Series: Burnt Boot Texas (Book 2)
Can a girl ever have too many cowboys?
No sooner does pint-sized spitfire Jill Cleary set foot
on Fiddle Creek Ranch than she finds herself in the middle of a
hundred-year-old feud. Quaid Brennan and Tyrell Gallagher are both tall,
handsome, and rich...and both are courting Jill to within an inch of her life.
She's doing her best to give these feuding ranchers equal time-too bad it's
dark-eyed Sawyer O'Donnell who makes her blood boil and her hormones hum.
This was a really fun book. Sawyer has been hired as the foreman of Fiddle Creek Ranch and is just moving into the bunkhouse when he's confronted by a woman with a shotgun. Jill Cleary is the niece of the ranch owner and has come to learn the ins and outs of the ranch she will someday inherit. Once their identities are straightened out, a truce is called between them - just in time for them to need each other's help.
Fiddle Creek is located on land in between two feuding families, families that both want that land. Both sides think that the best way to reach their goal is by marriage. Jill finds herself caught in the crosshairs of two good looking cowboys determined to win her hand. She starts out willing to give each of them a chance, but quickly discovers that it's Sawyer that has her attention.
Sawyer finds himself in the middle of his own nightmare. He's got a woman from each of the two feuding families intent on hogtying him and he wants nothing to do with either one of them. Unfortunately, neither one is listening when he tells them no. He's far more interested in Jill, but they have to work together, which makes anything else a bad idea.
The book starts out with both Sawyer and Jill getting blindsided by Brennans and Gallaghers, invited to Sunday meals before they can figure out how to say no. Jill finds it hard to believe that these guys are so intent on wooing her, but has to believe it after Sawyer explains the feud, her ranch, and its place in the scheme of things. The dinner scenes and the feud activities during them were really funny to read. When it was all over, Sawyer and Jill made a pact to support and protect each other from both sides.
They have just started getting into the swing of things on the ranch when Polly, friend of Jill's Aunt Gladys, breaks her ankle. With Gladys needed to take care of her, that leave Jill and Sawyer also left with the responsibilities of running Gladys's store and Polly's bar. They discover that if they stick together they have a better chance of making it through the crazy actions of the two feuding families. The attraction that started to sizzle as soon as they met continues to grow, and their feelings right along with it. I liked the way that Jill is feisty and straightforward. She's got some hurt in her past that makes her a little wary of getting involved with Sawyer at first. She has some pretty amusing conversations with herself as she's trying to keep her distance, but once she makes the jump, she's all in. Sawyer has his own heartbreak, but once he's gotten to know Jill he realizes that she's the one for him. He's funny and sexy and sweet all wrapped up together. He has a few moments of thinking he's not good enough for her, but those don't last too long. I loved watching their relationship go from friendship and support sliding into love before they realized it. There was no huge conflict or misunderstanding to drive them apart, just the realization that they wanted to be together forever. Sawyer has some really sweet and romantic moments during the buildup to the end.
The antics of the two feuding families keep the story line hopping. The opening salvos of the "pig wars" have Sawyer and Jill shaking their heads in disbelief. The propensity of the two sides to descend into fighting at the drop of a hat makes for some pretty stressful yet hilarious moments. The bar fight between the two women was pretty funny, with the men standing back, not quite sure what to do (other than place bets on the winner). I loved Jill's simple way of stopping it. Things got a little tense when Sawyer and Jill got kidnapped after work one night, then kidnapped from the kidnappers. Sawyer's presence of mind got them out of that predicament, but left both of them ticked at the stupidity of it all. I enjoyed Jill's way of getting a little bit even with them both. I got a giggle over the two kittens that came from the feuding cowboys and the names that Sawyer and Jill gave them. The battles between the two sides continued with more livestock heists, and a refusal of either side to back down. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next book.
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