Judith’s review of Cowboy Come Home by Eve Gaddy.
A bittersweet reunion. A second chance at happiness.
The daughter who may never forgive them both.
Champion bronc rider Jake Rollins never intended to go back to Happy, Texas and its memories of lost love. That changes when he meets Leigh and suspects she’s his daughter. Jake arrives in Happy determined to get to know her and to find out the truth. Only problem is, Anna Connor, Leigh’s mother, doesn’t want him in their lives. At first she won’t even admit he’s Leigh’s father.
Sixteen years ago, Jake left Anna with a phone call telling her he’d married another woman. Devastated and pregnant, Anna married Jake’s best friend, Carl Connor. Together they raised the daughter Jake never knew about. But Anna’s a widow now and even more irresistible than she’d been as a girl. Will it be enough for Jake to tell Anna that leaving her was the worst mistake he ever made? Can he convince her he’s changed? Jake and Anna fall in love again, but it’s far from smooth sailing. Leigh’s response to the news that Jake is her biological father is anything but good. Jake and Anna must decide between their love for each other and the future of the daughter they love.
Thirteen years ago this novel was released by Harlequin Books and now has been re-released by Bell Bridges Books. It is an entertaining yet quite emotional read in that two people who were waaaaay too young made choices that took their lives in different directions, all without knowing initially that they had made a child together. Anna was facing the censure of her small town as an unwed mother–yet, there really are communities where that condition is still considered a no-no–and she turned to her lover’s best friend, a young man who has secretly always loved her. They made a life together, Anna eventually came to love Carl deeply, and they raised Anna’s daughter without any mention of her biological dad to the degree that Anna’s teen daughter never knew that Carl wasn’t her real dad. Now, as is so often the case–more often than most people realize–Daddy Jake shows up and the emotional “spit hits the fan.” Not only does Jake find out he has a daughter, but he is insisting on letting her know the truth about their connection.
This is a full-length novel that delves deeply into this complicated relational snarl, allowing readers to be fully immersed in the emotional quagmire that is Anna’s life as a widow with financial pressures, the pressure of knowing that she is going to have to tell her daughter about Jake, and beginning again with a love affair that never really went cold. It is wonderful to experience Jake and Anna finding their connection after so many years; it is difficult knowing that they are both rightfully worried that their daughter will allow her anger toward them to create a chasm between them that may never be bridged. Hint: don’t count out the grandpa. He has some tricks up his perverbial sleeve.
This was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though there were fleeting moments when I got a bit weary with Anna’s anxiety. But not ever having been in her situation I tried to put myself in her shoes and had to admit that I’m not sure I would have handled it any differently. It was truly a messy slice of life for all the main characters and a graphic reminder to all of us that life often gets really messy before its all over. I think it is a very well-written novel, one that will keep the reader’s interest, that keeps the movement of the story going forward, and is one that deserves exposure to a new audience. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.
This book is available from Bell Bridge Books. 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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