Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas (Rocky Mountain Cowboys, #1)

by Katie Ruggle

[EBookObsessed]

Firefighter Steve is not so great at making choices since he started out at Simpson, CO in Search and Rescue before the murder and arson started, and he moved his kids to Monroe, CO at the beginning of Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit and that place went to hell and everything was blowing up, then he moves back to his hometown of Boone, CO and things aren’t any safer. Steve should have learned by now that all that snow makes people crazy and he should move his family somewhere warm.

We met Steve Springfield and his daughters in the first Katie Ruggle novel, On his Watch, when his girls get lost in the snowstorm in the mountains while on a school trip. Again, why would you take a school bus of kids out in a snow storm to visit a state park? Is is a Colorado thing?

Steve’s wife died eight years ago and left him to care for their four children. We question his decision to leave his hometown and the quaint, family-run tree farm which is featured in this book and move to towns were everything blows up, but other than that, Steve seems to be a very good Dad and has four very smart and polite children.

Camille is a socially awkward artist who is simply misunderstood. Orphaned and raised by her grandmother, Camille didn’t blend well with the others in school. She has a hard time making friends and as we start the story, she is seen by the town as a hermit and an oddball. Camille certainly remembers Steve-Freaking-Springfield. Camille has had a crush on him since she was only a high school freshman.

When I say Camille is socially awkward, I mean really awkward. We all have that moment when to talked to someone we just met…or babbled maybe the right word, and you really wish you had a do-over so you an erase that conversation. But Camille has that with every conversation. It is only around Steve and his children that she feels comfortable, and it is not that she entirely stops babbling, but that they seem to understand her and accepts her flaws and all.

That is good especially when Camille’s house burns down and she has no where to go. Steve immediately offers to take her home with him. Camille feels so comfortable with Steve’s family and for the first time she truly fits in. The problem she fears most is if they decide they don’t want her around anymore, her heart won’t just be broken, it will be shattered in five little pieces because she falls for the whole family.

I certainly empathized with the shy, awkward Camille, and enjoyed her getting her HEA. Like all the other Katie Ruggle stories, this one had a nice flow and a good balance between romance, excitement and intrigue. This is also the only book she has out that seems to be a stand alone. Even though Steve has brothers for a possible series, this one doesn’t have an underlying, unfinished mystery. So if you have had Katie Ruggle on your list of authors to try, pick up Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas for a taste of what makes her stories so enjoyable.

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