3 stars for the humans. 5 stars for the animals.

http://witandsin.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-cowboy-take-me-away-by-jane.html

Cowboy Take Me Away is one of those books that’ll twist your emotions up like you wouldn’t believe. Both people and animals are desperately in need love in Jane Graves’s first Rainbow Valley novel. I’m pretty sure I cried more than once while reading this book, but Ms. Graves makes all the heartbreak worth it in the end.

Luke Dawson is a bull-riding champ with a two-ton chip on his shoulder. His horrible childhood left its mark on him and returning home to Rainbow Valley isn’t exactly beneficial to helping him move on. Most of the townspeople look on him with suspicion because of his behavior as a teenager, but I loved Luke. He’s got a big heart and is so wonderfully caring that I wanted to see him find peace and happiness. Shannon’s one of the very few people Luke ever let in his heart and she broke it back when they were teenagers. A busted knee that leaves Luke stuck in Rainbow Valley brings them back together, but it’s definitely not easy for these two hard-headed people to get together. Shannon is running herself into the ground trying to save all the animals that come to her shelter while also trying to live up to her mother’s expectations. The burdens she carries threaten to drown her and at times make her a bit abrasive. I admit, it was hard for me to like Shannon because her attitude could be so off-putting. That being said, she grew on me over the course of the book and once she allowed herself to relax she and Luke were great together. Their romance was slow to build but I liked watching them develop as individuals as they fell in love.

The scene-stealers in Cowboy Take Me Away are undoubtedly the animals. Ms. Graves’s love of animals shines through in this story and, as I previously mentioned, I cried more than once while reading this story. The animals Shannon and Luke rescue have been through so much that it was imperative they too get their happy ending. My absolute favorite thing about Cowboy Take Me Away was the way the town of Rainbow Valley embraced animals and celebrated their love of them.

While animals are easily given second chances by the residents of Rainbow Valley, people aren’t given the same courtesy. This is where I had a bit of trouble withCowboy Take Me Away. When reading a small town romance, I enjoy falling in love with the town and the supporting cast of characters. The folks of Rainbow Valley often came across as small-minded and judgmental – not exactly endearing. I grew annoyed with a number of supporting characters over the course of the story and at times couldn’t imagine how Ms. Graves could give Luke a satisfying happily ever after in this town. That being said, there were some stand out (in a good way) characters who give me hope that Rainbow Valley can grow on me in future books.

Cowboy Take Me Away will tug on your heartstrings, but Luke and Shannon’s journey is one worth reading. I’ve got my fingers crossed in the hopes that Ms. Graves will write more books for Luke and Shannon’s friends.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

For me, Baby It’s You represents the “what you want is not always what you need” theme, and Ms. Graves has done a very good job in twisting my emotion and my thoughts about it. There were times that I wondered if the decision was the right one, and whether or not I should be upset with the outcome. However, after all was said and done, I realized that this story had a very good depth of facing tough choices in life and well, it just spoke to me greatly.

The characterization is wonderful here. I really adored Kari. Duly noted that Kari starts the story as the daughter of someone wealthy, who has never really done anything on her own (daddy pays for everything, even opening her bank account!) and easily quits when things get tough (like running away from her own wedding, rather than tell confronting her dad). 

However, I saw how Kari slowly but steadily took her steps of independence. While she still gets help in doing so — and there’s one moment when Kari almost quit again after a grueling first day being a waitress at a local diner — but Kari is then able to work through the pain and actually learn to enjoy the job. Oh, Kari still makes mistakes, but she finds out how good she is with kids, she realizes that she can entertain people, and she ends up getting her tips worth. For someone who never really worked a day in her life, I thought that was quite admirable.

Meanwhile, Marc is one of those heroes whose actions definitely speak louder than his words. Being the oldest of three who have learned to take responsibility in life since a teenager, Marc thinks that it’s time for him to get his freedom. People have been relying on him for eighteen years. He basically takes care of that vineyard on his own too, since his younger brother and sister are not really into it.

Just when freedom seems to be waiting around the corner, life throws challenges again into Marc’s way. Marc’s brother doesn’t seem to know the best way to take care of the vineyard. Marc’s sister is suffering from heartache after losing her husband and her beloved dog. Then, his daughter doesn’t seem to be happy in university and wishes that Marc was there to be a safety net. The whole twist with Kari (I can’t really say without spoiling anything, but the ‘twist’ was definitely the point where I was having conflicting emotions the most!).

You see, I couldn’t help but think that Marc DESERVED the freedom after everything he was going through. So I wondered if that was fair for Marc. But then, I started to think that THIS was what the story wanted to say to us: sometimes you need to alter your dreams when life challenges you. And yes, like I said in the beginning of this review: “what you want is not always what you need”.

