Dakota has loved Colby since she was 10. He sees her as a friend, someone to protect and watch over. When he sees her sharing a laugh with her neighbor, he is not happy but he does not want to make any commitments since he believes he ruined a woman's life years ago. When Dakota finally gets him to see her as more than a friend, the woman from his past returns. Dakota is devastated. Will the woman stay? Will Dakota and Colby have a future?

I enjoyed this story. Colby is a silent cowboy. He does not give much away. Though his friends tell him to let her know his feelings, Colby stays silent. Dakota is bright and breezy but when she gets mad look out. When Colby breaks her heart because of how she learns of his past, I cannot say I blame her. He needs to open up. But in the end, I got the ending I wanted so I was happy but the mystery of his past and the woman kept me reading. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Kate is the one the whole ranch calls on when there is an injury, illness or temper on the illusive Jason.  Known for his temper and moods, the only one he really responds to in a pinch - is Kate.  She is longing to be more than a friend and that is proving impossible.

Jason is much older than Kate that he is concerned if he starts something with her, it will actually take something from her future.  In the meantime they are somewhat friends.  Ranching as a priority, when the relationship heads south - can they choose each other?

I love this author's book and was thrilled to be able to read this one.  Old fashioned in style, the story reads as romance with a dashing hero and young maiden.  Has a terrific set pace, and the read does not disappoint.  Had trouble putting it down!  I give this a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

Out of the darkness, a phoenix rises. Healing the Rancher makes room for heartache and finds hope. Carter and Willow are a pair of wounded souls working to resurrect their spirits. A dangerous situation that almost turns deadly brings the chance to maybe get love right. Jackson stirs up trouble with intrigue, heartbreak and temptation. Beauty awaits after a turbulent journey.

Yes, he’d been humbled, going from living large with money overflowing his bank account to scraping by.

Second in the Wild Rose Ranch series, the troubled Austin is trying to get his life together. I haven't read the first book and I think that really hurt my enjoyment of this. I had no idea who these people were and our heroine, Sonya, with her sisters and family dynamics, seem to be play a big part in the underlining theme and emotion in the series. I think background knowledge on Sonya's family and Austin as a character would have helped my attachment to these characters. This starts with Austin trying to reform his party boy ways because his rich father has cut him off and his girlfriend has dumped him. Austin inherited a ranch from his grandfather but it is dilapidated and needs a lot of money and repair. Sonya comes into the picture because her sister (heroine from book one) is bankrolling Austin's ranch and she is there to manage and run the books for the ranch.

Numbers made sense to her. Everything lined up. People, the things they did, their capacity to hurt others and inflict such cruelties, boggled her mind.

This was a honestly a mess of storylines for me, the beginning focuses for a while on how Austin's grandfather was a hoarder and lingers on the emotional whys of it, Austin's father badly wants the ranch and now his ex-girlfriend is engaged to his father and his father wants the ex to trick Austin into impregnate her, and Austin working on trying to get his act together. Sonya has her own issues with her family, a mother who lived a harsh life, a job that passed her over for promotion, and dealing with her sisters and childhood. There was a scene where Sonya gets angered and in one paragraph spouts a plethora of trigger warning issues that happened to her mother and it felt like heaping awful traumas on a character just for shock or forced emotional value because of the lack of emotional foundation.

She’d stand by whoever she loved. She’d be a true partner. Adversity challenged her, it didn’t back her down.

The romance between the two is fairly instant and not something I completely believed in because of the lack of solid relationship groundwork. They have some good back and forth moments, made better because of the don't back down attitude of Sonya but the constant fluttering between story threads/plots didn't leave enough time for them to develop. The main plot of Austin's dad wanting his ranch so bad could have worked but Austin's forced mishandling of the situation, he didn't seem too curious as to why his dad would want the ranch in the beginning, and him never checking deeds or information about something inherited and carried so much about.

If you read the first, you'd probably enjoy this more then me but I felt disconnected from the characters, there were too many messy storythreads, and the romance moved too quickly without a strong enough foundation. I've other Ryan works before and enjoyed them, I'm going to just count this one as a one-off.

A cowboy and some cookie pie for those mid-week blues.
Happy hump day, everyone!

Restless Rancher by Jennifer Ryan purchase link

Ricotta Nutella Chocolate Cookie Pie recipe

Very rich filling but the best cookie crust I’ve ever made.