I liked the way this book started with two teens making a pinky-swear promise to meet on the girl's 30th birthday and marry each other if they were both still single. That was so cute. But when Jake goes to the meeting spot and finds out Olivia is there on a date, he takes off. Shocked that Jake actually remembered their promise and showed up, Olivia runs after him and explains that her date was set up by her sisters without her knowledge. With that straightened out, they start spending time together picking up where they left off 12 years earlier as best friends.

Both of them have a lot of baggage and changed lots over the years. Olivia was an excellent rider and made the US Olympic Equestrian Team. Life was good until an accident took her confidence making her not want to ride again. She is also emotionally scarred thanks to her abusive ex-husband. Olivia went back home to her parents' ranch to basically hide from life. Jake had been a helicopter pilot in the military but a crash sent him to the hospital then home. He was definitely not the boy Olivia remembered. And he didn't want to be just friends and never had.

This is an enjoyable romance between two people who have had some very hard things to deal with in their lives. They help each other see that they are braver and stronger than they thought they were. It was sweet that they both wanted more than friendship but hesitated in letting the other know. I was routing for them to get together. As for the characters I liked all of them in this story. Well except a couple who I really didn't like at all.

I recommend A Cowboy to Remember if you enjoy sweet friends-to-lovers stories. ( )