For Joey

Rockland Ranch #4

by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

He didn’t mean to mislead her.She didn’t mean to fall in love with him.Joey Rockland is the only sister among 6 brothers on the sprawling Rockland Ranch. Leggy, beautiful, and the best darn exotic sports car mechanic in the whole valley, Joey has lots of male admirers, but no one who actually makes her feel emotional fireworks—until an intriguing and hunky Easterner shows up. Burnt out with high society, lonely, and mourning his father’s recent death, when New York banking tycoon Michael Morgan accepts a friend’s offer to use his remote ranch house in Wyoming, he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. Thinking he will lick his wounds alone and unknown out west, Michael is surprised when even though he doesn’t tell anyone who or what he is, he’s cheerfully swallowed up into the huge Rockland family. Their world of brown eggs, homemade bread, anonymous acts of service, and unlocked doors is like a foreign country to him sometimes. Still, their slightly boisterous, yet always entertaining welcome is exactly what his thrashed spirit needs. Now if he can just make Joey realize that he’s exactly what she needs as well.

Genres: Romance, Lds Fiction, Lds, Clean Romance

334 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 25, 2014

About the author

Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and a large number of pets. (It was never boring!)

She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career, and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth, and hearing her children laugh.

She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series

It's been so long since I've read the last Rockland Ranch books that I'd forgotten how much I LOVE this series and the family it surrounds. It was fun to read Joey's story, though she was infuriating towards the end. Her punishment for Michael was getting ridiculous. :) I adored this book and it definitely makes me want to re-read all other stories. Beautiful story!

Lds clean romance

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have loved reading about Joey in all the other Rockland ranch books. She was always strong and confident. Enter HER story and she gets all whiny and wishy washy. I wanted to reach through the book and slap some sense into her! That said, I still enjoyed the book, just not nearly as much as the rest of the series.
language: clean, heat level: mild

[Lawrence Sim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gentle romance with unfortunate homophobic elements

I enjoyed this sweet, heartfelt romance but wanted to make a comment about the homophobic aspects. There is a subplot where Joey initially assumes that Michael is gay, and the language and attitudes around this were jarring to me because they came from the Rockland family, who are written as true disciples of Christ. I understand that the church does not accept homosexual marriage, but I struggled with the term “deviant”, the phrase “not approve of the lifestyle” and most of all with the sentiment expressed by many of the characters that being gay was a serious character flaw, and that Joey was being extraordinarily selfless to befriend a man who she assumed to be gay. I am fairly new to the church, but felt like these attitudes were less than truly loving. I would love to see the author write about a homosexual character in the future and help to show the extraordinary sacrifice to the gospel that gay covenant keeping members make.

[Rachael Dorronsoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it was another great read and I loved reading the story of Joey, I was a little disappointed when Joey wouldn't forgive Michael because he didn't tell her exactly who he was. The story does get better at the end and I did enjoy the setting, the romance and the fun clean read.

[Valerie Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn. I really liked the story but it was sooo wordy. It drove me crazy. And the editing!!! Ugh!!! There were sentences that were split in half and another sentence added in the middle. Or partial sentences. Or the worst was the comma being used instead of quotation marks! 🙄

[Stephanie Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eternity

Joey is looking for fireworks. She might have found some but fireworks are a strong emotion. Emotions are hard for everyone to deal with.

[Cora Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peaceful & relaxing series warning to last forever

This book points out the good of God and the evil of Satan when with the omission of full disclosure. God and Love win in the end! Wonderful series! I have laughed more with the antics and actions of this whole family than with any other "series" I have read. Can't wait to read of the younger brothers antics at finding love-Hope Ms. Hawkes imagination allows her to continue the Rockland Ranch Series. Although there are a lot of spelling, punctuation & typographical errors in book series 4; it is still an enjoyment to read!

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

I really like this series of romances. Love the characters both the old and the new ones. Love the family closeness to each other, love the scenery. That it is a good clean read that you don't want to put down.

Did not like how all of a sudden Joey lost her confidence for so long. It just did not seem real to me. Maybe it was because she was feeling pain and trapped.

Joey loves cars. even wants to design safer cars. She works on the family ranch. She is the only girl with 7 brothers. She has lots of guys wanting to marry her but she is holding out for love. One is a famous singer, one a doctor. She is talented, beautiful, kind and caring. She sees Michael in trouble and wants to help him.

