To Tame a Wild Cowboy

Starred review from March 4, 2019
In Wilde’s heart-wrenching, page-turning seventh Cupid, Texas novel (after How the Cowboy Was Won), a surprise baby brings together a bull-riding champion and a NICU nurse. Rhett Lockhart is six months away from the finals of a championship when he learns that he has fathered a daughter, Julie. Her mother, Rhona White, one of Rhett’s many one-night stands, abandoned the baby after she was born prematurely, and Julie is now being fostered by her neonatal nurse, who wants to adopt her. After meeting her and learning that her foster mother is Tara Alzate, whose family lives near Rhett’s family and whose two sisters are married to his two brothers, Rhett abandons his carefree lifestyle and Tara helps him care for Julie at his home. As the physical attraction between them builds, Tara suggests that they have a marriage of convenience to satisfy a judge’s order that Rhett establish a safe environment for Julie. But their hearts get involved, and the fragile nature of their new love might not survive if the next hearing doesn’t go in Rhett’s favor. This magnetic novel unites two very different characters who find solace with each other by letting go of their fears. Rhett’s transformation is believable, and Tara has just as many layers. Readers will delight in riding their emotional roller coaster. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

April 1, 2019
In the seventh installment of the Cupid, Texas series, a custody battle between a rodeo star and a neonatal intensive care unit nurse leads to a marriage of convenience. After years of living on the road, Rhett Lockhart is on track to win the Professional Bull Riders World Finals Championship when Child Protective Services drops a tiny bombshell on his carefree life--he has a daughter, Julie, the product of a weekend fling. Ever since her biological mother abandoned her, baby Julie's been in the care of Tara Alzate, the selfless nurse who saved her when she was born premature. Tara loves children but can't have any of her own. Rhett's reputation as a womanizer precedes him--he once dated Tara's sister Aria--and Tara is determined to keep the baby away from him. But she can't stop Rhett from claiming his parental rights. Torn between his career and his unexpected love for his daughter, Rhett tries to stall his court hearing long enough to make it to the championship before he takes Julie home. But Tara has a better idea. She asks Rhett to marry her--it'll please the judge and allow Tara to keep Julie in her life. She moves to Cupid, Texas, where a few of Rhett's brothers have already married and settled down with Tara's sisters, to watch Julie while Rhett is on the road. There's a legend in Tara's family that when an Alzate meets her soul mate, she'll hear a humming sound. Tara hears it when she kisses Rhett on their wedding day, and their marriage of convenience turns out to be anything but. Rhett's job is still dangerous, and Tara's too practical to trust her heart. The narrative is punchy and fun--"Rhett Lockhart should be classified as a Schedule 1 drug. Dangerous and highly addictive." And the relationship builds slowly enough that Rhett's transformation from a selfish cowboy to a hopeful husband and father feels earned. A heartwarming drama that'll rope you in.

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May 15, 2019
The one thing professional bull rider Rhett Lockhart doesn't need is a child, but paternity tests prove he is the father of Rhona White's new baby girl. To complicate matters even further, Rhona took off from the hospital, leaving her premature baby in the care of prenatal nurse Tara Alzate. Rhett is inclined to just turn over custody of his daughter to Tara, who is both highly skilled and longing for a child. But after holding Julie for the first time, Rhett is no longer sure he can let her go. With a perfectly calibrated mix of sassy humor, emotional heart, and sensual heat, Wilde serves up another irresistible entry in her popular Cupid, Texas series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)