Rating 4.5 out of 5

BIG BAD COWBOY was a book that I read along with my book club. We love to mix up our selections and include books on the sexy side and this one definitely delivered. I loved the play on the story of The Big Bad Wolf and how the main characters "meet" at a costume party and how this allows for a secret identity element. This enemies to lovers romance is a fun read - I loved the back and forth, the hate to love between Maggie and Travis. And I loved how much my friends and I laughed as we talked about the book. BIG BAD COWBOY is a great book to escape into.

Bloom is a new to me author but I wanted to give it a try after seeing the IG read-a-long. This story is a loose retelling/inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. The characters meet at a masquerade ball and quickly go from flirty banter to having STEAMING hot sex in a shed. Seriously this book is HOT. There are also very sexy sexting conversations.

Before I go on, if you have issues with characters keeping secrets from each other, this book is probably not for you. Skip to the next cowboy on this list.

Maggie thinks Travis is going to destroy her business. Travis returns to town to care for his nephew, Henry, and to take deal with the ranch that is left behind. Maggie and Travis have a not great working relationship that quickly gets better. For lots of reasons but possibly the best one is Travis’s nephew Henry. Henry was the perfect little plot moppet. Involved in the story enough, but not too much and appropriately manipulated the story.

Travis is a perfectly imperfect guardian. He didn’t really want to take on the responsibility of caring for Henry at first, but he evolved really quickly and Bloom portrayed a really loving relationship.

Travis also had some insecurities about his body that I don't think we see often in romance that I wish we saw more of. It is mentioned that Maggie doesn’t always reach orgasm via PIV sex and I love any sort of glimmer of “imperfect” or realistic sex.

Maggie was a great heroine. She was strong physically and mentally. After the big conflict and the appropriate grovel, Maggie forgives but also tells Travis that it must never happen again. I would love to see this more in romance. I think it is the unsaid thing when forgiveness happens, but I am all for clearly setting expectations.

There were a few instances of being judgy toward porn/erotica. There is also a side character who is kind of the town idiot that makes some statements about gay people that made me raise my brows a little. Neither of these things were horrible and didn’t ruin my overall enjoyment of the book. I teared up at the end. I really liked the whole world that this book was set in. It was hard to not jump to book 2.

Y’all I have read so many 5 star books this month! Most of them have been recommended to me by the ladies of my favorite online book club, #freaksbetweenthebooksheets. This one in particular is thanks to @angelareadsbooks and @readforeverpub and their #bigbadreadalong. [Thank you for my free book❤️]

It has been a hot minute since I’ve read a cowboy romance. I know that Angela is the cowboy romance queen, so when I heard she was co hosting a read along I knew that I wanted to participate. I am so happy that I did because I loved this book. So much so that I actually immediately picked up the sequel and binged then both (it’s out in March!!).

Travis is fresh out of the Army and back on his families old run down ranch. After receiving a call from a social worker that his nephew was in need of a guardian, he decided to head back to Texas to fix up/sell the ranch and secure a more permanent home for Henry. Maggie runs her own landscaping business in town and has little to no competition for jobs until Travis returns. She is extremely smart and opinionated and everyone in town considers her “one of the guys”. The two have a few run ins which don’t go well and end up having to work together on a project. Hot cowboys, some sneaky secrets and a little red riding twist make this a fun and steamy ride

I've never read a cowboy romance and I've always assumed I wouldn't like them because of some disappointing experiences with small town romances, but I was so wrong!

I flew through this book in a day because I absolutely did not want to put it down. This book was amazing. I loved the little red riding hood references, the banter between hero and heroine, and the steam. (THE SHED) I knew going in that there was going to be a Halloween costume party, a one night stand, and a sexy, glasses wearing cowboy, but I did not expect there to be a child. Henry turned out to be so funny and I really liked him, which I was not expecting. I can't wait to read more by Carly Bloom!

Thanks to Forever for my copy to review.

