Cowboy Crazy

by Joanne Kennedy

Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca

My Rating: 

She kicked the country dust off her boots a long time ago…

Sarah Landon’s Ivy League scholarship transformed her from a wide-eyed country girl into a poised professional. Her job at the Carrigan Oil Company has given her the sophisticated life she longed for, but when she meets her boss’s black-sheep brother, she realizes her roots are showing.

But he’s ready to remind her she’s a cowgirl at heart.

Rebellious rodeo cowboy Lane Carrigan is determined to save the Wyoming community of Two Shot from the ravages of energy development, but Sarah’s convinced her old hometown needs a swift kick in the pants from the march of progress.

When a lapsed cowgirl collides with rodeo royalty, it’s bound to be a wild ride—and somebody’s going to end up in the dirt.

My Review:

I enjoy reading cowboy romances, cowboys, especially the cowboys in Joanne Kennedy’s novels, have that rough and rugged, hard-working gentleman thing going on that make romance readers wish they could rope themselves a cowboy.  In Cowboy Crazy, Joanne Kennedy writes a story about a girl who leaves the ranch, but she is still a cowgirl at heart.

Sarah Landon did not have the easiest life growing up in a small cow-town.  She grew up loving horses and riding in barrel races, until tragedy struck and she determined to break away from the town and her roots.  After putting herself through college and setting herself up as a high-class business woman, her past catches up with her when she must convince a cowboy to allow modern oil drilling on his ranch.  Lane Carrigan grew up blue-blooded, but his heart always belonged on the ranch.  He was determined to keep the status quo in his small town, until he meets Sarah and he realizes that small town living is not as easy and simple as he thought.  As the pair butt heads, attraction builds and they must both re-evaluate their positions.

I enjoyed the story line of Cowboy Crazy, Sarah Landon is a woman who had been running from her past for a long time, and the longer she ran, the more firmly her beliefs became.  When she had to confront hard truths, she had to face that maybe she drew wrong conclusions when she was younger and maybe she should let the past be the past.  However, I did not love her character, she was often very stubborn and she placed blame in the wrong places and on the wrong people.  I just didn’t identify with her very well.  I could understand her situation, but she could be very snobby and bratty, and I did not like her all the time. Also, her roommate was pretty annoying as well, she totally disregarded everything Sarah asked of her, and overall, I just did not sync well with the characters.

Lane is the cowboy hero in Cowboy Crazy.  He is a good man, although he has some lessons to learn as well.  He was so drawn into the “simple” cowboy life, but he did not fully understand what that meant, especially for the ranchers without extra pennies to rub together.  The characters all wound up coming across a bit snobbish at times, and that was off-putting.  I will say this, however, Lane really has a good heart, he loves horses and the land and I did like his character.

Cowboy Crazy is a story about facing reality and coming home, it is a good story and I was happy that the characters grew within the story.  I think that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I understood and liked Sarah more.  Sometimes, a reader comes across a character that doesn’t jibe with them, and that’s what happened for me in this book.  My uncertainty about Sarah’s character colored my overall view of the book.  However, I liked the storyline and I will read more by Joanne Kennedy in the future.  I do love those cowboys…

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