Long, Tall Cowboy Christmas

Long Tall Cowboy Christmas is a holiday novel from the Happy Texas trilogy and I was super eager to pick this one up. When I saw that it was available through my local library, I was more than eager to grab this up. I was slightly nervous to pick this one up in a way because its in the middle of a trilogy, but having read Carolyn Brown’s work before I was pretty sure I would be fine without having to read the first book contained within the trilogy. I found that this was a cute story, with lots of feels from time to time, BUT I did struggle with the pacing at times. However, despite that, I found that this novel was entertaining, charming and romantic.

Long Tall Cowboy Christmas begins with Nash Lamont moving back home, he is recuperating and trying to mentally heal from a PTSD type of injury from his time in the “sandbox” and we see how this trauma has really affected him. But his next door neighbor, happens to be the widow of one of his men that was killed in an attack….an attack that Nash blames himself. He knows that he needs to come clean with Kasey but has no clue how to go about it. When Kasey is asked by his doctor, to help Nash out, she is more than willing to do it. Her husband served in the military and she has a great respect for those service men and women. But as she and her three young children bond with Nash, a secret will come to light that will stretch her limits in a way she never imagined.

Long Tall Cowboy Christmas was such a powerful story especially in showing the aspect of healing and trauma from PTSD especially those that suffer in war time. I greatly appreciated the manner in which this author handled this situation especially with the complex matters between Nash and Kasey. This is no light and fluffy romance. I really liked the emotion that this author was able to evoke within me through the reading of this story. I never know when to expect this emotional kick Brown likes to throw at in the middle of her stories, but you can’t predict it and I greatly admire that about this author.

When we come to the end of our lives, I hope that we make the jump into eternity together…

My only issue with the book was the pacing. So it started off great, up till the first 30% of the story, I was hooked. And then the pacing got a bit harder after that and I had to really stick with this story. By that time though, I was invested in the characters so that actually aided a ton in my decision to keep going with it. So it took a bit longer to read then expected because the abrupt change of pacing threw me off, however, I had a delectable time with this book despite the pacing issues I had. I loved the emotional intimacy that develops between this pairing, the Christmas time element and the three kids that added a level of humor and lightheartedness to bring balance to this story. A delightful Christmas romance to charm you in all the best of ways! ( )

Long, Tall Cowboy Christmas (Happy, Texas) by Carolyn Brown  
Scrumptious.  Serious subjects, tender sweet moments and new beginnings are packaged inside this heartbreaker of a read.  Life has not been kind to Nash or Kasey.  Trapped in his own personal hell, Nash keeps to himself, grieving the man he used to be and despising the one he has become. Until a couple sweet faces and a beautiful woman turn this beast into a family man.  Long, Tall Cowboy Christmas resonates, because we all have regrets and painful memories that litter our life. The key is to not let fear dictate our choices and hold us back, but push for something better.
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I enjoyed the first book in this new series. Happy, Texas is a nice place. Bash and Kasey were good. They both were healing and could relate to one another. Kasey from losing her husband in the war and Nash suffering from PSTD as an effect of the war. Because Kasey was married to a military man, she really did have great insight into what Bash was going through. This was nice as she was able to be a shoulder for Nash to lean on.

As far as the romance went, it was sweet. It felt real and believable but it was not a scorcher. More like mild heat level. However, they were good together. Nash and Kasey may have been the main characters but there were others that stole some of the lime light. There were Kasey's three children: Rustin, Silas, and Emma; as well as Kasey's two brothers, Brody and Jace and Brody's wife Lila. They all brought the charm as well as fun. The only thing that I missed from the prior novel to this one is more of the wittiness. Overall, I did enjoy this book. Although, I can't wait to read Jace's story in The Luckiest Cowboy of All. ( )