Review: Delightful read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 29, 2013
Years ago, she wasn't what he needed so she set him free, but she never got over him. And, though he stayed away, he never forgot her.When Mitch Granger left Montana and Three River Ranch, he never had any intention of returning. He was the screw up, the dyslexic who barely graduated high school, the one who would never measure up to his father's expectations. He'd made his way to Seattle and, with hard work and single-minded determination, he'd moved from unskilled construction jobs into the realm of real estate. He'd built wealth and was on the verge of being a big name beyond the reaches of Seattle. Della Fontaine could get him there; make him the next big thing.But the prospect of being a household name in the realms of the ultra-rich apparently came with a string attached, and that string was putting a ring on Della's stepdaughter's finger, no matter that both he and Paris, the lady in question, were appalled by the idea. So, to keep his dream alive, Mitch scrambled for a convincing lie. He was already engaged. They'd kept it quiet. The lucky lady's name was Sabrina Becker and she lived in his hometown of Lutherton, Montana. Della accepted the lie, but she still had a task for him regarding the ideas for her next project.When midwife Sabrina Becker's high-school sweetheart Mitch Granger called begging her to pose as his fake fiancé while he brought a client to town to show her the ranching operations for a proposed high-end dude ranch real estate venture, Sabrina got angry and hung up. But she took the second call from him. He promised if she'd do him this favor, he'd add a wing to the birthing center she owned. But, she'd not only let him do that, she'd break his heart the way he broke hers when he left town. They had unfinished business and she was sure she could still entice him with her feminine wiles while keeping her heart secured at a distance.What neither she nor Mitch counted on was the heartfelt connection that never died, or the way they'd once felt completely whole together when they were wrapped in each other's arms. Fate was giving them a second chance. But can the need for vengeance ever die when Sabrina knows upfront that Mitch's future plans don't include staying in Montana?Unlike the couples featured in books Three River Ranch and His Reluctant Rancher, Mitch and Sabrina share a past, but Mitch failed a small test question Sabrina put to him when he was eighteen. She wouldn't allow herself to hold him back knowing he'd never be happy in Lutherton tied down to a teenage bride, with neither of them having any prospects for a better life. But Sabrina never expected the love of her life to cut all ties to her and completely disappear from her life, and she couldn't seem to forgive Mitch for that. Never given the chance to reveal all her heart's secrets, Sabrina's got some confessions to make, and all fake fiancé playacting aside, Mitch is going to know just how much courage it took to let him go all those years ago.As for Mitch, revisiting Lutherton means revisiting his feelings of being unworthy, of not being good enough, but some people always believed in him and they were only let down when he left town and didn't return. Can he reconcile the man he thinks he is now with the failure of the boy he always thought he was? And, as for all this playacting, it's driving him insane with want for the girl he left behind. But he didn't belong here before, and he's not really sure time and maturity has changed anything.With her knack for good storytelling and the ability to create appealing couples with compelling stories, Roxanne Snopek adds another gem to the Three River Ranch series. Mitch and Sabrina both must do some soul searching to set aside old baggage they still carry, and despite the warm embrace he receives from those who still care, Mitch must accept the past, but learn that he can no longer let it dictate his future happiness. Fans of the talented Ms. Snopek, and I include myself among them, will be as delighted as I was to read Mitch's story, and I hope to see this author add more books to this wonderful series featuring the ranching families in the Three River area of Lutherton, Montana.Features mild sexual scenes.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com