Review: Feel-good romance!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2013
Roxanne Snopek has crafted a wonderfully laid back contemporary romance featuring two likeable protagonists who are dealing with baggage from the past and even more uncertain futures.When pregnant Aurora McAllister's fiancé decided to turn his back on marriage, fatherhood, and fidelity, the sympathetic looks she received about town drove Rory away from her job as a speech therapist, the home she'd shared with her cheating fiancé, and the life she'd established in Billings, Montana. Being seven months into her pregnancy, she knew leaving her old life behind and giving birth to a child among strangers was risky, but rent on the lodge at Three River Ranch came cheap, and it was near the birthing center she'd selected to deliver her baby. Finding the sight unseen lodge was dirty and rundown, and being confronted by an irritated cowboy, didn't deter Rory. After all, returning to her old life in Billings was completely out of the question.Carson Granger left Three River Ranch and his cold, manipulative father behind as soon as he finished his undergraduate degree. His calling in life was to find the means to establish a horse sanctuary and non-profit research facility for the wild Mustangs he'd been studying, not to raise cattle as his Granger ancestors had done. Unfortunately, his wily father's will left nothing to Carson or his brother Mitch unless they married and produced heirs to keep the cattle ranch going. But nothing prevented Carson from utilizing Three River Ranch lands to keep his wild horses safe until he could get a research grant to fund his sanctuary. That is, until he realized there was an unforeseen complication: a rather pretty pregnant woman who had signed a contract giving her rights to live on the ranch property.Living under the same roof, Carson and Rory get to know and understand one another, but it doesn't solve their individual dilemmas, which includes the attraction they're fighting for each other. Rory knows her time at Three River is temporary and that she'll have to move on, because the last thing Carson needs is to continue housing a woman that's about to give birth and is complicating his future plans for the Mustang sanctuary.As for Carson, he knows he wouldn't need to apply for grants if he'd just bow to the terms of his father's will and marry and, while Rory is really starting to get under his skin, he isn't interested in marrying and paying off a woman just so he can get access to the money tied up in his late father's estate. But neither Carson nor Rory are prepared when love comes creeping in.The plot flows smoothly and interesting secondary characters provide just the right amount of sage advice and subtle humor to brand THREE RIVER RANCH a feel-good romance with a happy ending. I had not previously read this author's work, but I found I enjoyed witnessing Carson and Rory learn to rely on one another, build trust, and then fall unexpectedly in love.I've already put Ms. Snopek on my list of cowboy romance authors to watch. Sexual content: Beyond sweet but not overly graphic in detail.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com