Merry Christmas Cowboy: A Novel (Four Corners Ranch)

What an incredible story of courage by 2 people who had a lot of trust issues between them. Both Wolf and Violet had their mothers leave them as children. Both needed to find love to heal their broken spirits. Their chemistry was off the charts right from the beginning, and they were meant to be together forever. Thoroughly enjoyed the bonus novel as well.

Merry Christmas Cowboy is the second novel in Maisey Yates' Four Corners Ranch series, and while I was expecting a sweet, sexy Christmas story, this novel might just be Ms. Yates' most angst-filled novel yet, and for the first time since I started reading her, it contained a hero I wanted to smack upside the head, or at least have her heroine do so, which is the reason for this 4-star, rather than 5-star review. The novel opens with Wolf Garrett, who is jealous of the happiness his brother Sawyer found in the first book in this series, and yes, you should read this series in order. Rather than do his usual routine of picking up a woman at a local bar for a one-night stand, he decides on a change of scene, and heads off to visit his cousin in Copper Ridge, Oregon (another excellent series), which is where he encounters Violet Donnelly, working as both the local innkeeper, and part-time at the family bakery. For both characters it's lust at first sight, but not only is Wolf 10 years older than Violet, Violet, age 22, is still a virgin, because she has an inner need to be the good girl who does everything right, and because she's never met a man she particularly wanted--until now. Wolf is both a gorgeous hunk and a charmer, and Violet can't resist him. They begin to bond over a commonality--both have had their mothers walk out on them, Wolf at age 9, Violet at 13. Additionally, Wolf lost the girl he loved 16 years ago, and has refused to become involved and possibly hurt by what he views as part family curse and part being unlovable again. After his two weeks in Copper Ridge, and his steamy affair with Violet, he heads back home to Garrett’s Watch, despite the pleas and tears of Violet, who begged him to stay. In his mind, it's not as if he didn't warn her. Five weeks later, it turns out that Violet is pregnant, and Wolf discovers that bit of news via rumor. Violet wanted to tell him herself, but someone beat her to it, and just as she's ready to take a pregnancy test to confirm the pregnancy, Wolf is back, and orders her to take the test while he waits. It's positive, and Wolf drops to one knee and proposes marriage, knowing how it felt to be raised by a single parent and abandoned by the other. While Violet doesn't immediately agree, she does accept Wolf's invitation to return to Garrett’s Watch with him, and once she's there, the charmer that Wolf was at the outset becomes someone Violet barely recognizes as the man she fell in love with--she's parked in his guest room, and basically ignored while Wolf goes about his usual days and duties on the ranch, and leaves Violet wondering what the heck happened to the guy she met in Copper Ridge--and left this reader wondering the same thing. When Violet makes the mistake of telling Wolf that she loves him, instead of telling Violet he loves her too, he tells her that he doesn't love he...

Both of these stories were exciting and interesting. The first was filled with romance and a little bit of fun. The second was fast and exciting.

Short but sweet; easy reading. Glad that Jessie and Damian figured things out. It was a lovely Christmas story and a HEA.

What's not to love about a Maisey Yates book. She pulls you in and never lets you go until you have read the last word.