Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy is the second book in the Star Valley series by author Sara Richardson, and I can’t wait to read more. It was great to reunite with characters we’ve met before, but the inclusion of new ones rounds out the story nicely.

This is Tess and Silas’s story. Silas was Tess’s husband’s best friend, along with two others he served with in the military as a Navy SEAL. Unfortunately, Tess’s husband died while serving, and Tess’s brother, Aiden, Thatch, and Silas, have been helping her and her daughter on their ranch for the past two years.

We get to know Tess on another level, not just as a mom and devastated widow. As Tess gathers strength and decides what she wants her path to be, we have a front-row seat. The wild horses that roam nearby add another layer to the story, especially with the horse they name Legacy.

The story has unexpected twists and turns but a good flow throughout it.

I like that stories from the first book had closure. There are family and friends, and while Tess’s main focus is on her daughters and their ranch, she begins to let her guard down and open herself to new friendships and a relationship. It was interesting to watch her connection grow with Silas and change with her brother when she’s not so needy.

Tess and Silas seem to dance around each other and take a step forward and two or three steps back until they learn to communicate, and he stops running. There is closure and a happily-ever-after in the offing, but the story ends abruptly. I didn’t realize the end was near in my Kindle since I hadn’t been aware there was another story included at the end of the book. The cover didn’t show a bonus story was included, but the cover drew me in along with an author whose books I look forward to reading.

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy had cowboys, ranches, wild horses, romance, and solid relationships, all of which had me turning the pages to see what would happen next in their lives. I can’t wait for more!

At the back of the book is a BONUS Novella, Only Home With You, by author Jeannie Chin, which was delightful!

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy is a must-read for fans of cowboy romance. This novel is the second installment in the Star Valley series, which follows the lives of three former Navy SEALs who have settled in the small town of Star Valley, Wyoming to run a construction business. However, the team was once comprised of four members, including Jace Valdez, who tragically did not return from their last mission overseas two years ago. This left his wife of ten years, Tess, and their two young daughters alone. One of the remaining SEALs is Aidan, Tess's protective older brother, whose story was told in the first book of the series.

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy is the second book in Sara Richardson's Star Valley series.

Tess Valdez is now two years into widowhood, following the death of her husband Jace, while on active duty in Afghanistan and she is finally feeling like she is finding her footing. Jace's best friend's and fellow SEAL's, Tess's brother Aiden, Silas and Thatch, returned home and opened their own construction business.

Silas Beck was Jace's best friend and he had promised his buddy that if anything happened, he would make sure he kept an eye on Jace's family. Silas has kept that promise, but what he never expected was that he and Tess would have mutual feelings for one another. They acted on those feelings, but Tess is not ready to make things public and Silas doesn't want to be anyones secret. Silas and Tess struggle because Silas does not think he is good enough for Tess and he feels it is wrong to be falling in love with his best friend's widow. For Tess, she feels Silas would be the perfect person to move on with, but will he ever want to do that?

While they are dealing with their feelings for one another, someone is shooting at the heard of wild horses, injuring one in the process. Silas is going to help Tess try to figure out who is after the horses, and Tess believes that it could be someone that knows her.

This was a really enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the next book in this series given who I think it should be about!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

A SEAL, wild horses and falling in love!

Widow Tess Valdez finally ready to move on with her life after the death of her husband Jace. But first she had to deal with whoever was shooting the wild horses that travel through her ranch injuring one of them with the help of Silas Beck who had been on the same SEAL team with her husband.

Silas Beck didn’t realize that helping Tess figure out who was shooting at the wild horses would lead to falling in love and making a family with Tess and her daughters and helping Tess establish a wild horse sanctuary.

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy is two lost souls figuring out that they are worthy of love.

Now I want Thatcher’s story?

Bonus Story: Only Home with You by Jeannie Chin

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

Another pleasant romance in Star Valley. I don't understand the title, but the story is good. I did skip over the intimate scenes. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Tess Valdez is a widow raising her two daughters. Her husbands' friends moved to her home after his death to help with the ranch. It's been a few years now and she can finally feel like she can survive. Silas Beck is a former seal and her husband's best friend; he is having feelings for Tess. After a one-night stand, they decide it was a mistake; can they stay away from each other.
Tess goes riding hears gun shots and find someone is shoting the wild horses. After Silas helps her get an injured horse back to the ranch he is spending more time around Tess.
They decide to take things slow and undercover of the rest of the friends.

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy, is the second book in Sara Richardson's Star Valley series, a series which focuses on three former Navy SEALs who now run a construction business in the small town of Star Valley, Wyoming. There was a fourth member of their team, Jace Valdez, who never made it back from their last mission overseas 2 years earlier, leaving his wife 0f 10 years, Tess, and their two young daughters alone. One of those 4 SEALs was Aidan, Tess' protective older brother, whose story was told in the first book in this series.

As many military men do, Jace wrote Tess a "just in case I don't make it home alive" letter, telling her how much he loved her and their daughters, but also telling her that he wanted her to move on, to find someone to love, and that he didn't want her to mourn his loss alone for the rest of her life. As he was the only one of the four SEALs who was married, he asked his brothers-in-arms to look out for Tess and her daughters, and that's exactly what they've been doing for the past two years.

