The Rancher Meets His Match

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.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it. This was a wonderful addition to the ranching family of the Millers who live in Morgan Valley. While this is a part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone BUT I would highly recommend reading the prior books. Not only to be able to understand the family dynamics, but they are wonderful stories as well. Kaiden Miller, is the third son in the family. Not only does he help work the ranch with his brothers but he is a carpenter as well. He is asked to help redesign a neighbor’s house whose patriarch, Juan Garcia, has MS and now has to rely on a wheelchair to really get around now. Julia Garcia comes home as it is her father that needs the help. Julia is an attorney who lives in the San Francisco area and hasn’t come home all that much. She and Kaiden have had an unusual history as Kaiden was friends with her brother Juan before their falling out. These two have a communication problem that they have to bridge. Kaiden is known to be the family jokester to help ease tension in the family and he won’t tell Julia how or why he and his brother had a falling out. The sparks between these two proud people really lead to frustration as they live in two different areas of California and neither can see how to get around that. This is a sexy read. I would recommend this to anyone over the age of 18. It was also written in my favorite dual POV format. This helped to fully understand the characters and to see their side of the frustration.

A great addition to the series! The Rancher Meets His Match is the fourth book in The Millers of Morgan Valley series but you can read it as a standalone. You might enjoy it more if you read the other books first but you don’t really have to. Kaiden Miller is the son who doesn’t always feel appreciated by his family. He looks like his father (an irascible man who shouts at everyone) but tries his best to be nothing like him in personality. Julia Garcia is a successful attorney; she moved away from Morgan Valley several years ago. She back now for a visit to help get renovations going on her father’s house to make it more wheelchair accessible. Kaiden and Julia have known each other since they were kids but Julia’s always thought that Kaiden didn’t like her. Kaiden always did his best to not show how much he liked is best friend’s sister. I really liked the vibe between Julia and Kaiden. They throw sparks off of each other – both sexual and angry ones – and just can’t seem to get their act together and decide whether to like or hate each other. The story really kept my attention and was a real page-turner for me. Both Kaiden and Julia have family issues that play into their actions and I love the interaction between all of the characters. I have really enjoyed this spin-off series from the Morgan Ranch one and hope it continues. After reading this book, I’m really curious about Julia’s brother, Miguel, and I hope we get a story for him at some point. A review copy was provided by the author and publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.