Cowboy for Keeps

Title: COWBOY FOR KEEPS
Author: Debra Clopton
Publisher: Love Inspired
June 2010
ISBN: 978-0-373-87603-7
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary romance

Amanda Hathaway is a physical therapist. She used to work with children and teenagers until her fiancé dumped her and then she wanted a change of scenery to heal. Her boss sent her on a three-month assignment to Mule Hollow, Texas, (with some reluctance) to work with a rancher who was in a plane wreck.

Wyatt Tucker also works as a lawyer in addition to ranching and he is not at all impressed with the tiny girl who got out of the car claiming to be a physical therapist. He thinks that he is a victim of a practical joke, and angrily sends her away. Then his brothers find out, assure him that she is the real thing, and chase after her to bring her back.

Wyatt is still not real impressed with the therapist, especially when she comes out of the trailer while wild hogs were rooting around outside. From the beginning sparks fly. Will Amanda be able to help Wyatt walk again?

I have read almost all of Debra Clopton’s books (I might have missed two or three) and this one is kind of a spin-off of Ms. Cloptons’ original Mule Hollow series. COWBOY FOR KEEPS is the first book in her new Men of Mule Hollow series.

I have had some experience with physical therapists and found that Amanda didn’t act at all like the therapists I’m familiar with. She was nervous, unsure, and seemed to focus more on massages than on exercises. But this is a romance, and I concur that the romance is the main thing, not the accuracy of her job.

Amanda is an amazing woman who overcame great obstacles to get her degree as a physical therapist, and Wyatt is a workaholic who can’t (or won’t) stop work for anything—not even therapy. Still it is an easy read, and it was nice to revisit with some of the quirky characters from previous books. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $5.50. 213 pages.