Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
hopeful
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book! I feel like the memory loss was fairly plausibly depicted, particularly the way it wasn't, like, a complete mind wipe but that she retained some kinds of memories but not others. Also, I feel like the other main conflict, which is that Zach and Evie hadn't been talking for 10 years (and the reasons for that) was, while not a good choice, a thing that by the end of the book you understood how they'd gotten themselves into that position.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A Cowboy to Remember follows Evie, a television chef, who through a series of events (aka the most dramatic chapter one) winds up in a coma and wakes up with no real memory of who she is or who anyone else is. Her best friend, assistant, and agent band together to help her figure out what's next but determine they need to call in reinforcements, which is how Zach Pleasant winds up back in Evie's life.
The way the story unfolds is utterly brilliant because we know there was an EVENT that caused Zach and Evie to not speak for a decade and that it has something to do with Zach sort of rejecting Evie at a bad time because he was too dumb to recognize his feelings for what they were and to fight for them. But we only really see this from Zach's perspective and he apologizes to Evie, but it's easy for her to move past their past with no memory of it. This is not to say that their relationship, creating one again, is easy. It's not. But the layers of emotion poured into this story after Evie's memory comes back just... It hurts. It feels real.
In truth, amnesia tropes are weird and I hate deception plots of any kind. What I loved about the way the trope was handled in this book is that there is no real deception. Evie knows (is told) who Zach is and she has dreamt of Zach before he even arrives in NY so she knows he's important to her and Zach admits that he's the one who messed up. So there's no deception, but there is the thing I love in all narrative arcs, which is a woman figuring out who she is and being loved through that process. Honestly, Rebekah Weatherspoon should give a masterclass in whatever magic she weaved into this story because I can't even articulate for you how good this book is. It's just... masterfully told.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the advanced copy!
The way the story unfolds is utterly brilliant because we know there was an EVENT that caused Zach and Evie to not speak for a decade and that it has something to do with Zach sort of rejecting Evie at a bad time because he was too dumb to recognize his feelings for what they were and to fight for them. But we only really see this from Zach's perspective and he apologizes to Evie, but it's easy for her to move past their past with no memory of it. This is not to say that their relationship, creating one again, is easy. It's not. But the layers of emotion poured into this story after
In truth, amnesia tropes are weird and I hate deception plots of any kind. What I loved about the way the trope was handled in this book is that there is no real deception. Evie knows (is told) who Zach is and she has dreamt of Zach before he even arrives in NY so she knows he's important to her and Zach admits that he's the one who messed up. So there's no deception, but there is the thing I love in all narrative arcs, which is a woman figuring out who she is and being loved through that process. Honestly, Rebekah Weatherspoon should give a masterclass in whatever magic she weaved into this story because I can't even articulate for you how good this book is. It's just... masterfully told.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the advanced copy!
I love a book with a good family dynamic, so that aspect of the book was great. I wasn’t that interested in Zach and Evie’s relationship though. Will I still read more about the Pleasant’s though? Especially since it looks like the next book will be about Jesse? Absolutely.
I love Rebekah Weatherspoon but A Cowboy To Remember didn't really do it for me. I'll try again with the next one in the series.
A great start to a new series. Amnesia plots can be super-tricky to pull off, I believe, but this one definitely fell in the "it works" column for me. Evie's character has so many friends (sometimes a little hard for me to keep track of at first, but that's a me problem and not a book problem) that we can easily see how her personality changes while her memories are gone, even though we only spend a very short period of time with her before her accident. It's easy to see why so many people care so deeply about her, to the point of whisking her to the other side of the country to rest and recuperate.
And who wouldn't want to spend time on the Pleasant family ranch, head injury or no head injury? Gorgeous vistas, horses, dogs, and even more gorgeous men. Also strong familial bonds, loving female friends, and a veeery slow burn of a sort-of-second-chance romance between Evie and Zach.
I'm looking forward to more from this series.
I was given an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.
And who wouldn't want to spend time on the Pleasant family ranch, head injury or no head injury? Gorgeous vistas, horses, dogs, and even more gorgeous men. Also strong familial bonds, loving female friends, and a veeery slow burn of a sort-of-second-chance romance between Evie and Zach.
I'm looking forward to more from this series.
I was given an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.
