Quickie Review: The Last True Cowboy

The Last True Cowboy by Kathleen Eagle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars 

“[...] At heart they’re still wild.” 

“And we hold that in our hands,” Chevy said, quoting him. “That heart. That wildness.” 

This was a trailed finger, Texas drawl, slow burn of a story. 

K.C. Houston is our Last True Cowboy and he shows up at the Weslin Ranch looking for Ross Weslin who offered him a job training horses. When he arrives he finds out Ross just died and the three women left to run the ranch, Gramma Sally and her two granddaughters Julia and Dawn don't even know if they are going to keep the ranch or sell. 

The beginning was pretty slow and I had a hard time getting into it but around 30% I was able to sink into the measured and time taken flow the author had created. The western vibe is strong in this, it's in the way they talk, walk, live, and breathe and I really felt like I was on the ranch. 

There's angst and drama but all in a deliberate and timed perfectly way, the reader is enveloped in as it is revealed to us and then builds.The two sisters have a careful relationship because of past hurts, their grief over losing their brother Ross and feeling like they never had a close relationship because Ross being scared to come out definitively that he was gay to them, and then the back and forth of if they should sell the ranch. 

K.C. comes into the picture with his own background of losing his mother young, on the road and working ranches starting at fifteen, becoming semi-famous for his ability to work with horses, and then losing his business when a child got hurt and they didn't have insurance. He's a lady's man but in the most caring way; he's genuine and caring. K.C. and Julia had a steady connection that was mature and developed and I can't stop thinking about some of their little moments (him sitting on the porch railing and slowly but surely drawing her in-between his legs and then putting his hat on her). 

The romance is extremely slow burn but all those little moments and touches sizzle under the surface in the best way. The author took time and care with her characters and story and it shows, this was a rich world. You'll want to sink into this, need a long attention span, and maybe a porch swing and Afghan blanket wouldn't be amiss.

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