The Cowboy Cookie Challenge
Grade : C+

Lori Wilde fans definitely know what they’re getting when they crack open another volume of her Twilight, Texas series. The Cowboy Cookie Challenge combines baking, Christmas, and hunky cowboys into a single, compact, easy to chew volume. But the experience sometimes feels overly processed and cheesy, leaving a corny aftertaste behind.

Rancher and ex-baker Roan Sullivan is raising her four-year-old daughter Trinity alone in the wake of the sudden death of his wife, Claire, who died from an allergic reaction to anesthesia she was administered during an unnamed minor surgical procedure just as Roan was off competing in a nationally televised baking competition show (which he won and which also goes unnamed). Even though Trinity prefers her grandmother’s company, Roan is a good, attentive and anxious father, who is, after two years as a widower, starting to think dating – especially dating the comely, sunny Jazzy – might be a good idea.

Pediatric nurse Jazzy Walker is looking after Trinity while she's at Twilight General Hospital having her tonsils out.  Jazzy is a natural with children and loves her friends, but she hasn’t dated anyone for two years.

That would be because of Andi Browning. Jazzy has been locked in a lifelong rivalry with Andi, who is constantly getting her goat and is now engaged to Danny, Jazzy’s ex, whom Andi stole from her. Danny blamed Jazzy’s “toxic positivity” for their break-up. Andi has always come out the winner in their multiple contests, and Jazzy, hoping to claim victory for once, decides to sign up for a baking contest that Andi is also participating in – even though Jazzy can’t bake. And even though Roan hasn’t baked since his competition win and refuses to because doing so reminds him of his wife’s death, he’s willing to mentor Jazzy. Will Jazzy finally manage to claim victory and land her relationship with Roan - and can they heal one another?

The Cowboy Cookie Challenge definitely improves upon the last book I read in this series. But as nice as the characters are, this one doesn’t really rise much above the average.

Jazzy is nice and Ronan is nice and a good father and a nice brother and son; they’re both perfectly decent people worth reading about. There’s a ten-year age gap between them, which might not appeal to all readers, and definitely shows up as slightly hinky in several places in the novel. Even though they evince an attraction to one another early in the book, Wilde also has Roan muse that Jazzy is “as cute as a speckled pup”, which may not put the reader at ease when it comes to the age question.

A quarter into the book they start to make more sense as a couple, and the romance is mostly very sweet and well-handled. For fans of the series, other couples and characters from the long series resurface as well, with progress updates about their relationships.

Wilde tends to have problems when writing about widows and widowers, and The Cowboy Cookie Challenge does better in that respect when compared to the other times she does it, though it’s still not perfect. It’s been two years since Claire died, and Roan misses her enough to keep her pictures up all over the family ranch. He’s upset enough about her death to avoid baking or using the YouTube channel they made together. But he’s not talking to Trinity about her and Trinity rarely asks questions about her, and in some ways it feels like Jazzy is just stepping into a void in the lives of Roan and Trinity. A choice Roan makes at the end of the book is really uncomfortable and eyebrow raising. This happens in the previous book I read in the series and seems to be a feature in Wilde’s writing instead of a bug, but it still makes my skin crawl.

The relationship is also complicated by one of those unnecessary third-act breakups. And the whole dream-of-your-soulmate-after-throwing-a-Christmas-cookie-under-your-pillow-on-Christmas-Eve subplot familiar to all Twilight, Texas fans resurfaces here – no guesses as to how it solves the above plotline. At least here a healthy dose of skepticism is initially introduced about the custom.

The rivalry with Andi, meanwhile, teeters between childish and funny, and Andi and Jazzy both address the situation like they’re small children; their behavior at the baking contest is particularly cringeworthy. Danny and Jazzy’s relationship, meanwhile, ends up coming to a satisfying and rich conclusion; I really liked how they manage to become friends and I liked Jazzy’s friendship with her bestie, Chris.

The Cowboy Cookie Challenge has a lot of ups and downs. It’s not awful, but it’s also not a gourmet experience.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer

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Reviewed by Lisa Fernandes
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : October 28, 2022

Publication Date: 10/2022

Review Tags: Twilight Texas series

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Lisa Fernandes

Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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