Series: Chestnut Creek, #3
Traits & Tropes: hate to love; slow burn
Genre/Setting: Contemporary; Unforgiven, New Mexico, USA
Publication Date: 07/28/20
Heat Rating: 2/5 (fade to black)
Rating: 3.5/5
Lorelei West had contented herself with her work and caring for her aging mother, giving up on her dreams of a family of her own. But when her sister dies in a tragic car accident, Lorelei learns she has a niece, Sawyer, and is instantly a protective mother to the baby girl. She's not about to let some wealthy hotshot cowboy take her away, even if she is his niece too.
Reese St. James was devastated to learn of his twin brother's death, even if they weren't all that close. He's just as shocked to learn he has a six month old niece. He immediately travels to Unforgiven, New Mexico, with the intention of bringing the baby home to his Texas ranch. He doesn't expect a fight from her guardian, but when he meets independent and fierce Lorelei West, he realizes he's in for much more than he prepared for.
Lorelei is willing to let Reese spend time with Sawyer, but that's all. However, that means Reese and Lorelei must spend time together as well and the more they come to know each other, the more obvious the attraction between them becomes. They've had no problems loving the baby, but opening up to each other is a different story.
This book is very far out of the realm of what I typically read, so I was looking forward to a refreshing bit of something different. This was an enjoyable read that pulled me in after a bit of a rocky start, but it did lose steam toward the middle. It picked back up at the end and I was pleased with the ending, but I would've enjoyed it much more if the heroine had been more likable. Lorelai was presented as fiercely independent and strong, about to do everything on her own, eschewing help of any kind, which just came off as prideful arrogance much of the time for me. With her general distrust/borderline hatred of men, I expected a more checkered dating history, but somehow all her issues and bitterness stemmed from an experience that happened when she was just out of high school. Yes, it was terrible and the guy was scum, but I expected more maturity from a 37 year old. Instead, Lorelei wound up sounding like any whiny teenager much of the time. Reese was charming and well-meaning, if clueless, but even that was rather adorable. Thankfully, Lorelei did eventually recognize her prideful, bitter behavior and its consequences in the end, but she didn't quite do enough to make me satisfied in her making it up to Reese and he seemed to give up a lot more of himself to be with her. I think he was painted as the bad guy a bit too much by all her overreactions and jumps to wrong conclusions, even if he didn't exactly help himself out either.
This is a bit of a sidenote, but I was also jarred by the way intimacy was handled here. There was this great, if rather drawn out, slow burn between Reese and Lorelei, with a damaged hero and a huge opportunity for a really tender and memorable scene, but just as things were getting started, the author seemed to get cold feet and backed out to have everything fade to black. For me, this just didn't really jive with the build-up of the rest of the book and was a glaring missed opportunity.
Despite my issues, I did enjoy this book overall as a nice change up from my norm and I will read more of this genre in future.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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