I love to read books and have not been taking the time to do so. With all of technology around me, I find they are a perfect way to unwind and just get lost.  Yep, old school in real, paper pages.  I was excited to get a copy of The Rancher to review. Dawn Nelson is local to me and I looked forward to reading a story that could possibly have reference to places I’ve been to.

As it is the third book in the series I expected to take a bit to get to know the main characters, but not so.  I was caught up with the basics of who they are within the first two short chapters and hooked by the third.  With a lot of work still on my to do list, this wasn’t a good thing lol  But taking time to relax is necessary and makes me more productive.

I love books with a strong female character and Laura Dawson is definitely that. Other’s wishes, goals and motherhood put her initial plans and dreams for her life on hold, but she didn’t let that stop her. Getting past a cheating husband and being a single parent to build a ranch she was proud of.

I’m also a sucker for cranky old men with a chip on their shoulders, which is exactly what the other lead characters dad is. lol I’ve known a lot of these kind of old men and they always end up being such softies, you just have to break them gently.  I loved watching that happen.

The story does a great job of pulling me in with the revenge theme and worry for the characters. I mean right off the bat from the first chapter I was sad for Marnie and Tucker and how they’d obviously gone through a ton before we met them. Now that they found each other, she is deathly sick.  Then we get to go into the whole revenge aspect of it and worry some more. I won’t go into details, that’s totally part of the hook of why you need to read it for yourself!

And I do recommend reading it yourself. I haven’t picked up a new series in quite some time because I find myself getting pulled in and needing more of the characters. This book is a prime example of WHY I generally stick to that decision. Arghh, the darn characters that become like friends and you have to learn more.

Now it’s time for me to go get books one and two, Cowgirl’s Justice and The Colt, so I can read all about how Laura got to this point in the series.  I’ll look forward to the next book in the series coming out next year, Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Thank you to Gray Dog Press for the opportunity to lose myself in a good book.

Disclaimer: Val Selby has personally reviewed the product listed above. Val has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Val did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. Content on this blog is copyrighted, all rights reserved. We reserve the right to legally pursue anyone who violates our rights and/or steals our copyrighted material.