Carly Bloom's Big Bad Cowboy is a raw love story about love forming from a man and woman, the bonds of an Uncle and nephew becoming more, the love between friends. This book will touch your heart in so many ways. It's my first read for this author and I'm so impressed.
When Travis gets out of the Army - he has a lot put on his plate. A nephew who is now in his care, a rundown Ranch and not a lot of job options to help him accomplish things. When he lived in this small town when he was younger he ran but, that's what he does...
Maggie is firmly in the friend zone with most men in town she stubborn and feisty and disappointed that the one man she has crushed on for years isn't interested in her. So at Halloween party, she turns to a stranger.
Can Travis and Maggie get through hurdles to be together or is it bound to be a disappointment?
This book has humor and intense feel moments.

Carly Bloom just skyrocketed to the top of my authors to watch list with this book. This book had it all- it was funny and touching and the romance was smoldering. I loved both Maggie and Travis and really loved all of the secondary characters as well. I cannot wait to see what Bloom writes next.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another delightful cowboy romance. Carly Bloom is a debut author with Forever publishing and this inaugural story left me entertained and satisfied. It's pure romance set in Texas with an enemies-to-lovers trope. Travis and Maggie are both solid characters. Travis, the most charming, has come back to his home town to settle affairs and sort his young nephew. Maggie, having never left, feels encroached upon as their respective businesses collide. Banter, tension, hilarity, and friendship ensue.

Carly Bloom's plot here was typical of the romance type in which it meets. Her writing reflective of the likable characters she created. If you're into cowboy romance stories this is a solid, easy read that you will enjoy.

Big Bad Cowboy is book one in the Once Upon a Time in Texas series by Carly Bloom. This is my very first book by Carly. This is one of those books that caught my eye while scrolling through my feed. How could I not want to investigate this book further? And I’m so glad that I did!

Travis Blake has been away from his home town of Big Verde, Texas, for twelve years. He’s just left the military eight weeks ago and thought he had everything planned out. Until two weeks after getting out he got a call that changed everything.

Travis’s dad has been gone for awhile now. He was a drunk and a gambler. The only thing he somehow kept ahold of was the ranch. It was left to both Travis and his brother. Only currently his brother is in prison. Travis gave his okay for his brother’s wife and their little boy to live there. Only now she has passed away and Travis’s nephew has no one. He has no experience with kids. So, with the full intention of this being a purely temporary arrangement until he can find someone else that is better equipped to raise a child, and also to sell the ranch, he goes home.

“Henry struck him as being smarter than the average five year old, which was probably the very worst kind of five year old.”

Mary Margaret Mackey, or Maggie as everyone calls her, went to college after high school and got her degree in landscape architecture. Now she’s back in Big Verde building a landscaping business. Her grandmother passed away a year ago and she inherited the ranch. She’s not sure what she eventually wants to do with her grandmother’s beautiful land. But what she ‘does’ want to do is keep the neighbors cows from breaking through the fence and eating all the apples in the orchard.

A chance meeting brings Maggie and Travis together under the guise of disguise at a Halloween party. Inhibitions are forgotten and they share an unforgettable encounter. Travis will soon realize that the woman he can’t forget is to be his work partner in a landscaping job. Not only that, she’s his neighbor. She hasn’t figured out that he is the mysterious man she shared her evening with but he knows!

Maggie and Travis’s relationship goes through so many stages. The one thing that is a constant through it all, though, is chemistry. The texting that goes on between these two is off the charts hot! As Travis is trying to navigate his growing feelings for Maggie, he is also trying to learn how to take care of a grieving five year old little boy and also to save the ranch. What he once thought was a very temporary arrangement is beginning to feel more and more permanent, more like home.

“A month ago, it had been him and Henry against the world. Now he had friends and people who felt like family.”

I have to say that I fell in love with this book. First, I am so in love with this community. They all jumped in to help Travis in any way they could. At first he couldn’t have felt any more alone. There came a point, though, when he realized he wasn’t alone at all, that these people were his friends, his family. Little Henry was so precious and stole my heart. And Travis, well, if you have a soft spot for dirty talking, alpha, sexy cowboys, then he’s your guy. Well, he’s MY guy!

This book was sexy as heck, sweet, fun and just plain fabulous. After just one book, I am calling myself a Carly Bloom fan most definitely. I can’t wait to see what comes next in this series!

I enjoyed this novel. It was funny, cute, and had some very sexy times. I felt I needed a little more character/relationship build up however it flowed well and I thought the ending was not rushed (which I have noticed happens a lot in romance novels now.)