Delores Fossen’s ‘Blame It On the Cowboy’ Reminds Us to Laugh in the Face of Adversity [REVIEW]

If you fall in love with a Texan, you simply have to “Blame It On the Cowboy.” (Photo by Roderick Eime, Flickr)

Handsome. Strong. Shrewd. These are all words that describe Logan, the third sibling in Delores Fossen’s addictive McCord Brothers trilogy. Although he’s Lucky’s twin, the two men are as different as night and day. Whereas Lucky is easygoing and rambunctious; Logan has a fierce work ethic and is determined to build a life that looks just as good on paper as it does in reality. But when his best laid plans come crashing down, obliterating every hope he ever had, will Logan be able to recover and start again? Find out in Blame It On the Cowboy. 

HQN Books

The novel starts as Logan faces the ultimate betrayal. On the night he plans to surprise his longtime girlfriend, Helene Langford, with a proposal, he is the one who is in for a shock when he catches her in her office getting all too cozy with a clown. Jilted and humiliated, Logan is in need of a stiff drink and soon finds himself in a San Antonio bar.

Meanwhile, chef Reese Stephens has just discovered that she only has a short time to live. The daughter of con artists, she spent her entire life trying to distinguish herself as different from her hustler parents, and now this. She scrawls down a bucket list, and determined to kiss a cowboy, she heads to the same bar where she meets Logan for the first time.

The next day, Reese learns she is not going to die anytime soon, and shows up in Logan’s hometown determined to retrieve a family heirloom she regrets giving him when they met. Still nursing his wounded ego, Logan isn’t quick to trust anyone, especially a woman he met in a bar. He looks into Reese’s background and immediately believes the worst, that she has come to town to blackmail him.

The unlikely couple battles their mutual attraction as they each struggle to come to terms with ghosts from their individual pasts. But life is not so simple, especially when philandering Helene returns determined to get Logan back, and crazy comes out of the woodwork looking to settle a score with Reese. Will Logan and Reese ever get together or will all these outside forces ruin any chance they might have at a relationship? That’s the conundrum faced in this story, rife with drama.

As serious as it all sounds though, Fossen has a wicked sense of humor and writes with a very light touch. This is a story that could easily get weighed down in heavy theatrics but instead examines the characters’ lives with tongue-in-cheek wit. It helps that secondary characters like Lucky and Reese’s best friend Jimena are so irreverent. Also, the villains from Reese’s past are caricatures of evil, so absurd that readers will find themselves alternately cringing and laughing out loud.

Blame It On the Cowboy is a delicious romp, populated by characters reader will want to spend time with. And although the book deals with some serious topics, Fossen reminds us that sometimes we simply have to shake our heads, chuckle, and step away from all the crazy to find our own  happiness and sanity on this bizarre carousel ride called life.

Delores Fossen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Delores Fossen is the Rita Award-nominated author Blame It On the Cowboy, Lone Star Nights, Texas on My Mind, and the bestselling Appaloosa Pass Ranch series from Harlequin Intrigue. She is also the recipient of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice and Booksellers Best Awards.

As a child she dreamed of becoming a Texas Ranger or FBI agent, but now creates fictional cowboy cops and law enforcement officers in her romantic suspense novels instead. Before writing full time, she also worked as an Air Force captain, a special education teacher and a rehab counselor.

She lives with her husband, an Air Force colonel, and her four children. Visit her home on the Web, like her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and on Instagram.

BLAME IT ON THE COWBOY
By Delores Fossen
416 pgs. HQN Books. $7.99