Carolyn Brown is at it again! I absolutely adore her cowboy romances and Cowboy Rebel was no different.

Strong, female lead? Check.
Sexy cowboy with some skeletons in his closet? Check.
Drama galore? Check.
All the romance? Check.

Nikki and Tag are quite the pair - a cowboy who loves the adventures, dangers, and ladies, and a hardworking nurse with a toxic childhood. Together, they make a great team and help each other heal from their traumas.

This book packs in lots of family drama, cowboy shenanigans, hospital visits, and smiles. Oh, and one fantastic slow burn romance that will have you continually begging Carolyn to put these two together. When their love blossoms, it really makes you smile.

Overall, fantastic book! I always go back to Carolyn for a light but fun romance read.

Four out of five stars. Give me more! ( )

Taggart Baker has given himself one heck of a challenge. There is a song, Live Like You are Dying, that has several challenges. These include Rocky Mountain climbing, sky diving and surviving at least2.7 minutes on a bull named Fumanchu. Considering that Tag lost his best friend in a motorcycle accident, he literally intends on taking life by the horns.

For years, during his youth, he got into a lot of trouble. However, he now has a chance to own a ranch and nothing will sway him away from his goals. When his friends, who are nothing but trouble, approach him with an offer that seems more like an ultimatum, Tag is not even tempted.

Nikki Grady has not played around with her life. She has earned her RN license and means to make as much of her life as possible. Nikki meets Tag when he shows up at the ER due to a brawl in a bar; she deems him a reckless rebel, and there is nothing he can do to sway her. That is enough for Nikki not to trust Tag. However, they spend more time together as things roll along, and Nikki begins to see another side to Tag. Will she be able to let her guard down enough to allow him into her life?

This romance by Carolyn Brown is the fourth story in the Longhorn Canyon series. This story did take a while to gain traction, and there was a shift that brought Tag's past front and center. This went a long way to cause the walls between Tag and Nikki to crumble. There were a lot of other factors in this book that played a role when it came to a couple who had very tense chemistry yet had to fight it every step of the way.

One of the disturbing factors about this book was Nikki's relationship with her mother, Wilma. Wilma was plain evil and this created a boatload of baggage that Nikki was forced to deal with. In addition to that, Nikki has experienced great loss in her life and has yet to come to terms with that.

I enjoyed the continuity in this series, including the reappearance of the Fab Five, Patsy, Bess, Otis, Sarah and Larry. Of course we got to see Retta, Claire and Emily, whom we met in previous entries in this delightful series.

I have enjoyed this story as well as the other books in the series, Cowboy Bold, Cowboy Honor and Cowboy Brave. There are cowboys just waiting for their stories to be told, such as Paxton and Hud. The next books in the series are Christmas with a Cowboy, due in September, and Cowboy Courage, in January 2020.

My thanks to Forever and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

He had a bad reputation. Nikki had a crazy mother and an even more demanding work schedule. He could sure look past her issues if she could see past his.

Fourth in the Longhorn Canyon series following along a family and friends in Texas, Cowboy Rebel stars Tag, the always in trouble Baker boy and Nikki, the bestfriend of Tag's sister Emily. Nikki has always been attracted to Tag but never wanted to get involved with a bad boy, her mother's issues are enough for her. Tag's had his eye on Nikki but even though he is trying to clean up his act, he's not sure he is good enough for her.

But then would she care as much for him if he didn't have just a little bit of wild in him?

This was my first read in the Longhorn Canyon series, I think I missed some of the beginning spark between Tag and Nikki, there is talk of the two really starting to notice each other at Tag's sister Emily's wedding (Cowboy Brave). For all the talk of Tag being a rebel, he has decided to clean up his act, so there is no bad boy antics in this one. As a new reader, I wasn't completely feeling why he thought he wasn't good enough for Nikki. It's mentioned that he ran with a tough group and his bestfriend died in a motorcycle accident when he was seventeen, why Tag decides to “live like he was dying”. If you are a country music fan, you'll enjoy all the mentions of country songs and how the author picked songs that match the emotions or scenes that are happening when the song is mentioned.

Tag ended up feeling a bit of a blah character, Nikki had more life to her. Her relationship with her mother was sad but written in a very realistic way; I liked how the mother was completely demonized for having OCD, hypochondria, and the way those presumed issues (she's not diagnosed) amplified or caused her maternal bonding issues. The storyline involving Nikki's father ended up lacking an emotional punch as it felt like a manipulated happy ended with an unnecessary red-herring mystery side-plot.

The actual action/danger plot also ended up feeling forced, a friend from the crew Tag used to run with appears out of the blue and suddenly is angry Tag won't hang with them anymore. This leads to Nikki being put in danger with an almost eye-rolling second ending conclusion. Our characters had actual emotionally charged backgrounds, Tag with his friend dying, Nikki with her brother dying, mother, and father issues but the author never really delves deep enough in them to make the reader feel.

It had taken her a while to understand that family didn't always share DNA.

Even though I haven't read the others in the series, I enjoyed the friendships showcased with Nikki, Emily, and their Fab Five; I like when characters have relationships outside the romantic one, feels like the character gets flushed out more. If you are a reader of the series, you'll greatly enjoy all the reappearances of past couples and get caught up on their lives, there are also numerous side characters who look to be waiting in the wings to star in their own books.

There wasn't a lot of steam to this book, any bedroom scenes aren't until the latter half and the two sex scenes (I think one sentence to mention they have sex happened two other times) are only about two paragraphs long. There just didn't end up being enough umph, spark, or chemistry between Tag and Nikki for me and some of the story threads felt dragged out, manipulated, or not delved deep enough to strike emotion. However, if you're a reader of the series, you'll enjoy catching up with characters, if you like to listen to a soundtrack while you read there are plenty of country songs mentioned, or want a pretty darn close to clean read, this would trip those triggers. ( )