Long, Tall Cowboy Christmas by Carolyn Brown Release Date: September 26, 2017 Publisher: Forever Book #2 in the Happy, Texas series Number of pages: 368 Kindle Edition Source: MCL Contemporary Romance/Western M/F Rating: R Read 6/19/18 to 6/21/18
This author is really going to drive me nuts. I don’t understand how some of her stuff is so amazing, and other things drive me crazy. This series had started off pretty strong with Toughest Cowboy in Texas. I had high hopes. While I absolutely still love the characters in this series, there were a lot of things in this one that made it not so great.
I often try to start with the good, so I’ll do that here. I felt the chemistry between Nash and Kasey immediately. Through the whole story they have such a special connection, and the way they are thrown together is really quite touching. Kasey’s kids are a real joy and there was also a wonderful chemistry between Nash and all of the kids. I also liked how Jace really stood up for Kacey with their family and how altogether involved (in a kind and good way) this family is with each other. They really care and look out for one another.
Here are my issues. I am well aware that I get annoyed by things others don’t even notice or care about, that’s why I’m going to spell this out. The things that annoyed me so much may not bother you at all and this book has such a great story and great connections that it may be worth a read to you. There are a lot of timeline/continuity issues. One minute Nash is saying he’s not taking pain meds anymore, the next minute he’s refusing a beer because it could mess with his meds. Kacey leaves the kids in the car (in their car seats so they cannot get out themselves) and the next moment they’re walking into the barn with her. Nash admits he wasn’t cut out for college yet he was a Captain in the Army. (Yes, I know there are ways that would be possible, but not with the amount of time he was active duty and not in the circumstances he describes.) With Nash’s rank there is no actual significance so I felt as though the author just picked a rank out of a hat and applied it to her hero.
I’m noticing more and more that this author falls back on her characters talking out loud to themselves for no discernible reason. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…I feel she uses this tactic as a crutch. And it is used far too often in this story.
If you read the first book, you know there’s something that happened a long time ago between Kacey’s Grandma Hope and her neighbor Henry. Well, Henry is Nash’s uncle (great-uncle?) and from the bits and pieces included about Henry in this story I’m pretty sure he’ll be popping his head up in the next story. The problem with that is the way this information was included toward the end of this story was extremely awkward and didn’t flow with the way the story was going. It was seriously like the author went back after the book was complete and remembered she wanted to include a possible appearance of Henry into this story so she shoved two paragraphs where she thought they’d fit. It was quite strange.
I want to stress again that the story and chemistry in this story are fantastic so it is worth a read for that alone. Just know there are some annoying things along the way. Since I am invested in learning the story of Henry and Hope, as well as wanting to see Jace get his HEA, I will be reading the next book in this series. I’ll also be hoping it reads more like the first story and less like this one.
All In Good Time 
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