I put off reading this book for quite awhile. I thought I'd wait until I was in the mood for something schmaltzy. I was definitely off the mark on this one. Zeke is a firm "never want to get married or have kids" guy. Natalie is a single, working mom with two kids and a truly wretched ex-husband.

When her son vandalizes Zeke's house & they meet, sparks fly but neither one wants to admit it. Then Natalie's daughter Rosie is added to the mix. Rosie is just like the daughter of a friend of mine. She was a fun lovable kid but she talked like an adult. It was a scream to hear such mature things from a little kid. We used to say she was smarter than we were.

When Natalie's ex is murdered she becomes the prime suspect & Zeke's determined to clear her. The only problem I had was that the ex got off too easy, he should have had to suffer over a prolonged period of time!

This book has made me want to read the whole series!

4th book in the Coulter family series.

In this one you have Zeke Coulter, who owns and runs a ranch supply store. He also recently bought a ranch bordering another ranch. When he comes home one day, he finds that his home has been vandalized by a 12 year old. He chases the boy to the neighboring ranch where he meets the kids mother, Natalie. Natalie is a divorced mother of two who is living with her odd family because her rich, creep of an ex-husband has not paid child support. Since she can't pay Zeke for the damages, she agrees to let her son work at Zeke's house to repay him. In the process, Zeke gets to know Natalie and her children, and despite the fact that he has never had any desire to get married and have kids, he finds himself falling in love with all of them. Things get complicated when Natalie's ex-husband is murdered and she is the main suspect.

Bright Eyes is a little different in tone than the other two of Anderson's books I've read. It's not quite a poignant, but it's still an interesting romance. I enjoyed seeing Zeke's perceptions and desires shift. His relationship with Natalie's son was wonderfully done. I liked how that was the initial focus of the connection between Natalie and Zeke.

One of the things I liked most about the book was the more traditional romance of it. Natalie and Zeke meet, are attracted to one another, engage in a relationship, fall in love, and decide to get married. So many romances in books are chock full of angst, denying feelings, breaking up, getting back together, etc. It's nice once in a while to read a book where there is a more natural flow to two people getting together and staying together. So I really enjoyed that aspect.

Another great part of the book was that there were some truly hilarious scenes. I couldn't stop laughing at a couple of them. It's always great when some humor is surprisingly slipped into a book.

All in all, a good read. It's maybe not a serious and dramatic as Anderson's other books, but I liked it.

Rating: 4 / 5

I really like the Coulter family stories. It is refreshing to read books about people who overcome real life handicaps.

I have to start out by saying that I could not put this book down. From start to finish, I enjoyed every page of this book. This was my first Catherine Anderson book and it WONT be my last. I want to read about all the siblings now!
Natalie Patterson is a devoted mother to two children that you grow to love. Chad, a child suffering from divorced parents acting out and growing up far to fast. Rosie, a little girl that you love from the start. (Although I think that Rosie's character was far fetched for her age.) Natalie has divorced her husband and the father of her children after 11 years of marriage and she lives at her family home with her gramps, father, and sister. (They are included in this quite story quite a bit and you have too love them also.) She owns a club where she loves to sing her songs. Zeke Coulter lives next door and falls in love with Natalie almost instantly when Chad destroys some of his property. He hires Chad and Natalie and little Rosie to work off the debt by fixing all the work themselves. Then, Natalie's ex-husband is murdered and she is the main suspect right up to the end of the book.
This book was very WELL written and instead of foccusing on the two main charcters, you got to read about their families and actual surroundings. Also, the family pet is even included in this book a lot. She is a goose that will make you laugh so hard you'll cry. I wouldn't say that this is a hot steamy romance book, more like a knight in shining armor book that is family oriented. If you like heated emotional scenes between the two main characters than this book is not for you, but if you like simple, love inspired books then read this one.

This was my first Catherine Anderson book & I absolutely loved it! When I read the back cover to see what the book was about, it didn't seem so interesting, but once I started reading, I could not put the book down.

Catherine Anderson has a way of making her leading man seem like the perfect man. Instantly, I fell in love with the characters & was rooting for Zeke & Natalie to get together. This book has good romance & an interesting mystery as well.

I can't wait to read my next Catherine Anderson book.