Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.

I received a complimentary copy of “A Rancher to Remember” direct from the author Karen Rock in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I love reading the Rocky Mountain Cowboys series:

*2019* has begun quite uniquely – as some years have the tendency of doing – I was still recovering from my five week virus in January which nixed my idea of a re-reading of this series for #ContemporaryJanuary. At the end of January and within the early bits of February brought the return of my chronic migraines in full force, to where I started to seek out more research into what was [potentially] triggering them & how I could sort out a path forward with the hope of lessening them. This lead me to the book “The Migraine Relief Plan” and a new protocol of medicine which has kept me migraine-free for over five weeks now.

However, despite my earnest yearnings to re-read this series – the timing has still been a bit off for me personally – *March!* proved the warning about the ‘ides of March’ ought to be taken a bit more seriously some years over others – where the writing was simply on the wall very early-on it was going to be a month of woe & adversity. I still remember a few weeks coupled in the middle where I was questioning how I was even able to continue posting to my blog as my heart and mind were simply ‘elsewhere’ offline.

I knew I didn’t want to rush my introduction into the one story of the series I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading (“Bad Boy Rancher”; the book is eyeing me from the shelf and questioning why I keep holding off reading it!) which is why I decided to continue reading this series with the sixth installment. I’ll find a moment of peace & serenity when my life calms back down again to where I can re-read the whole series with the benefit of not having a deadline to chase into but rather just have the hours to spend a respiteful holiday soaking in the life of my favourite cowboys and cowgirls! Except to say, I had forgotten – I need to chase down a copy of “A Cowboy to Keep” as apparently this title has gone *out of print!* somewhere between when I first started reading this series and now! It is the only story (the prequel, too!) I haven’t been able to add to my Rocky Mountain Cowboy shelf of joy. I previously inter-library loaned a copy to read and I might still have to continue doing that when I get into re-reading this series!

This marks one of my first readings of the Rocky Mountain Cowboys without a migraine and for me that is something to be celebrating! I’m also entering into my sixth year as a book blogger whilst reading the *sixth!* installment of a series which has charmed my heart & soul!

You might remember I had shared ahead of revealling my thoughts about “Winning the Cowboy’s Heart”- how the Rocky Mountain Cowboys is a series I fell in love with reading since I first started borrowing the books through my library – adding ‘Christmas at Cade Ranch’ to my local library as they accepted my purchase request and having the joy of hosting a few of the blog tours connected to the series which led me to this lovely sixth novel!

There is a seventh novel on the horizon this *2019!* as well – as I received a bookmark which happily alerted me about the release schedule for the Rocky Mountain Cowboys series – thereby books 5-7 are releasing in 2019 whilst books 8 & 9 are scheduled for 2020! This gives me plenty of time to schedule my personal re-reading of the series and be right in-line with one of the forthcoming releases! I was trying to see when the seventh novel was going to publish (wondering if it was going to be a Summer or Autumn release!) however it isn’t yet listed online. [ until I read the Author’s Note and discovered whose story is arriving this Summer! ]

IF this is the first review you’ve stumbled across of mine for this lovely Western Cowboy series you might be wondering what draws my eye into this series and to the writer’s style of story-telling – one of the best joys for me as a reader, outside of my love of the Cade family and the men of the series is where Ms Rock set the series to reside: deep in the heart of the Rockies! There is something about mountain living and the atmosphere of ranching that uplifts a girl’s soul!

Ms Rock does a great job of taking you into the heart of addiction – first through the opinions of family who feel they are being helpful but in reality their falling a bit short with a few good observations. Secondly, she takes you into an NA meeting to hear the stories of other addicts who are struggling just like Sofia to quash their innermost doubts and to remain above the pains of addiction whilst re-setting their lives free of the substance of their choice. It was in one of those meetings where Sofia felt both ashamed to be present and rather awkwardly at first, comfortable amongst those who she could relate too.

Ms Rock also highlights what it is like to have a controlling personality – someone who is unable to yield or bend – this was spoken about in regards to Sofia’s father but in the present time-line of the series it is mostly directed towards James who has a definitive way of ‘taking over’ and claiming roles he was not meant to lead because doing so would jeopardise another person’s sense of self.

One of my favourite parts of the story is how closely Sofia and Joy (the Cade siblings mother) bonded over being in such close quarters whilst she was recuperating. Joy still had quite a bit of spunk left in her and she had a right to want to keep living her life to the fullest she could. Sofia inspired her in equal measure of Joy inspiring Sofia to take new risks and to keep bettering herself for her future and her son’s (Javi). Javi was an impressionable child but he also understood what was important in his young life. I can see why Sofia stressed about how he might react around James and why being around James for both of them was proving to be a bit too difficult.

