Rocci’s Review: Two Cowboys and a Baby by BA Tortuga

Two Cowboys and a Baby by BA Tortuga

Length: About 50,000 words

Copy purchased from Dreamspinner Press (https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/)

So I’ve been reading BA’s works for over a decade now, and the latest offering of “Two Cowboys and a Baby” doesn’t disappoint.  If you’re looking for gruff cowboys acting like kinda dumb boys, with a cute baby and some existential angst tossed in, this story is for you.

I loved that the main and secondary characters are all unique and vibrant personalities that jump off the page at you.  The dialogue and character interactions reinforced that the setting was deep Texas, gender stereotypes and all.  The only thing that threw me was figuring out their ages – maybe it’s my Yankee showing, but the nickname “Hoss” doesn’t conjure up a hot guy in his late 20s, nor does the nickname “Pooter”.  It took me about 20 pages in to figure out they were between 27 and 30 years old (I think?  Still not completely sure on that, but I’m dying of allergies, so maybe it’s just me…)

The plot line was a little trope-y, but that’s part of what appealed to me, and I won’t go too far into that so I can avoid spoilers.  I will say that the plot twist was surprising, but handled well in a believable way for the characters.  There are some rodeo and plumbing injuries mentioned, so if you have a trigger on that, beware.  Nothing too graphic, though.

The characters’ speech and way of phrasing things was classic Tortuga, though, and Texan through-and-through.  The plot was well-paced and of course the grammar / structure / spelling etc were professional quality (do I even need to say that for BA?)

Highly recommended for fans of cowboys, westerns, and kid-fic stories.

Also a note to readers that BA Tortuga has joined up with Julia Talbot, Sean Michael, Kiernan Kelly, TC Blue and Kris Norris to form Evil Plot Bunny: http://www.evilplotbunny.com/  Go check it out!