First, this book was fine. I have no massive complaints or warnings. It’s a perfectly fine book that took me 35% to get into, and then there was no strong emotional arc to keep me engaged. Second, this is my biggest quibble, the book acts like it takes place in a small town, but Yakima is not a small town. So, you have to ignore that Yakima is a real place and a city of more than 90,000 people, and embrace the small town-ness.
If you’re still here, you want my supporting arguments for my first point. My complaint is not that this is a sweet story about two people meeting and falling in love and finding a place with each other. My complaint is that there’s no real growth. You never get a chance to see the heroines develop into more than who they were when the book started. They aren’t really changed by knowing each other, which I apparently feel strongly about needing in my romances. Not that I require DRAMA, but that I want a sense that the book is more than two people who are compatible coexisting. I finished the book with a greater sense of what the ranch looked like than how their relationship worked.
And the thing is, it is a sweet book. Puppies and their mom are rescued. There’s very tame flirting while learning how to ride a horse. There are two people who become friends and later become lovers. Then, they have to figure out what they want and are willing to compromise on. Only it took me 35% for the story to advance enough for me to feel engaged, and even then, I never felt like I was in a comfy place. The book kept me at arm’s length, refusing to let me get closer. There was nothing propelling the very little story forward.
It was fine.
Content warning: a secondary character has a heart attack and survives
