BOOK REVIEW- THE BULL RIDER'S BABY

 
One minute, Keeton West is a confirmed bachelor and bull rider who lives out of a suitcase. The next, he's the single dad of a baby he didn't know existed. Now back in his hometown, everyone remembers the tragedy that changed his—and Sophie Cooper's—lives forever. He desperately needs Sophie's help with little Lucy. But spending time with Keeton seems to remind Sophie of all she lost. She won't get close to another bull rider. Yet one sweet baby girl has her own way of bringing two hearts together. AMAZON

What an enjoyable story, I really liked it. Both Keeton and Sophie were such great characters. Sophie and Keeton shared the loss of the same loved one. He was a fiancee to Sophie and younger brother to Keeton. That loss caused such pain and the breaking of hearts and lives. Even causing Keeton's mother and father to leave the community. They eventually divorced, so now they are broken people, afraid to really move on emotionally. Yes, the moved physically but emotionally they were stuck and angry. Keeton had finally gotten over his guilt over his brother's death and some guilt over his attraction to Sophie. He found after all these years, he still was attracted to her and wanted more. But Sophie is really busy running in the other direction. Her Number 1 Rule- no dating bull-riders. She wasn't going to risk her heart again on one of those. Heck, she was barely risking her heart as it was. As she was running, she was fighting HER attraction to Keeton. She comes from a really LARGE family, so there are a lot of Cooper family trying to mess with her life. The people who were on that platform were mainly, her brothers and her father (to a lesser degree). They weren't evil or manipulative but they did have a way of taking over when they thought she needed help. She just wanted some space and something that was all her own.. It took Sophie awhile to realize that Keeton treated her differently than her family. He knew she was capable and stepped back and let her do things on her own without trying to fix it before she could. Oh, he had her back if she needed anything and he was there when she needed him. He just handled it better. I also liked that Sophie was often a surprise, especially to Keeton. He often got sneak peeks into another side of her personality. The professional businesswomen, who ate lots of junk food and sometimes drank milk out of the jug. Now, those were some things he wasn't expecting.
That really large group of siblings really made for some really interesting additonal people in the story.
Keeton was really over his head when it comes to having his baby suddenly dumped in his lap. But I had to give him credit, he really tried hard. He also gained points because of how quickly he became wound around his little girl, Lucy's little finger. Sophie also fell in love with her pretty quickly. Lucy managed to wrap herself around Sophie's heart and vice versa.
I said that I liked this story and it is sweet. But its also emotional and has several different challenges that keep it from just being sweet and emotional. Not all fluff, like it could have been.