His first mistake…saying yes.

Retired bull rider Nix McCray savors his freedom riding the range. Let a woman run his life? Never again. Those days are behind him. When the Endeavour Ranch asks him to run a bull riding clinic for teens, he agrees. How much trouble can a group of kids be? No idea, but the uptight, hyper-responsible older sister of a reckless seventeen-year-old girl sure becomes a burr in his side, disturbing his calm.

Self-assured lawyer Shauna Walsh has always followed the rules. When her flighty mother begs her to take her sister following the latest school expulsion, Shauna’s confident she can prevail. Wrong. She’s out of her depth. Worse, the amused, sexy cowboy running the rodeo clinic is everything she shouldn’t want, yet he has a superpower over her once sleepy libido.

Soon, the unruly teenager determined to shock everyone is the least of Shauna and Nix’s problems. How can they explore the fire burning between them, yet keep the casual affair a secret in a rural community when they’re supposed to be setting a good example?

Titles in The Endeavour Ranch of Grand, Montana series include: The Montana Sheriff ~ The Montana Doctor ~ The Montana Rancher ~ The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby ~ The Cowboy’s Redemption ~ The Cowboy’s Downfall ~

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  The Cowboy’s Downfall
Series:  The Endeavour Ranch of Grand, Montana #6
Author:  Paula Altenburg
Published:  August 14, 2025
Publisher:  Tule Publishing
My Rating:  4.5 stars

The Cowboy’s Downfall is the sixth title in The Endeavour Ranch of Grand, Montana series, featuring Shauna’s and Nix’s unexpected romance.  I feel like there should be a trigger warning here, for not all domestic abuse is physical, but often psychological and mental as well… and men can be victims, that’s a fact, just not as talked about as abused women are. 

Nix is a retired bull rider who’s working on the Endeavour Ranch, teaching troubled youth, mostly boys, about the discipline of bull riding.  He’s divorced, with an ex that just will not let go, constantly in his life in one way or another.  He has no intention of ever giving another woman that kind of control over him or his emotions… unfortunately, he’s about to meet a whirlwind who is both his worst fear and his best chance at a healthy relationship, should he be brave enough to take that risk.

Shauna is a lawyer who, against her better judgment, has her younger sister, Taryn, living with her.  Taryn is trouble incarnate, willful, out-of-control, and defying any boundaries her mother or, now, her sister tries to establish.  She’s determined to be a bull rider, so what if it’s not usually a woman’s sport?

The dynamics of Nixon, Shauna, and Taryn in The Cowboy’s Downfall by Paula Altenburg are intriguing, even fascinating.  Nix and Shauna work as a couple, even though they’ll fight the attraction tooth and nail for as long as possible.  Taryn is a piece of work, and I never warmed up to her; she’s a spoiled, entitled (in her mind) little brat, in my opinion.  Their story has difficult issues that the author dealt with in an understanding and graceful way.  It was fun to run into so many familiar faces from this series.  Can you read it as a standalone?  Yes. But, in my opinion, it’s better when read in order if at all possible.  I enjoyed my time back at The Endeavour Ranch.  

*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.*

This title is available at Amazon (affiliate link)