4.5 stars.

The first installment in Kate Pearce's Morgan Ranch series, The Reluctant Cowboy is a sweet yet deliciously steamy novel that takes place on a California ranch that has been in the Morgan family for several generations.

With a host of unpleasant memories stemming from long ago events that tore their family apart, Chase Morgan avoids coming back to the ranch for visits. However, when his beloved Grandma Ruth needs his assistance in getting to the bottom of a puzzling financial problem, he reluctantly returns to help out. Chase is already experiencing a great deal of stress from work disagreements with his business partners who just happen to be his best friends. Unfortunately, his pessimistic attitude and need for control come into play when dealing with the situation with Ruth and they are soon on opposite sides while trying to decide the future of the ranch. Rediscovering his roots has an unexpected positive effect on him but when forced to confront the events that led to his estrangement from his brothers, will Chase continue to let the past define him and his family?

January Mitchell is dedicated to preserving history and she is rather flummoxed at Chase's disinterest in keeping the Morgan ranch in the family. She refuses to back down despite his strenuous objections, but she also knows not to push him too hard as she tries to convince him to help Ruth stay in her home. Gaining his cooperation in showing her parts of the ranch that only family members know about, January unexpectedly rekindles his love of the land. With an uncanny ability to see through a problem to the heart of the matter, her insight into the various issues Chase is grappling with is invaluable.

January and Chase are attracted to one another despite their differences and at first, it seems a romance between them would never work. Chase is very pragmatic and with a businesslike approach to romance, he completely discounts love when it comes to his relationships. January is searching for an emotional connection and she is beyond shocked at his viewpoint. When Chase proposes a friends with benefit arrangement for the duration of his time at the ranch, she refuses to even consider agreeing to his plan. However, January soon reconsiders her decision and they are soon heating up the sheets as often as they can. With mutual affection and genuine respect for each other along with a sizzling hot attraction, will January and Chase be able to keep their no strings fling from evolving into a real relationship?

Reluctant Cowboy is a captivating romance between two flawed but immensely appealing characters. The romance between them unfolds at a leisurely, but believable, pace. The storyline is engaging and the complicated family history provides depth and substance to the plot. This first installment in Kate Pearce's Morgan Ranch series is a beautifully written love story that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the release of the next book in the series. ( )

Chase returns to the family ranch to help his grandmother. He's a control freak, always analyzing everything under a financial gain lens. January grew up in a commune, wants to preserve the history of the ranch and is always looking at the positive side of things. Chase was very hard to like, he was SO cyborg like, I truly doubted January would be able to break through. I really didn't get into it until the last third of the book. ( )

To new beginnings. The Reluctant Cowboy is the start of what looks to be a promising journey of healing for three brothers. The road to being united may be long and paved with painful secrets and hurt feelings but the reward at the end is worth the price. Chase has an easygoing charm that fools the outside world but he still grapples with the heartaches of a painful youth. January is a woman with a lot of ambition but a tender heart and Chase along with his family are in need of some her tender loving care. Can she win over their trust? Am looking forward to more with this complicated bunch. ( )

The Reluctant Cowboy is the first book in a new series by Kate Pearce. Chase Morgan has been called home by his grandmother and agrees to visit as there is some turmoil in his Silicon Valley business because of his uptight administration. He finds historian January Mitchell living there, working on her thesis and using the family ranch with its ghost town and abandoned silver mine for material to write about.
Chase hasn't been home in a while. There's been a lot of drama in his past, and there are ongoing disputes with his three brothers. Still, he finds January attractive and that he has missed the ranch.
Honestly, I kept thinking that I had read this story before, at least in the general plot points though I don't remember where. The plot is somewhat generic for a contemporary cowboy story, but I loved the story anyway. Ms. Pearce makes the characters unique and sets up the story for the next books in the series quick nicely. Definitely a series to keep reading. ( )

The Reluctant Cowboy by Kate Pearce
Book #1: Morgan Ranch Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 4/5 stars
My Review:

Lately, I have been loving the whole cowboy thing and Kate Pearce certainly fed into my current reading obsession with the first book in her Morgan Ranch series, The Reluctant Cowboy.

Chase Morgan’s memories of home are very rarely pleasant. His mother and baby sister mysteriously disappeared when Chase was just a kid, his father drank himself into a stupor over the disappearance and when he was just sober enough to do so, left Chase and his three younger brothers without a look back. If it weren’t for Chase’s grandmother, Ruth Morgan, there would never be a need to return to Morgan Ranch. But, Ruth Morgan is a tiny little force to be reckoned with and when she wants Chase home, she knows how to make it happen.

With nothing more than a cryptic message about needing Chase to come home, Ruth hatches her plot to get Chase back where he belongs. Her secret weapon? January Mitchell, a young grad student looking to complete her graduate work while helping Ruth revive Morgan Ranch and reinvent it as a working ranch tourist stop. As an outsider looking in, January can see the appeal of Morgan Ranch and is fascinated by the site’s history. Her intentions are good and true, but convincing the uptight Chase Morgan of the validity of her plan is going to be one long and arduous uphill battle. Good thing she’s smart, persuasive, and attractive �

January’s goals align perfectly with Ruth’s, revitalize the Morgan Ranch and expand on all it has to offer. Chase’s goals, at least in the beginning are markedly different from the two women currently in his life. Chase’s life is now in Silicon Valley where he is a wildly successful businessman. Chase knows what it takes to run a successful business and he has no interest in running a successful ranch. The long hours, the back-breaking work, and a place that evokes mostly painful memories aren’t what Chase sees in his future. What he does see is getting Ruth all squared away, ensuring she is cared for, and trying not to think about January naked and spread beneath him. Thoughts like that only suck him deeper into Ruth’s plan and Chase just isn’t sure he has any cowboy left in him.

To be sure, Chase’s only problem isn’t just a scheming granny and a hot newcomer. There’s also the issue of the reappearance of one of his younger brother, Blue, issues related to his missing father, mother, and baby sister, and the nagging feeling that his business partners are trying to push him out. Chase has more than a plateful of problems and the only person he finds who can soothe all his worries is his quasi-enemy, January. Staying away from January is the right thing to do as she comes with her own set of problems and issues, but Chase just can’t seem to make himself avoid her.

The Bottom Line: This is probably the most sexually tame book by Kate Pearce I have ever read, and you know what? It’s still a really good book! There’s a lot of meat to this story with January and her past, Chase and his entire family’s past, the current and future situation with the Morgan Ranch, and Chase’s future. There is so much struggle in this read and the very real need for several of the characters to let go of the past and focus on what could be, a very happy future. That struggle plays out across the read while alluding to the future of the series. The naughty bits are steamy, but as I mentioned above, not quite as steamy as what I’ve read from Kate Pearce in the past. What’s important to know is that naughty bits are appropriate to this read and to the characters and enhance the read rather than taking it over. This one is all about the characters with a solid and interesting plot, and enough secondary characters to continue the series for some time to come. YAY!!! More hot cowboys!!!! ( )