Thursday 6 April 2017

New Release Spotlight & Review: Million Dollar Cowboy by Lori Wilde

Click on the image above to follow the Review Tour.


Million Dollar Cowboy
Cupid, Texas #5
By: Lori Wilde
Releasing March 28, 2017
Avon
Million Dollar Cowboy

Cupid, Texas Series


New York Times Bestselling Author Lori Wilde returns to Cupid, Texas with a heartwarming story of a cowboy who comes home to the family ranch for a wedding filled with surprises…

The illegitimate son of a Texas ranching dynasty, Ridge Lockhart left home ten years ago with one goal: to become more successful than the father who never accepted him.

Mission accomplished, but now he’s back at the Silver Feather Ranch for a wedding—three days of best man duty until he can hightail it out. Then he spies Kaia Alzate, and suddenly leaving isn’t quite so appealing.

Kaia Alzate grew up the daughter of the ranch foreman, servants to the mighty Lockharts in the mansion. Back then, she followed Ridge around like a puppy. Now, she’s fighting the attraction she feels for this sexy CEO. She’s determined not to make a big mistake—but when Ridge takes her in his arms she’s stunned…could he be the man she’s waited for all along?

 AMAZON | B & N | GOOGLE | ITUNES | KOBO  

Ridge Lockheart is back at the Silver Feather Ranch in Cupid, Texas for the first time in ten years and if it wasn't for his childhood buddy's wedding, he doubts he'd ever come back at all. During his absence, he's built up a company that's made him even richer than his father. A hollow achievement to outdo the man who brought him up. On arrival, he spots a woman who's appearance awakens feelings that he thought were long buried. His plan was to hang around long enough to perform his duty as best man for Archer Alzate, but now he's torn between his work commitments as CEO of Lock Ridge Drilling and his desire to act on the long-buried attraction.

Kaia Alzate's life isn't quite how she planned, but she's making as much effort as she can to reach her goal of becoming a vet. A fractured pelvis caused by a near-fatal car accident has slowed down her plans, with money tight, she's working to make ends meet, but still happy she's caring for animals. When her older brother's childhood friend arrives to be best man at his wedding, Kaia's drawn to Ridge Lockheart as she always was, only she's no longer the pesky little sister. However, he's only in Cupid for three days, can she chance to risk her heart for just a little bit of him?

I loved all the feels within this novel.
Heartbreaking. Ridge is a complex man. He may be an accomplished businessman, but underneath his alpha façade, he's walking around with the weight of the world on his shoulders...a burden, lifted if only he'd communicate his feelings rather than run away from them.
Hope. The complicated relationship Ridge has with his father Duke. Kaia's steadfast ambition to become a vet.
Romance. When two people that have known and loved each other for years, finally manage to get on the same page of life.

Million Dollar Cowboy has a wonderful mix of entertaining secondary characters who enhance the adorable, protagonists story, set against the arid Texan desert. Their inclusion adds humour and just a touch of interference in the way that family members do. Although, part of a series, this novel can be read as a standalone and if you are not familiar with Lori Wilde work, this is a wonderful place to start and experience the richness of her writing. If like me, you're acquainted with the author's other novels, you'll love Ridge and Kaia's story.

***arc generously received courtesy of Avon Books via Edelweiss+***


Lumbering up in a battered, blue, Toyota Tundra extended-cab pickup truck and parking catawampus beside the tallest barn on the ranch.
He cocked his head. Who was she?
The woman hopped from the tall truck with the fluid grace of a playful water sprite more at home underneath a cascading waterfall than smack in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.
She wore faded blue skinny jeans that fit like spray paint, cupping rounded hips and a firm lush fanny. A neon-pink, V-neck T-shirt showed off a hint of sweet cleavage. Her flat-heeled cowboy boots were scuffed and dusty. From this distance, it appeared as if she didn’t have on a lick of makeup, and her thick dark hair was pulled into twin braids. A gust of hot, lazy June air blew across the sand, and her nimble fingers reached up to tuck a tendril of loosened hair behind one ear.
Ridge had a startling vision of easing the elastic bands from her hair, undoing the braids, and watching that tumble of hair fall over his hand soft and smooth as liquid silk.
What the hell? Why the instant lust? Normally, he went for tall willowy blondes like Vivi. Not petite, shapely brunettes.
Why?
That was easy enough to answer. A) The brunette was smoking hot. B) There was something familiar about her, something warm and cozy and inviting. C) He hadn’t had sex in so long he’d almost forgotten what it felt like.
Hope cut into him, gutted him open, leaving him raw and hungry. Hey, who knew? There was a wedding this weekend—alcohol, food, music, slow dancing. Maybe they’d hook up.
Easy Lockhart, getting ahead of yourself.
He didn’t even know her name, or if she was involved with someone, or if she’d even been invited to the wedding.
No, but that didn’t stop steamy sexual fantasies from unspooling inside his head. Nor could he shake an odd feeling that he’d gone fishing for shad and managed to hook a mermaid instead.
The woman opened the extended cab’s passenger side door and bent over, butt wiggling as she ducked her head inside to retrieve something from the backseat. That round wriggly rump robbed the air from his lungs, highjacked his brain as effectively as a gun-toting bandit.
As the owner and CEO of Lock Ridge Drilling, he made snap decisions on a daily basis and he’d honed the skill of sizing up people at a glance.
From the click-quick snapshot trapped in that breathless time of his mind, Ridge knew she was the spunky girl-next-door type. Able to climb trees, make chicken soup for a sick neighbor, organize a charity drive, spike a witty barb at smart-ass-know-it-alls, passionately root for her favorite sports team complete with face paint and logo jerseys, park her butt in the church pew every Sunday morning, and cheerfully answer three a.m. phone calls from friends in need.
She was, in fact, everything Ridge was not—perky, happy-go-lucky, laid-back, a rule-following, people-pleasing team player.
Not his type. Not in the least.
Which probably explained the pounding lust. He had a knack for picking women who were all wrong for him.
Lori Wilde is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 70 works of romantic fiction. She is a two-time RITA award nominee, a four time Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice nominee and has won numerous other awards. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Christian University and holds a certificate in nursing forensics. An animal lover, Lori is owned by several pets, and lives in Texas with her husband, Bill.

Rafflecopter Giveaway (a $25.00 Gift Card to choice eBook Retailer)

1 comment: