For the Price of Seven Good Cows by coldmackerel will get you Hooked on WayHaught in the Wild West.

Waverly Earp has had enough of living under her father’s thumb in a judgmental town in the 1850’s. She places an advertisement in a national telegram, offering herself for sale as a mail order bride. When a rancher by the last name of Haught answers, she jumps at the chance to get away.

A few things are immediately apparent. First, the rancher is actually not a man as she’d assumed. She’s Nicole Haught – which Waverly can certainly work with.

Second, and more problematic, Nicole definitely thought she was answering an ad to acquire seven cows, not a wife.

Third, and most pressing, is that Nicole is adamant that they are not going to get married. Not even after Waverly genuinely starts to fall for her.

Can Waverly get this adorable, chivalrous, and secretive rancher to open up to her about her past so that they can take on the future together?

Pros

The humor and wit in the writing is so good. There was not a single chapter that I didn’t find myself unwittingly smiling down at my phone. Waverly’s thoughts – of which there are many, as it is entirely in her point of view – are extremely entertaining and so is their banter.

The plot that unravels regarding Nicole’s background as an outlaw is very well done. It becomes more prominent in the second half of the fic and, coming from someone who typically doesn’t love side plots not focused on the main romance, it is a testament to how engaging the storyline is that I never once skipped over anything.

Heads Up

There is some violence as you could expect from a novel set in the Old West, though nothing overly gruesome.

Conclusion

The characters are so well done and subversive, it pulls you right in. Nicole is an ex-outlaw rancher, but is utterly sweet and gentle, whereas Waverly was ready to drop everything and move anywhere to be a mail-order bride. She can cook, she can clean, and she was ready to do this for whatever husband was going to have her. She is so incredibly feisty, snarky, and courageous that it is impossible not to see how well they complement each other and then root for them to be together.

Everything in this fic just works. The writer draws you into the happenings on the ranch and in this small town, and it’ll keep you hooked. If you don’t walk away from this fic with a warm glow-y feeling in your chest, I would be shocked.

Excerpt from For the Price of Seven Good Cows – Hooked on WayHaught in the Wild West

Waverly blinked at her. “You’re N. Haught?”

“Nicole, yes.”

Waverly felt an amused smile pull slowly at the corner of her lips. Her hip cocked a little less ladylike and she grinned. “And…you responded to my advertisement for a husband, did you, N. Haught ?”

Nicole’s wrist went limp and the chamber of her revolver clacked as it slung limply in her hand against her thigh. Delightfully, the woman’s face turned a remarkable shade of red, almost making her hair look dull in comparison. Waverly’s grin grew while Nicole’s eyes took a long turn around everything in their known universe that wasn’t the woman on her porch. She stuttered a bit, hand coming up to rub at the choppy length of her hair, cut haphazardly around her jaw like she’d done it herself. Judging by the scarcity of her neighbors, Waverly supposed she probably had. Finally, she found words.

“I – no. I was answering – I didn’t – that’s-”

Well, she had found some words.

“Is there another N. Haught here I should know about?” Waverly teased, fluttering her eyelashes just a bit because it was rather fun.

Nicole somehow found a way to blush harder. “That’s – I didn’t answer an ad – I didn’t order a wife ,” she spluttered.

“Is this your telegram?” Waverly asked, offering out the travel-worn slip she’d received the day she’d earned her freedom, along with a handsome cut of money.

Nicole snatched the crudely written letter and held it close to her face while she squinted against the grit from the pastures still rubbed into her eyes. “Well of course it is, but I was responding to an advertisement for healthy young cows!”

“No,” Waverly drawled, producing another piece of damning evidence seamlessly from her dress as though she knew she’d have to defend her right to marry a stranger who’d asked her to make the damned journey. “You responded to this ad,” Waverly said smugly, waving it a bit under her nose.

Nicole snatched the paper, read very slowly, then looked up with a look of horror. “The ads were…right next to each other,” she said faintly. “I can’t see too well,” she continued, almost in a stupor.

There was something undeniably attractive about besting a woman built like that . Waverly allowed Nicole the space to come to terms with the changes she’d unwittingly brought upon her household.

Because changes there would be.

Because as Waverly Earp took in the fine details on her cowhide vest, the gentle way she held Waverly’s letter between polite, clean hands, the fresh smell of her and the beauty of the land she lorded over, the open skies and planes  –

Yes , she thought.

Yes, that would do quite nicely.

 

Find the full story here 

 

[tweetthis]I just read Hooked on WayHaught in the Wild West – Fanfic Review[/tweetthis]

Bits And Bobs

Fandom: WayHaught (Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught from Wynonna Earp)

Length: 94,129 words

Author: coldmackerel

Rating: M

Photo credit Jeff Hitchcock 

Rating Guide:  G= General, T = Teen and up, M=Mature, E = explicit

Please note: We only review completed fiction. We do not own the rights to the photos used, this story nor do we control the website on which this story is hosted. Please let us know if any links are broken or if it was removed from the site.