4⭐️ 3-4🌶️
MOOD: adventurous, emotional, lighthearted
TROPES: age gap, forced proximity, ex's dad, grumpy/sunshine-lite
GENRES: contemporary romance, cowboy romance

MAIN CHARACTERS: Layla Birch and Colton Wilder

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The characters are interesting and work well together - especially the grumpy/ kind-of-sunshine mix of Colton and Layla. However, I seem to have an issue with finishing Elliott Rose ARCs on time. I got this in June and got stuck about halfway through and just didn't pick it back up again for the longest time.

THE GOOD: As always with Elliott Rose books, if you're looking for characters with an interesting backstory and lots of spicy scenes then this book will not disappoint. There's a great mix of character growth, b-plot to keep things interesting, and sexual tension to keep things going until everyone gets on the same page. Crimson Ridge is an interesting place with potentially intriguing characters and I look forward to more books in this series.
THE NEUTRAL: There was a time jump in the beginning that felt not necessary but I get it because the characters did need to be introduced to each other somehow. It was also a little odd that 5 months seemed to be to the go to number for time jumps in the book. The amount of times that the mountain pass gets blocks also feels a little ridiculous and could be why I had a hard time with reading this straight through and took a break; I know it was to keep the characters together but it broke my suspension of disbelief.
THE MEH: I don't want to spoil anything but the 3rd act drama felt very forced and not realistic for these characters after the amount of time they spent together. Also, for people who don't want children, neither of the main characters have done anything permanent about that which seemed odd only because this author has had other characters in other books get a vasectomy.

DISCLAIMER: I received an advance review copy. This is my honest review.