I've read Blake in the past and have enjoyed her stories. This is no different. What I like the most is Blake's ability to bring realness to her stories.(Is that even a word? it's the best I can come up with). This story to me feels real. Issues you may deal with in your life.

I loved the setting of a horse ranch. Some of my rehabilitation was done on horses. OK so not my first choice being a city girl. But I learned how majestic and kind these creatures are.

Maybe that's why I enjoyed this book. But needless to say I feel this book has something for everyone.

I enjoyed it. I hope to get the chance to read more.

Not one of my favourites from Blake. There's a fair bit of angst and drama - but the overall execution of it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I didn't really connect with the characters and the villain was a bit over the top in her villainy and that just pulled me out of the story.

The story tried to do a lot of things at once and didn’t quite succeed at it. It was a read for when you don’t eally have anything to do, or many other books to read.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I really liked this book, and it had the right amount of romance and mystery to keep me engaged throughout the entire book. The chemistry between DJ and Kat was off the charts, and their relationship flowed really well together. This was my first book by Blake, and I was very impressed, I am looking forward to reading more of her work and will defiantly be rereading this book in the future.

This book (which was a romance turns into thriller kind of book) could have been better, because the plot is interesting, but it is not quite well developed. I still liked it!

There are a few things that make me happy when I read a lesbian romance book. A cowgirl who owns a ranch is high on the list--it falls under the communing with nature umbrella which is the top of my list. This story follows a grieving protagonist and what should have been a weekend fling. The author does a great job balancing the romance and the drama so that one is not cloyingly sweet and the other is not over the top.

I had never read Blake's work, but I will check out her other novels.

I loved the premise of this book with a ranch but the execution was poor. I felt like the story jumped all over the place. The tone kept shifting and it was hard to keep track of what was going on and I almost stopped reading when I found out who her father was but I remembered the girl she married was his step daughter. I finished it but it wasn't worth it

I wasn’t quite sure how to describe this book. At first, I was going to say it’s a romance, but the plot also includes mystery and suspense. The first half of the book dealt with the progression of the romance between the two main characters. I found this section slow, and I had to push through the text. However, the second half introduced the mystery and suspense and then the pace picked up.

The two main characters are DJ Callahan, a corporate personal attorney, and Kat Jackson, the owner of a ranch in Texas. The ranch offers the opportunity for individuals to come and spend vacation time experiencing work on a real-life dude ranch. Kat is estranged from her parents. After her father passes away, her mother wants to draw Kat back home to take on an active role in the family’s multi-million dollar business.

DJ is Kat’s mother’s attorney and is sent to the ranch to fulfill this task. The mystery and suspense come into play with Kat’s refusal to return to the fold and leave her ranch.

The idea of the plot was good. My main problem, however, was with the rough transition from one scene to another. I feel that if Ms. Blake had improved the transitions, the book would have flowed more smoothly.

I rate this book 3-1/2 out of 5 stars.

I was given this ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

The plot was far more interesting, the characters more nuanced and the parental/child dynamics more multi-dimensional than the synopsis led me to believe. I found the struggles that arose between Kat, her mother and sister regarding paternity and other themes to be quite relatable. Ms. Blake has grown in the strength of her authorship and this book testifies to that evolution, specifically in the greater emotional satisfaction that I derived from the reading experience.

I’ve quickly become a fan of Dena Blake. Each book I’ve read by her has gotten better and better. The back drop to this story is a ranch. Both Kat and DJ are good leads. I liked the romance aspect and was glad there wasn’t too much angst. Overall this was an enjoyable read and I recommend it to all who are looking for a lesbian cowgirl romance!

Dena Blake knows how to put a good story together. Kat Jackson build her ranch with the love of her life, Arizona. When Arizona is killed in a riding accident Kat knows she must go on and try to keep building their dream. DJ Callahan has a story of her own but for now she’s hired by Kat’s mother to try to bring Kat back to the life her mother thinks is best, not so much for Kat’s sake but for her mother vision of how she should be living her life. Along the way Ms Blake throws in a few good twists and turns that make this story into one great read. Really enjoyed this book and I’m hoping Ms Blake keeps them coming.

In my opinion this story tried to do too many things at once – romance, suspense, thriller, drama, mystery and so on and missed the mark on all of them. It wasn’t really a romance story because I never really felt any romance between them. The whole family mystery was too drawn out and lost its appeal.

3.75 Stars. I ended up enjoying this book more than I expected to. This is the third book I have read by Blake, and it seems like each book gets a little better. But I do want to make clear, I don’t think this book will be everyone’s cup of tea. Blake loves to write about angst and drama, and this book is filled with it. If you are not an angst fan, you might want to pass on this one.

