Cowboy Up by Harper Sloan (Coming Home #3)
Released: December 19, 2017
Contemporary Romance
Simon and Schuster

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote:  “I knew it was time to cowboy up the second my good girl gave me her bad and together we made magic.”

The third and final book in this trilogy featuring the Davis siblings – and I licked up this book like it was made from sugar. Listen – it’s sappy. It’s over the top in the emotional department. There is insta love and an over protective hero and a sibling relationship that is – over the top. But it’s the book I needed this holiday season!! I adored the first two books in this series, and this one just made me feel squishy happy and I’m sad we are done with this family but I look forward to more from this author. I had never read her before I picked up book one, and she makes me happy with her grumpy, grunty heroes…

“Pleasure,” I rumble, my voice just as thick as my cock.

…and heroines who make me smile.

Clay Davis is that grumpy and grunty hero. He wears a Stetson low on his head. He runs his family’s ranch. Once a womanizer, he is done with sleeping around. He watches his brother and sister find the love of their lives and realizes that he may be missing out. One night while having a drink at the local bar, a woman sits next to him – and there is an instant flirtation.

This woman is our heroine, Caroline. Getting out of a super controlling relationship, and having that same ex still harassing her with phone calls, Caroline drives the short distance back to her hometown for a drink at a bar, which one of her best friends owns. Caroline has a small, very close-knit group of friends that are also her family. Estranged from her mother, Caroline owns a bookstore and lives above it. When she plops herself down on the bar stool, her best friend vouches for the cowboy sitting next to her, but she doesn’t know his name and she can’t really see his face with his Stetson so low. But she notices his long fingers, and muscled thighs. Caroline is a bit shy, but for some reason, this low talking cowboy gets her going

“Want to?”

Pulling my eyes from the strangely erotic sight of his hand, I look toward his shadowed face.

“Want to what?”

“Be bad, sugar.”

Heat hot as fire washes over me with his words. Holy cow. My jaw works, but words elude me. I don’t even know this man’s name, let alone anything about him, and if my rusty knowledge of flirting is right, he just propositioned me. Why I find that as hot as I do, I’ll never know, but before I even know what’s happening, my brain finally figures out how to get the words past my shocked jaw.

“I think I do.”

She ends up in a motel room with him. After sex in the dark, a shower in the dark (do people really shower together in the dark??) and this cowboy leaving  before the sun comes up, Caroline has no idea who rocked her world that night. But she is sated and content.

When a fire erupts in her store, and burns down her apartment above as well, she is devastated.  Moving in with her best friend from her hometown, she runs into Clay Davis – and he runs into her – and she realizes he is the one she slept with! They know each other from years earlier, and Caroline is close with his sister and sister in-law. Clay sees her again and knows he can’t let her go a second time. They basically fall in love immediately and I was there for it.

The rest of the book is a lot to do with Clay’s brother and sister, as they are both expecting babies and there are a lot of emotions. The siblings are VERY close. They have deep talks all the time – like when  Maverick is terrified about his wife giving birth and Clay is there for him….

“I won’t be able to move on if I lose her,” he continues, completely ignoring my attempt at lightening the mood and I realize just how much this has been weighing on him.

“Maverick,” I hiss through the thickness in my own damn throat and pull my brother into my arms. His own come around me with bruising force.

“Can’t talk to her about this shit, Clay. I don’t want her worryin’ about it when she should be focusin’ on all the happy shit, but it’s tearin’ me apart just thinkin’ about losing her.”

“Fuck, brother.”

Clay doesn’t think he ever wants kids, and Caroline is not sure she can be with a man who doesn’t want a family – don’t worry – it gets settled pretty fast. There isn’t a ton that happens in this book, as Clay and Caroline are basically in love by the half way point. But it held my interest. Since book one, I’ve been invested in this family so spending time with the siblings and their drama with having babies made me very happy. It would probably be best not to read this as a stand alone so you can experience all of the family dynamics leading into this book.

There is some ridiculous suspense at the end which I could have lived without. But we get a lovely epilogue and then another epilogue and it made my heart smile. Damn it.

I had so much fun reading this series. Totally escapism, which I need now and then.

Grade: B+

Goodreads l Kindle l Nook

Giveaway: The publisher is offering one set of this three-book series (Lost Rider, Kiss My Boots, and Cowboy Up) , to one random commenter. I’ll choose a winner on Thursday – just leave a comment. U.S shipping only.