One of my most anticipated reads for 2020 and I loooved it! I really don't read many cowboy books but I was excited for this one because BLACK BOWBOYS??? YES! Rebekah gives me the main cast are all POC...sexy black cowboy...sleeping beauty retelling with a twist that I didn't know I needed!
This book is sweet and funny and I just love how Evie had to relearn herself and Zach, because of her memory loss. Rebekah really knows how to start off a book with a bang, and from the first chapter you are like: OMG! then you're just keep engaged throughout.
Rebekah always gives me some secondary characters that I just want to be friends with and honestly they do remind me of my friends and our chats. ALSO we get a bunch of casually queer secondary characters, some who are on page longer, some we just meet briefly but they are there!
I especially swooned at Zach's sweet gesture to Evie at the end there. (THE NUTMEG IN THE BOTTLE!) a gesture that makes sense for the character and linked to an earlier scene in the book. I love hiiiim and his brothers! I can't wait for their books!
also more fun, fashion savvy grandmas in books please. Miss Leoana was a great character with style and some good advice and just pure love for her family.
I could keep rambling on and on about the things i loved with this so let me just end by saying that the conversation between Evie and Zach, that was the black moment was so well written and emotional that I felt like I was there in Evie's shoes and wanting to cry along with her as they both expressed their true feelings but we got to the HEA !
I just want all the books set at this very charming ranch with the sexy cowboys!
This book is sweet and funny and I just love how Evie had to relearn herself and Zach, because of her memory loss. Rebekah really knows how to start off a book with a bang, and from the first chapter you are like: OMG! then you're just keep engaged throughout.
Rebekah always gives me some secondary characters that I just want to be friends with and honestly they do remind me of my friends and our chats. ALSO we get a bunch of casually queer secondary characters, some who are on page longer, some we just meet briefly but they are there!
I especially swooned at Zach's sweet gesture to Evie at the end there. (THE NUTMEG IN THE BOTTLE!) a gesture that makes sense for the character and linked to an earlier scene in the book. I love hiiiim and his brothers! I can't wait for their books!
also more fun, fashion savvy grandmas in books please. Miss Leoana was a great character with style and some good advice and just pure love for her family.
I could keep rambling on and on about the things i loved with this so let me just end by saying that the conversation between Evie and Zach, that was the black moment was so well written and emotional that I felt like I was there in Evie's shoes and wanting to cry along with her as they both expressed their true feelings but we got to the HEA !
I just want all the books set at this very charming ranch with the sexy cowboys!
I loved that.
Audio performer was A-game perfect here, and as always Rebekah Weatherspoon writes people who just live and breathe right off the page (or, in my case, earbud). Evie was a joy to walk with, and her constant state of hesitant "but when will I meet the people who aren't immediately warm and welcoming" was so spot-on as a post-trauma response I can't even put it to words. So much of the book was low-angst, gather-around-and-help-her-recover and I was 100% ready for that sort of emotion and this book delivered it.
Zach was delicious, but also a human being with some decent flaws that made their history work, and once again I love, love, love the whole sprawling family, found-family, and friends that surrounded the characters in this book. Community, and the strength thereof, felt like a character in and of itself. And Miss Leona? I would just like to bask in a whole book of her, please.
I really enjoyed this take on the amnesia trope, and I really liked the handling of the various shifts of Evie and her personality before-during-after amnesia. Can't wait to return to the ranch for the next book (hello, Sam!)
Audio performer was A-game perfect here, and as always Rebekah Weatherspoon writes people who just live and breathe right off the page (or, in my case, earbud). Evie was a joy to walk with, and her constant state of hesitant "but when will I meet the people who aren't immediately warm and welcoming" was so spot-on as a post-trauma response I can't even put it to words. So much of the book was low-angst, gather-around-and-help-her-recover and I was 100% ready for that sort of emotion and this book delivered it.
Zach was delicious, but also a human being with some decent flaws that made their history work, and once again I love, love, love the whole sprawling family, found-family, and friends that surrounded the characters in this book. Community, and the strength thereof, felt like a character in and of itself. And Miss Leona? I would just like to bask in a whole book of her, please.
I really enjoyed this take on the amnesia trope, and I really liked the handling of the various shifts of Evie and her personality before-during-after amnesia. Can't wait to return to the ranch for the next book (hello, Sam!)