Review by Rachel Hamm
Amy Sorentino has just
returned to the family farm after a humiliating appearance on a reality cooking
competition. She’s prepared for the small town gossip and her
dysfunctional family, but she’s not prepared for Kellan Reed. Kellan
is a real-life cowboy, a troubled youth turned self-made cattle rancher. And
Amy has a big weakness for cowboys.
Their immediate and
mutual lust for one another breaks Amy’s first personal rule: “Stay Away From
Cowboys.” Amy has a lot of rules for her life, all of which stem
from not wanting to follow the same paths as her parents. She’s
just not very good at following them.
Though both try to deny
wanting more, neither Amy nor Kellan are satisfied with a sexual-only
relationship. But, as they get to know each other, Kellan discovers
a conflict of interest in their business affairs. He wants to do the
honorable thing and step away, but between Amy’s curves and the emotional
trauma she’s facing dealing with family issues, he can’t stay away.
Cheese, cheese, extra
cheesy. But not in a bad way. This is one of those
don’t-take-yourself-so-seriously books that every girl should keep on her
nightstand or in her beach bag. Cutler paints a portrait of New
Mexico farm life that is sad at times, wicked at times, and almost always
HOT. The steamy scenes aren’t overdone (no ick factor here) , though
I would have liked the characters a little better if they could have held off
more than two hours after meeting each other. Call me a prude, I
guess!
Mechanically speaking,
Cutler has a great way with words. I love when an author is able to
effortlessly vary sentence structure and vocabulary in a way that does not
intrude on the reader. Her characters always seemed intelligent,
without sounding overly so. There’s nothing more annoying to me as a
reader than characters assuring me how smart they are. The dialogue
felt a bit stiff at times, but for the most part, flowed well and always moved
the story forward.
There were a few times,
especially toward the end, that I teared up. The family difficulties
heaped on Amy were heartbreaking, but it was touching sharing her struggles and
watching her hold tightly to her sisters to get through them. Any
woman with sisters will understand this. Women without sisters will
long for it. The best part of the sisters’ relationships, though,
was that they weren’t perfect. They fought. They kept
secrets from one another. They had different outlooks on life. But
in the end, they always found support for each other. A true
testament to family.
I’m a Southern
California native, born and raised. At eighteen, I moved a hundred miles
down the coast from Orange County to San Diego to attend college and knew
instantly that I’d found my heaven on earth. Meeting the love of my life
there was icing on the cake.
I love my life as a
writer, wife, and mom. With every unfolding day, the world seems more
wondrous, more crowded with possibilities. But while I still harbor
dreams of fronting a rock-and-roll cover band, traveling to every corner of the
world, and driving a race car, writing and reading romance novels are still my
greatest joys.
When I’m not chasing
after kids, trying to coax my nervous Siamese cat out from under the bed, or
experimenting with cocktail recipes, you can find me hunched over my computer,
dreaming up perfectly flawed characters and timeless romances…and those
all-important love scenes.
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