Rebel Cowboy by Nicole Helm

Ok, I admit it, it was the Llama farming that hooked me…I mean where have you heard that before in this genre? It made me smile and then a frown crossed my face, I mean I love a great cowboy story, what is there not to love but Llama’s, do they need wrangling????

Dan Sharpe is on a time out from his career in the NHL, if he is honest it is already over all bar the final nail in the coffin. The whispered suggestions are beginning to build and Dan is all but ready to call it quits. Perhaps a trip to his grandparent’s ranch in Montana might be just what he needs to get his feet some normality back in his life.

What he hadn’t anticipated was meeting Mel but then again I don’t think she bargained on him either.

I liked Dan he was a really good guy, he was good looking, had a sexy streak and a determination that I admired but could he keep his business relationship with Mel strictly platonic. I think not!

Mel had a tough life, she was a tough character to get a handle on, she was feisty but in some respects a little too bitchy for my liking.

Mel needed the opportunity that Dan was offering in order to save her family ranch, Dan on the other hand needed her ranching expertise in order to get his own ranch off the ground, and I know he was talking about Llama’s but what the heck!

I didn’t like the fact that Mel was quick to judge, she was presumptuous and that isn’t a trait that I particularly like, but I was pleased when Dan had the last laugh and was able to prove her wrong so to speak.  Dan is the sort of guy that doesn’t do anything half ar*ed, he goes at everything all guns blazing and No is a very rare word in his vocabulary, he was born to succeed at whatever he does.

Mel on the other hand doesn’t see much of appoint getting invested in anything to do with Dan other than the fact that his money will achieve the result she needs for her ranch, she is completely convinced that he will get fed up of the ranch and go high tailing it back to the city, and it is that stubborn streak of hers that refuses to allow her to see that he might just stay is she was willing to give him something other than the llama’s to stay for.

The book was an easy read, in that it too just a few hours but the characters, especially Mel were far from easy to get on with. I found her reasoning difficult but then again I suppose that is what reading is all about, seeing it through to the end, to allow the authors vision to unfold and to eventually have that eureka moment when it all falls into place and you realise that you may just have be schooled on the art of waiting patiently.

A light-hearted read, packed with emotion and humour that has probably made it onto my will read again list.