Wow, I'm really going to have to disagree with all the rave reviews for this one.

Horses: First problem and one that is a BIG problem for me is lack of research. This book takes place on a ranch in Montana. But the horse details are simply ludicrous. I tried to overlook them but they just kept getting more and more egregious. A few examples: a two week old horse, like a two week old human, only drinks milk. There is no way that an experienced horse person would offer a foal a piece of apple. I taught horseback riding lessons as my sole profession for over 10 years. I don't care if she is a "natural", she learned to ride way too quickly. Also there is no way that within 2 months a person could ride well enough and understand horse psychology well enough to train race horses. And let's talk about race horses. Horses don't race at one year old. They are still babies. They have not finished growing. At that age they will still need to put on as much as a foot in height and their bones are not finished growing and their joints are not set. They simply cannot bear a person's weight at that point. So Boots did not race as a one year old. And the reason that he ended up so neglected by 3 was a little unrealistic. If he'd been being used as a stud as a 2 year old, another unlikely scenario but moderately possible, and his bloodlines were so good? Then it is unlikely that he would have been left to starve. He would have been sold or at least left out in a pasture with grass to eat. They're in Montana for heavens sake. It's not like it's crowded there. And if they left him in a small paddock with no food, explain to me how that happened in ranching country. I could go on and on but I'll finish up with no concrete details about an adequate set up for racing and an unlikely training scenario with the whole Ken thing. Sigh...

So what else didn't cut it for me?

Sappy: I should have been warned when the hero kept obsessing about her tiny feet when he saw her picture. That was just the tip of the almost purple prosy writing style. Some people like this style but it just doesn't work for me.

Insta love: I like love at first site as well as the next girl but it was pretty extreme here. Although gotta say I like this line. I took one look at you and my heart fell out of my chest and landed at your damn tiny feet." I just would have liked him to have kept that to himself for more than a week.

Irrational bad guy: Ken was way out there but not in a good, well written way. His motivations were just wonky. He's jealous of his boss because he doesn't get to train the good horses? At any racing stable I've ever heard of there is a head trainer. All the other trainers, if there are more, work under him/her and follow his direction. So just the suggestion that he could choose or demand to train a specific horse is unrealistic. I think they would have unloaded him for that insubordination alone. And then he just kept coming on to her in front of both his bosses who had already warned him about it. Was he insane? And then to think that he could attack the boss' granddaughter and think he has any realistic way to blackmail her into not telling? She should have just gone straight to her grandfather or Blake. And why didn't Justin tell? It was unrealistic that he wouldn't. He blabbed everything else. So Ken was just a caricature of a bad guy with OTT mustache twirling evilness.

4th wall: And finally the author broke the fourth wall. "You'd think she would blah blah blah..." ( )

Got about 2? hours into listening to this but I didn't take to it enough to finish. It was not uplifting or diverting, especially the flashbacks to the violence from Gillian's past and despite her courage in trying to extricate herself. I've no doubt it got better, as the description suggests the basis of a good cowboy story. ( )

Loved this story! Starts out with full on excitement and gets better from there. Jennifer Ryan has definitely become one of my must read authors.

In this book Gillian Tucker finds herself in a ton of trouble. No home, no job, hurt, and the only way to keep her little brother out of foster care is to move to Montana to live with the Grandparents she has never met.

Blake Bowden is blown away by the strength and bravery of the young woman who shows up on Three Peaks Ranch. Since she is his co-owner's granddaughter she should be strictly off limits but the draw to her is undeniable.

If you love rugged overprotective cowboys and strong women, this book is for you! I highly recommend it. ( )

After reading the first book, At Wolf Ranch, I thought I would read the second book. It was alright. Even though I liked Blake way better than Gabe, I was not digging the storyline as much as the first book. I tried several times to get into this book but could not. I would start and stop again. Finally found myself jumping ahead to the middle for a bit and then the end just to see how the story went. Which I did get an good idea of the whole story even reading it this way. I gathered that Blake and Gillian shared good chemistry. It was because Gillian was off limits to Blake so the closer they got to each other the build up grew more intense. Understandably with all that Gillian went through in an abusive relationship I could see where she was coming from being so guarded but when Blake proved time and time again that he was not like other guys and could be trusted, I grew tried of Gillian keeping Blake at a distance. Plus, she was not as strong as Ella from the first book. ( )