You may have noticed that I am not a big reader of cowboy romances. Usually, cowboys just do not do much for me. But when I read the synopsis of Jessica Clare’s recent release, Her Christmas Cowboy, I was intrigued. It features a very shy hero and a recently divorced woman who is trying to stand on her own two feet.

Caleb gets tongue-tied around women. He grew up in the Alaskan wilderness with his brothers and though they now live in a more populated area in Wyoming (though still small town), Caleb is still incredibly shy. But he has a huge crush on new teacher, Amy, and wants to make his intentions known… somehow. He volunteers to be Santa to her Mrs. Claus even though the thought of being Santa has him scared. But he’s going to find his courage.

When Amy starts receiving gifts from a secret admirer, she is at first pleased if mystified but soon she is disturbed by the gifts. When Caleb reveals he is one (yes ONE!) of her secret admirers, Amy is pleased. She didn’t think he even liked her. But as he finally opens up, talks a bit more, Amy finds Caleb to be a quality man.

Honestly, this is just a sweet love story. Amy is trying to learn how to do things on her own after her ex-husband controlled her life. She wants to be able to deal with the big hole in her bedroom ceiling but she knows it is a costly repair. And yeah, she cries when it happens but she bucks up and does her best to keep going forward. Caleb’s entrance into her life helps a lot because he ends up doing quite a few repairs as his way of trying to show her he is interested. Amy has to show Caleb that even though she appreciates what he is doing, she knows she has to find her own footing too. These two walk a fine line as Amy searches for independence.

The Christmas setting is WONDERFUL in this book. Oh my gosh if you like sweet love notes, please pick this book up. Caleb finds ways to show Amy his interest (that do not creep her out) in such a positive and affirming way. I just really enjoyed his presence. Amy and Caleb find their way together, learning to talk (well, mostly him) but also enjoying the silences that come with becoming comfortable and intimate with someone you admire and respect.

Her Christmas Cowboy is just a pleasing story. I haven’t read anything from Jessica Clare lately because she is mostly writing about cowboys but I am so glad I took a chance on this book. It’s going to be a great romance any time of the year.

Her Christmas Cowboy is available now!

4.5 Stars

Her Christmas Cowboy is the latest book in Jessica Clare’s Wyoming Cowboy series which is fast becoming a favorite series of mine. I’ve previously reviewed The Cowboy Meets his match and was excited to find Clare’s work to be both heartfelt and steamy. I may have mentioned this before, but I’m obsessed with Christmas. Like puts up her tree before Thanksgiving kind of obsessed with Christmas. So when I saw Clare had another Christmas story for her Wyoming series (heads up there are two other Christmas titles in this series) I of course jumped at the chance to review it.

This story is about Caleb Watson a rough cowboy who’s developed a crush on the town’s pretty teacher Amy McKinney. For Caleb, it was nearly love at first sight, but he has trouble speaking to Amy and on top of that she was a recent divorce which made him hold back a bit. I love how strong and silent Caleb was so gone for Amy that he was willing to get over some tough issues for himself to show her his feelings. Clare does an excellent job of showing enough to Caleb’s issues to make you feel for him, but not so much that it overwhelms the story.

Amy was a wonderful match for Caleb her grit and determination complement his. She’s decided to divorce her husband because he treats her like a possession. When her parents throw a fit and state they want nothing to do with her because of the divorce, she accepts it and moves on. She doesn’t let anyone pressure her into keeping up with a marriage that makes her miserable and I loved her for that.

These two end up spending time together first because they’ve volunteered to be Santa and Mrs. Clause at the Christmas Carnival. When Amy needs help around her rental she calls on Caleb for help, and of course, he comes to her aid. It was kind of funny to watch these two as he was too shy to admit his feelings and she thought his one-word answers were kind of odd. Little does she know that he’s been acting as her secret Santa as well as volunteering for the Carnival all as a means to get closer to her. When these two finally get through all the shyness and misunderstandings their romance is sweet, but whoo man do they also heat up the bedroom.

