Publisher: Loveswept
Publish Date: Out Now!
How I got this book: NetGalley
ZACH–A Confident Cowboy Who Staked His Claim, Then Dared Her to Deny It…
He was the perfect symbol of the West, columnist Niki Devlin decided, but rugged trail boss Zach Weston made her forget to breathe! Still pained by the scandal that haunted her past. She’d reluctantly returned to Wyoming to write about his vacation cattle drive, but from the moment he pulled her from the mud into his arms, she wanted to scorch his iron control–to play with the fire in his gray eyes.
He Branded Her with His Gaze, and with His Lips
Zach wasn’t looking for a trail romance, but he couldn’t hold the feisty flirt and not kiss her until she moaned his name. He wanted all of her, every bit he could touch and taste, every secret and every sigh, but Niki knew she’d destroy his dreams of happy-ever-after once she confessed the truth. Zach told her she could keep on running forever, or she could finally stop–but was she ready to be lassoed by love?
*Blurb from Goodreads*
Niki’s editor wants her out on the Wyoming range, coming up with some great human interest pieces, but the last place Niki wants to be is Wyoming. She left for a very good reason, and isn’t exactly looking forward to going back. But she signs up to help on a cow-herding excursion anyway and runs into the sexiest cowboy she’d ever seen.
Zach is looking forward to some time on the trail, so he can think about where his future is headed. When Niki falls in the mud in front of him, he is instantly hooked on her. She is spunky and fun and exciting and all he’s ever wanted. But as they get closer physically, Niki pulls away emotionally. Zach knows he wants her in his life, but will she ever get over her past so she can move forward with their future?
I love me some cowboys, and Zach is one of the sexiest. He is sweet, charming, totally comfortable in both wranglers and a suit and tie. He knows what he wants and he goes for it with everything he’s got. I love the way he interacted with his dogs, how he was a genuinely good guy, how single-minded he was in his pursuit of Niki. He was Alpha to the core, without being overbearing. Loved it!
I felt bad for Niki through the first part of the book. It was obvious that her history in Wyoming is not a pleasant memory for her, and how hard it was for her to still live with it. But as the story went on and Zach proved himself over and over, she continued to struggle with letting go of the past. She didn’t do a lot of growth as a character until the very end, and by that point I wanted to shake her. I honestly wish she would have grown more steadily throughout, instead of a burst of character at the end.
There were times during the sexy scenes when it was obvious this novella hadn’t been updated to the times. There was some flowery prose that had me rolling my eyes, and the few sex scenes were very glossed over compared to the contemporary romance of today. But at the same time it was still sweet and sexy.
While Niki’s hesitancy did at times drive me bonkers, I did like the slow build up of their romance. The sexual tension between Zach and Niki was thick on every page, and it was obvious to the reader how attracted they were to one another, how much tension there really was. It was a very steamy read in that aspect.
All in all I was very happy with Dixon’s older novella. It was a sweet romance with a great alpha hero, incredible tension between the hero and heroine and an all around feel-good-romance. I give Tall, Dark and Lonesome a B-
