I've always had a thing for cowboys--from the classic black Stetson to the tips of their boots. Roping His Filly doesn't have much of ranch life in it, but it does have one hell of a cowboy who seems to be what dreams are made of.

Jilly Mae Cartwright met her cowboy two years ago while working at the local diner to put herself through nursing school. He'd rolled in, and that night he'd marked her as his and made her body feel things she'd never thought possible. For the past two years, he's been rolling in and out of her bed and life. But now, she's found someone who can give her everything she's ever wanted: security, the white picket fence, and children. And he's not the cowboy.

Jake Waylon works the rodeo circuit, and he's damn proud of it. He's free to go where he wants, do what he wants, and see who he wants. But something about Jilly won't let him go; he keeps coming back to her as often as he can. What he didn't plan on was someone honing in on his cowgirl while he was away. He'll just have to make her forget about her boring and dull geek man, and make her realize that she belongs to him until he sees fit to release her.

What occurs is promised to make your screen steam and your blood pressure rise to boiling levels. While I was reading, I kept thinking back to the year I worked with real cowboys, on a real ranch, and went to rodeos to watch the boys try to make it big. More often than not, they walked away in third place, or no place, and only had bruises and broken bones to show for it. But nothing would keep them from trying it again when the rodeo came back to town. That year, I nursed more wounds than I care to remember, while the boys talked of "what ifs". A rodeo has something that, once it gets in your blood, you cannot get it out, and nothing can take its place.

Reese Gabriel has written a story of romance and erotic happenings that will keep you reading until the very end. Jake is the perfect cowboy, from his way of looking at the world to the way he thinks of women. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but I've noticed that cowboys have a certain idea of how things should happen and be. And Mr. Gabriel has captured it beautifully in this novel.

Reviewed By Marissa
© February 2005