One Tough Cowboy was smoking hot with some government corruption on the side. The story starts with 3 deaths-the mayor's wife, the sheriff, and an elderly woman in the town. This last death brings Samantha back to Deerhaven, CA. Hunter, the new sheriff knows these deaths are suspicious and he knows the mayor is up to something dirty. When Sam comes back to town, sparks fly and they jump right into a very sexual relationship. But, Hunter wants Samantha to move back to Deerhaven permanently and be a deputy.
Samantha was a pretty good character. She is smart and independent. She grew up a tomboy and now she is a tomboy who looks smoking hot. Hunter was the older boy Samantha had a crush on, but now they are both grown up and feeling the attraction. The book was good, but there were things that just kept it from being great. First, they all talk about southern manners and yankees and such. But, they are in California. Are there parts of California where people have southern accents and mock 'yankees'? Second, I wish the mystery aspect of the story had more punch. There were entire chapters dedicated to hot sex between Samantha and Hunter and the rest of the story felt like a side plot. I think that if the story was going to be a sexy contemporary romance, that would have been fine and the mystery could have been a simple plot device. But, because it does play a larger roll it should have gotten more 'time'. Finally, the characters were okay, but they felt like stereotypes of characters-the shmarmy mayor, the domineering ex, the dumbass deputies, the uber mysterious ex special forces buddy....its just all felt hokey at times.
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: no
- Trope: small town, second chance (ish)
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone
- Cliffhanger: no
- HEA: yes
authors like Lexi Blake, Lisa Renee Jones, Shayla Black...then you will probably like One Tough Cowboy!
See full review on The Book Disciple