Dreaming of a Cowboy Christmas by Ann Einerson
This book is a Hallmark movie that wandered into an adult bookstore, put on boots, and said yes please to everything.
Noelle is a Christmas loving, city girl, podcast hype girl with main character energy and a packed NYC life. She books a cozy holiday rental in Arizona and instead gets scammed straight into a snowstorm and onto the doorstep of a grumpy cowboy named Shep. It is already snowing. Fate has decided. The cabin has one bed. You know the rules.
Shep is every cowboy fantasy stitched together and turned up to an unreasonable volume. He is older. Twenty years older. He is grouchy until she cracks him open like a Christmas ornament wrapped in barbed wire. Underneath the scowl is a full blown cinnamon roll who cooks like a chef, looks like a god, treats his animals like royalty, and is apparently so wealthy that casually hiring people to build surprise Christmas decor or renovate a soundproof podcast studio is a light Tuesday expense.
This man is fit, generous in every sense of the word, and deeply committed to making sure Noelle has the best holiday experience of her entire life. Emotionally. Romantically. Physically. Extremely physically. He is the type of fictional man who ruins your standards quietly while smiling.
Their activities include a rapid fire holiday montage of sex, horse care, a mini highland cow that absolutely exists to steal hearts, honky tonk outings, jamming in every Christmas tradition known to mankind, and falling in love at a speed that would concern a therapist. All of this happens in like twoish days because this book does not believe in moderation.
The romance is hot, fast, and wildly unrealistic in the most comforting way possible. There is very little conflict outside of the age gap and the looming fact that Noelle technically has a life back in New York. Shep is secretly the best person on the planet. Kind. Thoughtful. Devoted. Rich. Talented. Built like a romance cover. Uses toys as teammates. This man is not meant to be analyzed. He is meant to be enjoyed.
Is it believable? Not even a little. Is it cozy? Extremely. Is it spicy? Absolutely. Is it pure holiday wish fulfillment? Yes, with boots on.
Final verdict. This is a feel good, low stress, high heat Christmas romance that asks nothing of you except to suspend disbelief and accept that sometimes the fantasy is the point. Think twinkly lights, one bed, silver fox cowboy energy, and daddy spice wrapped in a festive bow.
