Coulda Been A Cowboy by Brenda Novak

Grandpa Garnier used to say, Love is like a bucking bronco. It takes guts and determination to hang on, but it’s worth the ride.

 

If only Grandpa was around now to help Tyson Garnier out of this mess. The famous pro football player is suddenly saddled with a very public scandal—and an illegitimate child. Tyson needs a good nanny now if he’s going to salvage his career. And plain, no-nonsense Dakota Brown is the ideal candidate.

 

Dakota doesn’t care for football—or for a man who doesn’t seem to want his own son. But she needs this job, and that precious little baby needs her.

 

Dakota isn’t Tyson’s kind of woman. But the more he sees of her—and the more he sees of his son—the harder he wants to hang on.

I liked this book but I wasn’t overly in love with this book. It was a lighter read with darker undertones.

 

Tyson Garnier, a pro football player, is recovering from an injury and has just discovered that he has an illegitimate child. While he doesn’t regret gaining full custody, he doesn’t know what to do with his son and it’s a scandal he doesn’t need or want. All he wants to do is focus on his recovery and saving his career. To do that he’s going to need a nanny—one that he has no chances of becoming romantically involved with.

 

Enter Dakota Brown. She’s a bit overweight, older than the typical groupie, and on the frumpy side of life. In Tyson’s mind, that makes Dakota the perfect candidate to become his son’s nanny. Although Tyson soon realizes that Dakota is weaving her spell on his son as well as him.

 

Coulda Been  A Cowboy has the typical baby-brings-them-together troupe but I thought that Brenda Novak worked the angle with a fresh approach. The book had a nice flow to it and there was no loose storylines left dangling.

 

What I had a problem with was Tyson. While he is caring and kind and goes above and beyond for Dakota, he spends most of the book resenting his son and more or less treating him with disdain. That really crawled under my skin and kind of made me want to slap Tyson with his own book.

 

Dakota was a nice change from your typical romance heroine. She hasn’t had the best of lives and she’s a bit overweight. She and Tyson come from two completely different lifestyles and yet they work brilliantly together.

 

So, here’s the snafu with their relationship. I think some readers are going to think that Tyson’s affection for Dakota comes into play after she starts losing weight. Although, honestly, I don’t think that the author intended it come off this way as sparks of the relationship was apparently nearly from the start, it just took Tyson trying to set Dakota up with one of his friends before he realized what he felt for her.

 

Overall, it was a nice book to spend the evening with. I think this was the first romance I’ve read where the hero was an American football player. While there was nothing over-the-top wonderful about this romance, it was a nice change from my normal reading pattern. And I’m eager to read more from the Dundee, Idaho series.

 

Book Details

Title: Should Have Been A Cowboy
Dundee, Idaho Series

Author: Brenda Novak

Publisher: MIRA

ISBN:

Release Date: 2007, Re-released 2014

$3.49, e-book

How I Read It: Purchased via Amazon

Rating: 3.5 Cups

Tweet