The Last True Cowboy (Chestnut Creek #1)
by Laura Drake
Blurb:
This
cowboy's got one last chance to prove himself.
Carly
Beauchamp has loved cowboy Austin Davis since first grade. Ask anyone in their
dusty, backwater New Mexico town of Unforgiven, and they'll say "Carly and
Austin" the way some say "big trucks and country boys." But
after years of waiting for a wedding ring, Carly's done with being a rodeo
widow . . .
Austin
never meant to put his career on the circuit before Carly. She's always been
his future, his one and only. But now that she's moved on, he's beginning to
see where he went wrong, and he'll do anything to win her back. The only thing
is, Carly's suddenly acting differently, and she's definitely hiding a
secret-one that will test the depth of their love and open up a whole new world
of possibilities.
Themes: Contemporary, YA Romance
Rating: 2.5 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Well I have to say, I really didn’t enjoy this
story much, though the ending when it finally came was pretty decent. I am all for cowboys usually and stories
about growing pains, I was even willing to overlook the secret she was hiding,
which is one of my least favorite book tropes, but in the end I had to force
myself to finish this one. Carly has
finally decided that she is going move on from the love of her life, her high
school sweetheart, because he hasn’t truly committed to her, and breaks up with
her. Apparently this is nothing new
though, to the point that it is a running joke with the whole town, and even
though she has decided she means it this time, no one but her believes it. To this point, I was just upset that the
story was kind of childish and was hoping it would get better, but then Carly
just got stupid and I really began to dislike her. Austin on the other hand is just a scared kid
that hasn’t yet grown up, pushing his girl off again and again despite loving
her deeply and being fully committed to her physically if not emotionally. From there the story when downhill fast, with
tons of angst, idiotic decisions and the consequences that inevitably follow,
and finally both of them growing-the-fuck up, almost too late. Maybe the
problem is just that I am not a fan of YA romances for this very reason, but I
can say for sure I was ok with the ending once Carly and Austin owned up to
their shit and dealt with it. Carly might have been a good woman, in that she
gave of herself to her family and friends, but she was purely selfish in her
relationship. When she was forced to
deal with the consequences of her actions and the ways that she had to grow up
in order to be what she needed for those around her I began to respect her a
lot more and even like her a little bit.
Austin too had a lot of growing up to do and once her finally did and
accepted his own errors and responsibility in ruining his relationship, he
became the man he always needed to be for Carly. I learned to like the, both and see that they
could be a great couple in the end, but it took way too long to get there and
since I already dealt with my own personal growing pains long ago I didn’t
really feel up to reading about anyone else’s.
If you are into YA romances, then you will probably enjoy this novel a
lot more than I did as it was well written and the issues being dealt with are
important for young adults and dealt with well, but it just was not my
thing. I will probably not continue this
series, but it was worth the try.
*ebook provided by publisher (via
netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.
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