Reviewed by Vicki

 

SERIES REVIEW: Montana Books 1 & 2

AUTHOR: R.J. Scott

PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books

 

BOOK ONE TITLE: Crooked Tree Ranch

LENGTH: 193 pages

RELEASE DATE: Second edition November 16th, 2015

BLURB:

When a cowboy, meets the guy from the city, he can’t know how much things will change.

On the spur of the moment, with his life collapsing around him, Jay Sullivan answers an ad for a business manager with an expertise in marketing, on a dude ranch in Montana.

With his sister, Ashley, niece, Kirsten and nephew, Josh, in tow, he moves lock stock and barrel from New York to Montana to start a new life on Crooked Tree Ranch.

Foreman and part owner of the ranch, ex rodeo star Nathaniel ‘Nate’ Todd has been running the dude ranch, for five years ever since his mentor Marcus Allen became ill.

His brothers convince him that he needs to get an expert in to help the business grow. He knows things have to change and but when the new guy turns up, with a troubled family in tow – he just isn’t prepared for how much.

This is a previously released title. It includes a new chapter and is re-edited with new cover art.

REVIEW:

I loved this book the first time I read it, and I’m so happy I read it again!

Jay is a city boy, living and working in New York, caring for his sister and her two kids. Ashley is recovering from a string of bad relationships and is left with some issues. Her teenage daughter Kirsten is a goth wannabe and a pain in the ass. Josh, the youngest one is a sweetheart but has some learning issues. Jay is the glue that keeps them all together…. unfortunately he loses his job. After turning down the opportunity to work for his douche bag ex-boyfriend, he packs his little family up and heads west…. to a ranch with a funky name in Montana.

Crooked Tree Ranch needs some help. The ranch is owned by three partner families, but it’s really run by Nate, with the help of his brothers, and poor old Marcus. But Marcus hasn’t been keeping up on his end of things and has let the financial situation get out of hand. The ranch is run mostly as a dude ranch, however no one knows how to market it, or manage it, and they are losing money. Nate finally realizes what is happening and they all agree to look for a marketing/business manager. They try locally first, but end up hiring a guy from New York City. Who knows absolutely nothing about a damn ranch.

This is where it gets interesting. City boy meets cowboy, and the sparks fly! Their initial meeting goes quite badly, and they are off to a rocky start. This doesn’t last long though, and they both eventually figure out the other is actually gay and some sexy times happen….

As always there are multiple things happening. The relationship between Nate and Jay progresses as expected, but there are lots of other details to this book. Ashley and her family provide some drama. Nate’s brothers Luke and Gabe are around, and have some involvement as well. There are hints of a mystery with two missing boys that leads in to the next book. We get ranch details, lots of characters, and a really well done story. Then there is Nate and Jay…. Yum. I wouldn’t quite say they are enemies, since Jay works for Nate, but they certainly aren’t friends. Their relationship sneaks up on them, and us as well. They don’t like each other, they kind of like each other but are working together, then BAM! The good stuff happens!

So I am a fan of RJ’s, I’m pretty much going to like a book written by her, especially her contemporary books. This one was particularly good, I remember liking it the first time I read it a couple of years ago, and being disappointed we never got another book. I am very happy there is a second one, and I see a third one coming! She’s created a nice little world on this ranch, with some good characters I can see are going to give us some excellent stories. Just the right balance of interesting story, good characters, drama and sex. Works for me!

On to the next one! 

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

ARe

 

BOOK TWO TITLE: The Rancher’s Son 

LENGTH: 200 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 22nd, 2016

BLURB:

A man without memories, and the cop who never gave up hope.

When he wakes up in hospital, the victim of a brutal beating, John Doe, has no memories of who he is or who hurt him. The cops can find nothing to identify him and he can’t remember anything to help… except the name Ethan and one recurring place from his dreams. Three words, and they’re not much, but it’s a start. Crooked Tree Ranch.

Cop, Ethan Allens has never stopped searching for his brother and his brother’s best friend who vanished. When a report lands on Ethan’s desk that may give new leads he jumps at the chance to follow them up. The man he finds isn’t his brother, but it’s someone who could maybe help him discover what happened ten years ago.

What neither man can know is that facing the very real demons of the past could very well destroy any kind of future they may think they have together.

REVIEW:

Holy crap! This was an AWESOME book! I loved it!

When last we met…. Things were good on Crooked Tree Ranch, but there has always been this dark cloud hanging over the ranch families. There are three families, Sullivan, Allens, and Strachan that share the ranch ownership. The teenage boys of the three families were all friends back in the day, all close in age and best friends. But something happened and two boys, Justin Allens and Adam Strachan vanished from the ranch. Much searching was done, but no trace of the boys was ever found. Justin’s older brother Ethan became a cop and left the ranch, always searching for Justin and Adam. Marcus, Justin and Ethan’s father, settled in to be a bitter old man and help the Sullivan boys run the ranch. Adam’s older brother Cole, eventually joined the Navy to get away from their asshole father, who eventually dies. With me so far?

So now, 12 years later, Ethan who is a cop in Missoula Montana gets a call from the Chicago police department saying they have a John Doe with amnesia, who was able to tell them “Crooked Tree” and “Ethan”. Could this be one of the missing boys? He hops on a plane and heads off.

Now I have to be careful and not give too much plot away…. yes, the man is Adam, one of the missing boys. Ethan and Adam start heading toward Montana, Ethan with the plan that getting Adam back to Crooked Tree and their families may bring his memory back. It is a rough ride for them, and a great story for us!

Adam is a mess, physically and mentally. Ethan is so gentle and caring with him, also physically and mentally. And emotionally. There were feelings between the two when they were 15 and 17, but Adam has no memory of that. Ethan does, and tries not to make it obvious. So this is a sneaky romantic relationship. Slow burn, but so worth it. The two get there, physically and emotionally, but it takes time. Just the right amount of time. Underneath this story is the mystery of what happened to Justin and Adam. Everyone tries so hard (except Marcus!) to not put pressure on Adam to remember, but you know they all want to. I won’t say any more about that other than to say I was totally surprised about what happened! I didn’t think what happened was going to happen at all. Way to go RJ for surprising me!

As I said in my review above, I am an RJ Scott fan. I just checked one of my reviews of her other books and I did say it was my favorite of her books, but I told her this morning that THIS was my favorite! After reading through that review (it was of A Reason to Stay) I see that what I liked about that one was exactly what I liked about this one, interestingly enough. This is a contained story, it’s a family issue, a ranch issue. There are hints of something bigger than happened to the boys, but really it’s Adam’s story. I liked that. The story didn’t get too big and out of control. I knew who everyone was, I didn’t get bogged down with politics, or bad guys, or things like that. It is about Adam and Ethan trying to figure out what the fuck happened 12 years ago. That is it! It was perfect. I loved it.

This is not a standalone, you need to read Crooked Tree Ranch first. I loved that one too, but loved this one even more! Seriously, read these books. They are the perfect blend of interesting plot, emotional characters, and a decent amount (but not too much!) sex.

I highly recommend this series and I CAN’T WAIT until the next one!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

ARe