Reviewing Waltzing the Cat for The New York Times Book Review, Karen Karbo notes the stories' affinity with Houston's previous collection, Cowboys Are My Weakness. Karbo gives the collection a lukewarm appraisal, arguing that it is a "little shaky." Karbo writes:

Half the stories are gems; another quarter seem as if they could use one more spin through the word processor . . . and a few are as slack as one of Houston's beloved rivers at the end of a dry summer.

Sybil Steinberg and Jonathan Bing, writing in Publishers Weekly, praise Houston's prose, claiming, "Houston describes Lucy's sporting adventures with cinematic detail, conveying both her technical prowess and the exhilaration of physical daring." These same reviewers, however, note that some "readers may become exasperated at the number of selfish, foolish, posturing men who wander into Lucy's path." Writing for Booklist, Donna Seaman describes Lucy O'Rourke as a...