The Rancher Risks It All
by Debra Holt
Release Date: July 29, 2021
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Book #2 in the Tremaynes of Texas series
Number of pages: 164
Kindle
Source: ARC from publisher
Contemporary Romance/Western M/F
Ages 13 and Up
Read 7/26/21 to 7/27/21
On a storm-ravaged night, Texas rancher Truitt Tremayne is trying to make it home before the road floods. Years ago he lost his parents, fiancée and youngest brother in a flash flood on the same country road, so it seems like déjà vu when he nearly hits a stranded car with a beautiful woman and her sister trapped inside.
Annie Sims and her sister Jessie are running from their past. She’s headed to San Antonio where they can disappear, but bad luck follows them. With her funds depleted and her car useless, Truitt’s offer of a temporary sanctuary with no questions asked seems too good to be true. Soon Annie finds herself falling under the spell of the kind, silent rancher. But can she let her guard down and still keep her sister safe, or is she courting more danger?
Truitt knows Annie has a secret. He wants her trust, but can he give his heart to another woman after he’s already lost so much?
After reading the first book in this series, Capturing the Texas Rancher’s Heart, I really wanted to know more about the Tremayne family. This story gives a smidge more of Truitt’s story and what happened with him that fateful night he lost his fiancée and parents, but not nearly enough. Luckily, I still felt a connection with Truitt and found him to be a great character.
Annie and her little sister Jessie are wonderful characters, too. But, yet again, I wanted more history from them. The back story and explanations that are given for these two are a bit sloppy when it comes to the sequence and timing major life events they’ve been through. When these two meet Truitt, I felt plenty of sparks between Annie and Truitt. The chemistry was on point for about the first third of the story, but then it seemed to lose steam. I still felt a nice bond between the couple, but it was lacking the butterflies and heat I was looking for.
With that all being said, I still enjoyed the story and was rooting for Annie and Truitt. The brother/sister relationship Truitt and Jessie built was very sweet and really elevated Truitt even higher for me. Although Annie and Jessie were keeping a secret from the Tremayne’s and the rest of the town, it wasn’t the type of make-or-break secret that annoyed me. I may not have totally agreed with Annie’s decision for how long she kept the secret, but it wasn’t something that would hurt Truitt or anyone he cared about.
Regardless of the loosey-goosey timeline, I’m now invested in this family. Two siblings down, two to go.
3 stars
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
All In Good Time 