Review: True Love at Silver Creek Ranch by Emma CaneTrue Love at Silver Creek Ranch by Emma Cane
Series: Valentine Valley #2
Published by Avon on december 26, 2012
Genres: Contemp Romance, cowboy romance
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Advance Reader Copy
Goodreads
three-half-stars

Welcome to Valentine Valley, where tongues are wagging now that the town bad boy is back—and rumor has it the lean, mean ex-Marine is about to lose his heart! But like it or not, in a town like Valentine, love happens . . .

Adam Desantis is back—bruised, battle-weary and sexier than ever! Not that Brooke Thalberg is in the market. The beautiful cowgirl of Silver Creek Ranch needs a cowboy for hire, not a boyfriend—though the gaggle of grandmas at the Widows' Boardinghouse thinks otherwise. But from the moment she finds herself in Adam's arms, she's shocked to discover she may just want more.

Adam knows it's crazy to tangle with Brooke, especially with the memories that still haunt him, and the warm welcome her family has given him. But he finds himself in a fix, because tender-loving Brooke is so much more woman than he ever imagined. Can a soldier battling demons give her the love she clearly deserves?

Just about everybody in Valentine thinks so!

Brooke Thalberg is riding fence when she sees the smoke. Her barn is on fire and her only thought is to save the horses. A stranger is already in her barn freeing the horses when Brooke arrives, but it turns out he’s no stranger. He’s bad boy Adam DiSantos, back from the Marines.

Brooke and Adam both feel that attraction burning between them pretty much from the get-go, but both resolve to ignore it. When Adam gets hired on at her family’s ranch, it only makes Brooke that much more determined to ignore the sexy man working next to her day in and day out.

To Adam, she’s always been girl next door, while he lived on the wrong side of town. That’s why he stayed away from her in high school. She takes her responsibilities on the family ranch very seriously, and having Adam work for her is no different. In fact, she takes it even more seriously because she doesn’t want anyone to know she has a thing for Adam. Unfortunately that didn’t work for me-I felt that Brooke was playing the martyr when it came to Adam. She also called him soldier throughout the book, as in “Hey there soldier.” My complaint? He’s a Marine, not in the Army, so she should be saying “Hey there Marine” rather than “soldier.”

Their romance is slow, but steamy, and once the steam factor kicks in, watch out! I liked the fact that Adam wasn’t a bajillionaire, that he just needed an honest day’s work, and that when some trouble came his way, he handled it in the perfect way.

This is definitely a small-town cowboy-type romance that anyone who loves a town full of colorful characters, and main characters with major steam factor can enjoy.

***ARC courtesy of Avon Books

three-half-stars