Cathy Geha's Reviews > Cowboy Up

Cowboy Up by Stacy Finz
Dry Creek Ranch #1

Cash Dalton and his cousins have inherited their grandfather’s ranch and though would rather sell the ranch to pay off back taxes his cousins, Jace and Sawyer, would rather keep it. How they will manage financially is a mystery in this book and remains a mystery at the end BUT with at least two more books for the cousins and perhaps one for someone named Angie a solution may be found before the series ends.

In this book we learn a bit about all three men but this story belongs to Cash. What do we learn about him?
* He had a big career in the FBI until something happened
* He just found out that he has a twelve year old daughter, Ellie, that he will be responsible for rearing from here on out
* He has a sense of humor
* He believes in “the truth”
* He is someone who has not put down roots
* He is HOT
* He is conflicted about a number of issues
* AND that he might fall for his neighbor, Aubrey McAllister

What do we know about Aubrey?
* She just broke off a long-term relationship with her fiance, Mitch
* She is considered to have wronged Mitch by all and sundry in their small town
* She is an excellent interior decorator-designer
* She knows what she wants
* She is spunky
* She gets along with Ellie
* She thinks Cash is HOT

Ellie is in a bad spot emotionally and really would prefer to stay in Boston so quite a bit of the story revolves around her feelings and how her new life in Dry Creek impacts her and others. We meet her cousins, Travis & Grady, Jace’s sons and she seems to like them well enough. She has a friend back in Boston she keeps in touch with. She misses her mother – a LOT. She is not warming up to Cash. AND she does a bit of soul searching before the end of the book. She also is sometimes wiser than her twelve years might expect her to be.

In addition to setting the stage for this series there are some secrets, a cattle rustling operation to suss out, decisions to be made by more than one, a romance, some secrets exposed, crimes perpetrated, libel, job futures to figure out and a few other issues that crop up.

Did I enjoy the story? Yes
Do I want to read more in the series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Lyrical-Shine for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars