What is this book about?
Rowen Sterling is a girl is a girl that has spent the last five years numbing her pain with boys and alcohol. When she is sent to Willow Springs Ranch in Montana for the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom, who neglected Rowen for most of her teenage years, agrees to pay for Rowen to attend her dream art school, ONLY if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.
Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.
While at Willow Springs Ranch, Rowen learns the true meaning of love and family, as she builds loving relationships with the whole Walker family. However, when her secrets are exposed to the whole Walker family, Rowen worries whether the relationship that she has forged will be strong enough to withstand the fall out this causes in her own family.
What did I like about this book?
From the day that Rowen arrived at the ranch, Jesse showed an interest in Rowen. Most romance books go back and forth with the build up of the initial attraction and will make you read half the book before anything romantic will start, however in this book, the flirting starts straight away. Albeit, Rowen and Jesse do not start a relationship straight away as Rowen is apprehensive about starting anything romantic with Jesse.
While at the ranch, Rowen unwittingly goes on a journey of self discovery, as she learns that she is not the rebel child that she has always been seen in the past. She works hard at the ranch, cooking and cleaning for all the ranch hands, which in it's self is a full time occupation, at the same time she learns that when you are surrounded by love and family, albeit not her own, working hard is not so much of a chore.
Through her relationship with Jesse, she learns that love and life are not determined by how you dress or look, but who you are. Before Jesse, Rowen didn't believe in happy-ever-after, however she learns that the heart wants what the heart wants, and no matter what you try to do to prevent it, the heart will always win!
Nicole Williams recently announced on her blog that the sequel Near & Far will be released on 30 July! I am so excited and already counting down the days!
I loved Jesse in book 1, and know that my lust for him will only increase in the sequel. Nicole Williams, truly is a magnificent author and has a way of writing that makes you feel like you are connected to the story and the characters.
