The Rancher Meets His Match

Easy to read and informative. I haven't read any of the others in this series but this still does a good job of introducing the community to a newcomer. All their family drama, sibling rivalry and career misjustice are the driving force which, is all shockingly entertaining, I really love how neighborly they all are. Their history adds friction to their fight against their attraction, their "romance" seems secondary and challenging but Kaiden is a determined cowboy once he gets in gear. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Julia Garcia is a hot-shot San Francisco lawyer who has just been passed over for a promotion which has been given to an incompetent man, Blaine. Her father Juan has MS and has suddenly taken a turn for the worst so she has taken some annual leave to look after him, something Blaine bitterly resents. Kaiden Miller was friends with Julia's older brother Miguel at school, he has stayed at home in Morgantown, working on his Dad's ranch and as a carpenter, helping to repurpose some of the historical buildings for housing. When Juan's doctor asks Kaiden to stop over to see what alterations Juan needs to make his home more wheelchair-friendly Kaiden is happy to help, that's what people do in small towns, he doesn't bank on meeting Julia Garcia fancy-schmancy, stick-up-her-butt, lawyer Julia who has always looked down on him. For her part Julia has never forgiven the class clown Kaiden for ridiculing her and bad-mouthing her behind her back at school. Kaiden is the perpetual funny-man, the peacemaker, the one with the even temper who can coax his bad-tempered father out of a strop, but with Julia his equanimity deserts him and he takes delight in needling her. This started promisingly but I felt the reasons for the enmity between Julia and Kaiden didn't really have much justification and there was a lot of unexplained backstory with Julia's brother Miguel which didn't go anywhere. Overall there wasn't enough tension between Julia and Kaiden which was compensated by lots of family angst and manufactured drama. An easy read, with engaging characters but not enough character development for my taste. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Kaiden Miller has always felt like the odd man out in his family. Although his family runs a highly successful ranch, he’s always felt as though he didn’t belong. While he works on the ranch, Kaiden is also a highly skilled, successful carpenter. He’s currently renovating the old theatre in town to accommodate four apartments. Although he has more work than he can do, he accepts a job renovating Juan Garcia’s ranch house. Juan has MS and is now mostly confined to a wheelchair. So he lends a hand to the fellow rancher. What he doesn’t expect to find at the ranch is Julia—his long ago crush. Julia Garcia, a highly successful lawyer in the city, has returned home to help her ailing dad. Julia left for college and never looked back. She never wanted to be tied down to the ranch. But her brother is MIA, so Julia returns home to a ranch in desperate need of repairs. Julia only has a short period of time to oversee renovations and make arrangements for the future of the ranch—the one her dad has left to her MIA brother. Julia is shocked to discover that Kaiden is a talented, skilled carpenter. Julia always thought of Kaiden as a jokester, not serious about anything. What she didn’t know is that Kaiden had a HUGE crush on her in high school... I think Ben and Kaiden’s stories are my favorite in the series. Kaiden, not sure of his place in the family, was lost. During his childhood, he was the peacemaker. He knew how to handle his dad’s abusive behavior and took the brunt of the abuse in order to keep peace in the family. But Kaiden wasn’t sure ranching was what he wanted to dedicate his life to. Kaiden loved carpentry and adding special, meaningful touches to each piece of furniture he made. Then Julia comes along and stirs up even more childhood memories, longings. I loved that Julia was a strong woman who didn’t need saving. Great story, mixed with a little bit of suspense! I read a gifted copy and all opinions stated are my own.