Her Cadillac Cowboy

Rue
Allyn
Genre: 
Contemporary

Sara Carson returns to her hometown on Texas’ Gulf Coast after ten years to clean up the mess her brother made of the family’s car dealership after their father’s heart attack. Problems abound. The dealership is struggling, her father’s dismissive attitude hasn’t changed, and, worst of all, her brother has leased their warehouse to Josh McKinley. Josh broke her heart once, and she’ll be damned if she’ll let him do it a second time. Throw in Josh’s insistence on reforming the juvenile delinquent who has been trashing her cars and her father being the patient from hell, and Sara has her hands full. Sparks fly when Josh can’t seem to keep his hands—and lips—off Sara. Will she succumb to his charms, or will the hurts of the past finish them for good?

“Her Cadillac Cowboy” starts out with an interesting premise, and early on, Sara’s character promises to be tough and smart. Josh, the hunky ex-bull rider could be more fully developed, but the story doesn’t give much backstory for his character’s tantalizing contradictions—bull rider turned daycare provider! As Sara works to revive the dealership, she seems smart and strong, but her emotional swings toward Josh seem implausible: cold one second, melting the next. Moreover, Josh has a disquieting tendency to physically restrain Sara, whose otherwise strong character meekly submits. Some attempted humor, especially Sara’s repeated mispronunciation of a German nurse’s name, falls flat, making Sara seem unsympathetic. Interesting secondary characters, however, add flavor, and mysteries from the past infuse the plot with just enough intrigue to keep readers turning pages to find out who is behind the troubles at Carson’s Cars.

Marc Joseph