"From the author of Love at First Set, a new irresistible enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine queer romcom for fans of Delilah Green Doesn't Care, about a wedding-obsessed city girl who inherits a horse farm from her estranged late aunt, and clashes with the cocky, unfairly hot farrier who thinks she's going to run the barn into the ground.
Molly has always loved weddings, ever since she was a little girl, and for nearly as long she's dreamed of starting her own wedding planning company. But that dream has remained stubbornly out of reach, and between Molly's first job as a barista, her second at a call center, and her crushing student loans, it seems farther away than ever. The absolute last thing she needs is to inherit a run-down, struggling horse barn, courtesy of her estranged late aunt.
Molly is so ill-equipped to run the barn, it's laughable. She certainly doesn't know how to save it, no matter how much faith everyone who loved her aunt has that she will. But maybe her aunt left Molly a blessing in disguise—if she can sell the land, the profits could be the small-business seed money miracle she's been waiting for. Doesn't matter if she's starting to love the mismatched family this barn brought together, and feeling closer to the aunt she never got a chance to know.
The real snag in her plan is the woman who took care of Molly's aunt in her last days, and still lives and works on the property as a farrier: Shani. Judgmental, grouchy Shani, who thinks she's so morally superior because she hasn't given up on the crumbling barn while Molly wants to "destroy" everything her aunt built; who's really good with the horses, and always comes whenever Molly calls her in a panic; and is actually kind of thoughtful, and obnoxiously hot, and unfailingly loyal…and oh no, has Shani become an entirely different kind of problem? One Molly can't possibly solve, no matter how much her heart wants to?"
I got an ARC of this book.
Do you like a book where the main issue the couple faces is not talking? Then this is for you. So much of the drama and plot of this would have been solved with communication. So normally that is hit or miss with me, but in this case it showed something deeper. The couple both had backstories and trauma that made talking difficult. It also meant that talking needed to happen more than it did. So even when they did manage to talk, they didn't cover everything so things would flare up again. It felt less like a gimmick and more like a normal queer relationship. So it got a bit grating by the end that it was still happening, but it also worked really well.
The MC was a hoot. She was both likable, but awful at the same time. I wanted to shake her so often so she would think things through. So did everyone in her life and all her new friends on the farm. It was clear that it was a common feeling. I wanted them together so bad and I wanted them to just listen to the people who were clearly smarter around them. Then that twist at the end I was not expecting. I was impressed and annoyed at it. It felt like it wasn't resolved at all, but also it being more open felt more real. It was an odd combo. I liked it, but wanted more of a feeling of closure for this story.
This is by far the best sapphic cowboy romance I have read. It was not pulpy, not that there is anything wrong with pulp, it just doesn't stay with me as long. It was funny. It was cute. It had high stakes like the gay cowboy romances, but without relying on one of the cowboys getting injured for the relationship to actually exist. Instead it had more going on. The saving vs selling the farm plot worked really well. It mixed well with the side characters and made the story feel full. It worked as more than just a romance, which I really appreciated.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It was in stark contrast to the horror I was also reading so it worked on a whole other level.
4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.
You can buy the book here.
~Isaiah
No comments:
Post a Comment