Stone Cold Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan Review

Stone
Cold Cowboy

Montana Men #4

By: Jennifer Ryan

Releasing
February 23, 2016

Avon

The last thing rancher Rory Kendrick expects to find
when he’s searching for his missing cattle is a genuine damsel in distress.
After rushing to help, he can’t help wanting to do anything he can for this
lovely but damaged woman. But even his kind deed won’t get Sadie to tell him
who’s responsible for hurting her.

Sadie is trying to hold onto her family, and her life.
With an ill father who’s refusing treatment and a younger brother who has
fallen in with a dangerous crowd, she’s beginning to feel like she can’t save
anyone, least of all herself. When her brother owes money to the wrong people,
Sadie tries to pay off his debts, but she doesn’t have the cash. The one person
who might be able to help her out is the last person she wants to involve in
her family drama, but Rory won’t take no for an answer.

Rory is all about family, but sometimes you’ve got to
let go. If you can’t save them, save yourself. Sadie’s been dealt a bad hand
she refuses to fold. Because he loves her, he’ll do anything to keep her safe
and give her the happy life she deserves, even betray her trust to take down
her brother.

So we are back with another Jennifer Ryan book and I for one couldn't think of a better birthday present to myself than this.

Stone Cold Cowboy is the story of Sadie Higgins and her need to keep her family together. After she lost her mother, Sadie clung on to her father and brother, but with her fathers sickness and her brother's need for breaking the law, Sadie is falling apart, but she is not prepared to throw in the towel, so yet again she is out trying to stop her brother from cattle rustling! But what Sadie doesn't know is that Connor (her brother) is in too deep now and she might not come out of this confrontation alive!

The last thing Rory Kendrick expects to see while out tracking the cattle thieves, Is a naked women who is bleeding, strung up to in a tree and left to die! He especially doesn't expect it to be Sadie Higgins, the women he craves but is too shy to approach. Now it's a race against time to save her life.

But that is not the end of Sadie and Rory's whoa's, but they face the challenges head on with the only aim of keeping them both alive, all the while falling for each other.

I would say that this is one of the most compelling books I have read! Well since the last Jennifer Ryan book. This Montana series has truly blown my mind and I am in awe of the fact that the author has managed to set up a whole town with such detail and managed to keep all of the characters straight. I really love all of the Kendrick brothers and their grandfather is wonderful. But I do foresee a new series sprouting wings the the DEA Special Agent brothers…well at least I hope there is.

So let's get to basics; the plot was gripping, thrilling and so many other descriptive words that I can't choose from! But when I start a book at 9pm and refuse to go to bed till I know what the ending is! Well, I would say that's a great plot! I fell in love with the characters of this book and as you can tell by my waffling on, the writing was truly superb!

I give Stone Cold Cowboy 5 stars! Even though it deserved so much more!

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“Stop touching her. Let’s just go
and get the damn cattle to the trailers before we get caught.” Connor stared
down at her, lying on the ground practically naked.

What the hell? Her gaze locked on
the man crouched beside her, his hand gripped around her upper arm, keeping her
from scrambling away. Fear tore through her body. The cold bit into her skin
and froze her bones. She clamped her aching jaw down tight to keep her teeth
from chattering. She pushed up to sitting, her knees drawn up, and covered herself
with her hands. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. She scanned the area for
her missing coat, jeans, and shirt. At least the asshole hadn’t gotten her out
of her panties and bra; still, it wasn’t enough coverage to make her feel safe,
or keep her warm.

“Give me back my clothes.” Her sharp
words didn’t hide the fear shaking her voice.

“Shut up, or I’ll clock you again.”

Scott and Tony, Connor’s so-called
friends, stood over her smoking cigarettes. The three of them col- lectively
added up to one brain. None of them came up with a good idea, but they sure
could turn a bad one worse one-upping one another. Now that she was awake,
their gazes shot from her breasts to her face, then off to the scattered clouds
overhead.

Connor pushed away the guy beside
her, someone she didn’t know. “You don’t need to strip her. You fuck- ing lay
another hand on her and I’ll kill you.”

She appreciated her brother’s
bravado, but the big dude with long, greasy dark hair; devil tat on his neck;
and the wicked knife in his hand he whipped out from behind him could probably
kill her brother with a look from his cold eyes. Her throbbing jaw attested to
the guy’s powerful right hook. If he’d hit a woman, no tell- ing what he’d do
to her brother.

The devil dude, as she immediately
thought of him, stood and took a menacing step closer to her brother. “Your
sister has one hot body. She’d look damn good in lace.” He raked his gaze over
her figure, grimac- ing at her cotton bra and panties. “I say we teach her a
lesson about butting into my business.” The devil dude smacked Scott on the
shoulder, trying to get his agreement.

Scott and Tony continued to look
uncomfortable, shaking their heads and toeing at the dirt, avoiding looking the
devil dude right in the eye. They probably needed another hit of whatever they
were on. Despite the cold, sweat broke out on their faces. Her brother didn’t
look much better.

“She’s not going to say anything.
The last thing she wants to do is get me in trouble.” The assurance her brother
tried to put into his words fell short, making him sound more like a sniveling
child.

“You do that all on your own,” she
snapped, glar- ing at all of them. She stood up, realizing too late she didn’t
quite have her head on straight yet. Dizzy, she stumbled a step, then caught
herself. She spotted her clothes tossed a few feet away and rushed toward them,
hoping to grab them, run to her horse, and get the hell out of there before
things got worse. She definitely didn’t want to get hit again. The fear
building in her gut that the devil dude might make good on his omi- nous
threats, both spoken and unspoken, made bile rise to the back of her throat.
She needed to get away now, before it was too late.

She wrapped her arms around herself,
warding off another round of shivers, not all of which resulted from the cold,
but the bone-deep fear they might not let her go.

“Where do you think you’re going?”
The devil dude grabbed her arm and spun her around. She took him by surprise,
stepping in close and kneeing him in the nuts. He fell to his knees, his hands
on his balls, the knife sticking out toward her.

“Sadie, no,” her brother shouted.

“I’ll make you regret that, bitch.”
The devil dude lunged for her.

She expected him to grab her, but
she couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. His hands clamped on to her
shoulders. The knife handle dug into her arm, but fear for her life made her
act. She brought her arms up and broke his hold. Surprise showed in his eyes,
but they narrowed with determination.
He grabbed her wrist and yanked
her forward. She plowed into his chest with a thump. His cold leather jacket
chilled her skin even more. He wrapped his arms around her back, squeezing her
close. She head-butted him, hitting him more on the chin than nose than she’d
like. He shoved her back to the ground and swiped the back of his hand over his
face. Slumped in the dirt and grass, she stared up at him, trying to clear the
haze from her aching head and vision, wishing she’d broken his nose.

She tried to think fast, but the guy
came after her again, falling to his knees, straddling her hips. His heavy
weight pushed her butt into the soft earth, and a jagged rock dug into her
spine. He pressed the knife to her neck. The menacing smile on his face
reinforced the dangerous look in his eyes. He’d do it. He’d kill her and not
think twice about it.

Jennifer Ryan is the New York
Times & USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted Series and The McBrides
Series. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary small-town romances
featuring strong men and equally resilient women. Her stories are filled with
love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever-after we all hope to find.

Jennifer lives in the
San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t
writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in
the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally
leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the
dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts
them on paper.