If you’ve been following my book reviews for any length of time, you know I’m a huge fan of Maisey Yates. I was ecstatic when I was offered an ARC of this book, along with a chance to participate in a blog tour. This story is deeply emotional and it even made me cry. (I swear, she always makes me cry.) But I’ll have to be honest and say it’s one of my least favorite books by this author to date. A key element was missing, and that is laughter. While this author always makes me cry, she also always makes me laugh. At least up until now.

Trust me, I know not everything has to have humor. This story is actually very important and poignant. We met this family in the last book, The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch, and I knew these characters would have a lot to say, and it wouldn’t all be comfortable. I was looking forward to the story of Sammy and Ryder. I can’t even say I was disappointed in their story, because I’m not. In fact, I know there are a lot of readers who are going to find this to be a 5 star story. I just couldn’t connect fully with the story or the characters.

When Ryder and Sammy are together and actually talking to one another, not in their own heads, I was all in. They gave me butterflies and heartache and joy. I love their connection and their history. These two know each other so much better than most couples who have been married for 50 years. They’ve been through a lot and have always stood with each other, good times and bad. To me, they spent way too much time in their thinking. Looking back, I realize there is a shockingly small amount of dialogue in this book. Not just between Sammy and Ryder, but overall. They’ve always played confidant for each other. And when they couldn’t talk to one another, Ryder’s siblings are always there for them both. But due to their situation, neither are comfortable talking to the family about their relationship. This leaves a gaping hole in the story because it leaves them to talk to themselves, over and over and over. Rehashing the same issues because they aren’t getting any feedback. In fact, one of my favorite parts of this story is a conversation between Ryder and West. That really cemented it for me that I was missing the interactions and dialogue between characters.

Look, I appreciate what the author is doing with this story and these characters. It just didn’t work for me. It’s still a wonderful tale and there’s no doubt in my mind these characters are meant to be together. I look forward to seeing them play a part in the future books that will follow the Daniels family in Gold Valley. I think, now that they’ve found their HEA, they will be free to be more themselves in the coming stories instead of holding all of their feelings inside.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

You can find an excerpt from this book at All In Good Time.

Merged review:

If you’ve been following my book reviews for any length of time, you know I’m a huge fan of Maisey Yates. I was ecstatic when I was offered an ARC of this book, along with a chance to participate in a blog tour. This story is deeply emotional and it even made me cry. (I swear, she always makes me cry.) But I’ll have to be honest and say it’s one of my least favorite books by this author to date. A key element was missing, and that is laughter. While this author always makes me cry, she also always makes me laugh. At least up until now.

Trust me, I know not everything has to have humor. This story is actually very important and poignant. We met this family in the last book, The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch, and I knew these characters would have a lot to say, and it wouldn’t all be comfortable. I was looking forward to the story of Sammy and Ryder. I can’t even say I was disappointed in their story, because I’m not. In fact, I know there are a lot of readers who are going to find this to be a 5 star story. I just couldn’t connect fully with the story or the characters.

When Ryder and Sammy are together and actually talking to one another, not in their own heads, I was all in. They gave me butterflies and heartache and joy. I love their connection and their history. These two know each other so much better than most couples who have been married for 50 years. They’ve been through a lot and have always stood with each other, good times and bad. To me, they spent way too much time in their thinking. Looking back, I realize there is a shockingly small amount of dialogue in this book. Not just between Sammy and Ryder, but overall. They’ve always played confidant for each other. And when they couldn’t talk to one another, Ryder’s siblings are always there for them both. But due to their situation, neither are comfortable talking to the family about their relationship. This leaves a gaping hole in the story because it leaves them to talk to themselves, over and over and over. Rehashing the same issues because they aren’t getting any feedback. In fact, one of my favorite parts of this story is a conversation between Ryder and West. That really cemented it for me that I was missing the interactions and dialogue between characters.

Look, I appreciate what the author is doing with this story and these characters. It just didn’t work for me. It’s still a wonderful tale and there’s no doubt in my mind these characters are meant to be together. I look forward to seeing them play a part in the future books that will follow the Daniels family in Gold Valley. I think, now that they’ve found their HEA, they will be free to be more themselves in the coming stories instead of holding all of their feelings inside.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

You can find an excerpt from this book at All In Good Time.