Wow! What an emotional journey! I stayed up until 3am to finish this book. So many feelings, it was warm and heartbreaking at the same time! Definitely a story you need to read!

A True Cowboy Christmas by Caitlin Crews is a fabulous western romance. Ms. Crews has delivered a well-written book. The characters in this book are outstanding. Kudos to Ms. Crews for this fabulous cast of characters. Gray has worked his father's ranch for years while his brothers went off into different professions. Abby is Gray's closest neighbor and has been in love with him since childhood. Gray and Abby's story is loaded with drama, humor, sizzle and conflict. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover and look forward to reading more from Caitlin Crews in the future. A True Cowboy Christmas is book 1 of the Cold River Ranch Series but can be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Gray and Abby have both been damaged terribly and by two people who should have loved them unconditionally-her mother and his father. Gray’s father was a cruel drunk who drove everyone away except for his eldest son. Abby was abandoned as an infant by her mother. She was raised by loving grandparents, but periodic verbal abuse by a jealous mother scarred her for most of her life. Gray and Abby agree to something of a marriage of convenience following his father’s death. Unbeknownst to Gray, Abby has actually been in love with him for years and he is very attracted to her and comes to care for her quickly. However, their backgrounds make it difficult for them to get to a point of love in their marriage. The story is well written and heartbreaking at times, as we watch Abby struggle to connect with Gray. Just when it looks like that won’t happen, there is a bit of a Christmas miracle.

This was deep. And dark. And made my heart hurt. Gray and Abby have LOTS, and I mean LOTS, of baggage that they bring into their relationship. Watching them work through it made me happy and restored my faith in happy endings :) Just so you know, Gray way of making it right with Abby was AWESOME. Honestly, he was swoony all through the book. His dark and brooding made him even hotter.

I'm anxious to get to the stories of Gray's brothers and I am soooo curious about what went on with Abby's friend Rae and where she will end up :)

First things first, yes it has Christmas in the title and you do get to it but not without a whole lot of emotional situations. Our main stars Gray and Abby +1 his teenage daughter have deep rooted scars. They need to work through all this baggage if they want to make their arrangement work. This was the perfect start to the series that was far from hearts and roses. There were many bumps in the road. That made this HEA one worth fighting for. We also had a wide variety of secondary characters that contributed to this story. I wholeheartedly enjoyed every bit of this book and can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC that was graciously provided by ST. Martin’s Press.

Gray Everett and his brothers have lived a life of misery. Their father was mean and unhappy and made everyone around him miserable. When his father finally died, Gray needed a plan to keep the land he loved and support for his motherless teenage daughter, so he came up with a practical plan, marriage of convenience to long time neighbor Abby Douglas.
She also had a hard life, her mother was not one to be proud of ...and she never married, so he thought she'd jump on his offer.
Abby has loved him from afar ...since forever, but isn't sure she could handle a cold marriage, so she tells him it's not a good idea. But Gray really is invested in his plan and convinces her to go for it.
Amazingly his daughter, Becca, is thrilled by the idea, as is her grandmother. Not so her mother who pops up and is nastily negative, giving Abby doubts.
But Abby's sweet loving nature and honesty makes Gray fall hard for her, maybe he had already and just didn't know it.
Covering family dysfunction, people of good character, friendly neighbors, Abby and Becca each dealing with their issues with their mothers, both mothers being selfish good time girls.
I requested and was granted an ARC from NetGalley and enjoyed not only the love story but the way Abby healed the whole Everett family.

Well this is a depressing beginning.

Sheesh, how many lovers did his wife have?

Abby's grandmother sounds like a lot of fun.

So. Awkward.

If anything, at least she'll have her grandpa's land back.

I hear ya, honey. I always imagined I would do well as a spinster companion to an old lady.

Settling for an unrequited marriage isn't the answer for everyone.

I'm glad her "chauffeurs" didn't listen to her.

Lily is just a jealous hag.

Colorado lets couples marry themselves? Isn't that kind of depressing?

What the heck's wrong with decorating for Christmas?

So sex is going to be what their marriage is about. Got it.

He expects her to get mad when he doesn't respond to her declaration of love, but he doesn't get that she doesn't expect love from anyone but her grandmother.

I want to give Becca such a big hug. Then dig Amos up and punch his corpse five or six hundred times.

He does a good apology, that is for sure.

I received an arc from Netgalley. When a man endured verbal abuse most of his life he does not feel worthy of love or even know how to display his love. When a woman goes through the same verbal abuse by her so called mother she also doubts she will ever be loved.

When Gray and Abby meet and make an agreement they have no idea how much their lives are going to change and how much love can change all kinds of circumstances. Becca is also a light that brings them together.

Great read of love, hope and forgiveness.