Sugarwater Ranch by Stephanie Berget
Series: Salt Creek Cowboys
Paperback: 322 pages
Publisher: Evernight Publishing (August 24, 2013)
Synopsis from Amazon.com
Sean O’Connell’s life is perfect, or it was until his
partying lifestyle affected his bull riding. Now he’s ended the season too
broke to leave the Northwest for the warm southern rodeos. When a wild night
with his buddies gets out of hand, he wakes up naked, staring into the angry
eyes of a strange woman. His infallible O’Connell charm gets him nowhere with
the dark-haired beauty. It’s obvious she’s not his usual good-time girl, so why
can’t he forget her? Bar-manager Catherine Silvera finds a waterlogged,
unconscious cowboy freezing to death in front of the Sugarwater Bar. She saves
his life--then runs faster than a jackrabbit with a coyote on its tail. Any man
who makes his living rodeoing is bad news, especially if he thinks partying is
part of the competition. He’s everything she doesn’t want in a man, so why
can’t she shake her attraction to the rugged cowboy?
My Review
Sugarwater Ranch is a story about bull-riding, rodeo-cowboy, Sean O’Connell, a man on
a spiral - out of control. Sean is a fast living, not so real-world-savvy
cowboy who feels the world owes him something. He believes that life handed him
some sour grapes, causing him to distance himself from his family. He’s forced
to get a “real job,” because he partied away his winnings from the rodeos. He’s
good-looking, charming and… a cowboy.
Enter - Catherine. He has a run in with a woman who saves him, salvages
the broken pieces and finds the man of her dreams – only sometimes she pushes
the dream aside because she’s afraid of the possibilities; she’s afraid because
of hurtful memories from her childhood. Catherine Silvera is a sweet, good-hearted,
caring, determined woman - yet a sad-soul at times. Her past and her current
situation - looking out for, and taking care of others, leave her hesitant.
This relationship between Catherine and Sean is enjoyable – but slow
and repetitive at times – I had to go back several times because I felt as
though I’d already ‘read that’, or I missed something. It’s a “slow dance of a love
story,” that brings them together again and again, as a to build a hesitant relationship.
Catherine gives Sean the desire and the drive to be a better man, but
she’s easily distracted by the words of others, not giving him a chance.
Both characters carried a bit of baggage and they had to work
through it before they were free to open themselves up to the other, and learn
their ways to build and give trust.
This author is knowledgeable of the rodeo circuit lifestyle and that
made it enjoyable and realistic. The characters and the story were well
written, but I found myself wanting it to move quicker – not the relationship
as much as the story it’s self.
Without giving any spoilers (I HATE WHEN OTHERS DO!) the situations
at the end of the book that finally brought them together could've happened
earlier in the story, keeping it from feeling so slow. I loved the Epilogue,
and Junior was a bright spot, popping in and out of the story and making me
smile when I was finding the story slow…
I think for a
new author, the price for a Kindle download was a bit high. Enjoyable read… 4
Stars
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