#TBRChallenge 2021: One Cowboy, One Christmas

The Book: One Cowboy, One Christmas by Kathleen Eagle

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Special Edition #2011, Book 2 in series, 2009, out of print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: It's a Christmas Harlequin - that's really about it. To elaborate, Eagle is a solid writer and I like Special Editions. My print copy indicates I likely bought this used while visiting my family in Michigan (the Meijer price tag on the front cover is kind of a dead giveaway).

The Review: Oh reader expectations. We all have them but when it comes to category romance readers, they're amplified. I have a very different set of expectations with category romance than I do single titles. I expect the stories to adhere to line specifications and given the shorter word counts I expect a hyper-aware focus on the romance. Special Editions usually land around 220 pages - that's not a lot - and it's a problem for this story that Eagle chose to write. Honestly? This read like a women's fiction novel that she trimmed down to fit Special Edition guidelines and for that reason it missed the romance mark for me.

Zach Beaudry is a broken down rodeo cowboy (more parts ache than not) making his way to Texas. Where he currently is is driving a neglected pick-up truck through a South Dakota snowstorm. Naturally the pick-up truck quits on him and he finds himself walking to the nearest shelter - which turns out to be Ann Drexler's front porch.  He's near delirium by this point and spies her from the front window decorating for Christmas. Naturally he thinks she's an angel.  Lucky for him she opens the front door, recognizes him, and hauls his near frozen butt inside.

Ann recognizes Zach because she had a one-night stand with him when she was a shy, plumper 19-year-old college student.  She met him at a party through her older sister Sally, who used to supply bulls to the rodeo circuit.  Anyway Ann looks different now - she's lost weight, less make-up and her hair is styled drastically different.  Still, she'd be lying if she didn't say it pricks her pride that Zach doesn't recognize her or even recall their one-night together.

Zach's truck needs repairs requiring parts, so he agrees to help out at the Drexler horse rescue ranch in exchange parts and labor. Beside Ann and Sally, there's a "like family" older ranch hand and a teenager student of Ann's (she's a teacher) who lands on the wrong side of the law and his sentence is community service at the ranch.  Zach is pure itchy feet cowboy and Ann is guarded, reticent and is fully expecting him to take off the moment he can. That's basically it for conflict folks.

Back to expectations, there's a lot of homespun banter and a lot of secondary characters (three of them) vying for page time. When I first started this book I checked the back cover to make sure Ann was the heroine because Sally (who has MS) spends JUST as much time on the page in Zach's orbit.  There's also an annoying neighbor who shows up halfway through to (I think?) juice up the conflict but it's a plot thread that doesn't really go anywhere.  There's other books after this one in the series, maybe he shows up in later books to cause trouble?  Who knows.

What we've got is basically a story about found family with a romance relegated to secondary plot line. This is fine for women's fiction. It's great in fact! I've loved books like this.  But this is a Silhouette Special Edition. It's category romance. Hence, I don't think it's fine. The romance should be front and center, dominating the bulk of the story.  Instead it feels like an afterthought.

Normally I would ding a book with this sort of execution mightily but, and here's the thing, Eagle can write. She's a wiz at setting, atmosphere and characters. It fails on nearly every level of 217 page category romance, but all that other stuff I just mentioned?  Really good. Very solid. It just shouldn't have been published or marketed as a category romance.  Says Wendy.

Final Grade = C-