Saturday, March 14, 2015

Review - Rocky Retreat

By Vivian Arend

This is book 7.5 in the Six Pack Ranch series. I've reviewed 1-6 previously, and really enjoyed them. They don't make my top re-readable list, but nice family stories with some smexy times and romance are exactly what I need on occasion. Book 7 was kind of meh for me, but didn't stop me from wanting to continue the series.

We'd met Rachel and Lee previously, and as much as he wanted her, it wasn't enough for her to choose him over their age gap. She picked the wrong man. And now that Rachel's seperated and thy're both trapped in a snowbound cabin, Lee's absolutely ready to show her he's the right man for her.

The snowbound enforced intimacy trope works for me as a device to speed up the connection between the two main characters in a novella, particularly when those two characters have past history and knowledge of each other. It neatly side steps many of my issues with romance novellas. Though they don't stay stuck, it was a nice bridge between their past relationship and their new more intimate one.

And I adore condom positive scenes:

“Condoms, yes. I know you’re clean, but…”    He shook his head. “This is your choice, your body, and you never have to explain.”

Plus we got the reprise of Jesse the Jerk. I'm not sure how Arend is going to salvage that spoiled brat, but it should be interesting.

Lee and Rachel's romance was sweet and I enjoyed catching up with the Coleman's. There were just two things I didn't care for, them hooking up before her divorce was finalized, and using a big dramatic thing to finally get them talking. What I like about this series is that it's about families and real seeming people, no matter how ridiculous some things in life get (life gets ridiculous for real people too), so the drama seemed like cutting corners. But I still really liked their story and look forward to getting the rest of the horde of Coleman's settled down.

3.5 stars

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