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A review by taisie22
The Ranchers Heart by Anne Carrole
2.0
Cat McKenna has just inherited her family ranch though because her father wanted a boy, she has no idea how to run the massive undertaking. Cody Taylor has his own spread next door, currently on the road to bankruptcy because of his father's illness. There's a decades-old feud between the McKennas and the Taylors, but Cat decides to hire Cody as her ramrod, a ranch foreman who can teach her everything there is to know about ranching. It doesn't hurt that Cody and Cat are attracted to each other despite all the reasons they shouldn't get together.
I almost didn't finish this book several times. It's well-written but so slow for several reasons. The first is the detail about ranching that can go on for several paragraphs and is repeated again and again. I really don't care about cow scours or pasture management when I'm reading a romance. Another reason the story is so slow is that the author while writing well, is repetitive in that writing.
There are so many mentions of Cody's rear/crotch in jeans, Cat's rear in designer/work jeans, Cody's watch, the absent father of Cat's young son, Jake. I really thought that the father was going to be a plot point as he gets mentioned so many times without much detail; perhaps he would come to claim his son after all, but instead, it was a big nothing-burger. Same thing with Cody's watch; was it going to be the answer to the rustling or the feud, but that's a big nope, it's just a watch.
The story is told from the POVs of Cat and Cody which switches every few paragraphs or pages. That's fine, but Cat's paragraph will be all about how Cody looks, then it switches to Cody musing about how Cat looks which just seemed to add to all the repetitiveness.
So, I found the first two-thirds of the book deadly slow, but then the ending just gets rushed when there's a real chance to explain the feud and explore the couple's feeling beyond the 'scratching their itches' part. It seemed like such a missed opportunity after all the pasture management stuff.
Anyway, Amazon pushed this book to me in a half-price sale. Since I like the occasional Western romance, I bought it but I was disappointed. If you want to know how to run a ranch, this is a great book, but as a romance, I found it a failure. Just not for me.
I almost didn't finish this book several times. It's well-written but so slow for several reasons. The first is the detail about ranching that can go on for several paragraphs and is repeated again and again. I really don't care about cow scours or pasture management when I'm reading a romance. Another reason the story is so slow is that the author while writing well, is repetitive in that writing.
There are so many mentions of Cody's rear/crotch in jeans, Cat's rear in designer/work jeans, Cody's watch, the absent father of Cat's young son, Jake. I really thought that the father was going to be a plot point as he gets mentioned so many times without much detail; perhaps he would come to claim his son after all, but instead, it was a big nothing-burger. Same thing with Cody's watch; was it going to be the answer to the rustling or the feud, but that's a big nope, it's just a watch.
The story is told from the POVs of Cat and Cody which switches every few paragraphs or pages. That's fine, but Cat's paragraph will be all about how Cody looks, then it switches to Cody musing about how Cat looks which just seemed to add to all the repetitiveness.
So, I found the first two-thirds of the book deadly slow, but then the ending just gets rushed when there's a real chance to explain the feud and explore the couple's feeling beyond the 'scratching their itches' part. It seemed like such a missed opportunity after all the pasture management stuff.
Anyway, Amazon pushed this book to me in a half-price sale. Since I like the occasional Western romance, I bought it but I was disappointed. If you want to know how to run a ranch, this is a great book, but as a romance, I found it a failure. Just not for me.