Reviewed for Wit and Sin

A baseball star with a reckless streak meets his match with a nurse who can’t be swayed by his charm in Hometown Hero. Mia Adams cannot catch a break. She’s working multiple jobs to try to pay off the debt her scumbag ex left in her name before skipping town. She’s a nurse, takes care of so many with compassion and kindness, and has a side business she’s trying to expand on top of it all. She doesn’t have time for Ace’s attitude, but she definitely could use the money his team is paying her to be his babysitter. Andrew “Easy Ace” Braddock works hard and plays harder. But his luck and bad boy charm can’t get him out of the latest pickle he finds himself in. Injured and laying low in Silverlake while he heals, Ace basks in being the hometown hero at first, which makes him a bit hard to like. He’s overly impressed with himself and doesn’t see past his own nose more often than not, which is frustrating, especially when you see how hard his actions have been on Mia and his brother Declan. Fortunately, around the halfway point Ace has a breakthrough. I enjoyed watching him become a better man. He screws up – a lot – but when he does it in the second half of the book it comes from a good (if misguided) place. Ace has a lot of lessons to learn in Hometown Hero but once he starts to grow his journey is one worth reading.

Attraction sparks immediately between Mia and Ace, but that doesn’t mean the romance is an easy one. Mia is at the end of her rope and I wanted her to not only find love but find someone she can depend on, can lean on in the hard times. I liked that she didn’t just fall all over herself with Ace. Part of that is due to her own issues with him stemming from her father ignoring her and focusing on Ace, the son he never had, when they were growing up. Mia takes a lot of hits in this book that just tug on your heartstrings. But watching her find support and love with Ace just warmed my heart.

Hometown Hero is the third book in the Silverlake Ranch series, but it can be read as a standalone. I loved Mia’s friendship with the Braddock siblings and I enjoyed watching the strained relationship between Ace and his brother Declan start to heal. And speaking of the eldest Braddock… Man, I hope author duo Liza Kendall have a book in store for Declan. The often stoic rancher grabbed my heart in the first Silverlake Ranch book and hasn’t let go since. So while I finished Mia and Ace’s book a satisfied reader, I am seriously on the edge of my seat, hoping Declan gets a book.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

...it turned out to be a good choice. I freely admit I’m not only a fan of this author, I’m also a fan of Christmas, so to me this sounded like a good combination.

Yani Nicolaou has sworn off romance and fled London with a broken heart. He’s all about making a success of his gyro stall at the Christmas Market. There’s no time or room for romance in his life, if he’s lucky he could maybe squeeze in a one night stand every now and then but that’s it…nothing more for him.

If you’ve read some of Garrett Leigh’s previous books…specifically ‘Between Ghost’, ‘Soul to Keep’, ‘Misfits’ and ‘Stray’ than you’ve already met Gavin and Yani. Gavin or ‘Wedge’ as he’s called by his brothers in arms appears in ‘Between Ghost’ and in ‘Soul to Keep’. While Yani appeared originally in the ‘Urban Soul’ series. However, if you haven’t read these books you can still comfortably enjoy ‘Hometown Christmas’ it stands on it’s own quite easily.

Gavin Richie is still adjusting to his return to civilian life after a 20 year stint in the military and running a homeless shelter..needless to say that’s all he has the time, room or energy for in his life…the end.

Lol, silly Yani and Gavin what they don’t realize is that love does what it wants and at Christmas time…love can do anything it wants including breaking down the barriers that two hearts have diligently worked on creating to protect themselves.

Yani and Gavin are a sweet and touching example of the fact that when love happens it’s not about the perfect time, the perfect place or perfect people. Love is that wonderful thing that happens when we expect it the least and need it the most. It doesn’t care how a person looks or if they think they’re ready for it…it just happens.

Yani has OCD and he’s been hurt but he’s still got such a bright, vibrant and giving personality. Gavin has PTSD and his hands are full with running a homeless shelter but he finds himself drawn to Yani and when Yani’s best friend convinces him to help out in the kitchen of said homeless shelter Gavin is happily surprised to see the attractive man from the coffee shop who he’d been unable to get out of his thoughts standing in the shelter’s kitchen.

