Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch: A Novel

Maisey Yates wrote intense, emotional, amazing, fake dating best friends to lovers, marriage of convenience story in Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch, book thirteen in her Gold Valley series. Jake Daniels is a retired bull rider who left the rodeo after his best friend got hurt from a bull. He purchased a ranch and he's moved near his family. That's all he needs and trusts, though he is dreading the holiday season. Then his best friend shows up with a proposal that he is surprised to find himself considering. Callie Carson’s dream is to break into the male world of saddle bronc riding. She’s good at what she loves, but because of one slip, one mistake, one broken bone, she’s been sidelined by her father because of his place of authority in the rodeo world, and because of her mentor’s leaving her behind. She’s not about to give up that dream and has come up with a way to show them all that she has what it takes to succeed, it just involves a bit of help from Jake; a pretend marriage with her best friend in order to access her inheritance to fund this dream of hers. Jake agrees to help her achieve her goals, as he had with many things in the past. She never intended for the marriage to be real for that was a road straight to losing her best friend, but emotions don’t always fall into line as we want them to. Soon the best friends realize there is a difference going from being friends to being husband and wife. As the dynamic of their relationship change, each must decide if their marriage is worth holding onto. Callie and Jake’s story touches on so many emotions, hope, joy, despair, anger, and understanding. This is a friendship that can turn into something more, especially given the right circumstances, or rather recognizing what was always there, but simply unsaid; the ways that we trick ourselves into sets of rules that really don’t matter in the long run. Many familiar faces from previous Gold Valley stories about the Daniels family appear during this wonderful holiday story. Also, enjoy watching a couple as they struggle through emotions, doubts, and right into each other arms; finding their forever kind of love. I totally enjoyed Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch and highly recommend it to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Emotionally-charged friends-to-lovers! Callie needs a favor and her best friend, Jake, is the only one she can count on. Jake sure wasn't counting on Cal needing a husband, especially when he's been doing so well at considering her one of the guys, at least until she was injured and his panic caused him to realize things about himself he just couldn't accept. What starts as a simple marriage of convenience between friends quickly explodes in passion. Each one of these stories about the orphaned Daniels family breaks my heart all over again, and this one is no exception. There's a lot of wisdom along the journey as both Jake and Callie face their demons and realize just what their friendship has been all about, all along. I really enjoyed getting to see Jake's family again and visit with the couples we've read about before. I also loved the dynamics of Callie's family and hope that the author will revisit Evergreen Ranch again in future books. If you've read any of the earlier books, from West and Pansy to Iris and Griffin, then you absolutely don't want to miss this one. The heartwarming HEA was a joy to read, and the one-year-later epilogue was the icing on the cake. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

lovely vook.