Review: The Bull Rider's Return

The Bull Rider's Return by Joan Kilby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Cody Starr has a reputation on the rodeo circuit as a bad boy, tats, drinking, stupid stunts, love 'em and leave 'em. He's the youngest son in a family of businessmen and over-achievers, content to waste his rodeo winnings on booze and gambling.

Then one day he takes pity on a struggling waitress in a diner with a sick son and hands over his $65,000 winnings (prize money plus a lucky streak gambling) to help pay for her son's heart operation. When his family ask how he's going to invest his winnings he lies and says he blew it all gambling.

Single mom Kelly Reid can't believe the change that Cody's generosity has made to her life and the life of her son Ricky. The two of them have travelled to Marietta to the 79th Copper Mountain rodeo to say thank-you in person, but soon one gossipy old woman creates a media storm about Cody's generosity and suddenly he might not be the no-good, unreliable bad boy that everyone thought he was.

Cody's harshest critic is himself - can he see himself the way that Kelly and Ricky do? Can he take a chance on himself?

I liked this but I had conflicted feelings about Kelly and Cody. I get that Cody is the youngest son and has never really grown up, even though he has been supporting himself since he was 16 years old, but his constant need to run away got tired. Kelly on the other hand was the romantic stereotype of the perfect single mom, except she dragged her son backwards and forwards on a whim following/ leaving a man and putting him and out of different schools. I think, maybe, I would have liked this better if Cody had had his epiphany earlier because neither of them came out of the last few chapters well (in my opinion).

But overall I still enjoyed this, there was more of the rodeo which I appreciated, no point in a series set around a rodeo if there's no bull-riding!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews