The Cowboy Who Got Away

Nancy Robards Thompson

Oct 2017 · Harlequin

About this ebook

High school sweethearts are reunited when a rodeo champ returns to his small Texas town and sets his heart on winning back the woman left behind.

Hunky bull rider Jude Campbell seems to have the world by the proverbial horns. But when the world rodeo champion returns to Celebration, Texas for his high school reunion, he’s confronted by the ghosts he’d worked so hard to forget. Not to mention the high school love who got away . . .

Wedding planner Juliette Lowell is as gorgeous and genuine as she was as Jude’s homecoming queen. And the spark between them burns as bright as ever. But Jules still smarts from Jude’s betrayal years before. And as successful as he seems, Jude’s struggling with the prospect of retiring from rodeo and hanging up his spurs. But with his queen, Juliette, by his side, maybe he can make this homecoming last a lifetime.

Ratings and reviews

Juliette Lowell, a wedding planner, was having a bad day with a hysterical bridezilla, then she sees that Jude Campbell is back in town. They had seen each other briefly three months before, but it had been ten years since their break-up: Juliette had gone to college in Scotland and Jude began his career as a professional bull fighter. Jude is back home in Celebration, Texas, for a few weeks, the time to assess his future. It’s taking him longer this time to recover from his injuries, but he should tough it out one more year on the circuit, could he afford to retire from bull riding now? Does he even want to? He has never stopped loving Juliette, but what about her? It had never seemed the right time for them to be together… THE COWBOY THAT GOT AWAY is small town romance at its finest. Neither Juliette nor Jude jumped to any conclusion, whether regarding the past or the present. They are still very much attracted to each other, but there is no resentment, no harsh words, no miscommunication; they are very realistic about their situation, which doesn’t seem to have changed much in some ways: Juliette still refuses to go on the road with him, as she did in the past, but Jude is at a crossroads; he simply doesn’t know what to do with his life anymore. I really enjoyed that it was more than picking up where they left off: their lives had changed in those ten years, and that’s what they had to evaluate, especially Jude. They had to look at who they were now, at what they wanted, and if there was a way they could make it work, and if they still wanted to make it work. THE COWBOY THAT GOT AWAY is one of those very rare books with a second-chance trope that had me really wondering what they should do, what they would do. There was a lot of introspection from both characters. I expected a light, frothy little romance, and what I got was a smart, adult story featuring intelligent people who are willing to listen and talk about what ails them. It’s a very quick read, very well written, with no bumps whatsoever, and with a most excellent ending that left me entirely satisfied. Extremely well done! I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

About the author

Award winning author Nancy Robards Thompson holds a degree in journalism. She worked as a newspaper reporter until she realized reporting "just the facts" bored her silly. Much more content to report to her muse, Nancy has found Nirvana writing contemporary and historical women's fiction and romance full-time. Critics have deemed her work, "...funny, smart and observant." She resides in Florida with her husband and daughter. For more details, please visit her website at NancyRobardsThompson.com.