This book isn’t just a holiday romance, it’s a story of love and overcoming your fears to get the one thing in life you really want. I think any romance reader is going to have a huge soft spot for Caleb. After all, who doesn’t love a strong silent type that’s secretly pining for his woman? Not this girl! This book was like if Hallmark decided to get a little naughty and had an extra glass of wine with dinner. There’s plenty of steam to keep even this picky reader happy, but it’s not at the loss of a truly sweet and satisfying love story.

~ Lindsey

HER CHRISTMAS COWBOY is the fifth book in THE WYOMING COWBOY series. I was immediately brought back to Painted Barrel, Wyoming with characters I’ve met before. This is a heartwarming romance that really brings out romance and the Christmas spirit.

This is Amy and Caleb’s story, and both are loners. Caleb is definitely the strong, silent type. He’s lived in Alaska off the grid most for of his life, only leaving when he and his brothers come to his uncle’s ranch to help out for a year. Amy is a kindergarten teacher and teaches Caleb’s niece. She’s divorced and moved to a small town to get away from the big city and her ex. But it hasn’t worked out as she’s planned. Then Caleb and Amy play Santa and Mrs. Claus at the school carnival, and things heat up.

The story is filled with family and friends, taking place during the winter holiday season. The interactions between Caleb and Amy showcase how damaged yet redeemable they both are, wanting and needing love from each other. The Christmas touches throughout the book bring a holiday spirit to the romance. An excerpt of THE BACHELOR COWBOY, the next book in the series, just whet my appetite for more.

Ms. Clare is an author whose contemporary romances I’ve enjoyed whether with cowboys or billionaires. I have more of her books on my always growing TBR pile.

Caleb Watson is the younger brother of Hank, from the previous romance, and we’re treated to his and Amy’s romance here in Her Christmas Cowboy. I loved every minute!

The minute Caleb laid eyes on Amy, Painted Barrel’s kindergarten teacher, Caleb knew she was the woman for him. Now if Caleb could ever get a sentence out that made sense, his dreams of being with Amy might come true. It seems every time he opens his mouth everything gets twisted up and he makes a fool of himself. However, Amy is pretty patient, and she seems to get that Caleb, like his brother Hank, has some issues interacting with people.

I’m loving Jessica Clare’s Wyoming Cowboy series, and the last couple of books with these shy cowboys from Alaska have melted my heart! I will say to have a little patience with Caleb and Amy’s romance because it does take some time before Caleb makes any headway. An assumption about some of Amy’s secret-admirer-gifts leads to a bit of confusion that pauses their progress, but I just adored these two together even when they got their signals crossed. Caleb is such a sweetheart, and Amy was a girl in need of a good man as the last one gave out Sleeping with the Enemy vibes! Yikes!

Now I’m dying to start the next Wyoming Cowboys story which centers on Jack Watson, the more outgoing, sort of ladies’ man of the brothers!

Sweet N spicy with a hot cowboy to boot! Yes, please!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This story, and the series which are standalones for the most part, feature socially awkward men and their attempts at finding the woman of their dreams.

The story is about Caleb and I think he’s the most awkward of them all. There were several parts in the story that I thought if that was me he was trying to impress or even speak to I may not have listened!

Not only was he socially awkward he was practically speechless much of the time. You actually feel terrible for this poor guy.

He happens to fall head over heels with the brand new teacher in town. She’s struggling fresh off of a divorce and learning how to take care of herself. He does what he does best and that is work and help her out of many tough situations.

The story is sweet, compassionate and the author certainly did a wonderful job crafting this cowboy. He perfectly balances her needs not to mention he is definitely a hot cowboy.

Entertaining, sexy, fun, and empowering, Clare nails it in this sweet Christmas story.

