Book 987: A Cowboy’s Home (Montana #3) – R.J. Scott

I wasn’t too surprised with this novel continuing the trend of being set in the West on a ranch, but not necessarily being a Western Romance, but it opened a lot darker than I thought it would! I’m talking full-on fight scenes and murder for survival! And there’s nothing wrong with that Scott jumped right in and grabbed my attention and kept me hooked for the first half of the novel.

A Cowboy’s Home tells us the story of Ethan’s missing brother, Justin, and where he’s been ever since his disappearance. It also tells the story of Sam, the mouthy flirty cook at Crooked Tree Ranch.

The first half of the story is about Justin escaping his past life and coming to the ranch to die. He has a bullet wound and wants to die at home but Sam discovers him on the property after he’s broken into the kitchen and rather than telling anyone right away seeks him out and tries to help him.

They quickly realize they’re both stubborn as hell and neither is going to bend when it comes to what they want and a standoff ensues. Justin eventually collapses and passes out and various members of the families and outsiders (including Aaron, the paramedic who I think comes in at a later story) start to find out. There’s drama with Justin’s ex-partner (Rob, who is also a later protagonist). And there’s drama with Sam’s homophobic family.

The relationship between Sam and Justin develops much slower than in the first novel in the series but still seems to move quickly. I think part of it is that they’re together 24/7 for some time and that speeds things up. The big crisis of their relationship is when Justin is convinced he has to finish the job he started and what’s made him an outlaw, killing those involved in his and Adam’s torture and kidnapping. In the end, that drive is too strong and he leaves the ranch for some time.

The relationship between Justin and Adam is incredibly strained and plays a huge part in this book and the next, but so much of it is internal to Adam that it was hard to get into it. It didn’t detract from the story and built more empathy for Adam, but it alienated Sam and Justin from the rest of the ranch which annoyed me because this was supposed to be their story.

My biggest bone to pick with this book is the appearance and then disappearance of Sam’s brother and his girlfriend. We meet the brother at the funeral Sam is required to go to by his grandmother (get that homophobic cash!), but then all of a sudden he’s in a hospital near Sam and they move to the ranch but then nothing, they’re never mentioned again. It’s like WTF happened? Maybe Scott wrote a short story about them, but I’m definitely not seeking that out. Nothing annoys me more than that.

Recommendation: This was a good continuation of the series, but also the point when I realized all the books are happening at the same time and/or slightly overlapping. It doesn’t become too confusing because the characters are all pretty distinct, but it is still a lot. There were some plot holes/continuity errors in this one, but not enough to make me say don’t read. Overall, it was a good addition to the series.

Opening Line: “Justin’s vision blurred as his head smacked against the wall, but he used the force of the blow, caught his attacker off balance, and pivoted to avoid the gun against his side.”

Closing Line: “He’d said that before, and likely he’d repeat it in their life together. And Sam gave his standard reply, the one that never failed to make Justin smile. ‘You were worth saving.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from A Cowboy’s Home
“Saunders was nothing but red tape and rules, even in a unit with allegedly zero accountability. Webb, on the other hand, was another enforcer, the one who’d trained Justin, shown him how easy it was to kill.” (3)

“‘I know,’ Sam sighed. ‘You think kissing was wrong, you’re not staying, you’re not the kind of man that other men, or women, should be lusting after, oh, and you think that we should cool any and all kissing before you break my poor little heart.'” (194)

“‘I need you,’ Justin said, his lips only inches away from Sam’s own. ‘To make things right in my head, to balance my life, to be my everything, to give me hope. And all I’m doing is fucking things up.’
‘Justin—’
‘But I don’t know what to say, or how to get you to see that, or even think that I deserve you.'” (255)