Abby Craden, she of divine voice and towering talent, could
read a grocery list and have us not only riveted but also believing that it is
something special. And Bella Books (the publisher) seems to be especially fond
of this book seeing that the ebook was first published in 2011, the paperback
in 2013 and then this audiobook in 2020. But in Ms. Craden’s voice and with her
performance, the book is still good.
Carson Cartwright was thrown out of her home by her father
twelve years back. Since then she’s not had any contact with either her father
or her four brothers. So when she gets a call from her twin brother, Chase, she
is shocked. After being thrown out by her father, Carson found home with her
grandmom, from whom Carson later inherited some undisclosed but seemingly
massive amount of money – enough to not do anything in her life, travel to
Europe on whim and own a place in Manhattan. Chase informs Carson that their
father is dying and she should maybe come back for closure. Carson surprises
herself by actually going home.
Carson walks into the house during a meeting that her
brothers are having with a consultant, Kerry Elder, trying to find a way
to make their family business, their ranch, a profitable venture. The ranch has
been losing money and Kerry suggests that they should make it a ‘dude ranch’
i.e. redesign parts of it and open it up for guests. Kerry’s pitch to the Cartwrights
is her first one as a solo player. She’d done this job for years for a company
and has now decided to start her own business. So getting this project is super
important for Kerry. She’s been brought in by Colt, so he is on-board. Then
there is Chance, who seems against the idea. That leave Cody and Chase. Chase
seems rather uninvolved, so Kerry decides to indulge in a little flirtation
with Cody to ensure that she gets the project.
When Carson arrives, the brothers greet her rather coldly
with Cody going as far as believing that she’d only there for her piece of inheritance
despite knowing that she never had any share in the ranch.
While the family dynamic plays out, another dynamic between
Carson and Kerry starts.
Like with most books written by authors who cut their lesfic writing teeth on Xena fanfic, this one is also toaster-oven. Kerry identifies
as straight till she discovers, explores, embraces and locks into her real gay
self when she meets Carson. One big, big plus is that the conflict and drama in
the book doesn’t happen within the Kerry-Carson relationship but comes from Cody
and from Carson’s father. We really like it when conflict is not forced into the
romantic relationship. We also appreciated the fact that Hill doesn’t transform
the fraught relationship between Carson and her father magically. Instead, she
keeps it very realistic.
Craden does a remarkable job with the multiple characters,
many of whom are male. She is especially phenomenal in the steamy scenes.
This is certainly an excellent romance.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
