Gage Everette escaped the horrors of living on his father’s Montana ranch to a world where he became a football player. Ten years later, he’s retired and ready to settle down in a home of his own, only to be called back to a place he never considered home. Years of hurt have seeped mistrust deep into his veins, and have created a lonely man in its wake. Gage knows the love of his friends but his parents never gave him what he truly needed.

Jasmine Cole first knew love from her father, and now her daughter Kleo has taken up the gauntlet. It’s that love that she is trying to protect even while she is walking around hurt and with trust issues. Her fear is simple -- men. The last has caused emotional and physical scares that she will have a hard time escaping. Nevertheless, when she falls into Gage’s lap, Jasmine discovers something she never expects to find in a man again. She finds love.

Will Gage and Jasmine find a way to move beyond their pasts and create a future together?

Kendra Mei Chailyn takes us into the lives of three people coping with pain inflicted on them in Destiny's Cowboy. Kleo is a sweet little girl who has the ability to show love like only children will do -- openly and completely without a second thought. I enjoyed watching her show her mother and Gage how to get it right. While I could understand Jasmine’s pain, I couldn’t quite understand why it took her so long to see the gift she was truly granted. Gage had me shaking my head quite a few times. The man knew he wanted love, but I think years of abuse made him feel unworthy. And while I can understand why he didn’t want to become the prodigal son and an abuser to boot, I thought even he could recognize that he was never cut from the same cloth as his father. I did find the characters to be entertaining, and would have loved to see John and Voodoo, Gage’s best friends, finally give a stab at the feelings they harbored in a future book.

Reviewed by: NeNe