Falling for a Devoted Cowgirl

This was the first of the Vargas Ranch series that I've read. I was able to read the book as a stand-alone just fine, but I'd like to see how things developed up to this point.

Adan Franco has retired from the bull riding circuit, but the past is reaching out to find him. When a lawyer shows up with 12-year-old Jet Garrison and tells Adan that he and a friend from his rodeo days are the boy's parents, it's quite a surprise to Adan. He made some less than stellar life choices before he became a Christian, but surely he would have remembered fathering a child. Right? He can't fathom such a thing happening with someone he viewed as a good friend, but he won't let Jet down now that his mother is dead. If she said Adan is Jet's father, then a father is what he's going to be.

Solana Vargas is Adan's best friend's cousin. She's secretly loved him for a long time, but she fears the difference in their ages keeps him seeing her as the little cousin, never as the woman she's grown up to be. When Adan and Jet plan to travel to clean out Jet's mother's house, Solana says she'll go along to help them, hoping that time together outside their usual routine will open Adan's eyes to her feelings for him.

This is such a sweet, wonderful book! Adan and Solana are both thoroughly likable characters. I sometimes wanted to shake them just a little because they kept thinking there was something between them, and then one or the other would find a reason to retreat. But they both wanted to do what was best for Jet. Adan could have begged off taking on the role of single dad to a preteen boy who'd just had his entire world yanked out from under him. He didn't, and he was willing to take hits to his own reputation just to protect Jet. He was a good guy trying to do the right thing. Solana connected with Jet even better than Adan did, I think. She could talk to Jet when he was at his lowest, and as Adan started to build a life that included his son, Solana had a hard time not envisioning them together as a family!

Baney gently weaves faith throughout the story. Both Adan and Solana are Christians, as is all of the Vargas clan. I love the Vargas motto, "We do not deviate from the Lord's plan," so much, I'm going to put it on a sticky note by my mirror so I'll see it every day. Their faith isn't preachy and it isn't goody two-shoes. Adan acknowledges he made some poor choices before he followed Christ, and they both wrestle with God's timing and God's plan.

With her lovely Christian romances, Karen Baney is fast becoming one of my must-read authors. Her books are like a hug - warm and comforting when life is hard, something you can sink into and sigh with relief because you know it will make your heart happy. Recommended for anyone who likes friends to more, secret crush, age gap romances that are clean and give you that good happily ever after!

Disclaimer: I received a review copy from JustRead Publicity Tours. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.