The Last Chance Cowboy by Jody Hedlund Book Review
If you enjoy historical romances or Christian fiction, then I suggest you check out The Last Chance Cowboy by Jody Hedlund.
This historical romance is set in the 1800s on a Colorado ranch with a God-fearing sheriff and a midwife who wants to give the baby she delivered a better life.
Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links. This just means that I make a little money if you buy something through one of my links. It does not cost you any more to purchase an item through my links. It just helps support this blog so I can continue to bring you more content like this. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Last Chance Cowboy
Author: Jody Hedlund
Publishing Date: February 14, 2023
Series: book 5 of the Colorado Cowboys series
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Pages: 352
Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: traumatic birth scenes, blood, murder, blackmail, infant death, animal attack, & kidnapping
Synopsis:
With danger drawing ever closer, their only hope of saving their futures lies in each other.
As a midwife, Catherine Remington is successful in bringing new life into the world, but she’s failed one too many times in finding true love. When she’s accused of a murder she didn’t commit, she’s forced to flee to Colorado to honor a patient’s dying wish by delivering a newborn infant to his father.
The repentant prodigal Dylan McQuaid is finally back in Fairplay. As sheriff, he’s doing his best to prove to the town he’s a changed man and worthy of their trust. When a woman shows up with an infant son he didn’t know he had, Dylan is left with only complicated choices on what to do next.
Having grown attached to Dylan’s son, Catherine doesn’t want to part ways with the infant, but what she doesn’t bargain for is how easily she’ll fall for the charming sheriff, or how quickly the past will catch up with her and put their love and lives in danger.
Spoiler-Free Book Review
Thank you to NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for the ARC of this book.
This was the first romance book that I’ve ever read set in this time period. I wasn’t sure if I would like a western romance, but I am happy to say that I loved it!
Besides the time period, I haven’t read many Christian romance books, but this is something that I wanted to read more of this year.
While this is book 5 in the series, I was able to read it without having read the previous books. I now want to go back and read those books though because I want to learn more about those characters.
The Last Chance Cowboy was cute, romantic, and I loved how Christianity was weaved throughout the story.
What I Liked
Dylan was such a wholesome character, and I love how he wanted to continue bettering himself. He was constantly fighting temptation, but he trusted God to help him overcome it. I also really admired how he treated Catherine and didn’t push himself off onto her even though they were married. He took an unexpected situation and made the best out of it.
Catherine was very sweet and naïve. I did get frustrated with her at times for keeping her secrets from Dylan. I could understand why she felt the need to, but she had to know that she couldn’t run away from her problems forever.
Besides the main characters, I did like several of the side characters. The amount of support that the town gave Dylan and Catherine was wonderful to see.
One character that stood out to me was Trudy because she was very observant. She noticed that Catherine didn’t know how to cook and that she had a lot of worries, and she supported her through them.
One quote that stood out to me was from Trudy when talking to Catherine. She said, “We women have to stop defining ourselves by lining ourselves up against other women. Instead, we need to define ourselves the way our Creator does.” (p. 240)
This quote really spoke to me because I often find myself comparing myself to other women even though I know I shouldn’t. It can be so easy to see what others have that you don’t and think less of them or yourself. This was a good reminder to focus on how God sees me and not how I see myself.
It’s so nice to read a story of redemption and full of hope. So many romances I read are so worldly, so it was also nice to see how a Godly man should act and what a Godly marriage should look like. Overall, I would recommend this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.
What I Didn’t Like
There really wasn’t anything in particular that I didn’t like. I just reserve my 5 star ratings for favorite books. I definitely recommend this book even if you haven’t read the rest of the series.
Where to Purchase
You can pre-order this book before February 14, 2023, or wait until it comes out.
You can purchase a copy of this book at the following retailers:
Bethany House Publishers (if you want to buy directly from the publisher)
Bookshop.org (supports independent book stores) [affiliate link]
Books a Million (BAM) [affiliate link]
Have you read The Last Chance Cowboy or any other books by Jody Hedlund?
I would love to hear your thoughts! Comment down below.