I love books about cowboys and Playing With You, a Riding Tall novel, has cowboys in spades. It also has all of the other elements I enjoy in a good romance. There are sexy men (did I mention they are cowboys?!?), a curvy heroine, scrumptious sweets, and the plot twist to end all plot twists.
Riki is a baker who has an incredible crush on Garret, one of her sexy, Stetson wearing patrons. When she is set up on a blind date by the town busy body, imagine her shock and surprise when she finds Garret on her doorstep. Sparks fly between them and things heat to smoking.
Like all good characters, Garret and Ricki have flaws that seem determined to keep them apart. Garret’s past haunts him and Ricki is struggling to recover from a divorce. When a trusted friend stops hiding their crazy, Garret and Ricki will need to fight to save each other…and an adorable pooch.
This was a short and sweet story. I loved that Ricki is a size fourteen and I love even more that sexy Garret appreciates her curves (round girls need love too!). I also love the premise of her having the crush and then that idea being paired with a blind date. It reminded me a little of The Curve Ball by JS Scott (love that one too!). The stalkerish twist was a welcome surprise and it definitely kept me engaged, though I would have liked things to be a little more vague so I could feel the full shock at the end.
I don’t like to criticize (and I usually try not to), but the only thing that didn’t sit quite right with me was the author’s handling of Riki’s mental health issues. At the beginning of the story Ricki talks about suffering from depression. I love that the author put that out there! It is a real thing and I feel like it is mostly ignored by people who haven’t experienced it. The thing that bothered me was at the end, Ricki was so happy with her relationship with Garret that she was able to go off of her anti-depressants and I don’t feel like that is very realistic. Everyone has experienced some depression at one time or another in their lives, but some people have a chemical imbalance that needs to be corrected with medication. I suffer from depression and anxiety and I suffer from them even when it seems that everything is going right in my life. It bothers me that the story made it sound as if all Ricki needed was a good man and to find love and then her issues would be resolved. It’s not true. Love and a good man are great, but they don’t fix mental illness.
On a much lighter note, this was a very fun read. I love the characters and enjoyed all of the side characters that were introduced too. I would definitely read others in the series!
Well done, Cheyenne McCray!
amberlynnmyers 