Short and sweet. Lots of mutual pining. This was a quick read and would be a perfect palate cleanser in between books with more substance or if you are looking for a heartfelt western romance.

Jessica Preddy does a great job with the audio narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for access to the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Childhood sweethearts, Kendall and Brent, lose contact when Brent moves away. But Brent is back because his mom had fallen ill. This is a sweet novella romance.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Bolinda Audio for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book and the FMC.
The epilogue had me fully invested.
It was all the tropes! Childhood love, friends, to lovers, brothers, best friend, best friends, little sister, grumpy sunshine on top of cowboy!
So going from that to them not being together was kind of baffling and you have to go a bit into the book to find out exactly what happened.
And then you’re stuck. Feeling absolutely terrible for both of the characters as they try to navigate life thinking they can’t have the one person they love.
Heartbreaking!
I will say that with the MMC, I wish we knew more of WHY he act the way he acts the way he does. How it came to be is explained but the why he does things isn’t explained. I feel like he must have some kind of underlying anxiety disorder that he’s dealing with or even depression; maybe because he’s been through a lot? But I still don’t necessarily understand his actions in a lot of ways.
I guess it’s a good thing. I’m not the FMC because she understands fully and accepts him the way he is. She doesn’t try to change him or fix him. Simply allows him to be everything that he is. I’m not sure anyone could ask for more for their child!
Mostly as much as the parents are nice, I truly dislike them. Overhearing in such a gaslighting way. How is that possible? You’ll see!

I’ve only listened to a few audiobooks before, so I didn’t really know what to expect as far as the voice acting goes.
But after this one, I can see why they call it voice acting because the narrator definitely put their heart into the words and the feelings. It was as, you were reading their mind’s inner dialogue. It gives you all the feelings.

This is not the first in the series, and I will definitely be going back to read the first now!

First thing’s first: thank you Netgalley for the ALC of this book!
Hold Me Cowboy by Alissa Callen was a sort-of second chance romance between Kendall and her long time cowboy crush, Brent.
It was actually difficult to focus on the story because of the swallowing noises that whoever edited this audiobook left in. The narrator did a good job, don’t get me wrong! Everyone has to swallow and make mouth noises while they’re reading out loud. I was just very confused and distracted by the choice to leave them in the finished product.
This was a fairly short book (fortunately for my ears) but it didn’t feel particularly rushed. Not a lot actually happened in this book, just a bunch of mutual pining and arguing with themselves about why they can’t have each other. This was pretty cozy and cute enough, but I will forget everything in this book immediately upon finishing it, I fear.
2.75⭐️