Win a Date with a Cowboy by Kate Tilney

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Even though I was in the middle of a reread of Empire of Storms, I had insomnia one night and decided to pick up a couple quickie insta-love novellas available on KU (Kindle Unlimited). The first one I read was Win a Date with a Cowboy by Kate Tilney. This is the first in her Curvy Girls' Bachelor Auction series. I used this to cover the Fall in Love prompt under 300 pages.

Jill is assistant to an up and coming fashion designer in Denver, Colorado. While her boss is up in Aspen, Jill is tasked to attend a local charity bachelor auction to bid on the "cowboy" for a date. Clay is roped into participating in the auction by a friend, but is happy when he sees that Jill is the curvy woman that won his time. When he finds out the truth, he's disappointed. When Jill drops by his ranch to deliver a present for Clay from her boss, they can't help but fall into the attraction they feel for each other.

Okay, I was excited for this book and even more so when I started it and realized it was set in Colorado. While the tropes were right up my alley and I expected an insta-love story going in, this one didn't quite hit me right. It was a little too insta-lovey for me. I just find much more enjoyment and believability in the HEA if at the end of the novella it's more of a we'll start dating seriously or get engaged and plan to have a long engagement. I was just left feeling a little meh about them. I also thought that the "tension" that was supposed to come with Jill's boss having won the date was too forced. It just felt weird overall, especially when we come to find out that her boss was looking at Clay like he was "her's." The writing style and character choices overall just didn't quite elevate the story as much as I was hoping.

While this didn't blow me away, if you are looking for this type of book as a palate cleanser, I thought it was decent. If I'm looking for more insta-lovey novellas in the future, I'd definitely check out the other books in the series and see if one of the other hero archetypes is something I'm interested in. This is one that I'd have to go specifically looking for though.

Have you read Win a Date with a Cowboy?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Win a Date with a Cowboy, Kate Tilney, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 51 pages, published in 2022, indie published