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Open Skies #1

Open Skies

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Cool, professional, and always in control, Julie Everett’s perfect New York life is rocked when she inherits a Colorado horse ranch from her late father – a man she’s never known. Then one horrible Monday takes away her job, fiancé, and choices, and she gets on the plane to Open Skies Ranch. After all, a quick sale would be ideal…

When Jake Weston hears that the spoiled daughter of his former employer is coming to accept her inheritance, he’s furious. What does a city party girl know about horses, or running a hotel, or anything at all? With every muscled inch of his body, he’s determined to give Julie a hard time, and punish her presumption and arrogance.

Jake soon realizes that what he’s heard about Julie doesn’t add up, and he decides to find out the truth. What he doesn’t expect to uncover is a vulnerable woman, looking to be loved for once in her life. Their passion sizzles hotter than anything either one has ever known before - but can Jake convince Julie that loving him is safe?

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2014

32 people are currently reading
252 people want to read

About the author

Marysol James

36 books252 followers
Marysol James was raised in a small town in Canada and is still a small-town girl at heart. She's a cancer survivor, cinnamon bun lover, and hardcore caffeine addict.

Marysol crosses genres in her writing, happily and enthusiastically. To date, she's published 30 steamy, sexy, slinky Contemporary Erotic Romances spread over five different series, including the Amazon and iBooks best selling 'Unseen Enemy', 'Dangerous Curves', and 'Road Devils MC' series. Her books incorporate action and adventure, suspense, military elements, and some surprising plot twists and turns.

Besides her romances, Marysol also writes crisp, clever, Contemporary Literature. It can be dark and provocative at times, and magical realism features heavily in her books. She loves moving between the worlds of magical realism and glorious romance, and she's grateful every day to be able to do both.

If you'd like to stay on top of her news, please visit her official author's website at www.marysoljames.com

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5 stars
112 (30%)
4 stars
125 (33%)
3 stars
94 (25%)
2 stars
30 (8%)
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7 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
Profile Image for JJH--Judy.
1,089 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2015
Liked premise--just wished it was longer

3 1/2 stars. This is one of those books that I feel I would have absolutely LOVED if it was longer. I did enjoy the authors writing style, and I liked how the H and his friends did not immediately like the h--however I did not even like the h until the story was past the half way mark. My main issue was the lack of build up to the romance. The H and h hate each other, then they're a couple( and I mean full throttle) then they have a falling out, then they're a couple again. I don't have an issue with this storyline, it's just that mixed in were other very detailed events not related to the actual couple, so the back and forth seemed too abrupt--in my opinion, it was just too short of a book to pull it off, and it made me want more. I do enjoy is author, and I will give the next book in this series a try,
Profile Image for Sabrina.
432 reviews29 followers
Read
March 26, 2015
DNF at 63%. Didn´t like the heroine, didnt connect with the hero. Just BLEH.
description
Profile Image for Deborah.
3,840 reviews496 followers
November 14, 2014
It's ok,

Julie Everett has an unusual start to her week, firstly she inherits a vacation ranch, a very successful one at that but one she doesn't want from a father she never knew existed, then she finds herself without a job and when she returns home unexpectedly she finds her fiancé in bed with another woman.
So with no job and no fiancé Julie leaves New York and heads for Open Skies Ranch in Colorado at least if she can sell it then the money will tide her over for a while, but she's not what the staff at the ranch expected and first impressions are not good, to say the least.
Julie's a difficult character, she's hard to like especially early on in the book, even knowing there's more to it than what we see I still nearly stopped reading, I continued on because I wanted to see the real Julie and if I'm being honest I wanted to know if her past justified her behaviour.
It's hard for her at the ranch initially not only because of her personality but because of the preconceived ideas the staff about her.
This book seemed to be missing something and its definitely a slow read also a lot of little things bothered me but not only is this book free but also the next three books are as well Open Arms, Open Eyes and Open Heart which is amazing so I may read Tammy's book after all.
Profile Image for Kate.
2,278 reviews356 followers
December 22, 2014
So this is a freebie read and well it was enjoyable but it didn't knock me off my feet. 3 Open Sky Stars.

