Review: 4 out of 5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
This was a quick read and it’s good. The writing was crisp and the plot kept me riveted; the dialogue was fast, entertaining and made for quite a few laugh out loud moments. Although this is the 3rd story in Zanetti’s ‘Maverick Montana’ series, this story read really well as a stand-alone. And let’s face it, who doesn’t enjoy a good friends-to-lovers story?Working 3 jobs - including running her working ranch - and juggling her ever decreasing cash, Melanie Jacobs is concerned about managing it all. She has some personal matters to attend to and the associated cost is a lot of money which she has little of. Returning home to Billings, Montana after completing graduate school, Colton Freeze is back to run his family’s business. Once he’s back, Colt finds out about Mel’s employment activities (because she’s been very secretive) and is determined to find out why she’s working that hard. I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t been told by any of his family members that Mel was working all those jobs but I let that question go after a while and it didn’t affect my enjoyment. Once he finds out where the majority of the money is going, he offers help to Mel in his typical Type A - I’ve got to plan everything – way and all Mel can do is hang on for the ride.A little background - Melanie, Colton and Hawk have been best friends since they were children. They all grew up in the same town and have maintained their friendship over the years. Hawk isn’t part of this romance but I’m hoping that his story will be eventually told because he’s got a lot to tell. But I digress.Despite his wanting to make everyone around him happy, Colt didn’t come across as anything but a likeable guy. It’s hard to not like him because he so wants to make his family proud of everything that he does. He was raised in a loving household with parents, siblings and extended family; that might sound way too ideal but I’m kind of tired of reading about dysfunctional people and this family’s dynamics was a nice breath of fresh air. That being said, he’s not too good all the time either in fact, he’s got a little bit of the bad boy in him – from his MMA fighting background to his skills in the bedroom. There’s a scene when he’s chasing down a guy after an investment went south – whoosh, that made me sit up and take notice. Nice!Melanie is trying to handle her personal business without asking for help from either of her best friends. She’s got an independent streak a mile wide. I appreciated that she chose to work to get the cash and I was a little disappointed that that went away so early in the story. I wouldn’t have minded seeing her really struggling to balance her jobs and Colt. Like Colt she had a good heart and I really liked that even with the rough start she had in life she didn’t make excuses.As a romance novel, I tend to expect that the story will only center around the H/h because that’s the norm but not this story. There’s a plethora of other characters who clearly have opinions and whose voices actually made an influence on what Colt and Mel did. Colt’s parents are still the head of the household and their grown children still look to them for love and approval; they’re still very much respected and honored by their children and by extension Mel and Hawk. Speaking of Hawk, that’s delicious man meat right there. A little bit special ops and a little bit country – be still my thumping heart.Overall the plot worked really well. The chemistry between Colt and Mel was spicy and a tat bit naughty but that worked for this couple (and for me too). I will definitely continue to read this series and even more I’ll have to go back to read the first two too.Happy Reading Folks!Rating: B*ARC provided by Entangled PublishingReview posted at www.redhotbooks(dot)com