I hadn't ever considered picking up a cowboy romance, but let me tell you, I am SO glad that I did! This was the perfect introduction to the genre. It was packed with romance, lots of steam, anonymous texts, and real life situations in regards to family and business. I absolutely loved both Travis and Maggie as individual characters. Travis had clearly been dealt a rough hand in life, but my heart just went out to him as he navigated a failing ranch & taking care of his nephew (after his sister in law died, and his brother went to jail). Maggie is clearly not a fan of him, though, as she sees him as trying to take all of her carefully worked for business in their small town of Big Verde, Texas. When they end up having to work together, Travis quickly realizes that he can't resist her, but Maggie is still stubborn and hates every minute.
I loved the progression of all the relationships in this book! There were friendships and some other relationships that were really sweet, and I loved that the author was very inclusive in telling their stories. There were some really wonderful moments ... and then there were some down right steamy moments where I wanted to fan myself with the book. Cowboy romances, I am here for you!

I don’t know what took me so long to read Big Bad Cowboy, but I absolutely adored this book!! I meant to read it along with a group for a readalong this week, but I couldn’t put it down and finished within a couple days. Don’t let this shirtless cover fool you, this story is full of hilarious moments, heart, and tons of swoon-worthy scenes! ⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This book might have one of the steamiest meet cutes ever. Maggie and Travis meet at a Halloween party, but they meet as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Their meeting quickly turns into a hot and heavy hook up (no closed doors here folks!) and the Big Bad Wolf mask stays on. What they don’t realize at the time is that they’re competing for the same landscaping contract. I mean, what a way to start a book!!!⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I love enemies to lovers, and this interaction added a whole new level. Travis realizes after that his one night stand is now his rival, but Maggie doesn’t. This isn’t usually a scenario that I like in romance, yet this story totally worked for me. Maggie and “the Big Bad Wolf” start a sexting relationship post hook-up, while the relationship between her and Travis in person is more of a slow burn. The chemistry between these two is SO good! The forced proximity of having to share a job site causes tons of sexual tension. ⁣⁣⁣⁣
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But this story isn’t all steamy sexy times. Travis is also the guardian of his young nephew, Henry. Henry is a hilarious little character, this story made me laugh out loud many times and most involved him. There’s a really great subplot about family dynamics and I adored that. And there are other fantastic side characters too! Travis and Maggie’s friends are so well written, it’s impossible not to fall in love with all of them. I definitely teared up during a few scenes too (Thanksgiving!)⁣
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Gah, I just loved this book SO MUCH! Big Bad Cowboy was a five star read for me, I seriously can’t stop gushing about how wonderful it was. If you’re looking for a heartwarming rom-com with lots of steamy moments, please try this one! I can’t wait for the rest of this series!

This is the sexiest re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood that I have read and I LOVED it! In Big Bad Cowboy, Travis Blake has returned to Big Verde, Texas to take care of his nephew Henry. Travis had just gotten out of the army and was planning on moving to Austin when he got back, but now his plans have had to change.

Travis hasn't had much experience running his family's ranch and instead is relying on other forms of income taking on a few landscaping jobs to make ends meet. Maggie Mackey runs Petal Pushers a landscape and garden business in Big Verde and now she has competition in the form of one Travis Blake. Maggie doesn't like him just on principle.

When Maggie and Travis end up having to work together on a project together sparks fly. I loved their initial hate towards one another and how that slowly evolved into friendship. The witty banter between Travis and Maggie was so great and the chemistry was undeniable. The Halloween party and the Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf scenes were hot hot hot and I loved each and every one of them!

One of the best parts of this book was the relationship that Travis had with his nephew Henry. A lot of times I feel like when there is a romance with a single dad or father figure, I don't always connect with the child in the scenario. But in this case, Henry was one of my favorite characters. His relationship with Travis was so real and I appreciate that so much in a romance novel. The parts with Travis and Henry always had me laughing or my heart catching.

