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A review by now_booking
A Cowboy for Keeps by Jody Hedlund
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I would like to read more Christian romance this year and when I was younger, I used to really enjoy old Christian historical fiction featuring the American West so I decided to give this first book in this author’s new Colorado Cowboys series a try. In summary, I did like it, but I didn’t think it did anything especially unique or different or memorable, it was just okay and pleasant enough as a story.
The premise is that mail-order bride, Greta, is headed to Colorado with her young, sickly sister to start a new life with her new husband and hopefully find healing for her sisters lungs in the higher-altitude air. On getting to Colorado, she discovers that her husband-to-be is missing and presumed dead, and completely destitute, she enters into marriage with a down-on-his-luck rancher, Wyatt. Together they must all learn to live and rely on each other as a family and overcome their deep-seated demons through love and the Grace of God.
I liked the premise of this but found the execution a little bland. I know novels of this style and genre (Old American West Christian Romance) frequently lack diversity or a deeper, more nuanced look into the historical context at the time, so my expectations weren’t high in that score. There was a lot of mention of indigenous people (“Indians”) as antagonists and enemies, which whilst that might have been the prevailing feeling when this book was written, felt a little un-nuanced; this is why I appreciated that Wyatt had the grace to acknowledge that white mining settlers taking over indigenous land was a trigger for the enmity between settlers and indigenous people. I thought more would be done with the relationship between Astrid/Greta and the Utes in the novel but it wasn’t explored. I would like to see Christian romance explore the existence and perspectives of non-white characters more and with more empathy and nuance and to acknowledge the existence of non-white people as is was This overall felt a little piecey to me- I cared about the story and the characters but it didn’t feel cohesive and I kept falling out of reading it.
One thing I really enjoyed were the themes of insecurity and self-doubt that were explored in this novel in differing ways for each character- for Greta, her insecurity comes from believing she’s a burden and that her worries are unimportant to others in the grand scheme of things, and for Wyatt, his insecurity comes from feeling like a failure, an anti-Midas because he’s tried and failed at so many things so many times in life. I loved how faith was used to approach and salve these insecurities and how it was acknowledged that these characters weren’t instantly fixed by knowing God’s perspective but were rather on a journey of changing long-held mindsets, because that was realistic and relatable.
Even though this was definitely closed-door in terms of spice level, I did find this a lot spicier than your typical Christian romance or at least than the ones I used to read. It is chaste in the sense of no “adult” scenes but there is a lot of making out, if that is something you’re currently avoiding in your reads or don’t find appropriate for your Christian romance. It is nothing inappropriate and I think this book is probably Christian teen-appropriate, but went all on different walks with accountability and with our convictions so I’m putting this note in about heat-level.
Overall, I thought this was okay. The last chapter with Wyatt’s family back in Pennsylvania ended on enough of a cliff-hanger that I might check out more books in this series when they come out.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise is that mail-order bride, Greta, is headed to Colorado with her young, sickly sister to start a new life with her new husband and hopefully find healing for her sisters lungs in the higher-altitude air. On getting to Colorado, she discovers that her husband-to-be is missing and presumed dead, and completely destitute, she enters into marriage with a down-on-his-luck rancher, Wyatt. Together they must all learn to live and rely on each other as a family and overcome their deep-seated demons through love and the Grace of God.
I liked the premise of this but found the execution a little bland. I know novels of this style and genre (Old American West Christian Romance) frequently lack diversity or a deeper, more nuanced look into the historical context at the time, so my expectations weren’t high in that score. There was a lot of mention of indigenous people (“Indians”) as antagonists and enemies, which whilst that might have been the prevailing feeling when this book was written, felt a little un-nuanced; this is why I appreciated that Wyatt had the grace to acknowledge that white mining settlers taking over indigenous land was a trigger for the enmity between settlers and indigenous people. I thought more would be done with the relationship between Astrid/Greta and the Utes in the novel but it wasn’t explored. I would like to see Christian romance explore the existence and perspectives of non-white characters more and with more empathy and nuance and to acknowledge the existence of non-white people as is was This overall felt a little piecey to me- I cared about the story and the characters but it didn’t feel cohesive and I kept falling out of reading it.
One thing I really enjoyed were the themes of insecurity and self-doubt that were explored in this novel in differing ways for each character- for Greta, her insecurity comes from believing she’s a burden and that her worries are unimportant to others in the grand scheme of things, and for Wyatt, his insecurity comes from feeling like a failure, an anti-Midas because he’s tried and failed at so many things so many times in life. I loved how faith was used to approach and salve these insecurities and how it was acknowledged that these characters weren’t instantly fixed by knowing God’s perspective but were rather on a journey of changing long-held mindsets, because that was realistic and relatable.
Even though this was definitely closed-door in terms of spice level, I did find this a lot spicier than your typical Christian romance or at least than the ones I used to read. It is chaste in the sense of no “adult” scenes but there is a lot of making out, if that is something you’re currently avoiding in your reads or don’t find appropriate for your Christian romance. It is nothing inappropriate and I think this book is probably Christian teen-appropriate, but went all on different walks with accountability and with our convictions so I’m putting this note in about heat-level.
Overall, I thought this was okay. The last chapter with Wyatt’s family back in Pennsylvania ended on enough of a cliff-hanger that I might check out more books in this series when they come out.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness