Come Home, Cowboy (Wyle Away Ranch, #4)

by Elsa Nickle and J.L. Hixon

When Laurel dropped out of college to chase her dreams, she didn’t think she would have to chase men too.

Laurel Mills is a small town girl with big creative ambitions, but her mother refuses to allow her only child to be a starving artist. In order to secure Laurel's future, her mother is forcing her to date every eligible man in Bisbee. It’s embarrassing, inconvenient, and a huge waste of Laurel’s time. But after a particularly bad date, she’s determined to figure out a way around her mother's crazy rules...and stumbles into a very handsome solution to her problem.

The last promise Ethan Wyle made his mom before she died was that he would finish college, even though keeping his word meant leaving the ranch.

Now, six years later and on the brink of opening a new vet clinic, Ethan has to go back to Bisbee, Arizona for his brother's wedding. As an outsider in his own family, Ethan’s not sure how much taunting he can take. The only ray of sunshine is a girl and her insane plan to pretend they’re dating. Ethan figures being a fake boyfriend isn’t so bad if it gets his brothers off his back, until he develops some real feelings for Laurel.

Ethan and Laurel love their work, but falling in love was never part of the equation. After all they’ve sacrificed for their dreams, are they willing to risk it all for a chance at true love?

Come Home, Cowboy is the fourth novel in the Wyle Away Ranch series of feel-good, laugh-out-loud romantic comedies about five brothers who each find their happily ever afters. If you like stories about a prodigal returning to his hometown and fake relationships turned real, then this novel is for you! You can read it as a stand alone, but they're better together.

• ASIN: B0914YFYTZ
• Publish Date: 24 May 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 228
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

While it was well written enough, I both liked and had issues with this book.

I liked Ethan and Laurel when they were together. They were cute and the antics of their pretend dating were mildly fun. I liked the way he appreciated her artistic streak.

But when Ethan was facing the prospect of being with his brothers, I didn't like him as much. The thing with a series like this is I'm three books in. Three books that worked hard to make sure I liked Landon and Dillon and Jax and Preston. So as likable as Ethan is in certain moments, every time he gets put out about having to spend time with his family or feeling like it's going to be a miserable time, it 100% doesn't work because I like his brothers, even if he doesn't. I have three books convincing me they're fun to hang out with and welcoming and nice. So it's hard to see him as sympathetic in those moments. Also, all the other girls were given a chance to be welcomed into the family. And Laurel is liked by the family but she isn't given that same chance to be a part of them because Ethan keeps isolating himself and her.

And I get it, with Ethan's promise to his mom. But seriously years and years later and they still haven't talked about it? Families as close and caring as the Wyle's figure these things out by talking about them and him never coming home and never talking about it or explaining why he needed to stay in school or how it'd be good for them all is sort of ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous. Laurel was a lot like Ethan in that some moments she was likable and then sometimes she was pretty unsympathetic. Her mom's deal is wacko, but all of the logic around it and her practical perspective is spot on, making Laurel seem a bit immature. Then at the end she is such a petulant child. One guy tells her she needs to mature as an artist and she throws a fit and decides that she's awful and never going to get better? Like there aren't other people that have opinions? Or that anyone else's opinion matters if she loves it. It's subtle through the whole book but she really is immature in the way she reacts to things and the way she thinks everyone should throw practicality to the wind and believe unconditionally in her ability to support herself with her art. The world doesn't work that way.

I liked the way it all ended and there were moments getting to that ending which were nice and the moments that weren't great weren't terribly annoying so overall it's a decent book.