Everything happened at once and in slow motion.
A crushing jolt shuddered through the truck. Her wheels skidded sideways. She smacked against the window when her pickup rolled down an embankment, as if punched by something large and lethal. Glass rained deadly sharp. The earth tumbled around her, her truck in spin cycle. When a massive tree loomed, the Chevy slammed into it then stilled.
Winded and stunned, she hung upside-down in her lap belt, blood, metallic and warm, on her tongue, a rushing sound whistling in her ears. Her heartbeat changed and grew slow and rolling in darkness. Something hurt, a long way away. Then nothing.
“Ma’am. Ma’am. Are you all right?” A man’s voice shouted, rousing her. She tried turning her head but pain held it in place. When she opened her mouth, silent panic flew out.
“Hold on. I’m getting you out of there.”
Acrid smoke pierced her consciousness. She closed her eyes against the billowing grit.
This wasn’t happening. It was a dream. No. A nightmare.
A tugging motion jerked her right and left, followed by a ripping sound. Large hands halted her sudden fall.
“Got you.”
Her rescuer cradled her against his chest, his breaths heaving beneath her ear. After carrying her some distance, he lowered her slowly to the ground. Grass scraped against her stinging cheeks and she opened her eyes.
“What?” she croaked, then swiped at the trickle leaking from her mouth. A man wearing a cowboy hat hunched over her, his features blurred.
“You’ve been in an accident. We have. Our trucks collided in the intersection.”
“My truck!” She bolted upright and clutched the swirling ground.
An arm snaked around her back and eased her down. “I called the dispatcher. The fire department’s on the way.”
A wail sounded in the distance and Claire wanted to shriek with it.
Her special day. Her anniversary. Ruined. No. Demolished by this…this…
She squinted upward and focused. A dark swirl of hair brushed across the tall man’s forehead; a light scar zigzagged down his square jaw. Recognition zapped through her.
It couldn’t be…
“Tanner?”
“Hello, Claire.” His mouth went up, just a fraction—the same ready-for-anything smile that had once undone her.
She closed her eyes, heart thudding. Ten years since she’d vowed never to see him again…and now here he stood, two for two in wrecking her life.
Ultimately, I liked both Claire and Tanner. Claire made it a bit tough at times–her past experiences have made her cautious, and she isn’t willing to give Tanner even a millimeter of a chance at first. She’s sure she knows what’s right–for her father, for the ranch, and for her son–and she doesn’t even want to entertain any other ideas. Especially if they come from the ex that chose the rodeo over her ten years before. I got where she was coming from, and though I didn’t always agree with her, I understood why she was thinking and doing the things she did. What drove me crazy, though, was how gosh darn long it took her to tell Tanner the truth–and the whole time, she knew it was wrong to have waited so long, which made it doubly frustrating.
Tanner was an awesome hero–confident, great with kids, supportive of Claire when she needed it most–though he too had his own issues to work through. His biggest one was needing to figure out who he could be if he wasn’t a big rodeo star anymore. In the beginning of the book, he couldn’t see himself living any other life and was practically counting the days until he could go back. He originally comes to the ranch to help himself, but ends up staying to help others…and finding more than he ever imagined was possible in the process.
Jonathan, their son, was all kinds of adorable. He and his grandfather (Claire’s dad) actually had my favorite quote from the book:
“I’m good at being annoying. It’s one of my superpowers” (Jonathan)
“Never works on me. Always like having you around. Guess that means I’m your kryptonite.” (Martin)
All kinds of adorbs right there!
So, yeah… I liked this one. Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to sit various characters down at times for a talkin’ to, but in the end it left me with warm, feel-good fuzzies and a smile on my face.
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
author. She holds a master’s degree in English and was an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin Heartwarming. Her novel, A LEAGUE OF HER OWN, won the 2015 National Excellence in Romance Fiction award in contemporary romance series and the 2015 Bookseller’s Best award for contemporary romance, long.
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