Clara Campbell has been hard-hit recently. Both her parents are gone, her brother died in combat, and now she finds out she doesn't even own her family's property. At least not for another year. Instead, Alex Donnelly is the person who has been, by dint of her brother's will, put in charge of the property and, effectively, her. All she wants to do is ogle to cute guy at the coffee store and live her life. Instead, she has to deal with a brooding ex-soldier.Alex is in Copper Ridge for two reasons. One is to help Clara and the other is because he inherited a portion of his grandfather's ranch. He wants to fulfill his friend's wishes, especially since his actions saved Alex's life.
I read the first chapter of this in the previous book in the series and immediately wondered if I would really enjoy this book. One of my pet peeves in books is the alpha male who feels he has to save the "little woman" and then there's the false "problem" of my-best-friend's-sister. But I generally enjoy Ms. Yates' books and thought she might be able to overcome my dislike of these tropes. But, unfortunately, Alex was as much of a "me big man, you little woman" as I thought he would be. And Clara is so young. So young. It's not just an age thing, not just a virginity thing, but an overall life attitude that made it hard for me to connect with her.
I will not give up on this series because Yates really is one of my go-to contemporary authors. This book, for me, was just one of her rare missteps.
Two stars
This book comes out August 29
