Books & Spoons Review: KEEP ME, COWBOY by Nicole Helm

The Copper Mountain Rodeo has returned to Marietta and cowboy reputations aren’t the only thing at stake…

Rodeo cowboy Cole McArthur has spent the last ten years running from Marietta, Montana, from his father’s expectations, and from the only woman he’s ever loved. But now his past is at his front door, begging for his help.

Jess Clark doesn’t want to face the only man who’s ever claimed enough of her heart to break it, but her foster family needs their prodigal son home, and she owes them too much to not make that happen. Seeing Cole for the first time in a decade unlocks the kind of desire she’s only ever felt for him, and never acted on with anyone.

Back in Marietta facing family betrayal and family secrets, heat explodes between them, and feelings buried long ago rise to the surface. But can Jess convince this wandering cowboy that his home is with her?

---

---

A broken family, emotionally unable to connect and communicate, with secrets and lies, betrayal and manipulation.
All Jess ever wanted was to be part of a family, but everyone she has loved, has left her without warning or explanation. She let the McArthurs treat her as a servant, and made herself believe she was part of the family.
One of those who left her is Cole, and now ten years later she is willing to manipulate and lie, to get Cole back into Marietta, so she could fix the broken McArthur family, in thanks for what they have done for her.
Little does she know, it was Dr McArthur, who made Cole to leave, with her as the target of the extortion.
There is so much pain from the past, and heartache of the present in this novella. Not just between Cole and Jess, but the whole dysfunctional family is crumbling.
The communication skills between the family members are nearly non existent. And they don't seem to even care, or willing to try.
I felt frustrated through the story, I just couldn't relate to them, or understand why they were so stubbornly hurting the people they are supposed to care about.
Nothing is solved in the story when it comes to the family, and the issues they face. Jess and Cole found some kind of happy for now, let's try to work thing out, at the end. I felt this novella stirred a bee's nest called McArthur family, and left the angry bees to fly around. For a novella to start a family saga, this would have been a perfect story to get the interest, but for a third book in a series of the rodeo, I was left a bit confused and unsatisfied. Hopefully the next book in the series has lots of answers for us.
~ Three Spoons