Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: The Cowboy Guardian

SERIES: Foster Ranch (Book 2)

AUTHOR: BA Tortuga

PUBLISHER: Turtlehat Creatives

LENGTH: 291 pages

RELEASE DATE: November 28, 2023

BLURB:

Watson Torres and his daughter Naomi have had a rough time of things. They’ve lost a loved one, and Naomi has lost an arm in a house fire. So when Wat lands a job at the Broken C ranch, he’s excited to start over. He loves teaching kids, and there seems to be a steady supply at the ranch, which means Naomi will have a chance to make friends, as well.

Tygh Korden is pretty sure he likes animals more than people. He’s a veteranarian for a reason. But when he meets Wat and Naomi, he’s drawn to them in spite of himself. They’re thrown together even more often when a pair of foster kids arrive who need some extra love, and no one else can take them on.

Tygh isn’t quite sure how to be part of a family, but he knows the foster system. Wat is struggling with loss, but he knows how to give love, Can the two of them find a way to make this wild new situation work, or will it all fall apart before they can figure out just what they have?

REVIEW:

We are finally back at Foster Ranch!

Watson “Wat” Torres has had a really rough couple years. First the fire that took his wife Michelle life along with causing his sweet baby girl Naomi injuries that led to eventually loss her one hand and part of her lower arm. Then he lived with his in-laws while trying to make sure that Naomi got the best medical care to finally recover. So heading out to the Broken C Ranch to be their new live-in teacher is the break he has been needing. This is what he went to school and trained for. Being the only teacher to multiple foster children and the adopted children of the two owners, Ryder and Kase Chiara (yes the famous retired bull riders now a married couple from the rodeo circuit) is going to be tough but he knows he can do it. And the students that are LGBTQ+ are his sub-speciality so that will make a difference for future foster placements. With Naomi making best friends with their adopted daughter Dani, life is finally starting to come along. But when a sudden outbreak of Covid hits the ranch, Wat is forced to load up himself, Naomi and the two newest babies, abandoned at the hospital and medically fragile, Maggie and Emma and head to the stoic veterinarian Tygh Korden’s home across the street from the ranch. But can this gay Cowboy be the answer to the questioning that has lain dormant for years or are they just playing house?

Wat and Tygh seemed like the most mismatched pair at first but they worked for me real fast. It was obvious that the vet needed some major sunshine in his life and Wat and the girls were the perfect package to do that. His desire for the young father overrode his holding back because of this experiences growing up. And he was the perfect fit with Maggie because he knew what abandonment and suddenly thrust into a new home was like first hand. And Wat was the piece of the puzzle that fit. He knew parenting and how to work with kids. But what he really did was unlock Tygh’s heart and allowed to trust.

I did appreciate that, even though Wat and Tygh we basically thrown together, the author took their time with the and their budding desires and feelings. She didn’t rush them straight to bed and that was appreciated. Yes, Wat might have identified as bi in his mind and Michelle had joked about it in the past, but he had never acted on it and was happy and content with his life before the fire. And Tygh was so understanding of that and moved at Wat’s pace. I think that their relationship was almost sweet to me on how much both men, who had scars on their pasts, took time to learn to trust and lean on each other.

This wasn’t always an easy read. Wat not only lost his high school sweetheart/wife in the house fire that took her young life, but his sweet daughter lost her hand as a result of that catastrophic fire.  Naomi was such a fighter and she was the epitome of brave and showing that having had one hand amputated didn’t mean she was crippled or couldn’t do anything. That little girl forged ahead and took like by the reins. And the terror in Maggie when they first brought her home was heart-breaking. Both she and Emma had so much to overcome from the neglect that had been done to them. Thankfully they were still so young that hopefully the mental scars would start to fade. That was more evident at Thanksgiving with the visit by Wat’s parents. I was worried how overwhelmed that Naomi might be feeling from all the changes and that did manifest but thankfully not as bad as I feared.

I’m hoping that more of this series is on the horizon. I had truly enjoyed Ryder and Kase’s story in the first book and was thankful that we got to have some contact with them in this book and saw that they were doing well. And Wat and Tygh’s story was just so touching. I want to go to their wedding and see their girls all dressed up for it. I want to be at the adoption ceremony and see all their lives be cemented forever. So, yes I need more of this touching series of overcoming adversity to shine.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon