A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas: An Anthology (A Gold Valley Novel)

Our Review

A TALL, DARK COWBOY CHRISTMAS is a nice addition to the GOLD VALLEY series.  It is Grant and McKenna’s story and is emotional at times. No matter how stoic Grant wants to be, even eight years after the death of his wife, McKenna isn’t tiptoeing around him. She asks the hard questions and seems to get him like no one else in his family or their small town.

Grant finds McKenna sleeping in a cold cabin located on their family’s ranch and takes pity on her. He brings her to the ranch house. There she’s given a job, shelter, and food without anyone but Grant knowing a thing about her or what brought her there. When she tells everyone her story, she’s amazed at their reactions, especially Grant’s.

The characters all have a depth to them. There’s a lot of goodness in Grant’s family, as well as in his friends. McKenna doesn’t know how to deal with such kindness. There are a few twists and turns to the story and vivid descriptions. The book flows nicely and is truly heartwarming. The story has a lot of secrets along with hopes and dreams revealed. There is wonderful closure that happens with a twist that left me wanting more, along with several happily-ever-afters.

 A fifty page novella, SNOWED IN WITH THE COWBOY, is included at the back of the book and we’re once again returned to Gold Valley meeting up with the Reid brothers and their families. It’s nice to catch up with Jackson, Calder, and the others. Tanner and Chloe are step-siblings who have an attraction to each other that’s off-the-charts, but no one mentions it until they are stranded during a major snowstorm trying to get to a cabin in the mountains to celebrate Christmas with the family. I could feel the cold through the beautifully written descriptions of the storm and its aftermath. There are a lot of heated moments—not all loving—and some revelations come to light. The epilogue ties up the loose ends but still left me wanting more.

There’s a sneak peek of WANT ME COWBOY, another book in the COPPER RIDGE series, that left me hanging.  I look forward to continuing the story.

Ms. Yates is an author whom I’ve read before and enjoyed her books. I look forward to reading many more of them, and not just in these two series.