I started this a hundred percent excited about the premise, a strong, bearded and brawny cowboy getting totally tongue-tied around the small town's school teacher? Yes please! So much so he finds himself agreeing to be part of the school Christmas carnival in full Santa cosplay with Amy, the school teacher as his Mrs. Santa? Bring it!

Admittedly the whole setup was super cute, if you're into that kind of thing. I especially enjoyed witnessing Caleb trying to get the teacher's attention, going to his brothers—as inadequate when it comes to dating as he is— for advice was fun and endearing. Caleb is the epitome of the strong silent type, he is a great listener, has an equally protective and caring streak and is a thoughtful gift giver, alas, he is prone to lose any composure next to this woman he's having a major crush on. For all his eagerness to please and woo Amy, the man is pretty much a vault about his emotions, which makes all his gestures and attempts at flirting awkward and misconceived. It was both endearing and painful to watch! Poor Caleb!

Sadly I had a hard time with the heroine's perpetual need to be rescued and naive act. Fresh out from an abusive relationship, Amy is starting things up anew in Painted Barrel as the elementary school teacher. I couldn't warm up to her constant state of disarray. Her neverending struggles to find her footing was a bit of a turn-off for me, I wish she had been more resourceful, less clueless and less dependent of Caleb somehow.

Overall I enjoyed my time in Painted BarrelCaleb and Amy were cute (and hot) together in this Christmas themed romance. I'm very much looking forward to read about the third brother, Jack, the lady's man. ;)

Heat - 3.5

Her Christmas Cowboy is the latest book in Jessica Clare’s Wyoming Cowboy series which is fast becoming a favorite series of mine. I’ve previously reviewed The Cowboy Meets his match and was excited to find Clare’s work to be both heartfelt and steamy. I may have mentioned this before, but I’m obsessed with Christmas. Like puts up her tree before Thanksgiving kind of obsessed with Christmas. So when I saw Clare had another Christmas story for her Wyoming series (heads up there are two other Christmas titles in this series) I of course jumped at the chance to review it.

This story is about Caleb Watson a rough cowboy who’s developed a crush on the town’s pretty teacher Amy McKinney. For Caleb, it was nearly love at first sight, but he has trouble speaking to Amy and on top of that she was a recent divorce which made him hold back a bit. I love how strong and silent Caleb was so gone for Amy that he was willing to get over some tough issues for himself to show her his feelings. Clare does an excellent job of showing enough to Caleb’s issues to make you feel for him, but not so much that it overwhelms the story.

Amy was a wonderful match for Caleb her grit and determination complement his. She’s decided to divorce her husband because he treats her like a possession. When her parents throw a fit and state they want nothing to do with her because of the divorce, she accepts it and moves on. She doesn’t let anyone pressure her into keeping up with a marriage that makes her miserable and I loved her for that.

These two end up spending time together first because they’ve volunteered to be Santa and Mrs. Clause at the Christmas Carnival. When Amy needs help around her rental she calls on Caleb for help, and of course, he comes to her aid. It was kind of funny to watch these two as he was too shy to admit his feelings and she thought his one-word answers were kind of odd. Little does she know that he’s been acting as her secret Santa as well as volunteering for the Carnival all as a means to get closer to her. When these two finally get through all the shyness and misunderstandings their romance is sweet, but whoo man do they also heat up the bedroom.

This book isn’t just a holiday romance, it’s a story of love and overcoming your fears to get the one thing in life you really want. I think any romance reader is going to have a huge soft spot for Caleb. After all, who doesn’t love a strong silent type that’s secretly pining for his woman? Not this girl! This book was like if Hallmark decided to get a little naughty and had an extra glass of wine with dinner. There’s plenty of steam to keep even this picky reader happy, but it’s not at the loss of a truly sweet and satisfying love story.

Review to post on Lovely Books Blog 10/5/20

This is the third book in this series and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the others. Add in that this was set around Christmas time and it was a real treat!

I thought that Caleb and Amy were adorable together! These two had so many cute moments and made me smile so much with their interactions!

