Book Review for COWBOY TO THE CORE by Maisey Yates

Gold Valley’s wildest cowboy has finally met his match…


Jamie Dodge is confident she knows everything there is to know about cowboys. She grew up surrounded by them, after all. But somehow her new boss, champion saddle bronc rider Gabe Dalton’s brand of cowboy charm has her interested in all kinds of things she never has been before.

There are a million reasons Gabe should ignore his attraction to Jamie. He needs her horse-training skills on his family’s ranch…and the Dodge brothers would happily hurt him for touching her. Forget kissing her. He’d be a dead man. But Jamie’s tough-talking attitude masks an innocence that tempts him past the breaking point…and soothes the restlessness that’s dogged Gabe his whole life. Has this cowboy finally found a place he wants to call home?

The novel has an apt name, cause once I opened up my mind and heart to the broken protagonists and their growing pains and process, it hit me to the core with the profound emotions and insights their story provides. The feels went from raw, crushed, humbled, to the tender, ardent, and adoration. There are so many subtle life lessons, inspirational moments, thoughts and perspectives to take home on multiple matters.  The author didn't give the characters not one easy road out with their personal problems or with their family drama. 
Yes, there is absolutely adorable, sweep your feet under you romance in the tale. And it is passionate, sizzling, heated, and intense. The love scenes are beautifully done and so well embedded into the plot, showing how the hero and heroine find their harmony with each other in a delightfully lovely way.
But it is those deep, vulnerable, delicately honest conversations between the different characters that time and again blew my mind, had me reflecting on the insights and inspiration the scenes provided. 
Jamie Dodge at first seemed like a prickly, temperamental tomboy. She grew up as the youngest sibling with dominating older brothers and a father who didn't know what to do with a daughter. She lost her mother within days of being born, and the survival's quilt, and determination not to be the poor girl who lost her mother, she hides behind thick walls and abrasive behavior. Seeing her come to her true self, find her voice, and place, and purpose made me smile.
Gabe Dalton has tried to balance his life between his parents temper tantrums and atoning their mistakes. Determined not to be like them, he seems to prove just the opposite. I admired and applauded his aspiration to make the world a little bit better place for those in need. His ideas and the big heart for those alone and hurting, in need of guidance, were admirable.
Gabe with his broken soul and giving heart is just the person to understand Jamie. They connect on so many levels, it was marvelous to watch them get to know each other. There is that overpowering physical attraction, but also they are there for each other, they listen to each other and comfort the other when needed. 
I marveled this story and everything it had to offer, everything I got from it, with the feels, the inspiration, and the insights. The Gold Valley series has been like a string of pearls, each story filled with the perfection that comes after the emotions are let free and then grinded by life and polished by acceptance, respect, and love of the right person. The stories can be read as stand-alone books, but I wouldn't want to miss any one of them. 
~ Five Spoons!

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New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit. In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book. 

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. 
She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world

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