One of the beautiful things about this series is how redemption and second chances permeate through the stories. Erstwhile, you are becoming closer in acquaintance with the Cade family themselves – the ranch they live on becomes the anchour to their lives, the place where they gather and they grow; where love nurtures their present and where it breathes hope into the future. Each installment of this series builds on the last story in sequence – thereby, by the time you start at A Cowboy to Keep whilst reading each new story thereafter, you are given a wonderful portrait of a resilient family. A family whose honest about the hardships in life and where good or bad, this is a family who remains evermore true of themselves.

Everything comes full circle in the Rocky Mountain Cowboys series – you get to see where loose ends knit back together and the one beautiful thing about this series is you get to have continual updates about all the characters you’ve loved reading about in prior installments! If you take the title of this one for a second to ruminate – you’ll find the word “pride” speaks volumes towards understanding where this story was leading you to venture. It isn’t just the pride of the current cowboys in the Cade-Loveland families but of all the cowboys within their mutual lineages who led to the current heroes of the series.

One of the things I admire most about how Ms Rock writes her stories is the continuity aspects of her series – where you can move from one installment to another in a seamless transition. I’ve started reading this series from the prequel into the first and second novels – before arriving into the fourth ahead of the third. I almost thought that was a mistake on my part, as I wasn’t sure if this fourth installment would pick up directly out of the third or return to an earlier conflict. The beauty of reading this series slightly out of sequence is how compelling it was for the feud to take precedent and thereby allowing me to continue the continuity I have been appreciating by reading this fourth novel.

The feud itself was established in the earlier stories – setting down the foundation of how both families are at war with each other – not just over the water rights (though those are a valid reason for the ill will between them) but it goes back to a matter of principle and honour. Of the circumstances relating to the original feud’s origins and how unsettling it is for the details which have remained behind paint a rather dark portrait of their ancestor’s lives.

Through all of this, Ms Rock has rooted us into the Cade and Loveland families – showing us how human each of the families are and how vulnerable the members of their families are to the adversities of life. In many ways, both the Cades and Lovelands have each endured a lot of obstacles and have made their own sacrifices over the years – over and beyond the feud which has always stood between them. Ms Rock makes this a living reality for us as readers – as you don’t have to get too far into the stories to feel the tension coming the Cades or the Lovelands – their natural reactions to each other is out of spite and anger; fuelling the feud and deepening the chasm between them.

-quoted from my reviews of “Christmas at Cade Ranch”,
“Falling for a Cowboy” and “A Cowboy’s Pride”

As you can see – I am truly emotionally attached to this beautifully lovely series and I am honoured I get to be on the blog tour to welcome in the sixth installment of a series which gives me so much love & joy to be reading!

A Rancher to Remember
by Karen Rock
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

They can’t change the past…

but they can choose their future

Globe-trotting journalist Cassidy Fulton is back in Carbondale, Colorado. Only she can’t remember why—or the accident that killed her estranged sister. Helping her piece together this mystery is her brother-in-law and former fiancé, Daryl Loveland. Overcoming their grief seems impossible. Yet one thing is clear: Cassidy can’t imagine her life without Daryl or her adorable niece and nephew. But can the ranch ever really be her home?

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Ranches & Cowboys, Romance Fiction, Western Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1335510617

Also by this author: A League of Her Own, Author Interview (Christmas at Cade Ranch) Karen Rock, A Cowboy's Pride (Spotlight w/ Notes), A Cowboy's Pride, Christmas at Cade Ranch, Winning the Cowboy's Heart

Also in this series: Author Interview (Christmas at Cade Ranch) Karen Rock, A Cowboy's Pride (Spotlight w/ Notes), A Cowboy's Pride, Winning the Cowboy's Heart

Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 2nd April, 2019

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 384

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming

Converse via: #Contemporary #Western + #Romance

The Rocky Mountain Cowboys series:

A Cowboy to Keep (Prequel) (see also Review)

Christmas at Cade Ranch (Book One) (*reviewed)

Falling for a Cowboy (Book Two) (*reviewed)

Bad Boy Rancher (Book Three)

A Cowboy’s Pride (Book Four) (see also Review)

Winning the Cowboy’s Heart (Book Five) (see also Review)

A Rancher to Remember (Book Six)

→ Forthcoming release: Book Seven! (Summer 2019!)
feat. Maverick Loveland and Ella Parks!

(*) Christmas at Cade Ranch and Falling for a Cowboy
were reviewed in-line with A Cowboy’s Pride

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• #2019NewReleaseChallenge