I struggled to read this book. I do like the author's writing style and I have enjoyed the previous books in the series that I have read but this one was just a struggle for me and parts of the story just seems to drag. The story was ok but not one I know I will be reading again.

I loved this. Walker is trying his hardest to be sober but he feels like everyone is just waiting for him to screw up and the family business is a winery. And then Violet shows up and they are good together except the timing is off. It’s hard and it’s sweet and it’s messy and I loved it.

An incredibly emotional story with tough topics...the story of Walker Everett and his demons with alcohol and Violet Chastain and her mother's illness will tare at your heartstrings. Newly sober Everett is fighting his demons at every turn until Violet Chastain crashes into his life. The book was so good I had to read it through without putting it down.

A.J. Pine once again had me falling in love with Crossroads Ranch. With each new book my love for this family grows. I am a sucker for a good cowboy romance and Pine never disappoints.
I have been dying to get my hands on Walker's story since the first book in this series and it was everything I hoped it would be. Walker and Violet had so much chemistry I could feel it jumping off the pages straight into my heart. I couldn't get enough of the push and pull between these two.
I loved every second of this sweet, sexy, perfect ending this amazing series. I highly recommend you pick this one and the other two in this series up, you won't be sorry I promise!

I really enjoyed Walker's story in this third book of the Crossroads Ranch series. While each of these stories can be read standalone, i think they are much more enjoyable if read in order. Understanding the family dynamics as the three brothers work together to save the family ranch builds throughout each of the books. Walker has always been the troubled brother of the three seemingly going down the same alcoholic path as the father. With the strength, love, and support of his brothers Walker is working to turn his life around Will he be able to slay his demons? Will his new friendship with a ranch employee be his salvation or his downfall?? You want to read his story and find out. I highly recommend it.

This was a new to me author and I liked the premise of it.

I really liked Violet and Walker. They had great chemistry and banter. The flirting was fantastic. I really liked his brothers and her parents and i just might go back to read the other books because of the characters.

Plot wise, I’m not sure. I get the reasons why Walker didn’t want to talk about being an alcoholic with Violet, but it was also quite stupid. There wasn’t any talk of his being in recovery. And okay, sure, maybe people succeed without meetings and support, in this particular set up, it left me in a constant state of waiting for the shoe to drop.

This was mostly a fluffy story, but there are things that aren’t even hinted at in the synopsis and that always makes for a bit of a let down. Almost like it’s a bait and switch, as I’m not sure I would have requested it knowing about the dark parts and complications.

Overall, it was the characters that kept me interested and an epilogue that really delivered.

FYI: talks of alcoholism, harm while intoxicated, and child abuse

**Huge thanks to Forever for providing the arc free of charge**

It is Walker's story! In the Crossroads Ranch series, the first two Everett brothers have found love. I have been eagerly awaiting Walker's story because of the fact that he has spent his last years in the bottom of a bottle. For a love story for Walker to work he would have to make huge strides. Readers will not be disappointed.

When asked by his family's ranch and vineyard's new employee, Violet Chastain, ask him to pretend to be her boyfriend when around her parents, he finds this to be a great challenge. For starters, his life is barely on track and he has been sober, thanks to rehab, for just two months. He has enough on his plate with that and with keeping his family's businesses going strong. To further complicate things, Walker really, really likes Violet but this is the worst possible time for him to become involved in a relationship.

Violet just ended a relationship, for starters. Furthermore, she is very concerned about her parents, particularly her mother. She has put her life on hold due to her loyalty to them. When she says that she and Walker are dating, she sees their joy and decides to keep up the ruse. What she must now do is to fight the very real attraction she has to Walker. The question proves to be just how long can they deny their undeniable chemistry.

I have read all three stories in this series prior to this one and this one definitely is my favorite. Walker has come a long way. He has not had it easy as he lost his mother while young and had an abusive father. His brothers have been patient with him but he finally was forced to face his problem with drinking. I do like how his sobriety was handled. All the while, Walker deserved love. In spades. Violet was indeed perfect for him, but his baggage was real. The conflict was real.

With the time it took for Walker to deal with his addiction, a very genuine relationship was built with Violet. One other thing I enjoyed about this book was Violet's selfless attitude when it came to her family, and that brought another sensitive issue to the fore.

