Review: Ranches + Romance = Montanan Approved!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
When a car accident not only took his brother's life but left his father severely impaired physically, Zach Gamble was left to run the family ranch alone. With debt piling and the family struggling with grief he's done the best he can to hold it all together. Enter Desiree Burke, annoying friend of a friend. Des is on leave after a work incident has forced her to be suspended. Helping the Gamble family get their patriarch back on his feet seems like a win-win situation. But the magnetism between she and Zach complicates things as they both try to balance their need for professionalism with the possibilities they find in one another. Can a city girl and a rancher overcome their past hurts and give in to the emotions trying to bring them together?Man. Talk about a surprisingly deep offering from the category shelves. As much as I liked Rory and Carson I was sure I'd hate Zach and Des. To my complete shock I liked them even better. Her past in the foster system was unexpectedly good for the overall arc of the story. His grief was so real and his own struggle with being adopted made him the kind of guy you can't help but want to have that much needed heart-to-heart that will heal his hurt. Every secondary character is there at just the right time and in just the right way to make it a fleshy story in spite of the short format. It's not just a romance, it's one of those healing kinds that's ridiculously satisying when it ends.Any issues I had with the story are silly things I'm probably the only reader who'd balk at... like Des owning a pair of Christian Louboutin boots (on a physical therapist's salary, no less) and then being dumb enough to wear them out snowmobiling. There isn't a Montana native whether from the city or not that'd risk such a costly mistake. But little things like that work in category romance enough even I forced myself not to weep over the thought of doing that. *shudder*If you loved THREE RIVER RANCH you cannot pass on HIS RELUCTANT RANCHER (though you could definitely read it without having read the latter, you'd just spoil the events from that TRR if you wanted to go back to read it). It's one of those emotional roller coaster ride romances that will leave you on the edge of your seat for more than just whether Zach and Des can work it out. Loved it!Note: Review copy received via publisher.