Fun book. The day before her wedding, Jane overheard her fiancé, John, and his sister, Ramona, plotting her death so that her stepfather can retain control of her property. Now she's on the run, looking for a safe place to hide out until her birthday when that property becomes hers. After laying a false trail, Jane took a bus west and got off in a small town in Texas, hoping to find a job. There she met Nellie Luckadeau, who is the answer to her prayers. The feisty old lady hires her to help cook on the ranch and be her driver, which suits Jane just fine. Unfortunately, Nellie's grandson, Slade, disagrees with his grandmother.

Lucky can't believe his grandmother brought some stray woman home from the bus station. He is sure Jane is a con artist looking for a way to part Nellie from her money, and he won't stand for it. But Nellie is adamant that Jane stays: "I hired her. You can't fire her," so Slade tries rudeness and intimidation next. I understood that Slade was worried about Nellie, but she's a sharp old lady, and it would take real talent to pull the wool over her eyes. It bugged me that Slade didn't trust Nellie enough to give Jane a chance.

The sparks that flew between Slade and Jane were fierce but mostly antagonistic. He is flat-out rude to her, but Jane fires right back. He's convinced she's a useless city girl who will turn and run at the first sign of hard work. Jane delights in proving him wrong at every turn. For the first couple of weeks, they can't be in the room together five minutes before they're slinging barbs at each other. When Nellie gets the bright idea to visit her sister, Ellen, leaving Jane behind to manage the cooking for a week, things start to change a little. I loved seeing Jane pitch in on the ranch work, showing Slade that he's wrong. The antagonism begins to fade a little, though the snark and sniping continue.

By the time Nellie and Ellen return, there is a different kind of spark mixed in with the sniping, though neither one wants to admit it. Those two ladies have matchmaking on their minds, and nothing is going to deter them. It was fun to see them find ways to throw Slade and Jane together. Their big chance comes when Jane's past catches up to her. After spotting John and Ramona at the July Fourth celebration, Jane confesses all to her friends. Nellie wants Slade to take Jane and hit the road, keeping her moving until her birthday. Once again, Slade allows his cynicism and suspicion free reign and is a total jerk. Nellie wins the battle, though Slade takes some steps of his own to try to discover the truth. I wouldn't have blamed Jane if she'd clunked him on the head and shoved him out of the truck.

The next part of the book ranks right up there as some good romantic suspense. Slade and Jane barely keep one step ahead of their pursuers, even with the help of the FBI. Jane finally gets to the point where she's had enough of running, and they decide to turn the tables on their pursuers. I loved their plan and had to laugh at some of their antics as they pulled it off. I found it hard to believe that John didn't recognize her, but it worked. Things get a little intense when John escapes custody, and then Slade and Jane barely escape a safe house with their lives. There are a few more twists before Slade delivers Jane to her home just after her birthday.

By this point, both Slade and Jane have realized that their hearts are involved, but neither talks about it. Slade can't see why someone in Jane's position would be interested in him, so he slinks off back home to Texas. I felt like he'd earned his misery, though I did feel a little sorry for him. Meanwhile, Jane faces a slew of decisions to make regarding her future. I cheered for her at the oil company office that first morning as the new-and-improved Jane took charge. A little more self-examination showed her what she needed to do to be happy. I loved the ending and seeing Slade's reaction to her purchase. More sparks - of both kinds - fly as they work their way to settling their future together.

I loved Nellie and Ellen. Both of them have big hearts, and I liked how they took to Jane. It was fun to see them try to wiggle information out of her, though what they did with it came as quite a surprise. I was bothered a bit by their ease with Ellen driving after drinking and Nellie driving with her vision problems. At least Nellie took the steps of hiring Jane to do the driving for her. Though she only appeared for a little while, I loved the little girl, Lizzy. I liked how Jane helped her deal with the two bratty girls and loved the bit with the leprechaun's gold. That Kristy woman who tried to claim Slade was a real piece of work, and I enjoyed seeing Jane take her down. I haven't read the other three books in the series yet, but I want to read Beau and Milli's story and see what happens with Griffin and Remington.
#netgalley ( )

One Lucky Cowboy (Lucky) Carolyn Brown  
A woman on the run. A granny with a plan and a suspicious yet attractive man. One Lucky Cowboy is not an average Carolyn Brown novel. Jane and Lucky are complicated. Love may not be on their minds but Granny Nellie make sure is on her agenda. Jane has danger on her mind. Lucky has suspicion in his heart. Nellie has romance on her mind. Who will be the victor in the end? Ms. Brown brings her signature humor to the table while cooking up her own personal blend of intrigue. There are times it falls a bit flat on the mystery end, but the romance never misses on charm. ( )

I enjoyed this book. There was humor, romance and some suspense. It was hard to put down when I wanted to see what Jane & Slade did next.
You see, Jane's fiance and her step father want the oil company that will be hers on her 25th birthday and will use any means to get it.
When Slade's aunt befriends Jane at the bus station and brings her home it makes Slade a very unhappy rancher. ( )

I would have given this book more start because of the story line - but just could not bring myself to do it. I will start by saying that the "idea" of this book is a good one. The plot would have been good if the author could have not jumped and repeated so much. Actually it got pretty annoying and I don't understand why I didn't just go with my gut and put it down! The language was awful! I don't understand why authors seem to think that they need to use bad language so much, actually I might have given this book 3 stars if the language was not so terrible! All in all - I'm sorry that I spent my hard earned money on this book! ( )