A.J. Pine has quickly become a favorite author of mine with these books. They are wonderful love stories, but with a strong sense of family. This affecting story will be with me for a while to come.

Hard Loving Cowboy is the last book in the Crossroads Ranch series. The previous stores are Second Chance Cowboy, Saved by the Cowboy and Tough Luck Cowboy. Each story in this series can be read as a standalone.

Many thanks to Forever and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

After reading countless books by many talented both new authors and well established ones I found myself in a weird book funk place.
My interest wasn’t even near what it used to be and desire for reading was slowly fading away and I was losing a piece of myself.
So I said to my friend and co-blogger to just pick a book out for me to read and she sent me Hard Loving Cowboy and the rest is history.

I have never heard or read anything by this author but that will change because after the prologue alone I was sold and became one more fan of the Crossroads Series.
From the start, Walker touched my heart and all my emotions came to life for him and I was feeling so much while reading that I had actual tears in my eyes of happiness that this book brought back to me and my reading mojo was back in business.

Walker is the youngest one of the Everett clan and he is going through some tough time in his life and feels worthless and undeserving of his family and friends.
All of them are trying to help Walker out but he sees it as they are keeping tabs on him and waiting for his next mistake.
Out of nowhere the lovely and bubbly Violet literally runs into Walker's arms and the passion those two share is unmistakable and from that moment on their relationship gets tricky because she was there for a job interview with his brother Jack.

As much as I loved Walker and Violet they aren’t the only ones who made this book a great read for me but all other side characters that already have their books published.
So you could say I basically know all of their stories and the outcomes by now but that won’t stop me to go back to the start and fall in love with the rest of the Everett family!

Well written book with loveable characters that have a real vibe around that.
I enjoyed it very much and look forward for the rest of them :)

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Review to be posted on the release day

Every once in a while, I’ll read a book and think, “they really should have had a social worker vet this first.” While I’ve really enjoyed Pine’s books previously, including the first book in this series (I sadly haven’t had a chance to read the second one yet), Hard Loving Cowboy included concerning messages about addiction and recovery. The romance as presented shouldn’t have happened in this timeframe. I was too worried Walker would relapse to be able to enjoy the story.

Walker is fresh out of rehab for alcoholism when the book begins. He’s doing carpentry projects on the family’s vineyard, which will be opening later in the year. Regardless of not having anything for sale yet, his family hasn’t come up with a game plan for him working at the winery, which isn’t the best course of action. Thrown into the mix is the new sommelier Violet. They both have legitimate reasons for not dating each other and oh I wish they’d stuck to those reasons.

It’s recommended those in recovery to avoid relationships the first year. Recovery is a long road and the newly sober person needs to process what led them to this point, learn new coping skills, and figure out how to love themselves before they can try to love someone else. They also need to make sure they’re able to pick a healthy partner and not repeat bad patterns from the past. If people are not aware of this, then perhaps they’ll be able to roll along with the premise and root for this couple.

While I think Walker and Violet are ultimately good for one another, I don’t believe they’re good for each other under the circumstances in which they meet. They should not have gotten involved when they did. Walker needed to be focused on his recovery, not what Violet thought about him, especially because he refused to tell her he was in recovery.

Because he chose, again and again, to not disclose his alcoholism, Violet jeopardized his recovery in ways big and small. That’s not fair to him or to her. It takes most of the book before she basically ends up figuring it out on her own. Frankly, he owed her the truth from the beginning, whether or not they were going to have a fake relationship. I was gobsmacked no one in the family ever referenced his alcoholism around Violet, particularly because she’s now part of a family business and because if an alcoholic is going to work at a winery, there better be a plan in place in how everyone will support their sobriety.

This is all the more important because aside from going to rehab, Walker wasn’t doing the work. He should have been in AA and he should have been in therapy. At least one, if not both. What was in place to prevent him from relapsing? He consistently avoided phone calls from family and friends. I get that he felt like they were judging him and not trusting his sobriety but that’s part of doing the work. That’s part of regaining their trust. He’s still mad at the sheriff for arresting him and pressing charges, even though it likely saved his life. He saved a picture of himself from that night so he can see tangible proof of what his alcoholism means so he clearly understands that on some level but not enough. Especially because he keeps a bottle of whiskey at his place so he can test himself by not drinking every night. This is a recipe for disaster!

