AUTHOR: Kaci M. Rose GENRE: Romance PAGES: 175 pages RELEASED: 17 January 2023 SERIES: Walker Lake, Texas #1 SYNOPSIS: She is the girl who got away. He seems all too familiar. Could the man behind the beast be her cowboy in disguise? Sky I’m back in town licking my wounds after losing my job in Dallas. Only I haven’t told my parents yet. They think I’m in town just visiting. When I run into the man everyone calls The Beast, I can’t shake the feeling that I know him from somewhere, even if his long hair, beard, and scar make it impossible to figure out where. It’s only proper Walker Lake ranching tradition to say hello to your neighbors, so I take him to dinner. I never thought I’d get a job offer out of the deal. And I never would have guessed the true identity of this growly beast. Dash I find it amusing that Sky doesn’t recognize me, but I guess that’s the whole point. After my military time, I came home to take over the family ranch. With Sky gone in Dallas, the ranch was my sole focus until I ran into her again. With her around, I start to feel human again, and I want people to see me. When she finally figures out who I am, will she still want me? A second chance with the highschool sweetheart who got away…
Sky is headed home to Walker Lake after quitting her job in Dallas and ending the lease on her apartment. Her life is packed into a storage container a couple of towns over, and she has a week to build up the courage to tell her parents that she’s jobless and homeless. Being back in Walker Lake is like hitting reset after her time in Dallas, and it makes her realise that he true home is her hometown. All she has to do is figure out what she wants to do with her life. And then she meets ‘The Beast’, a mysterious and quiet rancher who has taken over the ranch that belonged to her highschool sweetheart Corey’s parents. Sky can’t shake the feeling that she recognises this bearded stranger, and makes an effort to show some Walker Lake hospitality that he’s clearly missed out on since arriving. The last thing she expects is for Dash to offer her a job cooking and cleaning, and the above-garage apartment. But even more-so, she doesn’t expect that once Dash takes the step to finally cut his hair, shave his beard and expose his scar, that he’s actually the guy who broke her heart eight years earlier when he enlisted in the military. Spoiler alert: she’s entering her yeehaw era! I read the synopsis of the second book in this series and knew I just had to read it, but being the good companion novel series reader, I held off on temptation to start with book two, and I’m glad did! Kaci has always been on my radar but I hadn’t picked up any of her books, so I wasn’t really know what to expect from her. Her writing style is really enjoyable and I quickly felt like I was in Walker Lake and surround by all these interesting small-town characters. Second-chance romances are always really fun, and Kaci crafted a really sweet one with Dash and Sky. Because they originally ended their relationship on somewhat mutual terms, it was easy for them to fall back into a relationship as they relived memories from their teen years and caught up on the last eight years of each other’s lives. It was sweet, a little bit swoony, and a little bit spicy, which is always a banging combination. Obviously, this series is part of a bigger Kaciverse, with mentions of previous characters and relationships in the two earlier series. It’s definitely not necessary to have read those series before this one, but I do feel like I would have enjoyed and appreciated the namedrops more if I actually knew the characters. But that just means I now get to go back and read about all these characters I’ve heard snippets about! I find it interesting that this is touted as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, because while I can kind of see the vibes, at no point during the book did I even think I was reading something inspired by Beauty and the Beast. If you’re coming into this thinking you’re going to be reading a cowboy version of the beloved fairy tale, I feel like you’re going to be a little disappointed. The story definitely could have benefited from being a little longer. I really wanted to see more exploration of Dash’s time in the military - he was obviously injured and was no longer going by Corey upon his return, so I wanted to see those conversations with Sky since she would obviously have questions. It’s clear that Kaci glossed over the nitty gritty of such a topic by saying that the characters discussed what had happened over the past eight years in both their lives, but Dash’s time in the military and his anonymous return to Walker Lake are an important element in the story and his reconnection with Sky. It just would have been nice to add that extra depth to the story. If you’re ready to take a ride on the wild side and fall in love on a ranch, this is the place to start! |
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