A rodeo cowboy who’s sworn off love. An optimist who still believes in fairytales. One innocent mistake that could cost them everything.

After more than a dozen epic breakups, physical therapist Lauren Winslow is one teardrop away from locking up her heart forever. A baggage claim mix-up, a swoony cowboy, and the discovery of a love letter meant for someone else convince her to give love one last shot. The problem? The letter belongs to Rhen McGowan, and Lauren has no idea how to return it without breaking his heart and losing his trust.

Rhen is recovering from a career-ending rodeo injury and rebuilding the therapeutic riding center he nearly lost in his divorce. The last thing he needs is a relentlessly hopeful woman who crashes into his life, charms his family, and makes him feel things he promised himself he was done with.

Their chemistry is instant, irresistible, and impossible to ignore. But when Rhen discovers Lauren kept the letter and lied about it, his fragile trust shatters. Now she must convince him it was an innocent mistake before the past steals their chance at a fairytale future.

Titles in the Sisters of Spring Creek series include:  Lasso My Heart ~ Falling for the Cowboy Doctor ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Title:  Lasso My Heart
Series:  Sisters of Spring Creek #1
Author:  Mary Karlik
Published:  August 11, 2026
Publisher:  Tule Publishing
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Lasso My Heart begins the Sisters of Spring Creek series with a lovely romance between Lauren, a physical therapist, and Rhen, a cowboy who has had a career-ending injury that put a hard stop to his rodeo career and is now focused on rebuilding a therapeutic riding center.  To say that they are total opposites, like darkness vs light (grumpy/sunshine), is a complete understatement, yet attraction doesn’t care about such things. 

Lauren’s situation reminds me of an old Country song (If It Weren’t for Bad Luck I’d Have No Luck at All). Her romantic wanna-be life hasn’t dealt her the best offers in the guy department, enough so that each of the thirteen (yes, 13) previous men have ended up in her “Frogs” box…which she had updated, sadly, regularly.  Number 14 doesn’t look all that promising either, considering that small lie she told, but then, there’s that attraction spark between them that just won’t shut up… so, maybe her luck’s about to change.

I adored this couple.  Yes, Rhen is grumpy to the max.  But then, he’s had a lot of good reasons to earn that grumpy title.  Lauren has been so unlucky in love (and life) that it’s hard not to completely get on her side, even if she did withhold something vital from Rhen.  Watching them navigate their emotional relationship was such a delightful journey, one full of drama, some angst, and a whole ton of emotions.  Their story is well-written, humorous, emotional, and completely engaging.  I had such a good time here, and am looking forward to the next title in this series.  If that sounds like your kind of Modern Western Romance, then you’d love Lasso My Heart.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

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