Outlaw Cowboy by Nicole Helm (Big Sky Cowboys #2)
Released: May 3, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Sourcebooks
Reviewed by Mandi
Caleb Shaw is on a good and steady path these days. After his father was paralyzed in an accident, Caleb stopped drinking. He stopped all of his negative, hurtful behavior and his main focus at the moment is getting his family ranch out of the red. With his sister recently married and moving out and a new sister showing up out of the blue, his life has been a little rocky recently. A sister he didn’t know about named Summer showed up recently, and she has taken to cleaning, cooking and doing what she can on the ranch to contribute. His father also lives with him – and he is a cranky, negative man. Caleb himself is super cranky – and I do like a cranky hero.
One day, Summer tells Caleb that she swears she saw a light turn on in the old cabin out on ranch property. Grabbing his gun, Caleb goes out to investigate and when he opens the cabin door, he sees a woman’s boot with the inscription “fuck off” and knows exactly who he is dealing with.
Delia and Caleb grew up together, and Caleb became very protective of Delia after seeing her take food out of a dumpster. Delia’s father is horribly abusive and at one point, Caleb beat up her father so bad, he almost died. Delia was able to escape the abuse, but she left sisters behind, sisters who she has been helping to escape their father one by one. There is one sister left, and Delia really needs to find money to be able to go back and help her. She is living in the cabin on Caleb’s property because her ex-boyfriend was caught up in a drug ring (unknown to Delia) and now a warrant is out for Delia’s arrest. Even though she is 100% innocent, she can’t be bothered with a warrant, while she is trying to save her last sister. So instead, she flees to Caleb’s ranch to figure out what to do.
Caleb and Delia have a history – a rocky, darker history, so when he sees her in his cabin, let’s just say it’s not a welcome reunion. Their animosity and mistrust of each other is done well. They both know how to poke at the other to get a big reaction. There are surly attitudes and rotten looks between them. But even though Caleb does NOT want Delia on his property (as he is really trying to stay on the straight and narrow) he is still a gentleman and tries to make her comfortable.
These two have great chemistry to start this story. They act like they hate each other but you know deep down it’s the opposite. I like how they both chip away at the other’s shields to start to get some truth out of them. Caleb admits his ranch is facing an uncertain future, and Delia finally tells him about her sisters. Their animosity slowly turns into lust and it was a good progression. But – by the end of the book I had kind of lost interest in their romance. I don’t know if it was the ‘saving the sister’ story line, or the cranky dad stuff or just Caleb and his ranch, but it fell a little flat for me in the second half. I needed a little bit more romance.
Grade: C+
Review of Book one, Rebel Cowboy
Goodreads l Author Website l Series
Leave a Reply