Review: Highly enjoyable
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 21, 2013
She thought he was too young for her, too hunky, and totally out of her league. He thought she was a bit plain, too uptight, and a self-conscious prude. So why are they so very aware of one another?When Sage Tanner posed for the cover of her book, romance novelist Sarah Carter, a.k.a. Mims Murphy, stormed away from that first encounter thinking the male model was a complete ass.When a touch of writer's block stalled the cowboy romance she was working on, Sarah booked a six week stay at a dude ranch so that she could experience and research the details her manuscript was lacking. Her arrival date at the ranch was fraught with mishaps: her rental car broke down; she badly sprained her ankle; and the cowboy that came to aide her was the detested Sage Tanner. How did she not know Sage owned Lazy M Ranch and how the heck was she going to get the hell out of Dodge and away from Sage?Sarah Carter was about the prickliest woman Sage had ever met. She immediately made it plain that she wanted to leave and wanted nothing to do with him. As a famous model who always had women throwing themselves at him, Sage was mighty intrigued by the full-figured woman who looked nothing like the females he usually came into contact with. Yet, what Sarah didn't realize was that Sage was just a rancher at heart and had only gone into modeling so that he wouldn't lose the family ranch. He was really looking ahead to the day when he could give up modeling and just spend time ranching and raising his teenage daughter Julie.But with doctor's orders to keep Sarah off her ankle, Sage finds his close proximity to Sarah is causing irresistible cravings for something he can't have, unless he can find a way to convince Sarah to stay for the original six-week stay.Welcoming readers to the Romance on the Ranch series, Verna Clay's enjoyable writing style and believable characters beckon you into the lives of those living in and around the close-knit town of Paxtonville, Colorado.Hero Sage and heroine Sarah both have dealt with past personal losses and both are reticent about their backgrounds because of the dual lives each of them leads. Sage values his privacy and doesn't want fans obsessed with the model to infringe on his peaceful existence at Lazy M Ranch, so he operates the ranch using his middle name. Sarah hasn't been in a relationship since she ended things with her cheating spouse more than a decade earlier. She began writing about romance after her marriage collapsed, but with a broken and loveless marriage behind her, what does Sarah's alter ego Mims Murphy really know about love between a man and a woman? With two such guarded outlooks, it makes it hard to believe in love, but it's harder still to fight attraction.Verna Clay deftly weaves another wonderful romance that entwines the lives of another unlikely couple who are simply meant to be together despite their differences and a few well-timed obstacles. You'll want to find a comfortable spot to cozy up with this highly enjoyable book, as DREAM KISSES is sure to leave you emitting an appreciative sigh when you're done.(Contains several yummy and almost sweet sexual encounters.)Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com