One Tough Cowboy by Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick

Posted February 2, 2019 in review Tags: 2.5 stars, police, small town

One Tough Cowboy by Lora Leigh, Veronica Chadwick
Pages: 298

Genres: Contemporary Romance
Setting: Deerhaven, CA
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also by this author: Collision Point

Goodreads

First in a brand-new series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick about one man’s pursuit of justice—and unbridled desire.

LAW AND ORDER.
For as long as Samantha can remember, Hunter—a man as strong as steel, with a heart of gold—has been her hero. It came as no surprise to Samantha when she found out that the ranch-hardened cowboy who always protected her from bullies went on to become the town’s sheriff. What does surprise her is how incredibly hot he still is. And how much she still wants him…

PRIDE AND PASSION

And, lo and behold, Hunter still has feelings for Samantha. The long-smoldering heat of their innocent flirtation has grown into a full-raging fire. But when tragedy strikes, and their small-town community is shattered, Hunter vows to do everything he can to keep his childhood sweetheart safe. But can Samantha trust that Hunter has her best interests at heart…and that, after all these years, his love is true?

One Tough Cowboy was smoking hot with some government corruption on the side. The story starts with 3 deaths-the mayor’s wife, the sheriff, and an elderly woman in the town. This last death brings Samantha back to Deerhaven, CA. Hunter, the new sheriff knows these deaths are suspicious and he knows the mayor is up to something dirty. When Sam comes back to town, sparks fly and they jump right into a very sexual relationship. But, Hunter wants Samantha to move back to Deerhaven permanently and be a deputy.

Samantha was a pretty good character. She is smart and independent. She grew up a tomboy and now she is a tomboy who looks smoking hot. Hunter was the older boy Samantha had a crush on, but now they are both grown up and feeling the attraction. The book was good, but there were things that just kept it from being great. First, they all talk about southern manners and yankees and such. But, they are in California. Are there parts of California where people have southern accents and mock ‘yankees’? Second, I wish the mystery aspect of the story had more punch. There were entire chapters dedicated to hot sex between Samantha and Hunter and the rest of the story felt like a side plot. I think that if the story was going to be a sexy contemporary romance, that would have been fine and the mystery could have been a simple plot device. But, because it does play a larger roll it should have gotten more ‘time’. Finally, the characters were okay, but they felt like stereotypes of characters-the shmarmy mayor, the domineering ex, the dumbass deputies, the uber mysterious ex special forces buddy….its just all felt hokey at times.