Book Review: My Cowboy Heart by Z.A. Maxfield

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: My Cowboy Heart
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Series: The Cowboys #1
Heroes/Heroine: Speed Ball Malloy & Crispin Carrasco
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 266 pages
Publisher: Intermix (Penguin Imprint)
Release Date: August 20, 2013
Available at: Penguin, Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: A cowboy’s heart has room for anything…

J-Bar ranch foreman Malloy pretty much keeps to himself—slinking around the edges of everybody else like an old coyote, doing his job and staying private. That is until Crispin Carrasco shows up.

Lean, muscular, and with a motor mouth that won’t quit, Crispin sparks something in Malloy—something the foreman didn’t know was there. But how does a lone coyote approach the warmth of a fire? And more important, what would happen if that fire burned?

Review:

Speed Ball Malloy is a quiet and private foreman at the J-Bar. He’s lived his life sticking to the shadows. That is until Crispin Carrasco shows up at the J-bar and pushes Malloy’s perfectly fine life into chaos. Now Malloy has to deal with more feelings and emotions than he ever wanted to handle.

I have to say, I absolutely loved these characters. Malloy is very simplistic when it comes to his way of thinking. He’s immediately fascinated by Crispin but he can’t quite figure out just why that is. Crispin is just all kinds of fun. He has a motormouth that will not quit and is so enthusiastic, you just never know exactly what will come out of his mouth. The two are polar opposites with Malloy being an almost recluse and Crispin being out and proud but together they balance each other out. It’s very sweet and I adored the way the two start off slow in their relationship by building a kind of friendship.

While I enjoyed this story, when I think back on it, one word jumps to mind: sad. I felt like there was a lot of sad and depressing moments in the story and not enough happy moments to balance it out. Even the end was sort of sad, although there is an HEA and the ending is very, very sweet. More than anything, though, I felt like the story went on a little too long to the point that it dragged towards the end.

All in all, this was a good, sweet cowboy story but it is angsty. I enjoyed the differences between the characters and their overall journey to where they end up. It’s the type of book that, even though it’s sad, I know I’ll be rereading because it’s more about building relationships and finding a home, a place where you can be who you are and safe and it’s something I definitely recommend.

Overall Impression: I really liked it

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*