Julie lives in New York and it is not your so typical Monday for Julie. She discovers that her father who she has never known has left her his ranch after his death. She is stumped in what to do. On that same morning she loses her job to family taking her income away. She finds out that her boyfriend no sorry fiancé is cheating on her. So what is a girl to do? Call her bestie, get drunk and book a flight to Colorado to inspect her inheritance. The employees at the ranch have been told lies and they believe it all. Okay so I didn't like Julie to begin with but she did grow on me a bit.

Now, Jake Weston with the cowboy name is a good guy but goes off on one for no reason. Julie is a bit cold hearted and well read it yourselves.
Profile Image for Bev .
2,227 reviews481 followers
January 25, 2015
So, if I'm honest I would have probably not finished this one had I not read any of MJ's other books. Why? Because I disliked the h from almost the get go. She came across as cold, cynical, unfeeling and arrogant. Thankfully I didn't give up and once I got her back story I got why she came across so cold.

Jake was another delish MJ alpha male. I love her H's, they are alpha without having to beat their chests about it.

A fab start to the series
Profile Image for RedEnigma94.
772 reviews17 followers
July 8, 2019
Beneath the Surface Lines True Pain

I was really torn reading the first part of this book. My heart was ripped between wanting to slap Julie for being such a b#$%@, and feeling sorry for her because beneath the surface, I understood partly why she was so cold and detached. When she tore into her cheating ex-fiance, and her rat-fink of a former boss, I didn't mind the way she shut down her feelings and really showed them that she was in control. After all, they deserved to be on the receiving end of her ice-cold terror. But I did have a problem with how she treated other people who didn't know her. It's no wonder their first impression of her is "cold, unfeeling b$%#@ ." She really blew me away (not in a good way either) with the front she put on for others! Thank goodness for her best friend, Tammy who knew the real reason she was that way, or for Mattie, the sweet lady who worked at the ranch, and treated Julie like a decent human being regardless of her frosty behavior. I believe Mattie's kindness and willingness to overlook things broke down a few walls with Julie. At least enough for Julie to ask for the truth, and be able to tell her own truth as well.

Jake was a bit of an @$$ too, before he found out the real deal. Once that was resolved, it was like a whole new Julie blossomed right before my eyes, and Jake was more understanding of her feelings. I really came to warm up to Julie after that.The things she endured, the way she grew up--no wonder she crafted those thick walls around herself. She felt unwanted by her parents, and that's a terrible thing for a child. Most kids just ask to be loved and wanted. Inheriting a horse ranch/hotel from the father she never knew was the best thing to ever happen to her; even if was a way to make up for abandoning her and never making it right when he had the chance. Julie was different at the ranch...more free and willing to let go of some of that control that she needed to survive as a child.

Her and Jake were so hot and sexy together. The chemistry between them leaped from the pages. However, I did feel like for 33 and 35, they didn't always handle things like mature adults. Jake, with his insecurities, and Julie, relying on her ability to detach herself from situations when she didn't feel wanted, led to them not communicating honestly about their feelings. I hated the way Julie would so easily slip back into shut down mode...running away, not answering calls/texts, practically snapping...two people this age should have been better able to handle things a bit more maturely. All they had to do was just talk to each other about their true feelings and what they really wanted from the relationship.

What had me rooting for them and this book was the way in which things progressed between Jake and Julie. They opened up to each other, talked about their pasts, and were there to listen and comfort each other. If only they had applied the same method with the future of their relationship right?! LOL! I was also glad to see how Julie and the others at Open Skies Ranch became more like family. It was a pleasure to read.

Now, I didn't appreciate the way it just ended without a little more closure. I should be a little used to that being a Marysol James fan and having read a LOT of her books, but this one left me feeling a bit unsatisfied that I didn't get more. Anyway, I am now more intrigued about Julie's friend, Tammy and Rob from Open Skies Ranch. I will definitely be picking up Book Two of this series.
1,240 reviews24 followers
February 24, 2019
2.5

The flow was always interrupted by (IMO) out of place and OTT, supposedly sexy thoughts/actions. They just seemed so forced and usually out of nowhere. The H's first interaction with her is him thinking what an absolute BITCH she is, but his mind is sidetracked with the in depth ways he's thinking about f'ing her 'kitty'. I've it no problems with descriptive, swearing and erotic, but none of it worked for me at all, cause there never seemed any real point to it other than 'pile on'. And 'pile on' the author did. There was just more more more around every corner, both in sex (thoughts or actions) and more more more drama lama crap. By the time the leads actually got around to shagging, I was over it, and after giving it a brief chance to be more than the previous out of place OTT thoughts, it was just set to skim for me.

And weird, but not always bad, was that EVERYONE had a pov. And I mean everyone but the horses. If someone was in a scene, each sentence was flashing left and right to give you their inner thoughts on the subject... and eyerollingly, pretty much EVERYONE had inner thoughts on how smoking how and stunningly beautiful the h is. We get it, she's the bomb. As for the povs, I like details, so wasn't truely a problem for me, but a lot of it was just useless.

Quite a bit of telling instead for showing, even if we were stopped at the start of a chapter to be told about (sometimes in depth - but thinking about it now, that might have only been about the sexing) what happened since the last chapter... Ummm, if we needed to see it, why didn't you show us instead of tell us...?

And because all of that tweaked me, I wasn't able to ignore the endless 'convenient for the plot - forgotten until X could be brought up at the worst possible time... Really, new management is coming in, but you don't have a presentation prepped, nor do you bother to point out that someone has quit and will be leaving in a few months when she never mentions it, nor do you bother to take into avoid that fact that you know the sick woman who gave you most of your corrosive details on the new owner, was talking brain tumour induced crap for most of the time... and you just hang the new chick on that possibly made up info and never try and have a conversation about it, when it's obviously affecting the whole place...? So, if I had of be in the story, that would have all caused and eyeroll... Since I wasn't, it was extra nails on a chalkboard.

Sad, cause I read another one of MJ's books that was pretty good. This ones def left a bad taste.

0219
Profile Image for Ronnae Stately.
763 reviews
July 31, 2020
Julie was one of the elite interior decorators in New York sought after by the rich. In one day she lost her job at the firm she had been working at since she got out of college. She gets home and finds her fiancé in bed with his assistant who he hadn’t even bother to tell her he was engaged, But what started this unfortunate day was a meeting with a lawyer and finding out that her biological father had left her his ranch and hotel in Colorado. Julie didn’t even know that he knew she existed and that is what made her day that much worse. But there was a condition on the ranch was made Julie flip out and that was she couldn’t sell it until she had owned it for six months. And since everything had gone south in her life recently she decided to go out to Colorado and inspect the ranch herself before she signed pagers to sell it. Once she gets out to Colorado she encounters people that seem to think she is some spoiled, rotten, rich girl. But once she explained to Mattie the GM of the ranch and the info was filtered down to the rest of the crew things begin to change. Julie got to know how the ranch and hotel functioned and she started to fill the calling of the Rockies of Colorado. So during the Thanksgiving break while the rest of the crew was sent away at her request she got to know the cowboy, Jake, a little bit better. He stayed behind because he had nowhere else to go and to take care of the horses. Jake had been the one that had upset Julie the most when she first got there but during that Thanksgiving break he got to see a different Julie all together. After having a heart to heart one night and learning all about her childhood he finally understood why she acted the way she did. They got close and after that and spent lots of time with each other but then a misunderstanding was made and everything went south again.
Profile Image for Joycee.
1,606 reviews
July 30, 2018
I must say ... I came to like Julie. At first, I - like the other folks @ Open Skies upon first meeting her - thought she was a haughty, selfish b*tch who couldn’t be bothered about anything that didn’t benefit her.

