Aussie Review: Tease Me, Cowboy by Rachael Johns (A Montana Born Rodeo Novella)

“Selah Davis loves her life as a journalist in Seattle (or so she says) but on a rare trip home to Marietta to cover the Copper Mountain Rodeo, she confesses to her best friends over drinks that her one regret in life is not sleeping with her high school boyfriend, Levi Monroe. Into the bar walks Levi, also home for the rodeo. When her friends dare her to proposition him for a one night stand, she's at first appalled...but the more she thinks about remedying her one regret, the less she can get him and their electric chemistry out of her head. Selah's always been her parents' good daughter. Would it hurt for just one night to be a little bad?

Levi Monroe is ready to settle back in Marietta and start his own rodeo school teaching others the techniques that have made him a star. He doesn't want any distractions during his last rodeo where he aims to win All Around Cowboy, but when his high school sweetheart - the one woman he's never been able to forget - comes along and offers to rewrite their history, it might just be an offer too good to refuse.”

The blurb for this novella sets out so perfectly and succinctly the content within, that I’m not even going to try and compete with it by giving my own summary. Instead, I’ll just go right ahead and let y’all know what I thought about Rachael Johns’ latest novel which is her debut with Tule Publishing and also the first in the Montana Born Rodeo series.

In Tease Me, Cowboy, Rachael veers away from the Australian landscape, where all of her past novels have been set, to Montana in the USA, bringing us a story about a girl who is compelled to take action when past mistakes come back to haunt her, a mind-blowingly sexy cowboy who has his own agenda, the rodeo circuit with all its sights, sounds and smells along with the sense of small-town community which some of us Australians are accustomed to. Sound like your typical cowboy love story? You betcha not! This one will leave you wanting more.

Of course, Rachael brings her own special flavor to the story with her unique way of telling stories with warmth, humour and passion, thus dispelling all the myths about American cowboys. Switching between the two perspectives, she develops Selah and Levi by giving us their innermost thoughts and laying their feelings bare for all to see and I especially loved the dinner scene where they begin to reconnect. But, it’s afterwards, when Selah is left “in the cold”, that had this reviewer squirming in anguish and wanting to knock Levi’s head right off his shoulders! However, Rachael redeems herself (and thankfully Levi) by going on to give us so much more, evolving their past relationship into a possible future that surely only dreams can be made of.

This is a really feel-good happy romp of a novella (with lots of teasing) that will be enjoyed by all romance fans, whether you love cowboys or not! If you’re one of those that don’t, I guarantee Rachael will change the way you think of America’s equivalent to Australia’s rodeo champions!

I wish to thank Tule Publishing for providing me with an ARC e-Galley of this fun novella.

A Little About the Author

Rachael Johns is an English teacher by trade (please don't hold that against her), a mum 24/7, a supermarket owner by day, a chronic arachnophobic, and a writer by night. She rarely sleeps.

She lives in rural Western Australia with her hyperactive husband and three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training.

Rachael has been writing since she  was 17 when she broke up with her first boyfriend (at the time she thought he was The One and was hugely devastated in the fashion of all 17 years olds). For some reason unbeknownst to her, she  turned to writing as a form of therapy for her broken heart. It was enlightening to realise that with writing she could create whatever ending she liked.  She wrote the story of her and The One and actually ended up killing him off. The writing was therapeutic, the story was cringe-worthy but she had caught the bug.

Almost a decade later, after many, many attempts at writing different types of novels, Rachael joined Romance Writers of Australia. Finally she learnt there was more to writing a book than just typing out random thoughts - she learnt about craft, conflict, consistent characters, etc - and she also learnt that she LOVED contemporary romance and that was what she wanted to write. She is super happy to be writing sassy, urban romances and small-town romance.