I didn't love this one, but since it is the author's debut I will give her another chance and read other books she publishes to see how her career develops.

It was so nice to read a story set in Canada even if it was Saskatchewan. Great story with lots of angst and tension but with a happy ending. Well worth reading!

This romance is fraught with tensions from all angles. Not such young spring chickens anymore, Callie and Lauren are both starting over in a small Canadian town. Both out of past relationships, these lesbians are not quite sure they're ready to start looking for love, but they find themselves almost immediately attracted to one another at first sight. Meanwhile, there is danger brewing with a farm next door to Callie, the Kruger's farm. This father and son combo farm are up to no good, but Callie doesn't feel like she has enough proof to get them arrested. Then there are the complicated relationships with their daughters, and wanting to strengthen their bonds with their children, feeling afraid that their children will struggle with yet another broken relationship. So unfolds this somewhat uncomfortable dance of two women with insecurities trying to figure out their feelings without communicating very clearly.

Most of the book felt like a series of poorly written dialogue strung together with this vast heap of insecurities that resulted in the two women making a series of really avoidable mistakes. This way of moving through the world is so far removed from my own, and felt almost disingenuous. I'm sure many people, including myself, experience such insecurities, but the way they are described felt stilted and not how people typically think or talk. The writer did a lot of explaining with words instead of showing with actions/behaviors.

However, that's not to say this was a bad book. There was plenty of action, both danger and sexual, and I wanted to see where the two would end up. The plot was interesting, the setting felt cozy, and the family scenes/animal scenes were adorable. I read this through to the end, and found some enjoyment in it, although I don't plan to read anything further from this author.

I wanted to really enjoy this one as I work in the field but I couldn't find myself wanting to actually finish it once I reached so far into the story.

This book has a dual theme of romance and suspense. The two main characters are Callie Anderson and Dr. Lauren Cornish. Callie Anderson lost her wife about a year ago. They ran a cattle farm that had been in her wife’s family. However, when her wife dies, Callie is left with many tasks that she had not done before and is totally overwhelmed. In addition, she is trying to raise her 10-year old daughter. Added to this mixture, Callie has a neighbor who is trying to force her to sell the ranch.

Lauren is a veterinarian who has recently moved to a small town near Saskatchewan. She is divorced and has been rejected by her two children left behind with her ex-wife. The practice that she joins is well established and she likes working on larger animals, something she was not able to do at her previous employment.

When I read the synopsis for this book, I thought I would enjoy the story. Unfortunately, Veterinary Partner was too slow and at times confusing. Ms. Wheelton tried to have many issues going on in this story. I think it might have been better if it was just a romance.

Although Ms. Wheelton’s veterinarian background was helpful in developing the character of Lauren, too many facts were given which slowed done the pace of the book. Also, both Callie and Lauren’s characters constantly had emotional mood swings, and for me, that affected the pace of the story.

This is the debut book by Ms. Wheelton. Although I am not going to rank this book highly, I do feel that the author has promise and I look forward to her future books. I rate Veterinary Partner 3 out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

2.25/5

Thanks to NetGalley and BSB Publishing for providing me with and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was pretty slow paced and I feel like not a lot happened. Although the premise was enticing, I felt that the actual book itself did not live up to it.

My main problem with the book was that I just didn't really care about the characters. They just seemed kind of flat and self focused/serving.

Complementary copy given for honest review and opinion. The opinions are my own.

I wanted to connect to this book and the characters but I just couldn’t. I did not feel the character build up happened soon enough to make that connection.

This is the first book by Nancy Wheelton and as a practicing Vet you can be sure that her descriptions of veterinary practices within the book are accurate.

