Review: Tall, Dark and Cowboy by Joanne Kennedy

Tall, Dark and Cowboy
Joanne Kennedy
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publish Date: November 1, 2011
Mass Market Paperback {p.377}
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary, Western
Lacey Bradford, Chase Caldwell
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Stunned by the discovery that her lux lifestyle was funded by crime, runaway trophy wife Lacey Bradford is desperate to escape from her ex's criminal cronies and start a new life, so she heads west to find an old love.

But rugged rancher Chase Caldwell has changed, hardened by bitterness and loss. The last thing he's looking for is romance with the first woman who broke his heart...

This book is not quite what I was expecting. Lacey needs the help of an old friend from high school, whom she knew had major feelings for and she didn't return them. That right there made me think I wasn't going to be a fan of Lacey's because I thought she was just going to be out to use Chase. It was nice to see I was wrong.

Lacey and I had our ups and downs. At times I liked her, and at others I didn't. with Chase, I enjoyed him throughout. Chase was a great character. Strong, loyal and protective of those he loves. One of my favorite characters though was Annie. Chase's niece Annie, was a major bright spot in this novel.

Chase and Lacey seemed to genuinely care for each other in the end. At first I felt maybe Chase cared more for her than she did for him. The romance between these two was okay but not all that memorable.

Book Beginnings & Friday 56: Tall, Dark and Cowboy

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

Book Beginnings:

The higher you fly, the harder you fall - and the harder reality smacks you in the butt when you land.

Friday 56:

All Chase could see of the occupant was a bald head cresting the back of the chair, with two or three strands of gray hair spanning an expanse of pale, mottled skin.

Tall, Dark and Cowboy by Joanne Kennedy

Review: Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy

Cowboy Fever
Joanne Kennedy
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: April 1, 2011
Mass Market Paperback {p.393}
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary, Western
Characters: Jodi Brand, Teague Treadwell
Challenge: 100+
My Rating:

Miss Rodeo Wyoming Jodie Bryce is back from the big city to find that her childhood friend Teague Treadwell's rugged cowboy charm never looked better. But Teague thinks Jodie's success lifted her out of his reach, and now he's got to shed his bad boy image to be worthy of the girl next door.

Jodi has returned home to Wyoming and to bad boy Teague Treadwell.

Cowboy Fever doesn’t waste any time getting to the action. And I myself tend to like that. Jodi’s first day back in town after being gone for five years, she’s back in bed with Teague. After that, these two were dancing around each other a good portion of the book. It was obvious that they truly cared about each other, but outside factors kept them apart.

For Jodi, one of those factors was a promise she made to her mother that she would stay away from Teague. With Teague’s background of growing up with an abusive, drunk father, Jodi’s mother assumed Teague too would become abusive. For Teague, he never thought he was good enough for Jodi.

I liked Jodi’s character. You could see her struggle to do right by her mother or follow her heart to Teague. When she wasn’t dealing with that, she was a strong, independent cowgirl.

Teague too was a likeable character. Although at times I felt he was a little clueless when it came to Courtney, his shadow who believed herself in love with Teague. Courtney turned out to be a nice surprise.

Cowboy Fever had a great plot, although it was a little predictable in places. The whole situation with the arson, I seen who they would try to pin that on coming a mile away. Now Courtney, that one I didn’t see coming.

Overall I enjoyed Cowboy Fever. It offered a nice romance between the town sweetheart and resident bad boy. But beyond that, it offered suspense and mystery that I wasn’t expecting when I started this book, but greatly enjoyed. The entire town of Purvis was filled with well-written, likeable characters.

Musical Monday {8}: Fever

So what's Musical Monday? It's a weekly meme hosted by Tipsy Reader. With this meme, you pick the book you are currently reading, or just finished, and match it with it's musical mate. Think, "if this book had a soundtrack, what would be the theme song?"

The Book:

Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy

The Song:

Fever by Beyonce

Oh, woo, oh
You give me fever
Fever, oh, oooh
Hoo, oh

You give me fever
Fever in the morning
Fever when it's late at night
You give me fever (fever)

Fever when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
You give me fever (fever)

Fever in the evening
Fever all through the night
You give me fever, yeah (fever)
Fever when you're with me
Fever when you love

He's so sweet
He's so good to me
He's so intelligent
He's so confident

My baby's so damn sexy (oh)
My baby put the fever on me (oh)
My baby knows just what to do (oh)
You got me boilin past a hundred and two (oh)
You give me a fever
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
Ooooh

Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear

You give me fever (fever)
When you kiss me and fever when you hold me tight (fever)
You give me fever
In the mornin and fever all through the night

My baby's so damn sexy (oh)
My baby put the fever on me (oh)
My baby knows just what to do (oh)
And got boilin me past a hundred and two (oh)
Give me a fever
Oooh

+ show lyrics

The Reason:

The title alone speaks for itself. These two couldn't seem to stay away from each other, no matter how hard they tried. Talk about fever. No alternate choice this week. Didn't need one.

Teaser Tuesday: Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read

• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (You do not want to ruin the book for others.)

Share the title & author so that others who enjoy your "teaser" may add the book to their TBL pile.

"Gave him a bath." Teague stifled a smile. "He fell in the toilet."
"Oh. Oh!" Courtney shoved Honeybucket back into his bag an waved her hands in the air. "Oh! You dirty thing!" She gave Teague a horrified glance, then ran off toward the ladies' room, still shrieking. "You dirty dog! You dirty, dirty dog!"

page 136; Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy