Review of One Good Cowboy by Catherine Mann

One Good Cowboy (Diamonds in the Rough #1)

by Catherine Mann

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Category Romance/Cowboys/Animal Rescue

Age category: Adult

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Blurb:

From Ex to Eternity?

To inherit his family's empire, Texas cowboy-turned-CEO Stone McNair must prove he has a heart beneath his ruthlessly suave exterior. His trial? Finding homes for his grandmother's rescue dogs. His judge? Johanna Fletcher, the woman whose heart he broke.

Sure, Johanna can handle a week traveling the country with her ex-fiancé to fulfill his dying grandmother's request. She and Stone want different things—plain and simple. But there's nothing plain about Stone, or simple about the heat that still flares between them. One week may not be long enough….

You can find One Good Cowboy on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774824-one-good-cowboy?ac=1   

You can buy One Good Cowboy here:

- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FTQ1VH6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_bFmctb01SMAV8

- Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-good-cowboy-catherine-mann/1117057012?ean=9780373733064    

- Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/one-good-cowboy-1

- Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=51415   

About the Author:

USA Today bestseller Catherine Mann and RITA Award winner, Catherine writes contemporary romance for Berkley, Harlequin, and Sourcebooks, With over two million books in print in more than twenty countries, she has also celebrated five RITA finals, three Maggie Award of Excellence finals and a Bookseller’s Best win. A former theater school director and university instructor, she holds a Master’s degree in Theater from UNC-Greensboro and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts: Theater (with minors in both English and Education) from the College of Charleston. Catherine and her flyboy husband live on the Florida coast where they brought up their 4 children – and still have 5 four-legged, furry “children” (aka pets). Catherine is an active volunteer with her local Humane Society, serving on their Board of Directors and fostering puppies and special needs dogs (she stopped counting at a hundred). She recently checked off a major item on her “bucket list” by completing the hands-on training for the Florida State Animal Rescue Coalition. Catherine enjoys hearing from her readers and can be found online daily.  To receive an autographed bookmark, send a SASE to: P.O. Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566

You can find and contact Catherine here:

- Website: http://www.catherinemann.com/

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatherineMannAuthor

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinemann1

- Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93454.Catherine_Mann

- Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/catherinemann/

- Blog: http://www.catherinemann.com/category/blog/

- Newsletter: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CatherineMann_News/

I received a free copy of One Good Cowboy by Catherine Mann in exchange for an honest review, which was pretty exciting for me since this was my first time being a given a book to review.  The blurb really grabbed my attention when it mentioned finding homes for rescue dogs.  As someone involved in animal rescue, I decided it was a book I definitely wanted to read.

Overall, I enjoyed One Good Cowboy.  I’m giving it three stars out of five, which means I liked it.  There were a few things I didn’t love about it, so I’ll start with the negative and end with the positive.  That’s just how I like to do things.

The negative:  The names of the characters and pets pretty much drove me insane.  Stone McNair’s grandmother is a billionaire and the founder of a jewelry company, Diamonds In The Rough.  The family also owns and operates the Hidden Gem Ranch.  There’s definitely a jewelry/precious stone connection there, but in case you miss that somehow EVERY single pet has some kind of jewel/precious metal name.  The dogs are Sterling, Gem, Pearl, and Ruby.  The horses mentioned by name have names like Goldie and Opal.   Then there’s Stone.  His cousins are Amethyst and Alexandrite.  It just seemed like a lot of overkill to me. 

There also seemed to be some overkill in letting you know just how wealthy the McNairs are; the private jet, the insanely famous and wealthy social circle, and the ability to just buy all new clothes and accessories in the middle of a trip.  Once again, it seemed like overkill by the end.

I know neither of those things are very big deals, and it’s probably just me, but that’s how I felt.

The positive:  First and foremost, the fact that the book essentially starts off with a dying woman’s wish to see her rescue dogs placed in good homes.  You had me at rescue dogs OR being responsible enough to make sure there’s a plan in place for pets in the event of their owner’s death.  Both?  I’m definitely in.  This was the first time I’ve read a romance with any kind of animal rescue connection, and I just love that being added in as a subgenre.

I liked Stone and Johanna, and I liked them together.  They had broken off their engagement several months before due in large part to a lack of trust, communication, and a lack of compromise.  The week together with the dogs placed them in close proximity to one another and more or less forced them to acknowledge and resolve their issues.

There was definite heat between the two of them, they just both seemed to get caught up in the picture of how they wanted things to be, and didn’t really give much thought to where the other person was coming from. 

The issues they faced seemed pretty realistic for the most part; children or no children, how and with whom they socialized, total (or lack thereof) honesty, and how much each was willing to give to make a life together.  I enjoyed the give and take between the two of them to come to a workable solution, and definitely felt like they were a couple I wanted to see make it.

This was my first time reading Catherine Mann, and I think I’ll definitely give some of her other books a try.  What about you?  Have you read any of her books?