"Because he’d known the very first time he saw Amy McKinney that he was going to marry her. Now he just had to convince her…"

What you should know is that Caleb had no communication skills, especially when it came to women. Throw in that he basically fell in love with Amy when he first saw her and it was basically funny moments waiting to happen. It was hilarious to read about him squirming and saying the wrong things to Amy. Reading about him finding his voice was a good time.

While this was cute, I did have an issue in the way Amy immediately wilted when back in her ex-husband's space. It made me wonder if she was still single would she just have caved and went back with him. It seemed like she didn’t have a backbone until Caleb was there. It didn’t seem really good for her character growth.

Besides that, it was a good addition to the series and I can’t wait for Jack’s book.

If you have readers looking for virgin heroes, Jessica Clare has a one for you. Caleb is so shy that he has trouble talking to women and previous attempts to get to know someone he’s attracted to better have been incredibly awkward. But he’s got his eye on Amy McKinney, and volunteering to be Santa to her Mrs. Santa at a school event finally gets to a place where he can talk to her (in a coat closet, in the dark, but he does get to the point he can speak to her while in light). There is no shaming around his lack of sexual experience in this book. He tells her, they agree to talk about what works/what doesn’t if necessary, and that’s it.

Amy’s struggling big time after her divorce. She isn’t getting her alimony, her rental house is a pit (which Caleb fixes as part of his getting to know her attempt), and she is short on life basics because she went from her parents’ house to her husbands, and he controlled everything. She hates how dumb she feels about day-to-day living. They really complement each other in being sheltered in different ways and moving into new experiences. Caleb enjoys giving her 12 days of love notes up to Christmas and helping her out; Amy enjoys being with someone who really sees her and likes her. I will say that taking Amy’s financial choices as any kind of advice would not be good. Her helplessness may be frustrating for some readers though it is really compounded by how lonely she’s felt since moving to small town Wyoming and not joining the community as she’d hoped.

Her Christmas Cowboy is great for readers looking for a cute Christmas story with some sexy times and characters who just want to love and be loved.

Super shy cowboy woos kindergarten teacher with Secret Santa gifts and the twelve letters of Christmas.

Amy Mckinney had one goal in mind after sneaking out of the house she shared with her husband Blake Todd. That goal was to make him her ex-husband. She needed to escape from the controlling jerk and live her own life as she pleased, not be Blake's pretty possession. She didn't even mind that the divorce meant her parents wanted nothing to do with her. Her father was just as bad as Blake. That's how Amy found her way to Painted Barrel, Wyoming and the teaching job there. The job didn't pay a lot but the independence she now had was well worth it. Her rental was a dump and the landlord never got around to any repairs. That was a negative and got even worse when she got home from school one evening to the ceiling in her bedroom crashed down on her bed and a big hole in the roof led to the soaking of her bed. That meant selling more of her clothes to get the money to pay for the things she needed. And that's how she ended up spending time with Caleb Watson. Since he had volunteered to be Santa to go with her being Mrs. Santa at the school Christmas Carnival she had his number in her cell phone contacts. When her car broke down on her way home from the thrift shop and no one else was available to help her she called Caleb. From that day on Caleb kept showing up and fixing things in her rental while he waited for a part to arrive because he was fixing her car too. Too bad he didn't talk to her during this time. One word answers and grunts were what she got. He was just so super shy. Amy couldn't quite figure out why he did all this for her but she liked it. She liked him.

Caleb Watson grew up in a very isolated area of Alaska. He didn't have many opportunities to interact with people other than his own family. Caleb and his two brothers moved from Alaska to Painted Barrel to help out their uncle. Caleb choked up around women especially. But he fell for Amy Mckinney the first time he saw her. Her call for help when her car broke down was his big chance. He had lots of trouble talking to her. He needed to up his game. His younger brother Jack suggested he become Amy's Secret Santa. Unfortunately he wasn't her only Secret Santa. When Amy discovered who one of her Secret Santas was she was disappointed. She was not interested in him. Caleb thought that was a good thing. He told her he was her Secret Santa too. As Caleb spends more time with Amy he starts to talk more and then there were kisses and then...