Michael Morgan is a strong character. His father just died and he is morning. He gets out of town and stays at a friends house he just received. Michael is finding out that small town is a lot different than New York City. He is a banker, writes music and is rich.

Joey and her mom want to help Michael heal. They offer food, company and animals to help. In fact her whole family befriend him.

Michael actually knows two of the women that have married into the Rockland family. They know more about him in different ways, and keep his secrets.

Does talk about prayer, That their is life after death. That they believe in a heaven.

I bought this story from Amazon and have another couple of her books to read. I like Jaclyn M. Hawkes
I have read a few of her books and have enjoyed them. You can find my other reviews below.

Once Enchanted A love story (Rockland Ranch Series) by Jaclyn M. Hawkes 4 STARS
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...

Peace River (Rockland Ranch Series) by Jaclyn Hawkes 5 stars
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...

Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) by Jaclyn M. Hawkes 5 STARS
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...

Warrior's Moon by Jaclyn M. Hawkes 5 STARS
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...

[Tausha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to read Joey's story. You meet Joey in the other Rockland Ranch books about her brothers and her character is so strong. I couldn't wait for her to have her happily ever after. I loved the first several chapters and fell in love with Joey and Michael. Then as the story continued I found myself so frustrated with Joey. I could relate to her frustration and feelings of betrayal but she held on to them for way to looooong! I still really liked it and am glad she found her HEA. Good clean read, just dragged a little in the middle when I truly wanted to have a heart to heart with Joey and tell her to snap out of it. lol Fun story!

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ranking 2.5. I have read nearly all of Hawkes' novels and really liked them. I have particularly liked the Rockland Ranch series because I like the family. However, I am somewhat disappointed in this story. The "conflict" did not feel real--I would have preferred some outside threat or problem rather than this misunderstanding that really was beneath the characters' characters. It grew tedious.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the rest of this series, so I was super excited for this story. I love the Rockland family-especially Joey. I liked Michael & could relate to him right from the beginning. I enjoyed the romance between the two, especially their banter.
language: clean, heat level:mild

[Lainie Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her Books JUST GET BETTER AND BETTER

It is 342am and I just finished this book. COULDN'T put it down. I LOVED everything about this book. The entire story was riveting, healing, hopeful and faith building. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read stories that uplift and entertain at the same time . ABSOLUTELY Wonderful.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Jaclyn Hawkes books! Especially the Rockland Ranch family! Each story is full of funny moments, drama, conflict or romance with a bit of heat! Love that Joey gets her own story and falls for a guy that is way more than he seems to be. The relationship keeps Joey guessing and kept me intrigued. Loved it!

[mary Ethington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was more of a 3.5 because there were several things that I liked and and replayed in my mind and then thinks that drove me nuts. Namely, her issues of being so mad at him and not believing him for so long. She refused to see how he treated her, what he was saying and how she felt as truth, that bothered me. Especially since they protrayed her as this confident women. Anyway, it was cute.

[Nellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this story. The Characters are inspiring, and it is very clean, romantic, and fun. HOWEVER...the editing is horrendous. I'm sure it wasn't even edited....or even double checked. Crazy. I love this series, and will love reading more if she writes more.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I've really enjoyed this series. My struggle is with Joey all of a sudden becoming so untrusting and losing that strong personality for a good part of the book. Michael was a very patient man, loved him! It was fun seeing the rest of the family from the other books again.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was fun to finally get Joey's story. I love the Rockland clan, and Michael is a nice addition. I hope books about the rest of the kids come out soon.

Content: clean - some mild description of injuries

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of emotion and such vivid scenery descriptions.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the Rockland Series!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read

I thought it was a fun read. It kept me wanting to keep going until the end. I would recommend it to others.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reread this book and liked it better the second time.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love jaclyn's books, especially the Rockland ranch series. So fun to get Joey's story and still learn more of her brothers. Great book!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite of the series. The 3 previous had a mini epilogue including a marriage or a baby, this one just ended. I felt like it was unfinished.

[Celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I have liked all the books in this series so far, but I was super annoyed with the conflict in the romantic relationship with this book. This is a LDS romance.

[Kristen Robison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Rockland series,

[Carisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Sweet sweet love story.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read some of the other Rockland Ranch stories and enjoy the characters and setting. This started off strong, but got bogged down for me, so I skipped to the end.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a fun book that will make you smile in the end. I wish I had her problem when I was her age

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there were more in the series.

[Mindie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great romance by Jaclyn Hawkes. Can't wait for the next book in this series.