A True Cowboy Christmas

Cold River Ranch, Book 1

By: Caitlin Crews

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

From USA Today best-selling author Caitlin Crews comes A True Cowboy Christmas, the first in a sensational series debut about a cowboy, a farm girl, and the greatest gift of all....

Gray Everett has a heart of gold, but that doesn’t mean he believes in the magic of Christmas. He’s got plenty else to worry about this holiday season, what with keeping his cattle ranch in the family and out of the hands of hungry real-estate investors looking to make a down-and-dirty deal. That, plus being a parent to his young and motherless daughter, equals a man who will not rest until he achieves his mission. Now, all Gray needs is the help of his lifelong neighbor...who happens to have grown into a lovely, spirited woman.

For Abby Douglas, the chance to join forces with Gray is nothing less than a Christmas miracle. Much as the down-to-earth farmer’s daughter has tried to deny it, Abby’s been in love with stern, smoking-hot Gray her whole life. So when Gray proposes a marriage of convenience as a way to combine land - and work together toward a common cause - Abby can’t refuse. But how can she convince Gray that sometimes life offers a man a second chance for a reason...and that their growing trust and mutual passion may be leading to true and lasting love?

©2018 St. Martin's Paperbacks (P)2018 Journalstone

Not Bad Overall with Exceptions

Pros and cons to this story. It's good that it's in the Escape plan because I'm not sure it's credit worthy. The story itself was ok. It's the beginning of a series so there's always the background, character intros, etc. Eric Dove was good as narrator. I like his voice. The cons are major cons. The main female character is 30- first negative. I'm so tired of all these stories having characters 30 yrs old! Then add to that she is a 30 year old virgin! Yes, that's right. Not only that, she's a 30 year old virgin who has never dated, never done anything with anyone- ever.!!! I'm not saying there's anything wrong with saving yourself for marriage and all that stuff but to be that old and never dated or even kissed someone?! That's a bit far fetched. It was utterly ridiculous. Add to that the mommy and daddy issues, the low self esteem, poor body image and inability to stand up for herself and she is one big mess. So over that., Listen if you have the escape plan or excess credits. Be prepared for the whole meek virginal thing though. Had I known all of that before starting the story, I wouldn't have listened. Those are definite no listens for me because it's just ridiculous and cheesy.

A perfect Christmas love story

Loved it from beginning to end. A story of hope and putting your past behind you.

Definitely not for me..

I feel like I was reading about two people who kept time traveling from the 1800's to the present. Gray was married before, and was a virgin when they'd married, and his wife died 10 years ago and he's remained celibate all those years and Abby is a virgin and the two just got married and all they want to do is talk about being virgins. They just went on and one. I mean, Gray was so excited that she was a virgin and she was his and no one would ever touch her except him and she's embarrassed because she is. Then there's his marriage proposal, because she's reliable and strong and everyone likes her. Not good reason to propose marriage but Gray thought they were. Of course, Abby agreed because she'd loved Gray her whole life, and she was 30 years old and she was afraid if she said no he would ask someone else, since he was so set on finding a wife. The story is just plain silly and drawn out. AND if I read one more time about how plain and unattractive she was I was going to scream*******

No swearing and explicit sex scene I listened to dragged out until around 50%, where I quit so I don't know if there was more*******

As for the narration: I thought I could listen to it all since Eric Dove was narrating but I just couldn't.

Slow, predictable and painful

I almost gave up on this book a number of times during the first half. It did pick up a bit in the second half hence the 3 star rating. The context is not a storyline I enjoy: “poor, little female besotted with a gruff, alpha male”. The narrator isn’t terrible but is totally wrong for this book.

Cute story

I liked this book, it was cute and fun and a great Christmas story. I was really starting to dislike Gray until he got his head out of his ass. I wish I had been as self possessed as Abby at that age. She was a great main character.

A True Cowboy Christmas

A tough and brooding and grumpy cowboy and the practical and younger neighbor who has been in love with him forever. Add in a teenage girl who just wants everything to be perfect and what do you get? A pretty uncomplicated book but a good one. I thought Gray was going to choke on his grumpiness at times but once he figures out he doesn't want to turn into his dead father he redeems himself. The ending was perfect. I am really looking forward to the rest of the series.