The Cowboy’s Convenient Marriage (Saddle Springs Romance #4) by Valerie Comer
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Inspirational Romance, Cowboy Romance, Small-Town Romance
Location: Montana
Romance: Very clean. Light kissing.
Faith: Characters pray and attend church. Their faith grows as they learn to rely on and trust God instead of self.
Comer delivers another entertaining, well-written romance with a fresh take on a shotgun wedding or marriage of convenience. Spencer Haviland will inherit his great-uncle’s ranch but, through a bizarre set of life events, ends up leaving his life in Dallas behind and moving to the ranch while his great-uncle is still alive. Carmen Haviland is the widow of Spencer’s second cousin. She’s been managing the ranch and the great-uncle with the hopes it will one day pass down to her daughter.
I love the way Comer wove together the two characters’ viewpoints about the ranch. Both characters had to face the fact that the other person might not be as bad as they assumed. They start out on opposite sides but eventually learn to work together.
The motive for an arranged marriage came across a little weak. I’m not sure I know of anyone in real life that would choose it for the reasons these characters did. That said, I was more than willing to set aside my opinions about it because Comer did a decent job making me believe that these two people felt it was their best option. (Honestly, it’s hard to write a modern-day take on a marriage of convenience, so kudos to Comer!)
I appreciated both characters experienced some level of attraction and denial of that attraction before agreeing to the marriage. In the end, I love how the romance unfolded.
While many of Comer’s novels come with a hero with strong convictions and faith, I like how Spencer seemed to struggle more with his faith. He had it, to be sure, but it didn’t seem to come as easily as Kade’s (book 1) or some of the other men in the series. This shows Comer’s ability to diversify her characters, which I appreciate.
The small-town, cowboy vibe is refreshing. Even though this is book 4, a reader could pick this up as a standalone read and not get lost.
I strongly recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance, small-town romance who enjoy a clean, inspirational read.
