With her mortgaged farm, rebellious brother and two jobs, Layla Silver is struggling to keep afloat for the holidays. But does she need Gage Cooper riding to her rescue? Back in high school, Gage was nobody’s hero. Now he’s an injured bull rider home for Christmas to make amends for his checkered past. And something about the stubborn, beautiful Layla has him wanting more than forgiveness. Can a wandering cowboy turn a Christmas courtship into an everlasting love?
Cooper Creek: Home is where the heart is for this Oklahoma family
Brenda Minton (Author of The Rancher’s Secret Wife) | Goodreads Brenda Minton lives, procrastinates, writes, drinks coffee, raises her kids and is wife to her husband, in the Ozarks.
Okay, now to first person because a third person bio sounds like someone else wrote it about me, and is just license to create flowery prose about myself.
I grew up on a farm in the Ozarks. It was long ago and far away, in a land before cable TV, video games and the internet. To pass the time we read books, watched (gasp) network TV that rarely came in clear, and had friends over on weekends to play music on the front porch, or card games in the dining room.
The result of growing up ‘country’ was an active imagination. For fun I wrote stories to entertain myself and I dreamed of being an author. Oh, but first, before writing, I wanted to be a jockey.
Writing won out over being a jockey. In the spring of 2006 I got the call that made those dreams come true: the call that welcomed me into the Steeple Hill family of authors.
The moral of this story, never stop dreaming.
My Rating: 5 Stars!!
‘Didn’t anyone get it? He wasn’t good at being there for people. He wasn’t the person people confided in or turned to when the chips were down.’
I read my first book by Brenda Minton a few months ago and since then, I have determined to read all her books. That will take a while because she has a lot but I’m totally okay with that. This book is the sixth in her Cooper Creek series, set in Oklahoma and featuring a ranching family. Gage Cooper wounded Layla Silver’s heart back in high school and now he’s home after surgery to his knee, injured in a bull riding arena. And soon as he’s healed, he’s heading back to that arena. Layla isn’t falling for his charm again because her life is completely full, working two jobs to get the bills paid and raising her teenaged brother, who continues to get into trouble. She is barely making it and doesn’t need any distractions.
I love Minton’s books because she writes with heart thrown in. Her characters feel real somehow, her plots entirely believable and her wonderful dose of spirituality nourishes your soul. I absolutely adored this one and read it in just a few hours. I am off to read another now. I highly recommend this author.
Publisher: Love Inspired
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Simply Susan 