A Cowboy’s Christmas Reunion by Sasha Summers
The Boones of Texas series, book 1. Harlequin American Romance, 2015. Contemporary romance centered around family.
Hunter Boone and Josie Stephens were young and in love back in their school days but Josie didn’t want to stay in their small town. She took the opportunity to leave and left Hunter behind with a broken heart. Josie soon realized her mistake but it was too late for her and Hunter so she stayed away. Josie is back in town eleven years later to help her father recover from a surgery. Everyone is happy she is back from family and friends and even Hunter. But Eli, Hunter’s son, knows she’s why his mother never sticks around. He doesn’t like Josie and makes his feelings very clear to everyone. Josie wants to stay in Stonewall Crossing but not if it puts son and father against each other.

Emotional up and downs as Hunter and Josie try to reconnect but Eli, Amy, and history makes it difficult. Hunter and Josie are both self sacrificing and while that’s heartwarming, it’s also heartbreaking as they are manipulated by Amy.
Harlequin romance so we know we get the happy and teary ending. Happy family ever after.
Plus lots of secondary characters in the hero’s family to continue for years to come. ❤️📚
4.5 ( )

Good reunion and second chance story. Josie has come back to Stonewall Crossing to help her father in the bakery while he recovers from hip surgery. She had left the town and the boy she loved behind in order to follow her dream of becoming an artist. By the time she admitted to herself that she missed Hunter and had made a mistake, he had married someone else.

Hunter had been devastated when Josie left, and had married someone else on the rebound. That marriage didn't work out, but he has an eleven year old son who means the world to him. Now that she's back, he realizes that his feelings for her never died, and he would do anything for another chance with her.

I loved Hunter's determination to show her that they can be happy together. There are a couple of big obstacles to his plans. First is the fact that Josie doesn't seem to believe that they have any chance of that future that he wants. The second is that his son appears to hate Josie with a passion. I loved seeing Hunter do everything he could to show Josie how much he still loved her, including some very romantic moments. I also liked that he wasn't going to let his kid dictate his love life. He wasn't mean about it, but he was firm that although his son was important to him, so was Josie.

Josie has some baggage that she came home with. Her career as a children's author and illustrator has stalled somewhat, and her last relationship fell apart because she couldn't commit. She believes that she is bad at relationships, and is using that to try to keep Hunter at arm's length. She also doesn't want to come between Hunter and his son, as that would make her feel even worse.

I really liked the way that Hunter's persistence seemed to be showing progress. After a rough beginning, when Josie didn't know about his divorce, things began to look better. Josie was actually considering moving back to Stonewall Crossing and seeing what might happen between them. But when Hunter's ex comes back to town, she stirs up some trouble that creates a wedge that may separate them forever.

I can safely say that I really didn't like Hunter's ex. She was selfish and careless and I hated the way that she treated and used their son. I also thought there were several places that his son needed his attitude adjusted in a big way. What he did at the end, at the instigation of his mother, was really wrong. I was glad to see that he came clean before it was too late.

I mostly liked Josie, but she had her moments when she really needed to have more faith in what she and Hunter had together. I did like that she didn't want to ruin the relationship that he and his son had, but wished that she had stood up for herself a little better.

I enjoyed the setting of Stonewall Crossing and I am looking forward to seeing more of it in future books. I also like the secondary romance between Josie's dad and Lola, It's always fun to see a "senior" romance develop. ( )