Tracy’s review of A Cowboy for Christmas (Jubilee, Texas series #3) by Lori Wilde
It’s Christmastime in Jubilee, Texas, but Lissette Moncrief is having a hard time celebrating . . .
Especially after she accidentally smashes her car into Rafferty Jones’s pick-up truck. Yes, he’s a whole lot of handsome—from the tips of his boots to the top of his Stetson. But he’s no Christmas present. Lissy’s not about to let herself get whisked away by his charming ways and words . . . only to watch him drive away in the end.
But what Lissy doesn’t know is Rafferty’s in town just to meet her—and to give her a share in a windfall that doesn’t rightly belong to him. At first, he just wants to do his good deed and get out. But one look at this green-eyed beauty has him deciding to turn this into a Christmas to remember . . . making promises he’s determined to keep—whether she believes in them or not.
Lissette is headed for a breakdown. Her soldier husband was killed in action 3 months ago and she’s just been told that her 2 year old son is, for the most part, deaf. She finally loses it a bit in the grocery store and when she’s in the parking lot ends up plowing into another truck. The man is kind and understanding and even tries to comfort her when she starts crying. When Lissy opens the door to her house a little bit later she’s shocked to see that the man who she crashed into is standing on her porch.
Rafferty Jones is Lissy’s dead husband’s half-brother. Lissy’s husband left his life insurance to Rafferty rather than his wife and since he died in Afghanistan doing something against orders Lissy received no survivor benefits. Rafferty, having just found out that he brother is dead drove to Texas from California to give Lissy the money as he feels she should have it. Lissy refuses the money (why, I’m still unclear about) but allows Rafferty to stay in the apartment of her garage. He ends up staying to train her late husband’s horse but he really stays because he’s sweet on Lissy. He knows he shouldn’t be but he can’t seem to help himself.
Lissy and Rafferty get along well, when she finally gives him a chance, and Lissy finds herself falling for Rafferty. She feels a bit guilty as she thinks she should be mourning her husband longer – even though their marriage was over long before his last re-enlistment. The guilt eats at both of them and they can’t be sure of what they’re feeling.
The story was a good one. I thought that Lissy, for all her troubles and financial woes, was a bit too proud. I think she should have taken the money –even if all she ever used it for was her son’s medical expenses. I did like that she wanted to be independent but there’s a point when you just can’t do it all yourself. I think she finally saw that by the end of the book.
Rafferty was a wonderful character. He was kind, understanding, trustworthy and well, hot. lol He really was trying to take care of Lissy but not in the smothering way that would make it seem like she didn’t have a brain in her head. For instance he was helping her set up a website. He took her ideas and did what she wanted – he was just the one with the html knowledge. He didn’t try to influence her or tell her that her ideas were wrong or bad as her husband would have. He was just that kind of guy.
There were also some issues with Lissy’ mother-in-law and Rafferty and the circumstances of his birth as well as conflict with Lissy’s family when it came to the “proper” way to have her deaf son learn communication. When it came to Lissy’s family I know this was added to show us how she was standing up for herself when she never had before but really I didn’t feel either issues was a core part of the story. I found them a bit superfluous.
In the end it was a good book. I didn’t read the first two books in the series but that presented no problems at all when reading this story. If you want a warm Christmas story then this one will probably work for you.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
The series:
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
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