Three Stars

Maisey Yates is one of my favorite new-to-me authors of 2018. Her books always have heart, family, surprising depth, and cowboys. What more could I want? For the most part, I enjoyed this book, but it didn’t quite grab me like her previous books have.

Widows and widowers who were in previous happy relationships are always hard for me to read about, mostly because it’s sad right from the beginning. The fact that Grant, our hero, selflessly loved his wife for eight years until she tragically died of cancer makes my heart hurt. Add on to that McKenna’s awful life circumstances (homeless, raised in the system) I was feeling pretty wretched for both of them and anxious for their happily ever after.

The pros: McKenna was a prickly heroine, and I liked that about her. Her walls were all completely valid with a childhood like the one she had. I thought her willingness to put aside her pride was admirable. She was in all ways a survivor, and I felt her character development was perfection.

I love the cast of characters Maisey Yates has built in this series. The secondary characters added a lot to the plot without taking away from the central couple, and I am invested enough in the few remaining singles to be super excited for their books.

The cons: While Grant should have been everything I love in a hero, (hot, grumpy, cowboy) I wasn’t really in love with him. I understood why he was depressed and sad, but mostly I thought he was kind of mean. I don’t think it helped my perception of him that we had long internal monologues. His head was not a fun place to be.

I also felt that the chemistry was a bit off. We were told that McKenna and Grant were attracted to each other, which quickly turned into emotional attachment, but I didn’t understand what they saw in each other.

Overall, I enjoyed this next step in the Gold Valley series, and I am still excited about moving forward with this fun group. I can’t wait for the next book!

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

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