I honestly loved every character in Big Verde and can't wait to read more books set in this town! Thank you Carly Bloom for writing such a great book!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

This book has it all! It is in part funny, quirky, kind. sweet, tender, realistic, sexy, and incredibly HOT!! Why oh why can't there be men like Travis in real life?? He is the epitome of what every modern woman is looking for! There are so many side-splitting lol moments that I just had to keep reading to see what antics Travis and Maggie were going to be up to next! I loved not only the main characters but each secondary character was so well portrayed that I felt that I could meet them in real life and immediately feel like I already knew them well. I have got to find more of Ms. Bloom's work that has already been published and watch for any future books she will be releasing!

Smoking hot spin on the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood! Travis and Maggie are neighbors and can’t seem to escape each other. Travis’ livestock don’t understand land boundaries and to top it off Travis is infringing on Maggie’s professional territory. Travis is a devoted and loyal person who is there to support his nephew. He’s not fitting into the box Maggie wants him in. These two had sizzling attraction and it was fun to read their bantering. Both were pretty tame but their sexy alter egos came out in their texting. Wow! It’s always easier to be more adventurous behind a screen. Definitely recommend! This my was a first time reading this author and she’s on my go to list for sure!

Oh my! What a good book this was! Balanced and layered and sexy and the characters so much fun! This is my first read from this author and I can't wait to read about Ford and Claire!

Travis has to be one of my favorite male characters I've read in recent months. He's so down to earth and the relationship between he and Henry was so touching. Maggie was such a breath of fresh air herself. I loved how normal she felt. It's not fun only ever being one of the guys.

If you like small towns, wonderful characters who are well rounded and have depth, I highly recommend. Oh and it had some steamy scenes too!

First, thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Access to review copies is always appreciated.
Unfortunately, I have chosen not to finish and review this title. I was not able to connect with it, and instead of finishing a title I was not connecting with, I have chosen to move on to another title.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the next title.

I love a good cowboy romance, and this one was no exception. This author was new to me, but I am excited to read more from her.

This is a new to me author who pulled me from page one. This series is off to a great start. The chemistry between the hero and heroine was insane. This is not your typical romance. There were so many moments I laughed as well as steamy moments. This was kinda a retelling of The Red Riding Hood and I loved it. Who doesn’t like a good fairy tale that has been retold for adults? I enjoyed every minute of this book and can’t wait for the next book in the series.

First off, this is a masquerade, secret identity type of story with hot sex in a shed involving little red riding hood and the big bad wolf. I know right.! The funny thing is, I am NOT kidding and this is how it starts off. Under the forceful advice of her friend, Maggie decides to wear a sexy little red riding hood costume to a potential client's Halloween party. It's there that she meets the big bad wolf who is really Travis, who recently came from the military to take care of his family's ranch and nephew. Without knowing each other's real identity, the have hot, fairytale sex in an old shed. How hot.!! The real dilemma in the story comes when Maggie and Travis has to share a contract involving landscaping and the hilarious thing is, Travis recognizes Maggie, but Maggie does not recognize him. There is a lot of sexting going on and Travis being a wimp because he is scared to say, "hey Maggie, I am the big bad wolf, can we have round 2?". The big shoe that is waiting to drop comes in the form of Maggie finding out that Travis is really the wolf. When will she realize it.? When?

This book was kind of hard for me to rate because it started off hot, interesting and a little rivalry to carry the story, but as it went along it started to lose its spark. Travis and Maggie had chemistry and the author did a good job with writing lovely scenes. At the beginning of the story, Maggie is madly in love with her best friend JD and when a big secret is revealed about him, she brushes it off. Hello, she was just in love with him about a week ago and now she's just like meh, whatever. I found that confusing and annoying. I liked Travis because he had a big heart and he had the world on his shoulders along with taking care of his adorable nephew. I did not connect with the characters the way that I wanted to and that was depressing.

In addition, the only "cowboy" thing about Travis is the fact that he is trying to save his family's ranch. His character does not give off that "cowboy" vibe.

All in all, I had to give it three stars because this book just did not carry the great energy throughout the whole story. No tea or blankets, just my book. Sigh!

This author writes characters that feel like real, relatable people who have flaws, but are nonetheless trying their best. There were many things that I loved about this book. Unfortunately, there was one big plot point that caused me to rate it with 3 stars instead of giving it 4 or 5, but I'm still a big fan of the author's and I'm looking forward to reading more books by her. I think I'm in a small minority here, and the issue that really bothered me probably won't affect most other readers.