The story revolves around two women; Dr Lauren Cornish, newest vet at Prairie Veterinary Services (PVS) in the fictional town of Thresherton, Saskatchewan, is newly arrived in town after a bitter divorce from her wife TJ, and desperately trying to mend the relationship with her and TJ’s children Sam and William who are angry at her for leaving them ; Callie’s wife Liz, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty five years ago. Since then Callie has been raising their daughter Becky. Callie and Becky moved to Poplarcreek Farm three years ago to help her father-in-law Doug. Since Doug died the previous year, she’s been running the farm by herself, despite having little knowledge about cattle.

Callie’s next farm neighbour Heinz Kruger is a brute of a man, along with his sons, Tommy and Kyle, he is intent on making Callie’s life a misery in the hope that she’ll sell the farm to him. He is the only person to call her by her birth name, Catherine, all part of his intimidation.

From letting his bull into the paddock to service Callie’s heifers who are too young to carry such large calves to term without c-sections, and then having the affrontery to demand payment for the calves produced because of his actions, to not paying for two of her cows that Kyle took to market when he borrowed her truck and trailer, to trying to get her to consider marrying Kyle.

As Lauren and Callie skirt around each other, both attracted and both afraid for their own reasons, the Kruger family up the ante, threatening the lives of both Lauren and Callie’s, and Becky’s future.

This is an excellently written book, the Kruger’s will make your skin crawl, as Lauren and Callie endeavour to put their pasts behind them as their fledgling relationship develops.
Many thanks to Bold Strokes Books Inc and NetGalley Australia for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Callie is a recent widow and recently inherited a cattle farm from her wife's family. She has no idea how to run the farm and take care of the cattle, not to mention the neighbouring farmer threatening to take her land and continuing to make all sorts of problems for her and her daughter. She clashes with the vet in town, Lauren, over the wellbeing of her cattle, but neither woman can deny their attraction. Can they turn over their rough start and work towards a bright future for all of them?

I didn't connect immediately to the characters, partly because the beginning seemed really abrupt and a little confusing to me and then there was a lot of repetition. I also didn't connect to Callie and her relationship with her daughter, Becky, and feel like focusing more on this earlier would have helped me connect but it was missing. Things hop along pretty quickly at the beginning but it settled into a nice balance of romance and drama and I enjoyed the second half of the book a lot more. I love reading books that take place in my home county and I loved exploring a province I've never been to through the authors words. I liked this book well enough and I will definitely check out what comes next from this author.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a slow burn story, that never got off the ground in my opinion. I liked the idea of this story more than the story itself.

The plot is angst heavy and had a thriller-esque aspect that was unexpected when I picked it up. But it struggled to hold my attention. That said, I did skim the book to see how things developed rather than setting it down and not finishing.

I found I didn't really care about either character. In fact, I found both Lauren and Callie to be wishy-washy and rather unlikeable. Some of the side characters, however, were entertaining.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC ebook from NetGalley and BSB in exchange for this review.

Slow burn, angsty, overcoming challenges romance. Set in rural Canada (Saskatchewan).

Callie wants nothing more than for things to settle down. After her wife was killed five years ago in the line of duty, Callie has moved out to rural Saskatchewan with their now-10 year old daughter to try to reset her life on her partner's family's cattle farm. But her neighbors are hoping she will fail and sell the farm to them. And those neighbors will stop at nothing - threats, sabotage, kidnapping and physical intimidation - to get Callie to move on. Callie's two bright spots are her daughter and the beautiful new veterinarian in town, Lauren.

After her marriage fell apart, Lauren left her ex and two teenage kids in Toronto for a new start at a rural veterinary practice. While forswearing love and desperately missing her kids (who blame her for the separation and running away), she is starting to get herself back on her feet. That is until she gets swept up into Callie's drama.