Without a doubt Garrett Leigh has the ability to create characters that are simply perfect in their imperfections and able to work their way into the readers heart effortlessly. Gavin and Yani’s story is a heartwarming story of two people finding each other and falling in love during what is considered by many to not only be the most wonderful time of the year but also the busiest and most stressful time of the year and yet these two men give of themselves not only to their community but to each other as well.

While this story is set at Christmas time and even though the time of year makes for a very nice setting for the story, this is a story that could take place at any time of the year or be read during any time of the year.

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A copy of “Hometown Christmas” was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Jessa was just dumped by text and for someone who has such an open heart, she sure has trouble finding someone to love her back. 
Ever since Lance's mother left without looking back, he's been a love them for one night and leave them.
When Lance needs help watching his father, Jessa is there and he's starting to enjoy her at his home more than he should.
Jessa loves love, Lance wants to be a loner, and long held family secrets are bubbling under the surface as these two heat up under the Colorado sky. 

She might have sworn off relationships, but technically she hadn't sworn off kissing. 

I enjoyed how this one started off, we're introduced to the Cortez family of Lance, his younger brothers Lucas, Levi, and their father Luis. With Luis out following the rodeo circuit as a champion bull rider, their mother couldn't handle the stress of raising three boys alone and leaves. As the oldest, Lance feels it is his responsibility to take care of the family but Levi has serious anger issues with his father and ends up burning down a barn. The three boys decide Lucas will take the wrap as his record is squeaky clean but things go sideways when he gets charged as an adult and ends up going to jail. When he finally gets out, he leaves not wanting to deal with the small town always looking at him like he is a criminal, Levi can't stand the guilt and constantly travels on the rodeo circuit, which leaves Lance to run their ranch and work on becoming the best bull rider like his dad. I wish there had been more detail to Lance running the ranch and his bull riding career. They're mentioned but not really done anything with, we get a few glimpses of Lance practicing for World's, championship rodeo in Las Vegas, but I didn't understand how he ran the ranch year round and was such a top bull rider, when would he have time to travel to rodeos? 

The Cortez family drama kind of overshadowed Jessa, she grew up spending the summers with her father and school year with her mother, she craved a big stable family. Her father just died and she is trying to take over his animal rescue, Lance's father Luis tries to help her out with it. Like Lance and his ranch and rodeo, there wasn't much to Jessa's animal rescue. We know she needs money to keep it running but other than carting a pig around, it was definitely pushed to the side of her life and the story. Her friendship with two other women, helped to flesh out her character more but they never seemed to have longer, in depth scenes together to endear them to me more than series baiting. 

It's a gift when someone believes in you at a time no on else does. When you've lost some of the belief in yourself. 

I thought the first half was just a lot of lust attraction making up Jessa and Lance's relationship. Jessa is supposedly on a break from wanting a relationship and Lance is supposed to have this hardened heart but the storyline of Jessa not wanting a relationship seems abandoned almost as soon as she says it. I'm not sure until the very end I felt any depth to Lance's feelings for Jessa. They are thrown together because of circumstance and they never evolved for me beyond “sexy legs” and “hot bod”. 

This was an easy quick read, the outline for a deep emotional story was there but the depth and building blocks never showed up. The big ending had me disliking Jessa's character a bit as she acted fairly inconsiderately towards Lance and very blindly towards one of her friends, all because she “knew” she was right; family dynamics are tough waters to wade into and I just didn't think she gave it the consideration it deserved. There was nothing new or exciting to this story but, like I said, the outline is there for deep emotion with the Cortez family trying to heal from the lie they told that fractured the brothers. Details, depth, and fully fleshed out characters were absent in this one, but with two brothers left single, the author has a nice setup for their stories.

A heroine always looking for love in all the wrong places, a cowboy hero who staunchly guards his heart, and a family who need to quit keeping secrets. 
My Friday reading and eating :)

Hometown Cowboy by Sara Richardson purchase link

Vegan Jalapeno Chickpea mac & cheese recipe

Loved the seasoning on this one and added avocado

What's a person to do when happily ever after turns out to be a dud? In the case of Rory Haven, give people something to talk about. Hometown Troublemaker is proof that the best of intentions, can have surprising results. Brighton Walsh turns heartache into a new beginning with a little laughter and a ton of heart.