Savoring Christmas
-- **Until December 24th, 10% of the proceeds from every book purchased (any Shanna Hatfield book including ebook, audio, paperback and hardback formats) will be donated to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. (Find more info here!) -- EXCERPT: Jay started putting away the supplies she’d brought and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Tell me more, Lark.” “More? About what? I told you all there is to know about the runaway steer.” Jay shook his head as he filled the napkin dispensers. “I don’t care about that. Tell me about this cowboy who caught your eye.” “He didn’t catch my eye,” she huffed. Her protest seemed a little rushed and forced even to her. When her brother chuckled, she knew he was aware of her interest in her cowboy-hat-wearing hero. “Fine,” she admitted. “He may have earned a second glance.” “Or fourth, from the way you were studying him.” Jay looked over his shoulder at her. “Admit it, you like him.” Lark shot a hair band at her brother. “I’m not admitting anything, bro. I just met him. I don’t know enough about him to like or dislike him.” “Keep telling yourself that,” Jay muttered.
Giveaway!
My thoughts:
In my opinion Shanna Hatfield is the reigning queen of clean romance with sweet, relatable characters and romantic, but realistic plotlines. Lark is strong, independent, and driven to do everything to make her small food truck business succeed. She's also sweet and generous with her time and her amazing food, cooked with all her heart. Troy Gibson is a quintessential cowboy-a man of few words, he loves his small family which counts his grandmother Wendy and his charmer of a cousin Truitt. Troy gave up his rodeo dreams to return to his home ranch when his grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and later passed away. Troy knows his family needs his help with the all the hard, backbreaking farm work. No wonder quiet and reserved Troy thinks he has absolutely no time for romantic relationships, even if by some luck he managed to find a girl who wouldn't think him lacklustre and boring. Lark and Troy seem to have been made for each other- they have very similar dispositions and values, but their honesty doesn't allow them get involved with each other as they believe they aren't at the point in their lives where they would be free to pursue a serious romantic relationship! One of the things that I love so much about Shanna's books is that the protagonists aren't flawless, but they are sincere and decent people. Actually, there only a few negative secondary characters- some are just self-absorbed or misguided, with the only truly despicable one getting his comeuppance in the end. Apart from the very realistic dilemma at the heart of the book, there's also a lot of realistic detail that makes this book so interesting starting from the team-roping, wheat planting, modelling and finishing with the use of a commercial kitchen. You can tell straightaway a lot of painstaking research has gone into this story. If you have been following the Rodeo Romance series, you'll be delighted to see the familiar faces and catch up with the protagonists of the previous books. If this is the first Shanna Hatfield book you've picked up, don't worry, it can be read as a standalone. Sweet, wholesome, and charming! Thank you to NetGalley and XBT for the review copy. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|