Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Winter Cowboy
SERIES: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming #1
AUTHOR: R. J. Scott
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books, Ltd.
LENGTH: 274 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 25, 2018
BLURB:
Micah Lennox left Whisper Ridge after promising the man he loved that he would never return. But the only way he knows to keep his pregnant sister and nephew safe is to go home. Spending winter in Wyoming opens too many old wounds, but he’s on the run from justice which can’t be far behind, and this is his last chance at redemption.
After a hostage situation leaves Doctor Daniel Sheridan struggling with PTSD, he returns to Whisper Ridge. Joining his dad in family practice is a balm to soothe his exhausted soul, and somehow, he finds a peace he can live with. That is until he meets Micah in a frozen graveyard, and the years of anger and feelings of betrayal boiling inside him, erupt.
Two broken men fight and scratch for their lives and that of their families, and somehow, in the middle of it all, they find each other.
Is it possible that love can be rekindled and become a forever to believe in?
REVIEW:
One of my somewhat secret likes in gay romance is gay cowboys and this was a good one.
Daniel and Micah were very young lovers when tragedy ripped them apart. Nineteen year old Micah promises he will never return to Whisper Ridge. But he has to break that promise nine years later in order to protect his pregnant sister Rachel and his nephew Laurie that he never even knew he had. Both Micah and Rachel are looking over their shoulders after what happened at the compound that Micah rescued them from. Now they are hiding from the consequences of Rachel’s actions. But Rachel needs to see a doctor for her pregnancy and Laurie is so traumatised from his life in the compound and the abuse they received. The problem is that Daniel is the town doctor and he isn’t going to be happy Micah broke his promise…or is he?
This was a sad, touching story of how one bad choice can alter so many lives in one small town. Daniel and Micah are from the two largest families in Whisper Ridge. Micah can never forgive himself for making the mistake of his lifetime that Christmas Eve so many years ago. He has paid this time and had always planned on never returning to his birthright. But he truly is an honorable man and will do anything to protect his sister, her young son and the new baby-to-be, including taking the blame for something he never did. Daniel can’t seem to forgive the man that betrayed him, his family and his friends. And now that he has returned to Whisper Ridge, after a devastating event back at the ER in Charlotte, he is having a rough go of it. Now he discovers that the man he once loved, that permanently maimed his brother and killed their best friend, has returned to town too. He will stop at nothing to protect his younger brother from the pain that Micah’s return will surely bring.
I love that both men are fiercely loyal and protective of their loved ones…usually at the expense of themselves. But being the honorable men they are they will do what needs to be done at their own expense. And I get that both of them are having a really tough time letting go of that night. What I loved was how Daniel’s family finally took the steer by the horns and set both of these men straight.
Most of this book was filled with the trauma and the angst that resulted from the tragedy nine years ago. The loss of life was tragic but the loss of connection was even more devastating. But Micah has suffered every day since for the mistakes he made that night. And he has turned himself around. I was thrilled to see Daniel’s family rally around both men. They had suffered so much from the accident and the events that shaped and changed each of their families. I highly recommend this poignant and touching story of second chances and am eagerly awaiting more in this series.
RATING: 
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