It's Silas Beck who seems to be the one SEAL that has helped Tess and her girls the most, but during the past 2 years, he's become attracted to her, yet between Aiden knowing that Silas has never sought commitment, Tess not yet ready to move on, although she has kept her attraction to Silas to herself, and taking into consideration her two young daughters, the question in this novel becomes is there some way that this relationship between these two characters will work, and if so, how? I'm also not a huge fan of waffling, and there was an awful lot of it on both sides of this romance.

The backstory of this novel is about the wild mustangs in the area, the rancher's who fear they will diminish the grasslands their cattle need to thrive on, and those who want to protect them--Tess among the latter. While I very much liked this aspect of the novel, and the suspense it provided, the slowly growing, on and off relationship between Tess and Silas made this novel a very slow read, that could easily have been whittled down a bit by the author and her editor(s), to move the story along with a bit more speed.

I liked the subject--wild mustangs, I liked the suspense, I liked the romance, but wasn't wild about the slow pace, and for that reason, this novel gets 3-1/2 stars from this reader.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

I read the first book in the series and enjoyed it. The series centers around three ex Navy Seals who has come back to work on the ranch to take care of their friend Jace Valdez”s widowed sister, Tess and her two daughters. Silas Beck is one of those Seals, has some serious guilt issues, mainly his growing attraction to Tess. It has been two years since Jace’s death and Tess is starting to live again. When a jerk at her brother’s engagement party makes a snotty comment implying that she should forever mourn her husband and wallow in grief, Silas tries to comfort her and they end up back at his room. Afterwards, both of them try to forget what happened, but they cannot deny the attraction. Silas wants to leave, but Tess is endangered when someone starts shooting wild houses that roam near her ranch. He has to stay to protect her and her daughters, but how will they handle the growing attraction? Have you ever read a blurb about a book and say “This sounds like the perfect book for me!”? That is how this book was for me, but sadly, I just didn’t connect with either character. I know that most romances follow a formula, but most authors put their own spin on their book. This book felt a little lackluster and cliched. It wasn’t bad, just not as enjoyable as the first book. I do enjoy this author, so I hope this is an anomaly. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Sara Richardson returns with a second book in her Star Valley series. The focus is on three Navy Seals that run a construction business is small town Star Valley, Wyoming. Aiden got his romance in the first book, which I enjoyed very much. One of the Seal’s that didn’t return from action was married to Aiden’s sister Tess Valdez. All Seal have made an extra effort to show support to her and her two school aged daughters. Tess has now been a widow for two years and is back on her feet running her ranch.

Silas Beck realizes he has feelings for Tess but is conflicted as he thinks she is off limits because of his friendship with her husband. I like that the author doesn’t play the will they or wont they. They do, early on, surprising them both. The story is more about Tess realizing she is ready to start dating and what that will look like to family and friends. She needs to navigate her daughters feelings as well. There is also a side story about someone shooting at wild horses in the back country near Tess’s land.

All this make for an enjoyable contemporary romance. I like that Tess is not wracked with guilt and can be assertive in what she wants. If I were reading as a stand alone I might be looking for a little more plot or conflict in the story. But I already knew the characters and was happy to be back with them. I think there could have been a bit more to the kids accepting the situation. They go from mad to unrealistic acceptance almost over night. But maybe I’ve been reading to many reddit letters about kids never accepting step parents. Can’t wait for Lyric and Thatch’s book that she complete the series.

As an added bonus my ARC included a novella called Only Home with You by Jeannie Chin. It is #1.5 in the Blue Cedar Falls series which I read. I have previously read and given 4.5 stars to the novella. I reread it just to enjoy. The novella is not currently showing a a bonus on the cover but I assume it will be part of the book when published.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eARC via NetGalley and I am leaving a voluntary review. (3.5 Stars)

We are back in Star Valley. The place where three former Navy SEALs moved to. Their reason-help the widow of their buddy who got killed in Afghanistan during a mission.
Tess Valdez is that widow, mom to two young daughters. Two years have passed. Two years during which her husband’s best friend, former Navy SEAL Silas Beck, has loved her from afar. He’s kept the promise to his friend to keep Tess and the girls safe, but in doing so, his feelings continue to grow.
Before he does something he’ll regret , he plans to leave town. Not only because he fears that in loving Tess he might be disrespecting his friend, but also because he feels he’s not good enough for her.
When Tess needs help, he postpones his departure. As the potential danger continues , feelings develop between these two.
Will Tess and Silas realize they might have a future or will fear keep them apart?
The story is a reminder not only of how death affects those left behind, especially the spouses and children. It’s also a reminder of how the experiences we have as a child, will affect the adult we become.
This reader is looking forward to the story of the next SEAL to fall in love.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

I do love that it had a small town feel. It showed us Tess a widowed mother taking a chance at love again with an unexpected friend. All in all this book was okay. I expected more from it because I have really enjoyed her books in the past. It had a conflict that ended strangely just past the middle of the book and I did really feel as if they had much chemistry. With that being said I am still willing to give this series a chance.