Because Marc finally realizes that freedom isn’t exactly what is best for him. Being with his family and the community who cares about him is. Even if it seems that Marc is back to where it all started, he isn’t really. This time, his siblings have grown up, his brother is a millionaire who can help financially, and his daughter also knows what she wants from life. Then there’s Kari … a woman who loves him and will stay with him, who understands Marc’s love for his vineyard and is willing to fight to save it when nature is threatening it. And Marc himself is not exactly a seventeen-year-old boy anymore.

So, in the end, Baby It’s You is a great story of self-discovery, for both Kari and Marc (and myself too in a way). I enjoyed it immensely. I hope Ms. Graves continues this series with either one of Marc’s siblings — their moments in this book make me want to read their stories of reaching happily ever after too.

I bought this story a year ago when it came out. I’ve read several books from Jane Graves before and really enjoyed them, so I wanted to check out this new book. However, I must admit that when I saw the length, I became discouraged. I became too familiar with less lengthy novels when it came to romance. So I decided to postpone until now.

This is a story about second chances, one of my favorite romance themes. Due to the length (it is over 400 pages), I thought the beginning was rather slow, probably because Ms. Graves spent quite awhile re-building the relationship between Luke and Shannon. These two former friends who spent one night of passion when they were teenagers were separated for eleven years with feelings of hurt. Luke thought that Shannon rejected him – since he was the son of the town’s drunk – while Shannon couldn’t understand why Luke suddenly left town without any warning.

However, after I got the hang of it, the story really picked up nicely. I fell in love with Luke easily, as he showed the people at Rainbow Valley that even though his father was the bad seed, it didn’t mean that he followed in his father’s footsteps. There were so many moments with Luke showing the kind and sensitive part of him that just touched my heart deeply. Like when he was taming the mini-horse, finding the right animals for prospective pet owners, painting over graffiti on a town’s store, even taking a six-year-old boy to a rodeo. Luke was so gentle with animals and kids – he was just a wonderful hero.

Shannon, in the meantime, got me frustrated several times over. Carrying the baggage of being the perfect daughter, Shannon didn’t stand up fast enough against her mother’s wishes. In this book, there was another suitor for Shannon, a dentist named Russell Morgenstern, whom Shannon’s mother thought was a perfect son-in-law candidate – and I thought Shannon took too much time giving false hope to Russell. Even if I thought Russell was also having this baggage of being the perfect son for his successful parents. I just wished that Shannon was able to say “no” to her mother much earlier.

The story also had few secondary characters that stood out, for example, Shannon’s sister and Russell’s secretary. They rounded up this small-town-romance about two people who finally took the chance, against all odds, to be together. The ending felt a bit rushed. However, it didn’t really bother me, because I hope that I could get an update of Luke and Shannon in the next book. While the story didn’t really have a big twist or drama, and the pace just moved along steadily (some readers might find it too mundane), this story satisfied my need for lovely contemporary romance.

3.5 stars

Quick trivia : After I finished this, I found out that the story had been previously released more than a decade ago (in 2000) by Harlequin under the author’s other name, Jane Sullivan. Truthfully, I have no idea if the story has been re-edited to fit this timeline, because I cannot find any ‘clues’ of it being written in early 2000.

Anyway, I enjoyed this novella – in the beginning I’m not really sure of what to think of Kay. I mean, the whole impulsive revenge by shaving her ex-fiancé’s dogs is funny, but I don’t know if I can warm up to a heroine who has aversion towards animals! Also, she seems like she wants to get out of her volunteering by taking an easy way and seems to look down on life and animals at the shelter. But, as Kay spends her time at the clinic and starts opening up to the animals, so do I. I think she genuinely starts to see these animals as something wonderful (and heck, maybe therapeutic for her issue). She also tries to find a way to get more help for the shelter.

The progress of the relationship between Kay and Matt is nice. Duly noted that Matt keeps a secret from Kay, but he does it in order to save his animal shelter – and this puts a halt on his thinking of pursuing something more with Kay. I admire Matt’s dedication though, even when he is financially challenged, with the mortgage and the costs he needs for the animals, he clearly wants it to keep operating. Gah, how can I not love a man like that?! Men with pets make me swoon.

The grand gesture in the end is lovely. Totally really liked the resolution to Matt’s problem (and Kay’s ex could go to hell *lol*). Oh, this story is low on sexual scenes; it is more on the side of sweet romance, focusing on the relationship building rather than the sexual content. AND, I fell in love with the animals in this story, especially a three-legged bulldog.