Release Day Review: All American Cowboy by Dylann Crush

All-American Cowboy
(Holiday, Texas #1)
Dylann Crush
Release: July 3, 2018
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

This city boy has it all figured out...
Until he goes toe-to-toe with a fierce cowgirl
who's snagged the home field advantage.

Holiday, Texas is known far and wide as the most celebratory town in the South--and no shindig is complete without one of its founding members. It's a real shame the last remaining Holiday is a city slicker, but what's that old saying about putting lipstick on a pig...?

Beck has no intention of being charmed by some crazy Texas town, but the minute he lays eyes on his grandfather's old honky tonk--and Charlie Walker, the beautiful cowgirl who runs it--he finds himself wishing things could be different. Life's gentler in Holiday. Slower. More real than anything he's ever known. And when he looks into Charlie's eyes, Beck may finally discover what it's like to truly belong.

Review:

I picked up All-American Cowboy thinking it sounded like a gender-flipped Hart of Dixie. While it's certainly the same kind of fish out of water story and a lot of the same elements are there, Holiday is more country than quirky so I didn't quite get that vibe I was looking for.

That said, Beck and Charlie's romance was enjoyable. I love couples who start out as rivals. And I love the whole town being in on the will-they-or-won't-they along with the reader. I liked the supporting characters and can see some of them getting their own books. Charlie's brothers, the single dad and the playboy, certainly would be prime candidates.

I had some moments of disbelief with both Beck and Charlie's characters, though. Is it possible for a 30 year old man with cable TV and internet access not to know what an armadillo looks like? Or a woman who runs a restaurant not to know that sushi is fish? Maybe it is. I lived in Texas, so I may not be the best judge of what someone visiting might know. There are other examples of actions that just felt a little off to me for both characters, but I wouldn't call any of them major issues.

I didn't love it, but I thought All-American Cowboy was a fun summer read. I wouldn't mind reading more from this author and this series.

    

3  stars