I don’t know what it is about ranches and cowgirls, but I seem to always enjoy this setting. I’m not even a horse person in real life. As a young child, I was put on a horse and taken trail riding with no experience. Horse was jittery from the beginning and bucked up and threw me off, half way into the ride. While I more blame the grownups who put a child alone on a horse her first time riding, it was enough childhood trauma to keep me away from horses still to this day. But a lesfic book with horses, I’ll read it in a second. And Blake did not disappoint with this setting, I loved it.

As I mentioned above, this book is filled with angst and drama. Usually I am more of a “small amount” of angst fan. But sometimes when authors go almost overboard with angst and drama, where it basically becomes like a soap opera, I end up just going with the flow and enjoying it. With the little character twists and villains this book was soap opera central. It was like watching an episode of Dallas. If you are not a high angst, soap opera like fan, this book is probably not a good choice for you.

When it came to the characters, I enjoyed them all. With all the twists and drama, the secondary characters where strong in this story. The villains are overdone and almost cartoonish, but a soap opera type story works like that. I really enjoyed the two mains especially DJ. The chemistry between the two mains is pretty off the charts. Even with the romance being based on an initial lie, I still enjoyed it. Usually when I read a book like this I am dreading the other shoe to drop when the lie is discovered. But with this book there was so much chemistry and heat, I was like who cares about the lie. Get over it and get together. I really liked them as a couple.

This book is drama filled and absolutely over the top in places, but I enjoyed it anyway. I was never bored for a second and loved the sparks between the main characters. This is a book that is not going to work for everyone, so take that into consideration before you purchase it. But if you feel like reading a good soap opera like story, give this a chance.

This book could have been better, because the plot is interesting, but it is not quite well developed.

The story has a good romance, with a bit fast consummation between DJ and Kat, but then the thing slows down enough in terms of physical contact, not in terms of falling in love, that's pretty clear for both.

But DJ hides so many secrets from Kat that the problem that is going to be created between them is evident.

Then there is a plot of certain suspense, with a very sinister character whose motives are not completely shown throughout the story. There are also certain criminal acts that do not seem to be thoroughly treated, as if they were not thoroughly investigated, something quite strange in my opinion.

So the first part of the book is a romance with some anguish, then it becomes a thriller plot, with economic interests mixed with family secrets and in the end everything is solved quite quickly.

So, summarizing, the book is ok to spend an entertaining time without asking too much

To some extent a different kind of premise for a lesfic which is refreshing. An attorney and a rancher. There is an absence of honesty from the beginning and a sense that there is more to life than I am currently experiencing. This is a read that makes you think about what is having it all when you have no one important to share it with. The read also makes you reflect on family especially if you experienced some unfortunate separation due to a misunderstanding that no one will talk about.

What a sweet refreshing new romance. There was just enough angst, chemistry, and drama to keep the pages turning. The love scenes were hot and the storyline is well written. The characters are extremely likable and I would love to read more from this author. My students will enjoy this in our book group next month. I highly recommend.

A big-city lawyer, DJ, is sent to the ranch of her wealthy client's daughter, Kat, to convince her to return to the family business.
The plot seems simple enough, but the author added interesting layers with family drama for both protagonists and an antagonistic neighbor. The book is much longer than you'd expect because the resolution of all the subplots takes a while and keeps the reader entertained.
The writing could profit from some additional editing to smooth out inconsistencies and improve the pacing, but I'll be looking for other books from the author.
3,5 stars
I received an ARC for my honest opinion.

This book is hard to put down! Good thing I started reading it on a free day. Because once I started I kept reading until finished. So much drama, intrigue and suspense.

Kat and DJ are quit a dynamic duo. I really liked Kat. While I could slap DJ on the head for being so dense. She made it more difficult for herself with Kat. Keeping all her cards close to herself. Once the family revelations started coming out it almost give me whiplash.

A lot happens in this book. Not your usual women meets women and fall in love. No lack of angst and suspense in this one! The ending was satisfying although a bit traditional.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2281961426?type=review#rating_151046195

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and ended up enjoying it much more than I had anticipated I would. Kat is being harassed by her mother’s lawyer with constant phone calls. She has no interest in her mother after 10 years of estrangement and it’s not like it’s her mother who is calling. DJ is getting tired of being hung up on and decides to make a visit to the ranch Kat owns under the pretext of just being a guest.

The story is much more complicated than the blurb suggests and is also a little longer than most romance novels. The family dynamics as they are revealed are filled with secrets are lies. In some ways it was a lot like a drama-filled soap opera and I quite enjoyed that aspect of it. This probably reduces the plausibility of the novel but I’m not reading in the romance genre for reality (although I don’t mind it when it rears it’s head).

I found that the story lagged in parts and if there had been more dialogue to portray the events it would have moved the story faster than long tracts of narrative. Wanting to know what would happen got me through those parts. The issue of DJ’s deception would normally be a complete downer for me but in this case it wasn’t.

On the whole, it was a good enough read to while away some free time.