3.5 stars

My thoughts are all over the place with this book. Both Evelyn and Sawyer and phenomenal characters. They show it in different ways, but they’re both caring, thoughtful, and honorable. Yet neither has had anyone to lean on for most of their lives. For Evelyn, it’s partly because she kept a lot to herself, but it’s also because she always felt the weight of expectations from others. For Sawyer, he had to grow up when he was far too young and took a lot of responsibility on himself. Always feeling as though he had to be the caregiver, he never stopped to wonder who was caring for him or to even ask for that care from his siblings, neighbors or friends.

Moving across the country and meeting Sawyer and his daughter really helps Evelyn work through a lot of her issues. While there is a lot that happened to her that is not her fault, she had to look at her reactions to those things and really take accountability. She was on her way to finding true happiness and just knew that Sawyer could find his happiness, too. But Sawyer is a tough nut to crack and he’s much more afraid to look within or to change the status quo. Meaning, this story has a lot of emotional turns for the characters and reader to go though.

There are times in this book I felt it got way too wordy. I found my mind wandering a bit when one of the characters would be in a pages long self-reflection. Of course, we need that self-reflection in order for them to grow as individuals and as a couple, but it was too much at times. I found myself skimming far too often.

That being said, there are some amazing conversations between Evelyn and Sawyer. He speaks his mind and what he believes is his truth without fancy sentiment. Amazingly enough, that alone makes the words he says hold so much more meaning. He’s a plain talker and would be the first to say he’s not a romantic, but his manner of saying what is what ends up being far more romantic than any poetic words.

This is the first full length book in this series. I’ve read and enjoyed the previous three novellas and I’m excited about the concept of this group of ranchers and how they interact. This book may not have been my favorite, but I still enjoyed the story and I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

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

You can find an excerpt of this book on my blog, All In Good Time.