Man, I’ve missed the folks at the Morgan Ranch. It was so good to touch base with them all while reading this book. Although this story isn’t about any of the Morgans, Rio is staying at the ranch and good friends with the guys. As for Yvonne, she’s the local baker and friends with all the ladies…if you’ve read the other books (and you should!) you’ve met her before.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way Rio and Yvonne met. Sometimes chemistry just can’t be denied. Even when your friends are trying to set you up with someone totally different and you aren’t even sure you’re interested in any sort of relationship. There was instant attraction between these two. It was fun to watch them try to deny the pull for the first week or so that they knew each other.

Rio is really such a sweet man. He cares so very deeply for his mom and his half-sister; his mom is even the reason he isn’t so keen on getting into any type of long-term relationship. Seeing his parents fight and the awful things they did to each other makes him distrust passion and think those types of feelings toward someone can’t be sustained without the passion turning sour. But he can’t help his soft side coming out around Yvonne. In fact, he can’t help his alpha-male side coming out either and that’s something new for him. To his credit, he understands that Yvonne is not the type of woman who wants a man to “take care” of her and his alpha feelings are best kept on a short leash.

Yvonne is also bitter on love since she fell quickly and passionately in love with a man and married him when she was a little younger. That man ended up leaving when he realized she wasn’t as malleable as he thought, and he definitely didn’t keep his alpha feelings on any sort of leash. It’s hard for Yvonne to see that not all men are going to be intimidated by her strong personality. She finds it easier to go without love, or any relationship really, so she doesn’t have to go through heartbreak ever again.

Some of the things that happen with Rio’s father are a bit predictable, I just wasn’t sure how they’d play out. I was more than willing to go along for the ride to see where the author was taking the story. The same with Yvonne and her ex. What I found odd is the things that were destined to play out between Rio and his father and Yvonne and her ex that I thought would make a lot of noise were actually a bit anticlimactic, and the things I didn’t think would be a big deal ended up causing some issues.

I don’t know how to explain this without spoilers, but I’ll try. Rio and Yvonne were adamant about being just friends since neither of them were looking for a relationship and Rio would be leaving the area. There were quite a few times they had little spats and would later apologize to each other because that’s what friends do. But the last time Yvonne got upset with Rio I felt was one too many. I don’t know what it was, but my personal tolerance for that line of the story was done. Maybe because there is a super sweet and romantic scene shortly before that (when Yvonne falls asleep in Rio’s bed in a most innocent way – probably my favorite scene in the book) and I was done with them not being totally open with each other.

Regardless, I really loved this story. It had humor and heart and steam and love and friendship. All the things I love to read about.

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

https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2018/07/27/the-billionaire-bull-rider-book-review/