Travis was a genuinely good guy, trying to escape a toxic past and family (father was a gambler and alcoholic, brother is a petty criminal currently in prison). He enlisted in the military at 18, served honorably for 10+ yrs and now just wants to sell his father's old ranch property and move to Austin where he has a job waiting for him. He has also been named temporary guardian to his nephew, whose mother recently died (the father is his incarcerated brother), and he's trying hard to give the boy some stability while at the same time searching for other relatives that can take the boy off his hands since he feels completely unequipped to take on this responsibility long-term.

Maggie has spent her life other than 4 yrs in college in her small town and was always a tomboy, so she's been friend zoned by just about every guy in her age group. She is a responsible small business owner who owns a successful landscaping business, but she'd like to find a guy who sees her as a woman. She's had a crush on her best friend since high school but like everyone else, he never sees her as anything but a buddy. Finally, at a Halloween party where she attends as Little Red Riding Hood, she makes a play for him, only to have him blow her off. At that point, she meets Travis, who is in a Big Bad Wolf costume complete with mask. She doesn't realize that he's the neighbor who has been taking away some of her business, as well as letting his cows roam in her garden and he doesn't recognize her since he hasn't seen her since high school. The attraction between them is immediate and combustible and they end up sneaking away from the party and having a quickie. Neither wants to know the other's name, so they part on good terms, thinking they will never see each other again.

A day or two later, Travis and Maggie are formally introduced, when a client asks them to mutually landscape her property. Travis immediately recognizes Maggie as his partner at the party, but Maggie has no idea that Travis is the big bad wolf due to the mask he was wearing. She does know that in spite of her anger at him for horning in on what she sees as her landscaping job, she can't help being attracted to him more and more, even as she is sexting with her fling. She still has no idea they are one and the same, although he knows full well what he's doing. That's where I had a problem. I felt that Travis needed to let Maggie know who he really was and that it was very unfair of him to not tell her. This issue reduced my enjoyment in the book, but I still felt that it was well-written and otherwise enjoyable so I'm definitely planning to read more from this author.

Can I just say yum? This book was so much fun. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t steamy. It. Is. Steamy. I loved it.
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This book’s premise might seem simple...but this Fairy Tale retelling was amazingly well done. Travis Blake is back in Big Verde, Texas and Maggie is not enjoying this turn of events. BBC is the classic enemies to lovers (with a fun You’ve Got Mail twist) trope with well developed main characters and a perfect supporting cast. The small town Texas backdrop compliments this story perfectly. This was my first time reading Carly Bloom and I assure you, it will not be my last!

In Big Bad Cowboy, Maggie and Travis had a memorable sexy encounter in a shed during a masquerade ball where Maggie dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and Travis was the Big Bad Wolf. After the masquerade, they continue sexting, the Big Bad Wolf ordering Little Red Riding Hood to do fun, naughty things over text. The kicker is that while Travis recognized Maggie behind the mask, Maggie has no idea who the Big Bad Wolf is, and assumes he's a stranger.

Beyond the masks, Maggie runs the top landscape architect business in town, and resents Travis for taking away jobs from her company. Travis mostly just needs the money -- his family owes a lot of back taxes on their ranch, and he also needs to support his five year old nephew. When a wealthy woman hires both of them to work together to renovate her estate, Maggie hates having to split the job, but also can't help her growing attraction to Travis.

Okay, Big, Bad Cowboy was off-the-charts hot. And funny! I absolutely love Carly Bloom's writing. She manages to inject the most mundane moments with so much sexual chemistry that even discussing the weather can have lots of unintentional double entendres when you're doing it with a hot cowboy. 

I especially love the light touch of BDSM in this book. The scenes where Maggie and Travis take on their Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf personas are super sexy. I also often find in romance novels that books tend to have almost no BDSM at all, or they go hardcore BDSM, but Bloom manages to maintain a wonderfully delicate balance here where the sex scenes are just on the naughtier side of vanilla.

