The Reluctant Cowboy

October 10, 2016
Toxic masculinity oozes from the first book in Pearce’s Morgan Ranch series to such an extent that it’s not clear whether Pearce has set it up as a plot obstacle or is simply swimming in it herself. At the request of his grandmother, Chase Morgan returns to his family cattle ranch in Northern California, a place he resents because it makes him feel uncomfortable emotions, which he sees as weakness. He decides the best way to stop feeling things will be to convince his grandmother to sell the ranch. Unsurprisingly, she resists, as does historian January Mitchell, who is studying the ranch’s history. She wants to make Chase relive his unhappy experiences and work through his feelings rather than running from them. When he offends her, she understandably gets angry, but then she feels bad about it and tries to pacify him. The romantic thread is overwhelmed by Chase’s desire to manage everything and everyone, and the offense he feels when he’s called out on it. And January’s willingness to make excuses for him and forgive him, especially given that she’s recently escaped her manipulative ex-husband, will frustrate readers who think she could do so much better than another overbearing, controlling man.

November 15, 2016
Contemporary tales with ties to the Old West continue to gain momentum as a popular new romance subgenre. In Pearce's contribution to the trend, the start of her Morgan Ranch series, historian January Mitchell is trying to document the abandoned mine and town on the Morgan property. Chase Morgan returns to the scene of his painful childhood for the first time in years to help his Grandma Ruth. He also wants to convince her to sell. Instead, as he does ranch chores and spends time with January, he realizes how unhappy he has become in his tech startup business. Reconciling with one of his brothers helps give him the courage to make needed changes in his own life as he sees the possibilities in keeping the ranch. Pearce sets up solid main-character arcs and creates good chemistry in a realistic western. While Pearce's descriptions of the ranch will inspire dreams of visiting one, the family secrets are alluring enough to make readers eager for the next book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)