**I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

A debut novel written by a vet, about Callie a young widow trying to run her cattle farm whilst taking care of her daughter and Lauren the local vet who has recently moved to this part of Canada following her divorce leaving her children behind. The level of detail about the life of a vet and the challenges of running a cattle farm obviously come from the author's own experience, they are interesting and thoughtfully written. I like finding out about different ways to live. I also really liked the diversity of the women's history, in the past these women would have been widowed or divorced from men but both have ex-wives, which makes a pleasant change. They are also both parents struggling with different parental issues which again makes a pleasant change in lesbian romances. There is a sub plot where Callie if being bullied by some highly aggressive men who want her farm, this story as gripping and built well but ended abruptly. The romance between the characters was also developed well but once they did finally get together they had some weird conversations that were at times passive aggressive and at others puzzling. Overall its a good read and I'm interested in seeing what this author does next.

With thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this boo. I was so excited to read it but I ended up not really enjoying it, I will read more from this author.

#VeterinaryPartner#NetGalley
This story opens with Callie Anderson in over her head on her farm. She won't give up no matter who thinks she can't do it. The local get Dr. Lauren Cornish feels like Callow doesn't have a clue. The neighbors the Kruger's want Callies land and they stop at nothing to get it. As Callow is raising her daughter after the death of her wife. She is not ready to open her heart to Lauren. Will Callow save her land? Will she open her eyes to letting someone new into her life ? Will they stand together when there is danger coming ? Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

This story could have been better if it hadn’t had so many inconsistencies in its development, which have particularly confused me and sometimes even bothered me. Nor has it managed to get the cold environment where it is located to become an important part, in the way that other books have done, I think with temperatures of twenty below zero degrees Celsius, I don’t know how many are in Fahrenheit, maybe four below, and passing on a farm, has had much more importance. But the protagonists dress to party with light clothing and heels, like it's nothing. Then there are children as protagonists, important enough, but I have not been able to fully understand their role. I don't want to comment too much about the nice neighbors.

Callie and Lauren are two women with a past that has left them burdened and reluctant and afraid of new romantic relationships.But the reluctance is changing type, too suddenly throughout the book, or so it has seemed to me. And then, I know there are some things that are triggers and force them to make decisions, but after so many doubts, the change seems too sudden.

And I really think that there are parts of the story that are not coherent, as if some chapter was removed from the book, since there are facts that do not agree with previous actions.

As romance it is too bumpy at first, even with absurd misunderstandings. In the end everything is resolved too quickly and the end itself is abrupt.

Very sweet story about life, challenges and farm life.
Neither is easy, but it does not help when you have complications from the neighbors side.
I very much enjoyed this story. It has a bit of drama and push/pull between main characters.
Of course you learn a lot about what it takes to run farm.

Veterinary Lauren Cornish was just getting used to living and working in the small town of Thresherton in Saskatchewan. At the Prairie Veterinary Services she worked with a variety of animals but the main focus for the vet’s at PVS is working with the many farmers and ranchers keeping their livestock healthy. Lauren had recently moved from Toronto, leaving not only her ex wife but also leaving behind the children she helped raise from an early age. Since she’s moved so far away neither her son or daughter want anything to do with her. So all she can do is keep trying to reconnect with them. But Thresherton was perfect for Lauren, she enjoyed the quiet life. But lately it’s been anything but quiet. Seems like she spends a lot of her time at Poplarcreek farm.
Poplarcreek was owned by Callie Anderson, a young woman who had arrived there shortly after her wife Liz lost her life working as an Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Callie thought it would be good for their ten yrs old daughter Becky to experience life on the ranch where Liz grew up. She wasn’t planning on taking over the farm but when her father in law died she found herself trying to run the ranch without knowing all she needed to, especially when it came to her young heifer’s. It also doesn’t help to have Callie’s neighbor’s the Krugers, who were willing to try anything including stealing cattle, in their quest to take over Poplarcreek.
Now here they are, Lauren who never wanted to have another committed relationship and Callie who is just starting to begin living again. This is the first time I’ve read a book by Ms Wheelton and I have a feeling that it won’t be the last. A very nice read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bold Stroke Books

I held off on reading this one because I didn’t want to read something that contained sad animal stories, fortunately most of the storyline involving animals has a happy ending.