Beyond the heat factor, the humour really makes these characters feel real, and makes even some of the sexier scenes very endearing. In one of my favourite scenes, for example, Travis does a Magic Mike-type striptease, and we know how hot he is and how turned on Maggie is getting. But Bloom shows us this scene from Travis' point of view, and so we also know how vulnerable he's feeling as he strips. At one point, he glances over at Maggie with the thought that if he sees her laughing, the moment would be all over, but then sees that while she's amused and teasing him throughout, he can see she's not actually laughing at him, and so that he feels comfortable with continuing. It's a beautifully written, very relatable moment, and a striking contrast to the freedom he and Maggie feel when behind their Wolf / Red Riding Hood masks.

In another favourite scene, Travis jokingly asks Maggie to demonstrate a seemingly impossible move from an erotica book she's reading. Somehow, Bloom manages to make this one super hilarious, super sweet and super sexy all at the same time, and it's simply fantastic.

I also really enjoyed the stories beyond the romance and the sex. Bloom has created a loveable cast of characters. I especially, absolutely love the JD subplot. Like the Travis and Maggie plot, JD's subplot was just really sweet and felt very true to life. I also really enjoyed the whole drama Travis faced with his brother as it escalated the stakes beyond his relationship with Maggie, and made him an even more likeable character.

Big Bad Cowboy is sexy, sweet, funny and real. It's a wonderful romance, and a nice, slightly naughty, bookish treat for the holidays.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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My review will go live on my blog on Nov 30, 2018.

Carly Bloom is a new-to-me author and Big Bad Cowboy, her début romance. If she sustains this level of humour and pathos, then she has a good chance of becoming many romance readers’ autobuy. Big Bad Cowboy is a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of many romance conceits and in its combining of them, uniquely itself. Be warned, however, Big Bad Cowboy is busy with conceits and stories within stories. To start, the hero, Travis Blake, newly-returned Afghan vet to his dilapidated, tax-debt-ridden Texas ranch and uncle to his incarcerated brother’s and dead sister-in-law’s five-year-old, Henry. Henry is precocious, hilariously sharp-tongued, and Travis knows it from the get-go: “Henry struck him as being smarter than the average five-year-old, which was probably the very worst kind of five-year-old.” Henry provides so much of the novel’s humour; he’s not twee, but acts very much like a Shakespearean sprite: mischievous, temperamental, smart … with moments of heart-breaking pathos. Travis cares for him, indulges him, and knows exactly the right touch to let him know he’s safe, cared-for, loved, cherished. So, for Bloom, there’s one relationship that makes the heart glow and lips grin, what of the rest?

Bloom weaves her characters into a web of love, friendship, and hilarious small-town shenanigans, with a good dose of serious about stereotypes of men and women’s roles, gender identities, sexual preferences, and a genuine and original touch of what it means to be a neighbour, to achieve a tapestry of delight. She also manages to poke a little, loving, gentle fun at romance erotica, all the while saying something about public personas and private desires. You see, she has her hero, Travis, and landscape-architect heroine, Maggie Mackey, meets at a Hallowe’en party, in one of the funniest, sexiest scenes I’ve ever read. Travis and Maggie spend one gloriously, sexy, heart-stopping night, BUT, thanks to Travis relatively new arrival and Henry’s touch with costuming, as well as Maggie’s Little Red Riding Hood persona, they part without knowing that they are each other’s nemeses.

Nemeses, you say? Yup, turns out Travis and Maggie are neighbours and Travis’s cows, thanks to his decrepit fences, are trampling Maggie’s apple orchard … which has resulted, these past few weeks, in Maggie leaving Travis hilariously threatening notes: “Maggie had gleefully revived the battle in true Hatfield and McCoy style.” The remainder of the novel continues in this slapstick manner. Thanks to a fairy godmother, Travis manages to get Maggie’s number and they do a lot of sexting. Travis goes off with Henry for a week-long camping trip and returns with a beard, ensuring that Maggie never realizes who he is, even after they begin to work together, through no effort of their own. Maggie’s’ landscaping business, Petal Pushers, lands a big contract renovating the grounds of a recent, rich divorcée … with fond memories of Travis’s stint as her family’s lawn boy. Divorcée Annabelle Vasquez hires BOTH Maggie and Travis (who’s working any job he can to keep the ranch and Henry). Very long story short, Travis knows who Maggie is, but Maggie remains clueless for the majority of the novel.

