Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Dusk’s Devotion

SERIES:  Blue Ice Ranch

AUTHOR:  V.L. Locey

PUBLISHER:  self-published

LENGTH:  1xx pages

RELEASE DATE:  June 17, 2022

BLURB:

Can love warm the hearts of two enemies facing the wrath of a Wyoming winter storm?

Kyle Abbott is slowly discovering that being midway through his thirties and being married to your job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There has to be more to life than random hookups, horses, and cattle. If only he could find a person who excites and ignites his passions like everyone else has at Blue Ice Ranch, he’d be a happy man. He hopes. Confused about his life, he volunteers to spend a month out with the cattle to sort through his bewilderment. Knowing there’s a blizzard on the horizon, Kyle sets out fully prepared and ready for anything.

Anything except the unexpected arrival of rival rancher Shep McCrary. When the half-frozen man shows up at the remote cabin where Kyle has hunkered down with the herd, his conscience demands for him to allow Shep to come inside. Offering food and warmth to another human being is the least he can do, right? Even if the man is a swaggering, hateful jerk who’s far too pretty for his own good and knows it. When the two are forced to spend time together, Kyle begins to see that there is more to Shep than he ever imagined. He might actually kind of like the pompous creep at times. Whoever said there was a fine line between love and hate sure knew what they were talking about…

Dusk’s Devotion is the final book in the Blue Ice MM contemporary western romance trilogy with enemies-to-lovers, a blizzard, lots of forced proximity, family dynamics, suspense, a mystery solved, and a happy ever after.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is book 3 in this series and it’s recommended that they be read in order as there is a arc that carries through all the books – and major spoilers for the previous books here

Kyle Abbott, the second in command at the Blue Ice ranch is feeling a bit out of sorts.  With the owners of the ranch, Reese and Landon, married and happy, Nate, the foreman settled with the paleontologist who had come to excavate the dino bones and even his own delinquent much younger brother settled down with Perry, another of the hands, he’s confused about his future and needs to sort himself out.  So he’s off for a month of cattle sitting in the remote part of the ranch close to the McCrary land in the primitive cabin.

After a few days a blizzard comes up, but he’s ready for it.  What he isn’t ready for is the unexpected beaten man who shows up with his horse late one night.  That it’s Shep McCrary, one of the sworn enemies and that he’s half dead with the crap beaten out of him is just one more surprise.  That he feels compassion for the guy is another kick in the pants, since he hates the McCrarys annd what they’ve done and what they stand for!  But when he finds out the reason for the beating, well you could knock him over with a feather.  Or with a kiss

Soon Kyle and Shep are exploring each other when Shep has healed enough   Kyle hasn’t let anyone know that he’s not alone in the cabin, so when after the month is up and the rest show up they are stunned to see a McCrary there.  And none are too happy about it – particularly Will who considers what his brother has done consorting with the enemy after everything the McCrarys have done/said to Perry and his people.  This rift is not going to be healed easily either – especially with Shep on the Blue Ice ranch, working along side the rest of the team.

There are some strange happenings going on at the ranch though.  Some are continuations of the thefts and disappearances.  When push comes to shove though, it’s a complete surprise when the team stumbles on the true reason for all the trouble – and it nearly causes a catastrophic loss that will impact everyone on both ranches.

Well I can honestly say I didn’t see this coming.  That one of the McCrary’s would turn out to be the love Kyle Abbott’s life didn’t seem within the realm of possibility.  But dang if that isn’t what happened here   We met the McCrary brothers in the previous books and there is no love lost between Blue Ice Ranch and Hollow Hills.  The McCrary family has long abused the non-white, non-cis and non-millionaire populations in the vicinity and in this one, the consequences of their actions come full circle.  Shep has a lot of baggage given his years in the closet, hiding his orientation from his family and having to “go along to get along” while at home in Montana.  He’s lost the dream of the life he wanted and then almost his life.  The fact that Kyle takes care of him when he’s about half dead is not something he expected.  The very surprising fact that they have more in common than they ever imagined is not lost on either of them.  And then there is the chemistry – which is off the charts hot.  They aren’t able to just “quit” each other either – well certainly Kyle isn’t able to quit Shep no matter how many times he tries   And when it all goes to hell in a handbasket, it’s clear that Shep isn’t going to let go of Kyle either.  I loved how Kyle handled the strife with Will – who is still a bit of a hothead.

This story is told 100% from Kyle’s First Person POV which did take a bit of getting used to.  We are in Kyle’s head all the time.  Thankfully, it’s a pretty entertaining place to be.  I appreciated how the multiple mysteries were tied together here.  The epilogue is perfect for this story so we really do get to see the full HEA for this couple.  If you’re a fan of enemies to lovers with hot cowboys, I think you will really enjoy the satisfying conclusion to this series.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon