To begin with, I mistakenly picked this book up thinking it was a continuation of another lovely cowboy series by Carolyn Brown. While I might have been disappointed that I picked up the wrong book at a charity book sale, it was still a real joy picking up ANOTHER series by Carolyn Brown! This book itself is not a disappoint my any means!

I love ooey gooey romances especially with cowboys and Christmas. Who doesn't love a good Christmas story?! Especially in Summer (which is when I initially read this book). I wanted something light, fun and cute and this book fit the bill! Lucky me!

These love stories are PG-13 with a dash of sex. It's not erotica, but it does have about half of page of sexiness. It's your typical romance stories with lots of fluff, lots of cute comments and happy endings! There's no cliffhangers and no nasty drama!

In this book, Fiona and Jud are our leads. Fiona ran far away from home to be a career woman and her marriage didn't work out. So here she is, back at home during Christmas time, and she runs into Jud. He helps her out during a little car accident and they find out that both of them are staying together in the same house! They end up spending the Christmas season together with Fiona's family, Jud's family and lots of friendly neighbors!

Fiona and Jud have a lovely friendship that develops into one steamy romance! Their ending is also one for the romance books, but what more can you expect from Carolyn Brown?

I felt like this book was just long enough and had just enough romance and action. The drama was sweet, the family moments were lovely and it was everything I could have wanted. I can't find much wrong with it other than the fact that I messed up reading the wrong series! I would have loved to start at book one so I felt more connected with the rest of the family. That being said, you don't need to read the rest of the series to pick this book up. It's an easy read that you can jump into. Carolyn fills in all of the background information that you need.

I'd highly recommend this book to my romance lovers out there! This book is sweet and easy to read! It's packed full of a lovely family and community that makes me yearn to move to Lucky Penny Ranch myself. Despite being almost three hundred pages, the book was so addicting and I flew through it super quickly.

Overall, super cute and super fluffy! I need more books like this in my life right now!

Five out of five stars!

P.S. I picked this book up at a charity book sale and I'm kind of curious how a book that isn't reviewed much on Goodreads is in my small hometown. It was very shocking to find Carolyn's book and I am PUMPED that I found a few of them! I guess someone in my city has good tastes! ( )

The story of Jud and Fiona... ( )

ARC Review: Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch) by Carolyn Brown

Ms. Brown exposes more of herself with each story she writes. Her stories transport readers to a more simple time, when caring was not a chore and hope was only a heartbeat away. Jud may be small town but he's much deeper than he looks. He yearns for his own chance at finding a place that fits. Love, family and happiness are his hidden dream, yet his reality is proving to be anything but. That is until a sassy filly touches him in all the right places. Merry Cowboy Christmas is perfect. Home, holidays and humour combine to create an endearing, nostalgic story of love. Truly felt like coming home.
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Good book. The third in the series, this one is about Jud Dawson, cousin to Blake and Toby, and co-owner of the Lucky Penny Ranch. He is the last to move to the ranch as he had a previous job commitment to finish. He's looking forward to putting down roots and building a place for future generations of Dawsons. All he needs now is to find the right woman to have everything he wants. I really liked Jud. He's easygoing, sweet, and hardworking. I loved the way that he could see the fun in almost any situation.

Fiona is the third of the Logan sisters and the one who flew the nest the furthest. Now she is back in Dry Creek, but not entirely by her choice. She isn't looking forward to telling her family about her failed marriage and the loss of her career but after a year of barely making ends meet she is at the end of her rope. She has come home to regroup and reconnect with her family before looking for another job in a city. She is smart, sassy, and has a bit of that red-headed temper going for her.

I loved the development of their relationship. From the moment he and Fiona met, Jud was pretty much a goner. But instead of a full frontal assault, Jud takes things slowly. I loved seeing them develop a good friendship first. From late night talks over leftovers or cookies and milk to conspiring to rehabilitate the grouchy couple who created such trouble in the previous books, Jud and Fiona slowly get to know each other. I loved the way that Jud really understood Fiona. She has never felt like she really fit in her family or the town, but came to realize that the city wasn't right for her. With a little bit of experience under her belt, she discovers that home is much more important to her than she had thought. I loved watching her settle into life in Dry Creek. The relationship between Fiona and Jud also began to heat up, and both realized that there was something deeper growing between them. But when Fiona is offered the chance to go back to the city, she has a decision to make. Give up her new life in Dry Creek and fly away, or put down those roots she hadn't realized she wanted? I loved Jud's support of whatever decision she made and how it helped her see the truth. I loved the ending and how everything came together for them.

I loved seeing more of the previous couples and the scenes with baby Audrey were adorable. There was an interesting minor thread dealing with Jud's plans to look for oil on the Lucky Penny and the possible involvement of his sister Josie. It made a nice lead into the next book. But the most unexpected and fun was the big part that Truman and Dora June O'Dell played. The two of them had caused a lot of trouble in the previous books with their negative attitudes. In this book, their house burned down, and Fiona's mother invited Truman and Dora June to stay with them. The young people are horrified but obey Katy's "love your neighbor" directive. It doesn't take too long for them to see a different side to Dora June and I loved seeing her quickly make a place for herself. Truman was a harder nut to crack. It was hilarious to see Jud take him on as a project, and his methods were ingenious. The Santa Claus thing was a riot. Truman's Christmas gift to Dora June showed just how much he'd changed. ( )

It is unbelievable to me that Carolyn Brown has only been writing books for 19 years. Of the 80 books she has already published, I've read almost all. Brown's ability to have me exploding with laughter is only overshadowed by her ability to have me in tears at so many tender moments. She is able to draw you into the life of the characters and will have you rooting for the couple very quickly. I especially love her ability to portray senior citizens. She writes some of the feistiest seniors and though they are secondary only, they are totally fleshed out. I would love to see her do a novel where the two main characters were seniors having a second chance at love.
I always look forward to the release of a new Carolyn Brown novel as I know we'll be introduced to another awesome couple and get to watch them falling in love while one or both are kicking and screaming to stay single.
Fiona and Jud were an awesome couple. Jud was ready for marriage while Fiona was damn sure she neither belonged in a small town or with a cowboy. I love that this story takes place at Christmas and especially loved seeing Fiona's family Christmas traditions. As always Brown's small town setting feels so similar to my own. We too were a dry county until only recently and with a mostly Southern Baptist community, many people had to store their beer in an ice chest rather than their frig so as not to offend older family members. Simply said, this is another super read by Carolyn Brown and the only thing that makes it bearable to finish is knowing that she'll have another one waiting to be read in a few months. Thank goodness she is such a prolific writer and has many more HEAs to reward her readers with. ( )