This irony and the convoluted plotting and sexting get to be too much. I was especially impatient with Maggie being kept in the dark about Travis’s “Big Bad Wolf” Hallowe’en identity. On the other hand, Bloom was playing with the no-infidelity romance edict in an interesting way. Maggie starts to really like Travis, even as she sexts with her unknown “wolf”. Nevertheless, Bloom comes down on the romance side when Maggie breaks off with the Hallowe’en wolf for Travis-neighbour-and-cute-kid with whom she’s getting closer and closer. In the same way, Bloom’s novel, as far as sexual explicitness goes, is a sly comment on erotica. The initial sex scene and subsequent sexting skirt the boundaries of my comfort level. At the same time, the sex “scenes” are really quite singular, the first one, and everything that follows is tame by comparison. What Bloom does is build a relationship between Travis and Maggie that is tender, funny, and beautifully heart-warming. I loved this one moment when Maggie sees Travis with Henry and is moved, seeing Travis as more than abs and dimples:

She looked through the French doors to where Travis squatted next to Henry, who was poking at an ant mound with a stick. Henry squealed, dropped the stick, and slapped at his hand. Travis brought the little fingers to his bearded face and delivered a quick kiss to make it better. More than just man candy, then.

Travis is such a wonderful combination of sexy alpha in the mask, total softie in every other way: how could Maggie NOT fall in love with him?

Maggie too is a great character. She’s all about her company and landscaping work. And work she has, mostly to convince a male-dominated workspace about how good she really is. So, it’s understandable that she resents Travis’s brawn when he shows up at Annabelle’s and her bare-canvas landscape. But Travis is all there is to be in decent, funny, and warm, and their growing relationship is a delight. Of course, the big betrayal moment looms and looms, but it’s surmountable because of everything they’ve built to that point. Maggie is funny and wonderful with Henry too: there’s as much banter between her and Henry as there is between Henry and Travis as there is between Maggie and Travis. Great dialogue is one of the many rom things Bloom is good at. Another one is creating terrific complementary secondary characters: Maggie’s partner, Claire, and her rancher dad, Gerome, who takes Travis and his cattle under his wing, the hilarious Bubba, and the heart-breaking JD, Maggie’s best friend, a whole town of flawed and gossiping characters, but also neighbourliness and affection. Bloom makes all their HEAs convincing and celebratory. I just hope she has more of this goodness up her writerly sleeves. With Miss Austen, we say that Big Bad Cowboy is evidence of “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Carly Bloom’s Big Bad Cowboy is published by Forever Romance (Grand Central Publishing). It was released on October 30th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from Forever, via Netgalley.

This is the first in the Once Upon A Time Series by Carly Bloom and my first read by this author and she wow'd me. How did I not know if her before. Hot cowboys and fairy tell retellings, sign me up asap! I jumped in blind to this story but was quickly enticed by Travis and Maggie. She was full of sass and I love that in my heroines. He was all sorts of intriguing. I will definitely be reading more of this author in the future.
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4.5 Smooches

Big Bad Cowboy is 100% a mix of fairytale magic and You’ve Got Mail all in one little book package. It was a really fun story but a tad heavier in the serious aspect than some of the other romance books I have read in the past. Travis and Maggie had fantastic chemistry and I loved little Henry. He was a nice addition of comic relief a lot of the time. I also enjoyed the core group of supporting characters. If I had to complain about a thing or two I would have to say the pacing at the end was a little abrupt and I wish that Travis and Maggie fought a little more than they did because I love a good love/hate kind of story. All in all I enjoyed myself reading it and got wrapped up in parts (I almost missed my train stop). I recommend picking this up for a fun, quick read.