The Cowboy's Baby Agreement is the second book in Leslie North's Wells Brothers series, and since I just read and reviewed the previous title in the series, it was fairly easy to get into this ARC, however, due to its brevity, some time-frame confusion (which I hope was corrected in the final product), and a rather childish personal issue concerning the heroine, I can only give it a 3-star rating.

The first character we meet is Mina, and she's in Bette's Diner, only half paying attention to her dinner because she's obsessing over possible sperm donor profiles. At age 30, she's decided she wants to have a baby, and with no eligible men on the horizon, and her only relative, her grandmother, who is in a nursing home suffering from dementia, she's decided to go it alone. When she finally decides on which sperm donor to use, and makes an appointment with the doctor who will perform the insemination procedure, in walks Liam Wells, rodeo star and the cause of Mina's ire since she was 16 years old. We met Liam briefly in the previous novel, and, like his brother, Cade, he's tall, handsome, and Mina would rather hide than confront him, but after a brief greeting, she's in her car and on her way home, realizing that Liam matches the description of the sperm donor she's chosen, and while preoccupied with that thought, she skids on the snowy road and gets her car hung-up over an embankment. At least she's close to a small, inhabited cabin, and nearly freezes to death walking there, only to find out that it's sole occupant is Liam.

Liam couldn't possibly be kinder to half-frozen Mina, getting her into some of his dry clothing, telling her to take a warm shower, and sitting her down to warm up by the fireplace. What Liam doesn't know about Mina is a lot. He had no idea that she had been carrying a grudge against him since high school, or that she'd had a serious crush on him at the time. Because the snowstorm is really a blizzard, Mina is upset when neither her nor Liam's cell phones are working, and since she can't inform her doctor that she will need to postpone her insemination appointment, she will lose her hefty deposit. Liam is quite attracted to Mina, as he was in high school, but when Mina asks him flat-out if he was ever a sperm donor, many truths come to light, and it's not long after that that Liam, knowing how upset Mina is to miss her appointment, suggests impregnating her the old-fashioned way.

I had some serious issues with Mina. Her 14-year grudge against Liam seemed rather ridiculous to me, because had she just wandered into the room where he had uttered the sentence that devastated her emotionally, and asked him about it, there would have been no reason for her to be upset, and certainly not for the past 14 years. Further, when Mina eventually agrees to allow Liam to impregnate her, she acts as if it's a one and done, and once they've cleared the roads so that Mina can leave Liam's cabin, she starts avoiding him like the plague. She's a grown woman and starting a clothing design business (pockets are her thing--silly, I know), she acts more like a 16-year-old than a mature adult.

As a romance reader, I could see what was coming from a mile away, with the possible exception of some hilarity when Liam spots a cute little puppy freezing in the snow and rescues it. Yes, there's an HEA ending, but while Liam eventually shows some maturity, albeit it slow to arrive, Mina's emotions are all over the place, and because of her inability to deal with them and be honest with both Liam and herself, it was impossible for me to entirely overlook her emotional immaturity, which really hampered my enjoyment of this novel.

While The Cowboy's Baby Agreement isn't a bad read, in this reader's opinion, it simply didn't measure up to the previous novel in this series, and with the next brother's story yet to come, I do hope it's a far better and more well thought out one than this.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of the novel. The opinions stated are my own.

This is a Cowboy Romance, and this is the second book in the Wells Brothers series. I have also read and review Wells Brothers Book 1. This is a super short cowboy romance book. I did not love this book as much as the first book, but it was a really good book. I love that the author can bring the characters to life so well in a super small book. I cannot wait until the three book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Relay Publishing) or author (Leslie North) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

This was a really quick and cute read. The characters were interesting with a surprising amount of depth and backstory for such a short book. I did wish that the issue they had in high school was more of an issue and less of a misunderstanding as it would have given a bit more tension to the plot. The early scenes with Lucky were just beyond adorable.
Overall, this was just a great quick read to perk up my mood. Really recommend if your looking for a speedy cowboy fix!