3.5 STARS ✮ KELLY ELLIOTT ✮ LOST LOVE

LOVE LOST

Cowboys and Angels #1

Kelly Elliott

After his failed marriage Steed returns home to his parents' ranch in Texas. He hated not being able to go home to see his family because of his money-grubbing now ex-wife. When he left ten years ago he left unfinished business behind. The only woman he ever loved. The woman he never forgot.

Home. The one place I longed to be, but was also scared to death of. Memories of this place were dangerously strong, but Chloe and I needed family. She needed a sense of normal after five years of utter crazy. And I needed to right a wrong that was long overdue. Paxton.

Paxton loves her job as a kindergarten teacher. When she comes face to face with the love of her life and his daughter she is overwhelmed with contradictory feelings. There is joy of seeing Steed again but also grief and a huge amount of righteous anger. And there is still the lingering threat of her cutting off his men parts.

There are things that are unforgivable. I would have thought that the reason for Paxton's anger would be among them but from the first moment you could feel Steed's honest regret for what his younger self did rolling off of him. He wasn't very smart in the decision-making department when he was barely out of school and that is the only reason I can forgive him what he did. He was a young scared boy facing a future he never pictured. He did try to make up for his kneejerk decision but it was too late then.

“Fear is temporary, regret is forever.”

The betrayal and hurt Paxton feels when Steed walks back into her life are excruciating. His past ten years without her make it all the harder to forgive him and for a while they go in circles and Paxton learns more about herself and her own mistakes in the time following her tragedy while she finds a way to lay the past to rest. I thought that was very well executed. Paxton didn't give in right away and needed time to heal and the Steed did a lot of grovelling and really earned her forgiveness.

Once they move past their issues the angst pretty much stops, the story becomes a lot more light-hearted and it gets a little too mushy and sweet for my taste. It doesn't really feel natural anymore to get so many "I love yous" and tearing up because, you know, happy, within a couple of pages and all the overly sweet stuff starts to feel a bit like fillers.

A couple of words about the characters. Steed is a cowboy and he has the alpha character and filthy mouth to go with it. He really knows how to woo a woman. He is tenacious in his pursuit of Paxton, he really wants to make it up to everyone who got caught in the drama. I liked Paxton and her spirit and her ability to see her own mistakes.

We kneeled in front of each other, so vulnerable and open. Bleeding hearts exposed for each of us to see. He saw my pain; I saw his hurt. Guilt engulfed me.

While this was a leeettle bit too sweet for me and I expected more angst I still loved the whole cast, setting and storyline of this book and I will definitely continue reading this series. The family consists of 7 siblings so I think we are in for quite a ride. Especially because those cowboys are all man-hos who will be fun to watch when they are brought down to their knees by a female.

Lost Love is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.

This book deals with some serious issues which might be a trigger for some readers.