Additionally, Violet deserved the chance to decide for herself whether she wanted to date someone in recovery and what that would mean. Should she stop drinking herself? Is Walker even emotionally healthy enough to be in a relationship? (Spoiler alert: he isn’t.)

Walker continually thinks about how he doesn’t know who is anymore, which is true of people who struggle with addiction. They are different people when they are sober and their lives have to look different in order to maintain sobriety. So if he doesn’t know who he is, then how can he realistically start something healthy with Violet?

And all this doesn’t even touch Violet’s relationship with her parents and how she goes behind her mother’s back to contact an estranged family member ostensibly for her mother’s medical care due to Multiple Sclerosis. I couldn’t really understand the family dynamics, nor why she felt so insistent about going to Paris to discover her roots. Let’s talk about her roots. She’s biracial(French-Sengalese mother, white father) but aside from mentioning her skin color and the fact that she and her mother were the only People of Color at her parents’ anniversary party (which felt impossible to me), there’s no lived experience in the book. If white authors want to depict characters who are People Of Color, by all means they should but they need to put in the time and effort. This wasn’t bad representation per se but it wasn’t fully developed.

I wish Walker and Violet had worked through their issues and circled back around to one another a year later. I would have been curious to see how things developed for them then and I would no longer have feared Walker’s relapse was around every corner.

There’s a novella by Sara Richardson at the end of this that I ended up DNFing. The gender stereotypes and men complaining about buying tampons for their women were just too much to deal with.

A.J. Pine is one of my “go-to” authors and I know if she writes it, I’m going to love it. It’s no exception with Hard Loving Cowboy, the final book in her Crossroads Ranch series.

In Hard Loving Cowboy, we get Walker’s story, the youngest of the Everett brothers. These brothers have been through so much in their lives and Walker is still battling his demons. He’s doing what he can to turn his life around and when he meets Violet in an unexpected way, things definitely get better.

What starts out as a fake relationship turns into so much more. Even though it isn’t an easy road to their HEA, you know these two are meant to be together. I was rooting for them from the beginning!

A great ending to the series, this heartfelt small-town cowboy romance is sure to have you turning the pages!

Walker is trying his best to get his life back on track. Violet is trying to put her life on hold for others. Both are in a different place in their life.

I liked this small town romance, but it read a little slow. The story line and thee characters were great. It just seemed like the whole book was a back and forth game because of Walker's feelings.

The events and characters broke my heart. They gave up so much and had to endure a lot to get their HEA.

- A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing series with wonderful, in depth characters. This author has a way of pulling you in and keeping your attention from the beginning until the end. The storyline flows seamlessly. The characters are wonderful, loveable and flawed. They make you feel welcome, at home and pull you into their world. This is another amazing story. I can't wait to read the next book.

I read Hard Loving Cowboy based upon the blurb...and it absolutely did not disappoint. This novel is the romance of Walker and Violet. Their story starts with an impulsive fake entanglement and then is perpetuated by another fake relationship. But Walker and Violet seem destined to get together despite the odds against them.

Hard Loving Cowboy was more heartfelt and emotional than I was expecting. The author tackles some seriously tough real life issues. Addiction, disease, family estrangement, and personal history all mesh to make one incredible journey for this couple.

This book is part of a series but I read it as a standalone without any problems. It is one I would definitely recommend giving a read.

Hard Loving Cowboy is a wonderful novel of friendship, family, and love. A.J. Pine has written a novel filled with chemistry and I could FEEL their blossoming love coming right off the pages. I love me a good cowboy romance and A.J. Pine is definitely one of my "go-to" authors within the genre. With that being said, if you enjoy books that will make you smile and cheer for the couples this is the book for you! You can expect an attraction that is off the charts, a fake relationship turned into something more, and a swoon worthy hero that will quickly steal your heart!

How do you face the every day struggling with an addiction when your addiction is your family's livelihood. That is the difficult topic Pine tackles in Hard Loving Cowboy while penning a beautiful friendship with amazing chemistry that turns into so much more.

You ever read one of those books where you want to yell at the characters to just talk to each other...I did feel that way with Walker's secrets.

Hard Loving Cowboy provides that happy, feel good vibe while taking on a difficult topic of addiction all the while building a strong friendship to romance, Rocky Mountain Cowboy by Sara Richardson!

The book also includes a great second romance that includes heartache and coming back from a life altering accident and forgiving yourself to live.

I received this ARC copy of Hard Loving Cowboy from Forever (Grand Central Publishing). This is my honest and voluntary review. Hard Loving Cowboy is set for publication March 26, 2019.

My Rating: 4 stars
Written by: A.J. Pine
Series: Crossroads Ranch
Sequence in Series: Book 4
Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN-10: 1538727110
ISBN-13: 978-1538727119
Genre: Western Romance

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Loving-Co...
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7 likes

When I read the synopsis I knew I was in! If it has a Broody Cowboy sign me up. A fake relationship, even better. What I didn't know was why Walker was trying to not complicate his life, and this added an element I'm usually not too big a fan of. That being said, I think A.J. Pine did a wonderful job of portraying a difficult issue many people struggle. There were ups, downs, and in-betweens that made the story realistic. Plus, it all just had you rooting for Walker and Violet the whole way through!

Walker is really held back by dysfunctional family stuff from his youth and his own mistakes in early adulthood, but his brothers and aunt are a good support system. I loved seeing the small and caring interactions they shared. Plus, his and Jenna and her chicken Lucy are too funny!

Violet is just a caring little ball of awesomeness! I like how there is a point in the story where they bring up that she is a person of color and it's just real, and not this dramatic thing. She's smart, successful, and loyal to her family! She goes after what she wants, and I admire that about her.

Overall, this was a fun cowboy romance. I really need to read the first books in the series now. I want to learn how the brothers' childhood affect them in different ways. I love characters with a past that get their well-deserved happy ending.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a new author to me and I really enjoyed this cowboy romance. I like the fake boyfriend storyline. I am looking forward to reading more in the series.

3.5 Stars
I'm waffling between 3 & 4 Stars. Three stars always feels like a bad score but I did like it, just not love it.

I was so looking forward to Walker's story. I think the problem was that I expected the plot to be one thing but it was actually something different. The hard part is that the plot was so much better than what I was expecting (a much healthier relationship). Dang it, I changed my mind again. Bumping it up to four stars.

So really this book was great. A sweet easy romance.

Great cowboy/redemption story. I found myself rooting for Walker. Great secondary characters. Lovely, revisiting past characters

4.5 stars

Walker's story really surprised me with how heartfelt and emotional it was. It was such an honest and unflinching story about finding your way, facing your demons, and loving and fighting for yourself. This is the 3rd book in the Crossroads Ranch series, but can be enjoyed as a standalone. Previous characters do appear though and our hero is introduced earlier in the series.

In Hard Loving Cowboy, we watch both our heroine and hero struggle with the responsibilities of life and triggers they face day to day. Sometimes they stumble and other times they rise. Both Walker and Violet are broken people when we meet them. Their introduction is less than conventional, but it allows them both to drop the masks and be happier versions of themselves without the stress of reality. Even with their omissions, they are both seen in a way neither has ever experienced before. Pine tackled several difficult subjects beautifully in this book, showing not only the harsh realities and lasting effects, but also the emotional toll carried by loved ones. It was raw and honest and really struck a chord with me.

I loved the chemistry between broody Walker and steamroller Violet. The build up between them was fantastic as they tried to fight the connection growing between them. They pushed and challenged each other, while being supportive and understanding. Walker's weekly dinner date with Violet's family was so sweet and tender. It was such a contrast to the person he felt trapped as in Oak Bluff. What I appreciated most about the story though was that even after everything is laid out on the table, both Violet and Walker knew that they needed to be whole before trying to build any future between them. They still chased their dreams and loved themselves as much as each other. So many times, a magic bullet comes at the end of the story to tie everything into a nice and pretty bow. Pine still gave us the pretty bow, but in a realistic and more meaningful way.

This was a great way to end this series and I loved the little tidbits about Cash, Jack, and Luke's futures. A novella further down the line to check in with the everyone would be awesome and hey, doesn't Jenna need her own HEA? ;) We're not leaving the Crossroads Ranch world just yet though, and the preview of My One and Only Cowboy at the end shows us that we're headed to Meadow Valley with Sam Callahan next. I can't wait!

*I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book*