Review & Giveaway: A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe by Jessica Clare

Former Navy master-at-arms Jason Clements is down on his luck and calling in one last favor. His cousin has secured him a job opportunity as a cowboy working at Price Ranch in Wyoming. Too bad Jason has never even saddled a horse. If he can keep this job without his PTSD getting in the way, it’ll be a Christmas miracle.

Local busybody Sage Cooper loves Painted Barrel something fierce, but it’s time for her to move on. Since her father passed away, the family ranch feels too big for just her, and there’s no chance of finding a husband in this small town. To the rest of the world, she’s just another local fixture, known for her closet full of ugly Christmas sweaters and being perpetually single.

It isn’t until Jason shows up in desperate need of a cowboy crash course that Sage discovers a tall, dark, and handsome reason to stick around. And with the holidays coming up, Sage is in need of a date for a special event—maybe they’ll turn out to be each other’s best Christmas present.
If you follow me you know how much I love reading Christmas themed books. I'm not a fan of how early I have to read them but do enjoy sharing the ones I liked with you guys so that you'll have some ideas on what to buy to read for the season. 

A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe started out slightly slowly for me. I was a little lost and I don't know why. I'm thinking it was just how the author started it. When he met Sage is about the time it started getting good. 

After that I found the story to move at a very fast pace and I was able to get into and enjoy the story. 

I really liked both Sage and Jason. I don't know if I could have been like him taking a job at something I had no clue about doing. I'd be scared to death. I loved that he asked her to help him. It showed he wasn't one of those guys who though only another man could help him. 

Sage character is a 'more than meets the eye' type. You think of her in one way and shortly learn she so much more. 

These two just needed someone to be there for them in a way no one else could or would. I think throughout the book that they each not only learn about each other but about themselves too. This makes it a very enjoyable story. Nothing to complex just a sweet Christmas story. 

Have any of you read Jessica Clare before? Is so what's your favorite book or series of hers?

Jason chuckled, and a slow smile spread across his lean face, and oh, her heart did the craziest little flip. Despite the sweating and the weird situation, Jason Clements, newbie to Painted Barrel, was handsome. He was tall and wiry, and his cheekbones were blade sharp. His eyes were piercing, and his dark hair was cropped extremely short—naval regulation, maybe? But his smile was utterly breathtaking.

And he was smiling at her. Even though she was being goofy and weird and wearing ridiculous reindeer antlers, he was smiling at her. Sage Cooper.

Man-repellent.

It was a heady feeling. In that moment, she wanted to help him and get more of those smiles. Sage genuinely loved helping people, but she had a different goal in mind when she looked at Jason. She just wanted him to smile again.

“You really don’t know how to ranch?” she asked.

He pursed his lips and shook his head.

“Why did you lie?” It didn’t seem like a job anyone would take on the spur of the moment. There were easier jobs out there than ranching, and they probably paid a heck of a lot more.

Meaning that he had a secret. Well, that was all right. She’d always thought of herself as an open book, but things had changed over the last year. After all, weren’t her dating app profiles a secret? A humiliating, awful secret that Greg would laugh and laugh about if he knew . . . and then tell Becca? Who would then tell everyone in Painted Barrel?

Yeah, Sage knew all about keeping things secret to protect yourself.

“I won’t ask,” she told him. “But I can help you.”

Jason looked at her with a frown and then dawning realization. “You can get me some books?”

“Well, not exactly.” She hugged Order of the Phoenix tighter to her chest, as if to bolster herself. “But I do have a ranch.”

His eyes flared with interest, and the breath stole from her lungs. Oh, were his eyes gray? She liked that. She liked that a lot. “You do?”

“Everyone here does. There’s not much around Painted Barrel but ranches, you know?”

He gestured at the mail desk, where Greg’s pamphlets were spread. “But I thought you . . .”

“Municipal clerk. I know. I am.” She went to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, flustered, and ended up smacking her reindeer horns. “My father was the mayor of this town before he passed, and he got me a job as a municipal clerk when I was a teenager. And I sort of stayed on and have done it ever since. But yeah, my father has a ranch, and now that he’s gone, it’s mine. I’ve sold all of the cattle but two, and just one horse. You can come over to my place and practice until you get comfortable, if you like.”

He stared at her, stunned. “You’d do that for me?”

She beamed at him. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

Sage watched, fascinated, as his jaw clenched. “Reasons.”

“Because most people don’t do things out of the good- ness of their hearts. Not anymore.” He rubbed his jaw again. “Can I pay you?”

Sage waved a hand, dismissing the thought. Once she sold all her father’s acreage, she’d have more money than she knew what to do with. “Don’t be silly.”

But he gave her another intense look, leaning in. His height was . . . amazing. She gazed up at him and felt as if he were the tallest—and handsomest—man she’d ever seen. Oh, her new crush was baaaad. “I’d feel better if I didn’t owe you,” he murmured.

An idea occurred to her, and she clutched the book tighter. Did she dare? Should she ask? Her mouth worked silently, and then before she could think better of it, she blurted, “I do need a date.” 

To win a copy of A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe tell me, do you put up mistletoe? Make sure to give me your email address when you answer. (US only)







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