Unfortunately this was just okay for me. The first book in the series was cute but this one felt slow and while I enjoyed Tess, I was never really rooting for Silas. He didn’t really seem willing to put it all on the line for her, he just ran away again and again, afraid to upset the status quo. The entire thing felt too long and I was ready for it to be over about 30% of the way in. I’m still willing to read what I assume will be the third book in the series because I like those characters more. Overall, a bit of a let down.

So far, this series has just been okay for me compared to previous books I've read by the author. I struggled with the pace of this book and was never in a hurry to get back to reading the book while winding down at night. It seemed to drag for the first 75% with very little happening before things finally picked up and gained my interest in the end.

I liked both Silas and Tess, but felt their relationship lacked true depth to establish that deep and loving connection. The dead husband and best friend seemed to be a huge factor in their relationship, at least from Silas' viewpoint, until the very end once again. I was surprised Tess wasn't the one who was hesitant to start a relationship, but for once, it was the guy who didn't think he could live up to Jase's example of a father and husband. I did find myself getting emotional in the end when we see Silas and the girls open up.

The wild horse issue was resolved and pushed under the rug a bit too quickly for my liking. It played such a huge role in the plot and main character's actions, yet it was resolved within a page and without much fanfare.

I'll still read Lyric and Thatch's book since I like to finish series. I hope the author provides more depth for them since it seems we already know quite a bit about them before we even make it to their book.

We first meet our main characters in the first book of this series, Wishing on a Christmas Cowboy. Tess is a lovely widow and single parent trying her best to move on after the death of her soldier husband Jace. For the last two years she has been honoring his memory, keeping up with the ranch and raising their daughters. In this book Tess feels like she might be ready to move on, but many in her life all have an opinion on how that should look. Silas was Jace’s best friend, and has spent the last two years trying to look out for his best buddies widow. The problem is that he has had a hard time trying to keep thinking of her just as Jace’s widow. Things start to heat up between Tess and Silas, but there are so many complications to the two of them being together, and so many people intertwined in their family and friend group missing Jace that make Tess and Silas pursuing a relationship seem impossible. There was also an interesting mystery involving wild horses in this story. This was a really enjoyable read, I loved to seeing Tess move on and heal from her past. I am really hoping a book 3 is in the works for Tess’ friend Lyric! I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Betting on a Good Luck Cowboy by Sara Richardson is book #2 in the Star Valley series. This is a super friends to lovers story. When half of a couple has children, that can complicate the relationship. I liked how this author handles that situation. In addition there's the conflict of Tess Valdez having lost her SEAL husband, Jace, in combat and after two years realizing she is falling in love with Jace's best friend and fellow SEAL team member (now retired) Silas Beck. This storyline beautifully solves these conflicts. I really enjoyed Tess' and Silas' road to their Happily Ever After. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you for allowing me to read this novel! I will only post on Goodreads if you tell me that you would like me to do so, but I would prefer not to. As it is, I would give this two stars, but I do believe that it has such potential with some alterations!

A few things that I liked about this book were: Tess’s character, which I was worried would be too perfect initially but the break in situation really humanized her while still staying within the bounds of her values. I also really liked how imperfect Silas was because it gave him a lot of dimension.

A few things that I thought could use adjustment:

The exposition establishes action but not a sense of place. Aside from the cowboy boots it seemed like we got fancy-party vibes and ex-Navy SEAL info, but it really doesn’t feel like a book about a ranch and we’re missing the pull of the natural world.

What I would suggest is a touch of analepsis in Ch. 1. Situate Tess looking out over the mountains/ranch as she heads to or from Jase’s memorial and she can describe the majesty of the ranch in a similar style to the beginning of Ch. 7. From there she slips into her memories of the engagement party and her hookup with Silas and is only pulled from her reminiscing by BANG BANG the shots ringing out and that ends Ch. 1 and you can cut to Tess enlisting Silas’s help (maybe without the game of battleship?) in the next chapter.

Also, I would change the name Lyric. It’s trying too hard. And did she ever get together with Thatch?

And backstory question: do we know if the main characters grew up ranching? That would be great to know at the outset because the Navy SEALs to ranchers transition isn’t explained. Are they coming back home when they leave service? Or just picking a place on a map? I think that info would be helpful for understanding their motivations.

I found the “caught in the act” pancake scene to be totally implausible. A mother with kids out of town is not going to ignore her phone/leave it on silent, and the aunt and uncle who know exactly what’s going on would make sure to knock or honk or something. Nobody has any strategies for success here?

The ending was satisfying if a little drawn out, and whew I have such mixed feelings about wedding proposals.

Anyway, thanks again for allowing me to visit Star Valley! Best wishes for your publication.

Tess lost her husband two years ago. Three of his fellow Navy SEALS made a promise to take care of Tess and her daughters. This is a sweet story about loss, and second chances. Wonderful characters. I didn't want this book to end.