Bucking the Rules by Kat Murray

This is Book 2 in Kat Murray's "Rope & Wrangled" series. The hero in this book is Trace Muldoon - rodeo star & single father to baby Seth. I was intrigued by Trace in the previous book so I was looking forward to his book. This didn't disappoint. We learned in the previous book that Trace showed up with his baby son Seth with no sign or story about the mother & Trace refuses to answer any questions about her. You do finally find out the story behind that in this book. It's such an unusual situation for a highly attractive, healthy single man to take responsibility for a baby and raise him on his own and be so into fatherhood as he is. The scenes between Trace and Seth are just so sweet. It's one of the things that make Trace such an endearing character. He reads up on parenting and carries him everywhere. In addition to being a great dad, he's also super sexy, laid back, and has a good sense of humor. In spite of focusing on being a father, he finds himself very attracted to Jo Tallen. Jo owns her own bar in town. She's viewed as an outsider by some townspeople because she wasn't born a local. She has traveled all over, partly because her mother constantly changed husbands. I liked Jo the more I read about her. She's another strong female character, like Trace's sister Peyton, except her style is very different from his sister. I liked the little friendship that struck up between Jo & Trace's actress sister Bea. Bea seemed to have more depth in this book and I look forward to reading her story next. I liked how Trace & Jo both had lousy mother figures in common for them to bond over. I also liked how Trace was firm about letting Jo know that he wasn't looking for a quick replacement mommy for Seth. He wouldn't have somebody around him who was a bad person and bad influence, but he was the parent. He wanted Jo for who she was and loved her just for herself. Great characters, and sexy, sweet romance. I like how things worked out between Jo and the townspeople at the end of the book. Can't wait until the next book.