Cowboy Player by Mia Hopkins Review

Cowboy Player

Cowboy Cocktail #3

By: Mia Hopkins

Released: June 28th, 2016

Samhain Publishing, Ltd

For
eight years, Melody Santos played the game of love and lost—big time. Now she’s
back in her tiny hometown looking after her younger sister, making ends meet
with an assortment of odd jobs. When her childhood best friend hires her to
help him sell his family’s grass-fed beef, the last thing she anticipates is
falling in lust with the legendary, brown-eyed player.

To put
his family’s cattle ranch back in the black, Clark MacKinnon has his sights set
on big contracts—gourmet chefs and restaurateurs. If that means long hours
traveling from farmer’s market to farmer’s market, Clark doesn’t mind.
Particularly since his new assistant is his childhood crush, all grown up and
sexy as hell.

One
night in bed leaves them breathless and hungry for more. But when his
love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation collides with her trust issues, Clark and
Melody must face the truth about what they’ve become: not friends, not lovers,
but players in a game that’s impossible to win.

Warning:
Contains filthy banter, raunchy sex, excessive Johnny Cash references, and
hundreds of pounds of raw beef.

After her mother passes away Melody Santos returns home to help support
her sister Harmony and take care of her mother's affairs; but instead of
supporting her, her long term boyfriend Scott uses it as an excuse to break up.
But now Melody is working as many odd jobs as she can to help put her sister
through college. One of those jobs just so happens to be working for the player
extraordinaire! Clark MacKinnon; the man was the ultimate chick magnet. But
that didn't stop Melody from craving him, common sense did.

Clark MacKinnon had know Melody since they were kids, when her father
worked on his parents ranch, and now she is back in his life, well working for
him and despite of his player behavior, this cowboy knew that his feeling for
Melody went deeper than that.

But after one night together Melody freaks out and quits! And Clark
jumps through hoops to keep her in his life! But will Melody believe that this
Cowboy Player is willing to hang up his spurs for her.

The plot of Cowboy Player is light and flirty, but it does deeper side
when Clark shares his feeling with Melody. I have to admit that even though I
thoroughly enjoyed Clark and Melody's characters, Harmony and Lucky's
characters truly stole the book for me and I truly hope they will get their own
book.

Mia Hopkins is a completely new author to me and quite honestly I
enjoyed her writing style and I would be eager to read the next book in this
series.

I give Cowboy Player 4 stars!

On
the record player, the next track started. Guitar licks, drums, a little
fiddle—Melody knew the song at once.

“Oh
man,” said Clark. “‘Troubadour’. This a good one. Dance with me, Mel.”

He
pulled her off the sofa before she could say anything. Wrapped up in the arms
of a big cowboy was not a terrible place to be, so Melody danced with him,
barefoot in her parents’ living room, the slow two-step a song both their
bodies knew the words to. Her laughter died away, giving way to a quiet sense
of vulnerability. The verses slid by like a dream, erasing the burden of
loneliness she’d been carrying for so long. It had been months since she’d been
this close to a man. It had been years since she’d felt this close to
one.

Clark
could read her mind. “So what was his name again?” he asked softly. “Scott?”

“Yeah.”

“What
happened?”

“A
slow-motion disaster, that’s what happened.” She rested her cheek against the
hard, hot wall of Clark’s chest. “He was a musician. Fun. Exciting. He said I
meant the world to him. But I suppose the world wasn’t enough.”

“What
do you mean?”

It
was still hard to say aloud. “He cheated on me. It had been going on for
months. When I found out and confronted him about it, he broke down said he was
sorry. We tried to put it past us. We even went to therapy. But it was all a
lie. He left me when my mom passed away.” At first, the pain had been
excruciating, dulled only by grief and the weight of her new responsibilities.
“Eight years, down the drain.”

“That’s
a long time. Did you ever talk about getting married?”

“He
said he didn’t like labels.” She sighed. “Which was also a lie, because he
married the other woman in Vegas in February.”

“Jesus
Christ. I’m sorry.” Clark gave her a squeeze. “You know, if you were mine, I’d
hold on to you for good.”

“Sure.
Until the next piece of ass came along.”

“Never
seen a piece of ass like yours.”

“That’s
the friend talking. Your dick might say otherwise.”

“My
dick, huh?” Clark laughed quietly. “You’re welcome to check with my dick
yourself. He doesn’t talk loud, so you’ll have to get down on your knees to
hear him.”

“Jackass.”

“Seriously,
Mel. You don’t know what you’ve got going on. Smart as all get-out. Hell, you
run circles around me, and I’m a genius. And you’re funny too. Ain’t many women
who can make me laugh. You’re one of them.”

She
rolled her eyes. “Aw shucks, Ma. Next the cowboy told me I was real purty.”

“Fuck
pretty. You’re beautiful.”

It
was too much. Danger. “Clark—”

“So
beautiful. I always thought so.” He gave her a sad smile. “Honest to God.”

The
heat rising between them cooked her brain. She was at a loss for words.
“Thanks.”

“No
thanks needed. Just stating the obvious.” They danced until the song ended on a
ribbon of steel guitar. Clark leaned down and pressed his lips to her temple.

Melody
gasped.

Instead
of pulling away, he traced a slow, agonizing trail of kisses along her hairline
until he was kissing her neck just behind her ear.

Pleasure
overloaded her nervous system, but her brain wouldn’t let her enjoy it.
“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.”

Mia Hopkins writes lush romances starring fun,
sexy characters who love to get down and dirty. She's a sucker for working
class heroes, brainy heroines and wisecracking best friends.

When she's not lost in a story, Mia spends her
time cooking, gardening, traveling, volunteering and looking for her keys. In a
past life, she was a classroom teacher and still has a pretty good
"teacher voice" and "teacher stare."

She lives in the heart of Los Angeles with her
roguish husband and two waggish dogs.