Callie has been taking taking care of her late father in law’d cattle farm, with no experience having any live stock it is a struggle. She struggles with the workings of the farm, the finances and a stalking, creepy neighbour. After losing her wife five years ago Callie started a make a life of her own while raising their daughter. For the first time she is make the important decisions and she might just be ready to open her heart to someone as well. Lauren left her wife and her kids in the city, she was never cut out for big city life. Her children froze her out and she is looking for a quiet life in solitude in a small rural town. When she repeated get called to Callie’s farm she starts to get annoyed with the farmer and her calling her out on giving her a lecture. But she can’t deny that that Callie has something special. Both women have insecurities about themselves and about stepping into a new relation, and the package they both come in. The constant harassment of Callie’s neighbours takes on threatening tone and becomes rather dangerous. Callie is afraid to admit to somethings until the neighbours son pulls a “prank”. The shit hits the fan and there is some major angst and drama there, I really liked. The character slowly warm up to each other and the bond between them gross stronger with mutual understanding, acceptance and love for family and animals. The supporting characters are great, Becky, Callie’s daughter has a heartbreaking scene with her mom, it’s really well done and not being handled as one time thing that is handled with a kiss and a hug and all is good.

I liked how the story between the two main unfolded, I also liked that you just seemingly in the middle of something in this book. It really sets the tone. All the vet/ cattle stories are pretty good as well. The one thing I would say I didn’t like is I lost the sense of time a bit in the book, I have no idea how much time passed during the course of the story. But the one conclusion I did come up with that it wasn’t a lot, which means to me the ending/ closing chapters felt a bit rushed.. This book made me picture being in Saskatchewan in winter freezing my ass off but having tons of good times and enjoying life. So overal it was good, I could have done with 3 more chapters, maybe have Lauren’s family show up in those, but you can’t have it all I suppose.

This is a decent book, with a lot of story to accompany the romance. The plot can be quite menacing at times, but it’s kept reasonably light; possibly a bit too light in places. Although that kind of works too, in terms of some of the men issuing threats that are insidious where the women know are there, but can’t prove. They know it feels menacing but it all relates as a bit innocuous when they try to explain it. Similar to gaslighting. The romance feels real, especially as both women are grappling with how they felt in previous relationships and wanting this time to be different. More true to themselves.
I learnt far more than I ever expected to learn about calving, which was actually pretty interesting. The kids were pretty accurate with age appropriate dialogue. I hate it when the kids sound like grown ups.

Veterinary Partner is the story of Callie, a young widow trying to make a go of her family farm out on the Canadian prarie and Lauren, the new vet in town who has kind of a tragic past.

So firstly, I now know a lot more about cattle farming in Canada than I did before. That sounds dreary, but it was actually really interesting! The extreme weather, small town setting and the immensely hard work of running a cattle and arable farm are all described really well.

I thought the story itself was pretty good - Callie is faced by difficulties at every turn due to her inexperience in farming, including dastardly neighbours who are trying to force her to sell her land and Lauren is trying to patch things up with her children and not get involved in any new romantic liaisons. This is a romance novel, so obviously there is an HEA, but there are plenty of obstacles along the way.

The biggest problem for me was that I didn't really get the chemistry between the two MCs. They start off by not liking each other then they became friends and then lovers, but I just wasn't feeling it. Their path to romance seems to be littered with passive aggressive comments and hurt feelings. When I read a romance I like it when it's obvious that the two people should be together but they're kept apart by outside influences, not their own sulkiness. It almost seemed like they got together because they were The Town Lesbians, not because they were MFEO.

Other than that, it was totally readable. The writing itself flowed well and the author obviously has a talent for description. The dialogue could be a bit forced in places, but it wasn't disastrous.

This is a debut novel and I'd be interested in seeing what the author comes up with next.

I received a copy of Veterinary Partner from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley.