Shared by the Mountain Men

by Cassie Cole

One desperate woman. Three rugged mountain men.

I quit my job and flew to Colorado to hike a 500 mile trail.
Yeah, I know. Stupid idea.
Spraining my ankle on day seven was even dumber.
Until I was rescued by a trio of chiseled mountain men.

Now I’m recovering in a quaint mountain town.
Just a week or two until I’m healthy enough to resume hiking.
And how do I decide to spend my time?
Falling for my three rugged rescuers.

Jack’s the kind of guy who mixes teasing with his flirty glances, and looks way too good while doing it.
Noah, the mountain doctor who fixes my ankle and whose warm touch leaves me wanting more.
And Ash, the untouchable, tattoo-covered heartbreaker who refuses to let anyone get close—until me.

Can I figure out my life—and my heart—before I return to the trail?
Or will I find a new home in the mountains?

SHARED BY THE MOUNTAIN MEN is sweet-and-spicy reverse harem romance. It’s a standalone novel without any cliffhangers—and a guaranteed HEA!

Genres: Romance, Why Choose, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Multiple Partners

324 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2024

About the author

Cassie Cole is a romance author living in Norfolk, Virginia. A polygamist/polyamorist at heart, she thinks Romance is best when served in threes, fours, and fives!

Reviews

[Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reverse harem mountain men standalone romance!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💜🩷💙💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎
Character development: ☹️😄😍😮
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Melissa - she had a midlife crisis at age 29 after dealing with her cheating boyfriend for months. She decided to forgive him; they went through couples therapy and then she caught him at it again last month. After that, when she started slacking off at her job and in other areas of her life, she found the book Wild and watched the Reese Witherspoon movie based on it. She quit her job, spent a bundle on hiking and camping equipment and decided she would reclaim her life the same way the character in that movie did. She goes to Durango, Colorado to hike all 486 miles of the Colorado Trail.

The Story: Melissa has been miserable all seven days she has been hiking the trail. She wasn’t getting as far as she expected each day due to the elevation and thin air, she had blisters on her feet and found that she really doesn’t like camping. She was ready to be done though she had more than 400 miles to go, when she rolled her ankle, fell and scraped her knee and wrists. She was bleeding from the wrists and knee and couldn’t walk on the ankle. Not to mention the fact that her water bottle broke all over her supplies. Then she sees one of the biggest men she ever saw, carrying an axe.

The Heroes: Jack, Noah, Ash - Three men who lived in a small town, high in the Colorado Rockies.
Jack - he is a cocky charmer. He loves to tease, and he is often argumentative. He meets Melissa while he is clearing the trails and helps her after she hurts her ankle. He has a habit of picking up strays.
Noah - he is a doctor that works at the Crested Butte Medical Center. Handsome, and friendly, he is very caring and loves to help people.
Ash - a broody and grumpy mystery, he is massive and covered in muscles and tattoos. His eyes are as hard as stone. He had moved to the mountains to escape humanity.

Melissa was less than friendly after Jack helped her by taking her to the clinic, though he made share his friend Noah would help her off the books. Melissa hadn’t been too happy she was taken to a town so far from the trail. After seeing the doctor, she ended up in a cute little place with small cabins, only to find that Jack owned the place. Frankly I didn’t like Melissa much at the start of the book, she argued with Jack for no reason and was being stubborn and cranky when he was just trying to help. As the story went along, it became clear that arguing was just the way Jack and Melissa dealt with each other.

I have read a bunch of Cassie Cole’s reverse harem romances in the past and have liked them because they are standalone’s and also many of them have a good suspenseful side storyline. This book didn’t have a storyline like that but was more about each of the three men and their issues and the fact that they were all wanting Melissa. She got to know each of the guys separately which I liked, while taking in the sights and activities available in the mountain town. She did things like going climbing, mountain biking and four wheeling.

This audiobook was told in multiple points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Ramona Radcliffe and Julio Maxwell. Both of these narrators are new to me. Ramona has a nice, clear voice that is pleasant, but you can tell by her tempo that she is reading and her attempts to be expressive sound a bit like overacting and make the conversations sound simple and stilted. Her voice for male characters isn’t bad, though it isn’t all that different from her female voice. Julio Maxwell has a deep, gravelly voice. He does a decent job at using different voices for different characters.

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[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just okay, as far as reverse harems go. The main problems were the heroine being kind of unlikable and the way the ending took a sudden left turn out of no where, like the author had a deadline and just cut the story off.



The story begins with the heroine, Melissa, walking on a trail in Colorado. We quickly learn that Melissa is an idiot. She caught her boyfriend cheating on her and because she'd recently watched that movie where Reese Witherspoon walked the Pacific Crest, she decides she's going to quit her job and do the same thing, only with a shorter trail. She has never hiked a day in her life before, nor done any camping, but she's bound and determined to do this because it'll somehow mean she's taking control of her life. But here we are, 7 days into her trip, and she's completely miserable. She's got blisters on her feet, she hates sleeping on the hard ground, and she's not covering nearly as much distance per day as she thought because she didn't bother to take time to acclimate to the higher altitude before setting out.

Melissa quickly takes a tumble down a slope and badly sprains her ankle. So badly, in fact, that it was described as being the size of a softball twice in the same scene. Lucky for her, though, Jack just happens to be there and can rescue her. Melissa acts like a total bitch in this scene. I mean, I understand that she should be wary of muscle bound strangers she meets on the trail but, like, she's incapacitated right now and he represents her only chance of getting help. Telling him to get lost really makes her TSTL. Literally. She could legit DIE without help and yet she does her best to chase off the only other person around just because she feels like being stubborn.

Jack still agrees to help her, though, and he and one of our other heroes, Ash, get Melissa to their Jeep. Jack even agrees to take her to a place he knows of where she can get free medical care, because she says she's broke. Once in the Jeep, Melissa immediately falls asleep, despite her supposedly being so suspicious of these men that she had to be a total bitch to them a few minutes ago. When she wakes up, she finds they've driven her 2 hours away from where they were and she goes on a rant about that too. She's seriously just a nasty, ungrateful brat throughout the whole thing, and yet the author keeps having other people in the story say that Jack is "grumpy" as if he deserves her nastiness.

The doctor turns out to be our third hero, Noah. Melissa is instantly in lust with this handsome doctor, emphasis on the doctor part. Yeah, she stressed this in her inner monologue several times in a way that made her seem very mercenary. Like "he's such a stud, and he's a freaking DOCTOR!" Over and over that happened. And believe me, it wasn't his dedication to healing the needy that made her have that reaction.

Doctor Noah doesn't really do much, though. He feels her ankle and wraps it up but doesn't even x-ray it or anything because that would cost money. And he tells her to stay off of it, but then doesn't even give her a pair of crutches or anything to help with that. And for the entire rest of the book, Melissa just keeps walking around or this supposedly injured ankle like it ain't no thang. So the ankle was a serious example of plot contrivance. It was there to be the inciting incident, and to act as the excuse that kept her in close proximity to the men for the duration of the story, but otherwise didn't prevent her from doing ANYTHING. Seriously, while she was allegedly so laid up with this injury that she couldn't go back to her hike, she went rock climbing, mountain biking, ATVing, and Kayaking, not to mention all the sex and frequent trips into town. But yeah, sure, her ankle is super hurt, you guys...

Noah asks Melissa out on a date and she agrees. Then Noah's helpful assistant calls in a favor to get Melissa, whom she has NEVER met before today, free lodgings. And guess who owns those lodgings? Why it's Jack, of course. And he agrees to let her stay in one of his luxury cabins, for free, and even turns away paying customers because we're supposed to believe he felt instantly in lust with our waspish heroine.

Jack gets jealous when he realizes Noah and Melissa have a date and he tries to warn Noah off - for Noah's own good of course. Jack just doesn't want Noah to get hurt when this woman clearly isn't staying in town. Melissa also runs into Ash pretty much everywhere she goes because it turns out he's got more jobs than Uncle Rukus. She finds Ash intimidating because he's gigantic and covered in tattoos. Then out of no where Ash hands her a bike and says she can use it to get around town without having to walk and aggravate her ankle. She doesn't know what to make of this but is grateful for the bike.

Her date with Noah goes well and when they go back to his house so he can show her his model airplane collection (seriously) she finally makes the first move and they have sex all night. The next morning she learns that Ash lives on Noah's property, but insists on camping in a tent outside instead of staying in the guest room. Noah assures Melissa that Ash is harmless and a great guy, despite his appearance. He's also very surprised to hear that Ash gave her his prized yellow bike to use because it's apparently the thing Ash loves most in this world.

Melissa wanders around town the next day and sees an ad for Via Ferrata climbing, which is like rock climbing only on metal poles and steps already affixed to the rock. So she goes and guess who is her teacher? Why it's Ash, of course! During their climb they bond a little and things are going well until Ash reveals that he was in prison for two years.

This was very awkwardly shoehorned into the dialogue. I don't remember the exact dates but they were talking about where he'd lived and he said something like "I lived in X place from 2015-2019, then moved here in 2021." Making it REALLY OBVIOUS that there was an unaccounted for 2 year gap in his timeline so that it could allow Melissa to say "what about the time from 2019-2021?" and he could drop in the fact that time was spent in prison. It also didn't jive with Ash's character for him to do this since he'd barely spoken five words the whole rest of the book. It was very clear he was a taciturn guy who preferred to keep his business to himself...and yet he just drops this bombshell into a conversation with a girl he just met, while they're in the middle of rock climbing? Sure, I believe that.

Anyway, Melissa is so freaked out by this news that she falls off the wall and has to be helped back up by Ash. She was never really in any danger, thanks to the ropes and harnesses, but still, this is exactly why you don't say distracting things to your climbing partner while on the rock face.

Once they get back down and part company, Melissa make it her fucking MISSION to find out what Ash had been convicted of. Seriously, she was WAY over the top when it was NONE OF HER FUCKING BUSINESS. She tried to get both Jack and Noah to tell her, which they refused to do. She even tried doing a google search to see if she could find the court records. I hated every bit of this. There's no reason why she needed this information. She's allegedly leaving as soon as her ankle heals, so she'd never see Ash again. And he's clearly a very private person. So how about you fucking respect his privacy and let him keep his secrets when your only reason for wanting to know is idle curiosity?

When Melissa can't find out any other way, she decides to try to pull the info out of Ash himself. She's learned that another one of his jobs is as a mountain biking instructor. So, even though she has ZERO interest in mountain biking, she books a lesson with him for the sole purpose of trying to find out about his jail time. This woman is a monster. Ash is surprised to see her but takes her on the trails without a word. After one round of rides, they go back to the top and she decides to just straight up ask him. He gets pissed off and says the lesson is over and leaves her at the top of the advanced trail to find her own way down. Which is kind of fucked up, but she really deserved it so I call them even.

Melissa then feels bad that she ruined her "relationship" with Ash so she starts cozying up to Jack instead. Only their cozying involves a lot of taking pot shots at each other while sharing a bottle of booze. The next day Ash appears and insists on taking Melissa back to the via ferrata. It's basically a "get back on that horse" thing. He just "knows" that she needs to overcome the course after her fall or else...vague consequences. So, they do that and make it all the way to the top without incident. They're sitting alone together sharing some Gatorade when he finally just tells her all about his crime.

Basically, he and a friend were going through security at the airport together when the alarms went off. His friend had apparently "forgotten" to take his unlicensed, unregistered guns with their serial numbers filed off out of his bag and now he was freaking out that his life would be ruined. He'd had a wife, kids and a job with some kind of security clearance lined up so Ash had decided to take the fall for him. He didn't know the guns were purchased under shady circumstances nor that they had their serial numbers filed off, so what might have been a slap on the wrist turned into 2 years in jail. In that time Ash's girlfriend (wife? I forget) basically cheated on him the whole time and left him. His friend knew about it but didn't say anything because he figured it would just make Ash's time on the inside worse. The friend eventually drifted away too, likely out of guilt. So when Ash was finally released, he didn't even have anyone to pick him up from the jail. He'd lost everything, and now had a felony on his record, for a guy who wouldn't even talk to him anymore. His record, coupled with his appearance as a gigantic, musclebound and tattooed guy, made people assume he was no good, so he mostly kept to himself. It took years for him to allow Jack and Noah close enough to call them friends.

This was fine, as far as backstories goes, but I didn't believe Ash would share all this with Melissa when he's only known her for a couple of days. I guess we're supposed to believe that he finds her to be "special" but nothing in their interactions together bore that out. They've barely spoken and we, the reader, know she's not worthy of his confidence since she'd been running around town trying to ferret out his deep dark secret just because she's a gossipy bitch. So this scene felt kind of hollow to me.

Then Melissa kisses Ash. He kisses her back at first, but then pulls her off and says she shouldn't have done that. After all, she's already in a relationship with Noah, Ash's best friend. They return down the mountain and drive back home in silence. When Noah returns from a short business trip, she goes back to his place and sleeps with him again without coming clean. Then they look out the window and see that Ash has started a fire outside his tent, so Noah insists they go down and sit with him. After a few drinks, Melissa finally feels guilty and blurts out that she and Ash kissed. Jokes on her, though, because Noah already knows. Ash told him about it right away because they're friends.

Here we learn that Ash and Noah have already had a threesome together with Noah's former girlfriend. They don't mind sharing. Melissa is intrigued by this and demands to know EVERYTHING. Seriously, she wants them to tell her every single detail of their threesome with this other woman which was...a choice. She then demands that they do everything to her EXACTLY as they'd done it with this other woman. So they go off and have a threesome. Melissa's fixation on doing everything exactly the same was really weird and distracting, in my opinion. How is it sexy to ask these men to be thinking about another woman the whole time they're fucking her? Why wouldn't she want the event to progress organically, letting things develop on their own, rather than demand it all be enacted according to a strict script? But this is the story we're given.

So, that happens. Then Melissa goes back to her cabin on Jack's property and pretty soon he and she get into a fight. He tells her she needs to shove off. That her ankle is clearly better and she doesn't need to stick around using his free cabin anymore. It was kind of a bizarre scene because Melissa yells about how it's obvious Jack doesn't like her and he yells that he likes her a lot. Too much. He's shaken with how much he likes her and that's why she needs to go because he knows she's not staying. Melissa hears this confession and just...does nothing with it? It gets glossed over really fast and they just keep arguing. Melissa has picked up some hints that Jack has a history with someone named Sam and that's made him into the grouchy, risk-averse-in-love guy he is today. So, she calls him a coward and throws Sam in his face, even though she knows so little about what went down with Sam that she thinks Sam is a man. It also slips out during this argument that Melissa has been with Ash already too, which Jack is not happy about.

Melissa goes back to her cabin for the night and texts Noah to ask if she can stay with him for a while. Noah happily agrees, saying she can move in tomorrow. Next morning, Jack knocks on her door and as soon as she opens it, he basically pounces on her and they embark on a 36 hour sex marathon. Which was a bit hard to believe considering Jack has a business to run. During this time he also explains about his ex, Samantha, who helped him build the business. Things were great while they were building it but once it was built suddenly she saw it only as something tying her down to one place. So, she just up and left without a word and never came back. She's married now with kids and living in Florida.

Once that is all done, Melissa starts thinking about maybe sticking around in this town for longer. Sure, she doesn't have a job and is living off the hospitality of the three guys she's fucking, but she's in no rush, really. Right after she's had this little epiphany, Jack suddenly blurts out a question of whether she'd like to stay in their town. You know, permanently. Move there?

Melissa FREAKS THE FUCK OUT and says she's got to leave. Right that second. She's got to finish her hike. The one she hasn't thought about a single time the whole book and that she was miserable doing when the book opened? Yeah, that hike is now SO important to her that she can't bear the thought of leaving it incomplete. So she runs off, packs her stuff, and calls a taxi to take her the 2 hours back to the trail.

Jack reproaches himself for mishandling his spur-of-the-moment invitation and wallows a bit about how Melissa is leaving him just like Sam did. But then he decides that Melissa is too special (why, exactly?) to let her just run out of his life. So, he calls Ash and Noah and together they go tearing after her. They catch up to her taxi and force it to pull over. Then they tell her that they're not going to stop her. They know she "needs" to finish her hike (despite her never once saying anything of the kind). They're going to help her get there, and they've brought her some things to make the trip better. Jack gives her a hatchet. Ash his $1000 sleeping mat. And Noah somehow has a ton of camping rations (that's right, Melissa ran off so fast she didn't even pack any food to take with her). They give her a nice send-off and wish her well.

Then we fast forward through her entire 400 mile walk. Apparently it goes much better this time. She's not as tired, thanks to the sleeping mat, and she's better adjusted to the altitude thanks to her stay with men. On her last three days on the trail she wakes up to find one of the men outside her tent in the morning. He cooks her breakfast and walks with her for the day. Then she makes camp and during the night her companion disappears to be replaced by the next guy. She walks the last few miles on her own and men are all waiting for her at the end of the trail along with her parents and brother.

They all go out to dinner and then Melissa goes back with the men. The story wraps up in a "happy for now" kind of ending where Melissa has not in anyway decided that she's in this relationship for the long haul. No one has exchanged ILYs or anything like that. They just agree to go back to their town and keep taking turns having sex in 2's, 3's, and 4's and see where things go from there. The end.

It was a strange ending. I didn't understand Melissa's sudden panic and desperation to run away when it happened. Like, yeah, in a normal relationship it would be weird for a guy you'd only known for a week to ask you to stay in his town forever, but this is not a normal relationship. I mean, she'd slept with all three of these guys multiple times after only knowing them for a day or two. The whole relationship has moved VERY quickly. So it's not like Jack was totally off the reservation here. And in pretty much every romance novel the happy couple move to "forever" status in what in real life would be a ridiculously short timeline. So, trying to pull a "that's not realistic" card here just doesn't fly. And, like, she could have just said no? Her rushing off to the trail with no supplies just makes her an idiot.

And the author tried to make out like finishing the trail was some super important and symbolic "taking back my life" kind of thing for Melissa at the end but it just didn't work because she hadn't thought about the hike the entire rest of the book. And there wasn't really enough backstory to make it symbolic of anything. It would have been one thing if she'd been dying to do this hike for a while but everyone in her life, her ex-boyfriend, her coworkers, even her parents, had always told her that she couldn't do it. That she never stuck with anything long enough to see it through, etc. Then it would have meant something for her to finish. This was just dumb "I saw a movie so I'm going to do that but still pretend it's profound," BS. So, the sudden race to complete it felt more like the author didn't know how else to bring about a conclusion to the story than anything else.

I'm also not fond of "happy for now" ending since it feels like I wasted my time reading the book. Oh well. Better luck next time.

[alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

･ ｡ﾟ☆:Shared by the Mountain Men *.☽ .*:☆ﾟ

⁺₊★·.´🎧✩°｡ 0:56 ──♡───── 3:32 ⁺₊🎧★·.·´

🎶 "He said, "Let's get out of this town. Drive out of the city, away from the crowds"" 🎶

Melissa’s (h) spontaneous decision to hike a 500-mile trail in Colorado leads to disaster when she sprains her ankle on day seven. Rescued by three rugged mountain men, she finds herself recuperating in a quaint mountain town. As she heals, Melissa is drawn to Jack (H), the playful flirt; Noah (H), the caring doctor; and Ash (H), the enigmatic, tattooed heartbreaker who’s determined not to let anyone get too close—until her.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: THOUGHTS*.☽ .*:☆ﾟ. ───

I had the misfortune of reading about Melissa . She was intolerable and put her nose in places where it didn’t belong, seeking answers she didn’t need to know. She was pushy and wanted to know details that didn’t pertain to her or were about events before her time (e.g., why Ash went to prison, the Noah/Ash threesome, etc.). Melissa, sweetheart, who said you were entitled to that information? She even threatened to leave the room if they didn’t tell her more—girl, GO! Then she initiated the threesome after hearing about their date, but it came off as desperate and pushy, not in an attractive leading-lady way, but in a way that made one feel secondhand embarrassment. She even asked if it was slutty to be attracted to two guys at the same time—girl, get with the program or LEAVE . No one is forcing her against her will to be with Ash and Noah. I don’t know what they liked about her; just hearing her talk and her inner thoughts gave me a headache. Then there was the prude-shaming from Ash. There is nothing wrong with being sexually reserved if that’s what someone wants. They had some insane takes. While Melissa, Noah, and Ash were having a threesome, they were doing everything they had done with the girl they shared before, and Melissa was egging them on. That’s not attractive or erotic; that’s a turn-off. Then she asked how it compared to the first threesome—girl, mind your business, DAMN.

[Noah]

“Sorry,” I said, “I thought you were someone else.”

“You thought I was Jackie. He told me you were grumpy, but don’t worry—he seems to have that effect on everyone. I’m Doctor Richardson, but everyone calls me Noah.

Noah never wanted to get involved with a patient, but Melissa wouldn’t back off . She pushed him every chance she got, making all these suggestive comments and hints that eventually wore him down. Don’t get me wrong, he was definitely interested, but the whole “no patients” rule was there for a reason. Technically, though, she wasn’t really a patient anymore, so that was his excuse to give in without feeling too guilty. The real issue? Noah isn’t the hook-up type. He’s always the guy who falls hard and fast, the one who does commitment, so for Melissa to be a temporary fling was totally out of character for him. And what bothered me more was that she kept pushing, knowing she was going to leave, which felt so inconsiderate of him and his whole "settle down" vibe. Even Ash and Jack warned him about getting too close, but it all happened so fast—within a week, she was already sleeping at his place. Like, the guy’s basically a stage 10 clinger at this point. I honestly just think he wanted to settle down so bad that he went for the first person who wasn’t a local.

[Ash]

“What’s this for?” I asked.

“To move around town,” he rumbled, eyes shining.

“I don’t need…”

“Noah asked,” Ash cut in, voice soft and yet commanding. “Better for your ankle.”

His whole personality seemed to be working a million jobs and having a past that landed him in prison for something he didn’t even do. Meanwhile, Melissa was acting like he was this huge threat just because of his body and the way he carried himself. It really bugged me that she made him out to be some kind of villain just because he’d been in prison. Like, it’s not her business why he was there, and she has no right to demand to know. It’s his past, and if he wants to keep it to himself, that’s totally his choice. And if he wants to sleep outside because he has privacy issues, that’s also his right. Melissa knew him for, what, like a week? And she already thinks she has the right to dictate what he does with his life? Girl, seriously, go home and stop acting like you can control everything.

[Jack]

“Go home and drink yourself to sleep,” I hissed. “I don’t care.”

“Fine by me,” he snapped, fire flaring in his dark eyes. “Good luck finding a ride back to the trail with your busted ankle, because I’m done helping you.”

He’s known her for barely a week, maybe even less, and already he’s telling her he’s obsessed with her and that she’s so attractive—despite being a total jerk the entire time. And to make things worse, he asks her to stay in their town and quit her job back home. Honestly, I would’ve left just as quickly as she did. Melissa completely flipped her life upside down for guys she barely knew, and that’s wild. Jack apologized for coming on too strong, but the fact that he got so obsessed within a week and expected her to drop everything for him is a huge red flag. Then, he gets upset because she doesn’t do it? What did he seriously expect? He wasn’t in the right headspace, and now he’s thinking of settling down with someone he just met. He’s definitely something—just not the good kind.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: OVERALL*.☽ .*:☆ﾟ. ───

Honestly, I have no idea how she just dropped everything for some random mountain man she met less than a month ago. It's honestly wild to think about—changing her whole life for someone she barely knows? That's next-level unhinged. Sometimes I can kind of get on board with impulsive decisions, like, yeah, people change and take risks, but this one? It feels way too extreme. There’s a difference between following your heart and just straight-up abandoning your whole life for someone you’ve barely spent time with.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!

The characters are great, story is interesting & there is some SPICY heat going on too! You’ll enjoy this one for sure.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost never DNF a book, but I am DONE with this one.
Melissa is a bitch. Like, not just a little bit bratty, like full on bitch. She is HORRIBLE to Jack from the beginning, literally calling him an asshole as he's rescuing her, getting her free medical care, and housing while she recovers. There's a whole scene in which she can't bring herself to say "please may I stay in your cabin." And decides she's going to sleep in a tent on the side of the road instead until he gives in.

Her behavior with the Ash and Noah is wildly manipulative, intrusive, and invasive. Maybe she matures later, but I just don't think I can handle a redemption arc for a character who tackles something completely unprepared, and then blames everyone else when things don't go the way she wants, and treats people she's meant to care about like shit.

We're, presumably, meant to believe that Melissa's mom is an unsupportive harpy in a bid to build up her persona of a victim of faye, but honestly the scenes of their conversations just make you think, "that apple didn't fall far."

Giving it two stars because the writing wasn't horrible, but I'm probably not going to pick up another Cassie Cole book because this one left such a gross taste in my mouth.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melissa is on an early midlife crisis. Her boyfriend cheated on her twice and the second time was after counseling. Soooooo she quit her job and decided to hike a trail in Colorado. She's doing ok not great like she hoped but she's getting miles in until she twists her ankle. She screams.
Jack hears a scream and goes to investigates. He finds a beautiful woman who needs help. He is very grumpy and helps her until a friend comes along.
Ash comes by on his bike and helps his friend to get the woman to medical help.
Noah is a doctor in a small town and is surprised when his two friends bring in a beautiful woman who needs medical help.
Three men who recognize the beauty of the woman but understand that she is in town only till her ankle heals. Jack warns them to stay away from her. Nothing good can come from it. Ash is mistrustful of everyone except his two friends and even that is stretched. Noah is a healer and enjoys his job helping his town. But Melissa coming into their lives stirs up memories and emotions that will be hard to handle.
Will they all be able to get past their issues to find happiness?
A fantastic story with lots of emotions.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Bookworm Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this from the start. Melissa has given up her old life after being cheated on for a second time by her boyfriend and taken on a life changing challenge to walk the Colorado Trail. Unfortunately she sprains her ankle but fear not hunk No 1 Jack, comes to her rescue then aided by hunk No 2 Ash carries her over his shoulder to his vehicle and he takes her to see their other friend hunk No 3, Noah who is the local doctor. Grumpy Jack offers to put her up in one of his cabins. What's a girl to do - she is attracted to all of them, Noah is the first to 'woo' her, then Ash and lastly Jack. But as she panics and takes off will she find her HEA? A great story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Narelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melissa starts by taking a hike, literally, when she gets into trouble and is rescued by a big, strong man, or three. Jack, Noah and Ash all provide something to help her recovery in this very steamy and sexy read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Vicky Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through hiking in Colorado

Mel was cheated on by her boyfriend, decided to do a through hike to figure out what she wanted. Quit her job when her boss wouldn't give her time off. One week in, sleeps deprived from sleeping on the ground, she rolled her ankle falling. Saved by a mountain man and his friend who took her to see a doctor. The best was yet to come.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melissa needed a change of scenery so she decides to hike a trail in Colorado. She quits her job and decides to focus on the now. A sprained ankle has her recovering in the small town of Crested Butte where she meets Jake, Ash and Noah.

She is definitely attracted to all of them, but started out on this journey to find herself.

[Tanja · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories from Cassie only get better each time!

[Tess · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[Michelle Hazelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

good story

This is a good book I’d recommend it if you enjoy a bit of x rated in books you can skip these parts but what’s the fun in that

[Cass (cass_readsromance) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[🦉Maggie Whitworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋
🥵

A good RH read from Ms Cole , I’ve been a fan of this type of book for a while, this is a wonderfully written and very fun book.
Lots of angst , steam and adventure.

[Corrine A F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👌 good story. And character development. I enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading more from this author. Love a good why choose.

[ChristiLovesBooks_smut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shared by the Mountain Men by Cassie Cole @cassiecoleromance. First off, I am a fan of Cassie’s & this book was no different!

This was a lighthearted book about Melissa, Jack, Ash & Noah that I loved! Tropes: Contemporary RH, no MM, Lumbersnack, Doctor, Grumpy/Sunshine, No true 3rd act breakup but Melissa got scared of the relationship, bolted & there is a HFN ending.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Mountain Rescue
Melissa is on a wild hair - so she decides to hike through the Colorado wilderness. One misstep, and it’s a good thing Noah Jack and Ash are there for a rescue. I really liked Jack, and Noah, and Ash - they all had unique aspects, plus it amused me that they each had a character trait in common with Melissa. Melissa, well, she had some less than desirable characteristics, but she grew on me, and I can appreciate wanting to complete something you’ve started. Plus, this was one steamy and sweet read!

[Larissa Schuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars. Writing felt too flat to me and I didn't find Melissa the female lead very sympathetic - she was a bit too whiny for my liking.

[Janet Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how Melissa knew she had to finish the hike. It showed her strength. Jack, Ash and Noah were such strong men.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

solid book

Was in a book slump definitely help get me out of read it in one day. Quick and witty. The sex was hot too

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow build up to the spice but good

I was initially annoyed because it take so long to get to the threesome, like half way through but this book is written so well! Storyline, characters, relationships- all well done! Very impressed and worth the wait.

[Brooke Rainwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot tamales!

Holy smokes. Get out the fire extinguishers before you read this one!
Just......hot hot HOT! Mel and her men are downright combustible!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

~ Melissa, Jack, Noah and Ash ~

Oh wow! Great story, with excellent characters and a nice build that never felt rushed. Loved it!

[Penny Wissinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

It started slow but it really got good the rest of the book. The area that the book is set in was really visual! The characters were very well written!

[Shelly Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack, Noah, Ash and Mel’s love story
Book Title- Shared by the Mountain Men
Author-Cassie Cole
MMC/FMC- Jack, Noah, Ash and Mel
Genre-Reverse Harem Romance
Length-Novel
Spicy level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🌶️ out of 5 peppers
Tropes-Mountain man, reverse harem, spicy, sweet, HEA
What I liked- I loved each and every part of this book. The steamy scenes are tastefully done and well written. The romance isn't pushed upon. Also, the way the men give her space is something to be written into any book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Robin Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Dream

This was a different mountain man book. First about her dream, but then also hooking up with the three men. I liked it that they were not only supportive of her wishes, but they let her be so she could continue and fulfill her quest. She was determined to find her own way and because of their support, together they got their HEA.

[Janet Rivera-Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shared by the Mountain Men

Hot, sexy, and beautiful story.
Lucky lady with 3 hot guys
I like the story because it starts off slow, giving details of each character and then when it exploded I loved it! Thanks for sharing!!

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing, but pretty cringe…

I’m conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I did honestly like the writing style. On the other, I didn’t like any of the characters: I thought the FMC was pretty juvenile and the MMCs were basically just superficial, empty tropes (cinnamon roll, tattooed loner, and grump). Use of the term “Eskimo brothers” also strikes me as pretty embarrassingly backward in this day and age. Also, what’s the deal with the FMC insisting on EXACTLY replicating the MMCs previous threesome encounter?!? Bit weird, kind of ick. Might try another book by this author but will moderate my expectations.