Review: Incredibly well written
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2013
Reviewed by Laurie Pfor TheRomanceReviews.comCROOKED TREE RANCH is an engaging start to a new series from RJ Scott, and like all of her stories, it's warm, wonderful and has a touch of sass. And as always, it is incredibly well written. This has complex characters with the city Jay versus the country Nate dynamic working here.Jay, out and proud, is all about his family. His family consists of his sister Ashley and her two children, Kirsten and Josh. He takes care of all of them, protecting Ashley and Josh from an abusive ex. These characters take you through a variety of emotions, from the teenage angst of Kirsten to the carefree happiness of Josh. There is the hopelessness and fear from Ashley, battered by her ex. When Jay is fired from his marketing job in the city, he decides they all need a fresh start. That leads to him agreeing to work at Crooked Tree dude ranch.The Crooked Tree Ranch is owned by three families. This story deals with the Todd brothers, Nate, Gabe and Luke. Nate, the head of the family, feels the failure of the ranch may be his fault, because he's not a businessman. Gabe wants to do more to help out but isn't great with horses. And Luke is willing to forgo art school to take business courses to help out. I loved the way RJ Scott created sexual tension between Nate and Jay, and Jay's teasing of the serious Nate.The secondary characters add so much to this story, stubborn Marcus as the second of the owner of Crooked Tree; rude Henry, the ornery hired hand and motherly Sophia; Sam the chef, gay and looking for a cowboy of his own. A couple of these characters I wanted to reach into the book and slap silly, that is how well they are written.This is book one in a series, but it stands alone as a complete story on its own. I am looking forward to both of the next books, which I hope deals with the other two families that own Crooked Tree, and that the mystery exposed in this story gets resolved.