AUTHOR: Shirley Penick GENRE: Romance PAGES: 304 RELEASED: 18 May 2019 SERIES: Burlap & Barbed Wire #5 SYNOPSIS: A death-bed promise turns lethal. Lily Smith is kidnapped and held captive to prevent her from participating in a beauty pageant her best friend begged her to enter. But she is no passive little miss to let someone else determine her future. Unfortunately, during her flight, she hits her head on a rock and can't remember her own name, let alone why she is running through the Colorado mountains barefoot with no coat. Drew Kipling rides to the rescue of the pretty woman who needs to get warm and have her injuries taken care of. When she can't remember her name, he vows to protect her, until she knows who she can trust. What will they find at the pageant? More trouble or the love of a lifetime? Maybe both. This book was kindly sent to me by Give Me Books PR in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Saddle up and grab your fanciest pair of heels for some pomp and pageantry in New York City.
Enjoying his first day off in weeks, deputy sheriff Drew Kipling comes across an injured woman who’s been running through the mountains barefoot and wearing next to nothing in the cold Colorado autumn. After taking a severe bump to the head, the woman has no idea who she is or what led her to be out in the woods, but all she knows is that she was looking for a cop. Drew takes the woman under his wing to look after he as she recovers from her injuries and attempts to regain her memory, and once he enlists the help of the rest of the Kipling family, it’s not long before Lily’s memories come flooding back. Turns out, Lily’s headed to New York for the Miss America pageant after being named Miss Montana, but there’s a conspiracy afoot that is trying to stop her from competing. With the Kipling family in tow, Lily and Drew head to New York to compete, protect and look for answers, all the while giving into their attraction for one another. But it turns out, this conspiracy is bigger than just Lily, and the whole pageant could be ruined if the culprit isn’t caught. Drew is the one Kipling who we’ve seen and learnt about the least throughout this series, due to him not being on the ranch a lot like everyone else, so it was exciting to finally get to know his character. Shirley had pretty much a blank slate with him and she delivered on another great Kipling sibling who I couldn’t get enough of. Lily was such a fun character, especially once she got her memories back and we learnt who she really was. And while I felt like we didn’t spend long on the “who is Lily” mystery, and that she got her memories back relatively quickly, I did really enjoy everything that unfolded with her. And together, Drew and Lily was such a sweet, swoony and fun couple, with a nice serving of spice and a sprinkling of angst, all whilst they worked to solve the bigger pageant conspiracy. After four books where Shirley weaved a small mystery in as a secondary plot, it was really enjoyable to have the mystery come to the forefront and be part of the main plot. I didn’t really know where Shirley was going to take things, but I loved the mix of high-stakes sabotage and somewhat comedic conspirator reveal. I was a little worried about this book taking place away from the ranch, because one of the things I love about this series *is* the ranch setting with the entire family, but it was fun to have almost the whole Kipling family join Drew and Lily in New York. Despite the change it setting, there was still all the fun family vibes and dynamics, while giving all these characters something fun and interesting to do with their reconnaissance at the pageant as they came together to protect Lily. I still missed all the fun of Rockin’ K, but it was a nice change after four book on the ranch. Unfortunately, I could not vibe with the ending of this book. It felt like Shirley completely changed her writing style for the final few chapters where Drew and Lily try to figure out their life together after the pageant - it was too rushed and just felt a little off compared to previous books. After absolutely LOVING Shirley’s writing style in all the previous books, it was such a change and a bit of whiplash, and honestly makes me worry for how the final book, Emma’s, would pan out. With one book to go, I’m sad to be finishing up my time with the Kipling family. If you’re ready for a fun and swoony cowboy romance, then it’s time to fall in love with small -town life, ranch life, and the cowboys of Rockin’ K! |
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