Her Christmas Cowboy by Jessica Clare is the fifth book in her Wyoming Cowboys series. I just loved Caleb Watson. I just wanted to wrap Caleb in a big hug, pat him on the back and tell him everything would be okay. It was great that Amy was so patient with him and appreciated what he did for her. Amy is such a sweet character. The fact that she took in a blind, starving dog made me really like her too. This is such an entertaining, sweet romance with some heat to it too. There's plenty of Christmas spirit in the story with the Christmas Carnival, decorating Christmas trees, Christmas shopping and Christmas parties. I look forward to the next book in the series, The Bachelor Cowboy.

This has been a great series- bit of a change from her Billionaire series that first got me hooked on her writing. Her Christmas Cowboy has all the elements of a perfect romance book- hunky cowboy and times around the holidays. After the way this year has been, this book is the perfect escape!

I've loved every book in this series more than the one before it. Each book is my absolute favorite as I'm reading it HAHA!! I enjoyed the character development in this book so very much - our hero's inability to talk to women was so endearing, just a pleasure to read, especially when he talked dirty in the dark! Well done.

I mentioned this in my Christmas in July post for Frolic - I'm including a link below.

This is part of a series about three brothers from a remote Alaska town who move to a small western town in Wyoming and find love. It easily stands alone, however we are introduced to the brothers in The Cowboy Meets His Match.tries to hel

This is the story about the middle brother who is single and who sees school teacher Amy and falls instantly into love but she doesn't know he exists. He has a hard time talking to Amy and so it was very amusing watching the things that come out of his mouth.

Amy is a divorcee who is just learning how to take care of herself when Caleb enters her life. i really liked Amy and Caleb together. They really make a very seet and innocent couple with hearts of gold. This was a story that is light and fun with lots of fun moments and laughter as you watch Amy fall hard for Caleb around the Christmas holiday.

You will like this book if you're a fan of rugged and nonverbal cowboy heroes! My only complain is that the heroine felt TOO submissive/doormat-like/quiet. She kinda lets everyone walk over her voice and actions. I wish she had been more assertive but otherwise they were a good match.

“I don’t want to own you. I don’t want to smother you down or make you be something you don’t want to be. I just want to be with you.”

I could not resist the lure of Her Christmas Cowboy. A silent, shy mountain of a cowboy and the new-in-town, pretty teacher he’s in love with? Umm, give it to me right now.

This one didn’t disappoint either. I’m absolutely mad for Caleb—the outwardly rough and tough former Alaskan wild-man who gets terribly tongue-tied around women. It was sweet and awkwardly funny (in a good way!) and downright fun to read about his plans for his school teacher. His thoughtful and supportiveness made him the perfect book boyfriend alone.

Amy, aforementioned teacher, is almost as likable as Caleb. On the whole, I enjoyed seeing her find (or struggle to find) her feet, and there was noticeable growth in her character. She was a good match for quiet Caleb, and together, they’re just plain irresistible!

I couldn’t put this book down once I got started, honestly. It was so charming and feel good, I wanted to keep reading—so I did. All through a Saturday afternoon and well into the evening. Alas, I got to the end all too quickly because of my impatience and now must wait for Jack’s book. Which can’t come soon enough, in my estimation.

4.5 stars

Her Christmas Cowboy is just shy of five stars for me. I wasn't sure if this cowboy would ever talk but it seems like the pretty yet patience school teacher Amy, can get him to say more then a few awkward sentences.
There were several laugh out loud moments. Caleb is definitely shy but he had since of humor about him that made him so sweet.
I liked Amy but felt she was a doormat for her ex and her landlord. She found her voice towards the end but there were a few times i wanted to reach in and shake her.
I'm definitely looking forward to Jack's story!