Review: Texas Wide Open by K.C. Klein - 4 Wines Glasses!

Texas Wide Open
by K.C. Klein
Kindle Edition, 223 pages
Published November 15th 2012 by eKensington
Courtesy of NetGalley

Katie Harris loved growing up on a ranch. She had her horse, the beautiful Texas prairie, and Cole Logan, the cowboy next door. But there are a lot of secrets hidden under a Texas sky…
Katie always knew she’d marry Cole one day—until he broke her dreams and her heart. But now that Katie’s father is sick, she’s back home, older, wiser and nowhere near the love-sick fool she once was.
Cole knows Katie doesn’t want anything to do with him. But after so many years, he can’t pretend she’s no more than a neighbor. Not when thinking about her cherry lip gloss and hell-for-leather passion is keeping him up all night. Holding his ground was hard enough when she was seventeen. Now that she’s her own woman, Cole’s heart doesn’t stand a chance…

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Crystal L's Thoughts:
Girl grows up with the older boy next door. Girl falls madly in love with the older boy next door, and even at the age of eight knows that one day, she's going to marry that boy. (Cue famous Trisha Yearwood song) Girl grows up, and boy next door breaks her heart at the age of eighteen, so girl leaves her small hometown in Texas to go to college in New York.

In New York she meets a new boy who is sweet, and after a couple of years tells her he loves her, and wants to marry her.  So girl gives up on hometown heartbreak from the boy next door and moves on. Right?

Wrong. Nope. No ma'am, not right. Our heroine Katie gets a phone call from the heartbreak kid, otherwise known as Cole, when he tells her that her Dad had a heart attack and she needs to come home to Texas. Cole sees Katie's father as surrogate father since the day Cole's Dad died when he was sixteen and had to become the man of his house. So needless to say, he's there Mr. Harris as he's recovering from the heart attack. It's hard on his own heart though, to have the only girl he ever wanted as his own back home and still mad enough at him to spit nails. Or take a baseball bat to his truck. If she only knew the truth why he had to do what he did a few years ago, maybe she could forgive him and then they could get on with their lives together. Or at least that's what he thought till he saw the engagement ring on Katie's finger.

I liked this story. It was angsty and emotional and had a total Carrie Underwood moment that I've wanted to try myself a few times in life. It's also laid an excellent plot line for a sequel involving Cole's sister and his best friend Jet that I can't wait to read! Brave Ms. Klein for a great book and it's a solid four wine glass toast to Texas Wide Open! (On a side note - am I the only one who thinks those red boots on the front cover kick ass?)

Rating: 4 Wine Glasses