Review - Her Fated Cowboy (Harland County, #1) by Donna Michaels

Synopsis:

L.A. cop, Jordan Masters Ryan has a problem. Her normal method of meeting a crisis head-on and taking it down won’t work. Not this time. Not when fate is her adversary. Having kept her from the man she thought she’d always marry, the same fickle fate took away the man she eventually did. Thrown back into the path of her first love, she finds hers is not the only heart fate has damaged.

Widower and software CEO, Cole McCall fills his days with computer codes and his free time working the family’s cattle ranch. Blaming himself for his wife’s death, he’s become hard and bitter. When his visiting former neighbor sets out to delete the firewall around his heart, he discovers there’s no protection against the Jordan virus. Though she understands his pain and reawakens his soul, will it be enough for Cole to overcome his past and embrace their fated hearts?

My Review - 4 Stars:

When circumstances, and perhaps a little help from their parents, bring Jordan and Cole back together, even the pain and scars from their past can’t stop the attraction that they still feel for each other. Both Cole and Jordan have suffered the loss of a spouse. Jordan still suffers from her loss and carries the emotional scars, but she has begun the healing process and has started to come to terms with her new life without her husband. Unlike Jordan, Cole has not addressed his grief and has become a shell of the man he was, hard and bitter, constantly pushing his family away.

Cole and Jordan have always shared an attraction for one another, but timing was never on their side. And even though Cole has shut down his heart, just being around Jordan is enough to make him start feeling again – something he wants no part of!

“And that’s exactly what she was doing; knocking out a piece of the carefully built wall he’d erected around his emotions. She attacked his libido like a heavyweight in a title match – he didn't stand a fucking chance.”

I loved Jordan – she has never been one to shy away from issues and comes at things head on, so when she has had enough of watching the hard and bitter Cole behave badly toward his family, she calls him out on his behavior. Having gone through a similar loss, Jordan understands Cole’s feelings, but knows that he has to be the one to forgive himself and start the healing process – and bring back the man that he used to be.

“Just what I said. No. I won’t stop trying to change you because I don’t particularly like you. I want you gone and the old Cole back.”

This was an emotional read with lots of angst and some hot & steamy times. I love when an author can take me to extremes about a character – I often found that I couldn't decide if I wanted to smack Cole aside the head or cry for his heartache. The sparks that would fly between Jordan and Cole were great, and that tension that existed between the two led to some fun times.

Son-of-a-bitch! She handcuffed him to his chair. If that didn't fucking turn him on.
Big.
Time.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series. These Dalton boys are sure cut from some fine stock and have all sorts of cowboy sexy going on – makes for some fun reading time!