Wednesday 7 February 2018

Review: Must Love Horses (Lazy S Ranch #2) by Vicki Tharp


The dust hasn’t settled on one woman’s past, but amid the breathtaking hills and valleys of Wyoming’s high country—and with the encouragement of one special man—her spirit won’t be broken . . .

Sydney Teller is as determined as the wild mustangs she was raised to train. Her reckless parents destroyed their reputation in the business—and hers, by association—yet Sydney knows she can prove herself, if she’s just given a chance. That where the Lazy S Ranch, and sexy Bryan “Boomer” Wilcox comes in . . .

Bryan risked life and limb on his tours in Iraq, and he knows damaged goods all too well when he sees them. Problem is, Sydney looks damn fine in a saddle and she’s got moves that can’t be learned. He doubted her at first, but now he wonders if they can navigate life’s obstacle course together—and indulge their own animal instincts . . .

Sydney can’t deny her attraction to Bryan, yet she’s wary of his demons. But when foul play threatens the ranch, and their futures, Bryan gets a chance to rediscover the hero he’s been all along—and Sydney gets to show she’s got what it takes to tame the wildest impulses—in both man and beast .

ebook
Expected publication: February 20th 2018 by Kensington

Terri's Thoughts

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

This is the second in a series and I had not read the first however it can be read as a stand alone.  My only hesitation is that I did not have a love affair with this story so not sure if reading the first story may have improved my view.  I don't think so but you never know.

This story seemed to have an identity crisis to me.  I will start with the title.  It is called Must Love Horses.  While Sydney is a horse trainer and has a back story of her parents being reckless horse trainers, the story is not really centralized around this fact.  Aside from her occupation, I couldn't see where the storyline had anything to do with the love of horses.

Speaking of Sydney, I had a hard time with her as well.  She saw the red flags when it came to Bryan and knew that she could not get involved with him.  Knowing this she still felt the need to throw herself at him at every opportunity even when he warned her he did not do casual.  The mixed messages she threw out were mind dumbing.

Then there was the storyline of their trek in to the mountains.  This may be hard to express without giving away spoilers but I had serious issues with it.  Knowing what they knew concerning recent activity, they still felt it necessary to investigate on their own without back-up.  Seriously?  They just threw themselves in harms way without thinking of the consequences?  While it was necessary for the rest of the plot to unfold, there must have been a better way to take the story in that direction without making the characters look like fools.

Lastly, and this is common to this genre of story and not unique to this only this book, but the way the L word came so easily.  I know that traumatic events can bring emotions to the surface however where was the foundation leading them to this discovery?

Sadly I was not a big fan of this story.  I just felt that some aspect were not developed enough while other aspects took up too much of the storyline.  While Tharps writing was easy to follow, the story just wasn't for me.



About the Author


Vicki Tharp makes her home on small acreage in south Texas with her husband and an embarrassing number of pets. When she isn’t writing or you can usually find her on the back of her horse—avoiding anything that remotely resembles housework—smelling of fly spray, and horse sweat.



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