Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Snow in Montana 

SERIES: Montana #4

AUTHOR: R.J. Scott

PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books

LENGTH: 160 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 7th, 2016

BLURB:

An actor in the closet, a sheriff in love, and memories that won’t stay hidden.

Jordan Darby is known as the King of Christmas. The star of eight made-for-TV Christmas movies, the leading man who always gets his girl. Filming at Crooked Tree Ranch in Montana, in the ice and snow, Jordan is fighting to make a go of his new company and dealing with fears of exposure over one huge secret. After all, who the hell would buy into him being a romantic straight lead if rumors about him being gay were proven to be true?

Sheriff Ryan Carter is advising on the new movie being made at Crooked Tree. He hoped this would be one day of work and nothing more. Until, that is, he meets the hero. But while Jordan is sexy, he’s also very much stuck in the closet—everything that Ryan doesn’t need in his life. And then lust becomes part of the equation, and Ryan’s quiet life is thrown into turmoil.

Their story unfolds against the chaos that overtakes the ranch, with Adam regaining memories that terrify him and make him look at Justin differently, and Justin leaving the ranch to make things right. Only through trusting in love and friendship can Justin and Adam learn to look to the future instead of letting the past destroy everything. But will they ever see clearly enough to do that?

REVIEW:

This book has lots going on. We have the main storyline, the story of Jordan and Ryan, plus we have the continuing storyline of Adam and Justin.

I loved the sweet story of Jordan, the actor in cheesy Christmas movies, and Ryan, the bad-ass Sheriff. Jordan comes to Crooked Tree Ranch with his brother and their assistant/co owner, setting up to film a Christmas movie at the ranch. Jordan and Micah are former child stars, and have recently started their own production company. They are starting off by filming a sweet and sappy movie about a woman, a child, a stranger, and some kittens. As part of the production, they bring in the local law, in the form of Sheriff Carter. When Jordan arrives at Crooked Tree for their initial meeting, he is suffering from a nasty bout of flu, and Ryan uses his cop senses and assumes he’s drunk. This should start them off on rocky ground, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There is some bonding over cake, and a little flirting, that continues as the two begin to work together. Eventually it comes out that Jordan is gay but very much in the closet, Ryan is not, but they agree to a little winter fling. Which turns in to so much more! There are some moments of drama for various reasons (family issues, a stalker, some local law issues), but it’s basically a sweet romance set against the filming of Jordan and Micah’s movie.

Then we have the continuing drama around Adam and his missing memory. Adam is still having issues, flashbacks, dreams and headaches. He’s no longer sure what he’s seeing in his dreams/memories is true anymore. Justin continues to feel guilty about what went on, and his part in Adam’s issues. This is really all part of the big story from the previous books in this series, and was somewhat distracting for me, to be honest. I didn’t hate it, but every time the perspective switched to Adam or Justin, I wanted to rush through to get back to Jordan and Ryan! But it’s things we needed to know to wrap up the storyline that has followed us through these four books.

Then there is the ending. So much of this book takes place in a short amount of time around the filming of the movie, like 88% of the book, then suddenly time passes in jumps, and it’s a year later! My head spun at bit! But we get the payoff in a couple of chapters of wrap up. Everybody ends at a good place in their lives.

So the parts that focused on Ryan and Jordan were wonderful. I loved their romance, I loved the back story we get for both of them, and their relationships with their siblings. Ryan’s very close to his brothers, and I loved that, and how Jordan was pulled in to his family so easily. I equally loved Jordan’s relationship with Micah. The two are as close as siblings can be, not only twins, but co-owners of their business. I loved how Micah aids and abets Jordan and Ryan so readily. Their story was just a perfect romance….

The parts that focused on Adam and Justin were ok. I didn’t love the last book, that really was all about Justin and what his issues, and that continued a bit too much in to this book for my taste. I do agree that we needed to see some of it to wrap up the story line, but….  It was ok. Not enough to ruin this book at all, it was just a little distracting from the true heart of this book, Ryan and Jordan.

I’m assuming this is the end to this series, since all of the ends were tied up in this book, and I’ll be sorry to not see the Crooked Tree folks again. I’ve enjoyed these books, and this one ends the series on a high note. In some ways this could be a standalone book, the parts about Jordan and Ryan are a complete story. But the rest wouldn’t make sense to someone who hadn’t read the past books. If you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend you go get the first one and read it.

RJ Scott is one of my go-to authors, I’ve read her books for years and I’m a big fan. This is a great example of her writing, a sweet romance set with in a bigger picture, in this case, the Crooked Tree Ranch!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

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