Jake, I was worried about too - I thought he would be a narrow-minded biased mule of a man.

But I warmed up to them. And boy, did they warm up to each other! Those intimate scenes - and there were a lot of them - were scorching!

Maybe someday, I’ll get to the rest of the series.
384 reviews
June 6, 2025
This was a first for me from this author. Although entertaining, it just missed the mark for me.

I can appreciate the multiple points of view but the transitions at times were confusing. I would have liked it better if the author told the story as a narrator if they wanted multiple viewpoints.

Also, for a book with only 9 chapters, there was way too much going on. I just didn’t see how these two main characters developed into a relationship. There was no build up other than they both had the hots for each other.
1,097 reviews7 followers
May 22, 2017
Another good steamy romance from Marysol James, with great characters and a strong storyline.
Profile Image for Toni Pulley.
427 reviews2 followers
January 18, 2018
Great book

This is another book written by Marysol James and I love it as much as the first one I read. She is an amazing author. This story is great.
Profile Image for Shirley.
673 reviews
November 18, 2015
3.5 to 4 stars

After reading several reviews I wasn't quite sure if I was going to like this book. Julie has been described as cold and unfeeling making her an unlikeable h. However I actually really warmed to her, she had her reasons for being cold. (This is what I love about reading everyone gets something different from books. It would be boring if everyone felt the same all the time right!) She created a cold persona as armer to prevent herself getting hurt, she was unwanted by everyone that should have been there for her (mother, father, fiancé!!) I loved Jake....... sexy cowboy need I really say more.
If I hadn't read any of MJ'S other books I would have disappointed with the ending, it just finishes at the end of a scene. However MJ always carries the story over into the rest of the series, so I'm excited to start book 2 to see how Jake and Julie are doing.
Profile Image for Crista.
1,158 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2024
FL inherits a ranch type resort from her estranged father, a man she doesn’t know except for the pain he put her mother through. She comes to the ranch to figure out what to do with it and meets ML, a person who saw her father as a father and cant understand why she doesn’t see him in the same light that he does. Angst and anger between the two of them blow up until finally some truth comes out. They find an understanding between the two of them and work together to put the ranch to rights. FL eventually decides to make a go of the place and stay on, getting together with the ML. There are multiple side characters, all of which have their own story in sequels. All the characters are likable and develop through the story. There are memories relived, laughs and spicy moments. I will be reading the sequels.
Profile Image for Janey.
478 reviews22 followers
December 29, 2015
I really enjoyed this book, great start to the series, normally I would have hated the main character Julie as she came across as cold and unfriendly but I knew that was just a facade to protect herself. Open skies hotel sound gorgeous and the setting is perfect for many stories to come. Of course there was a brooding cowboy in the form of Jake, he fit the bill nicely and his and Julie's slow attraction was written well. Nice build up to their romance with loads of the steamy stuff. The book did end quite suddenly but there is already another story to be told in Julie's friend Tammy. Looking forward to reading the whole series.
Profile Image for Renee Voss.
53 reviews6 followers
November 17, 2014
This was a good book, but probably not one I would recommend. It started off very slowly then rushed through to the end. I had even one clicked on the second book, but didn't get 40% read before I put it down.
Profile Image for Peni.
4,823 reviews1 follower
November 20, 2014
A good story that once I started I had difficulty putting it down. I enjoyed the twists and turns and the characterization was excellent in my opinion.

I highly recommend this story to 14+ snd mature due to sexual situations.

I am on to the next story.
Profile Image for Jennifer Grimm.
140 reviews4 followers
January 7, 2015
This was a great read that turned one lady's life upside down! I cannot wait to read more of the series.
Profile Image for Tabitha Bangert.
166 reviews
February 12, 2015
Great book

Glad I found this series to read and can't wait to start the next book... I really enjoy this author very much she makes the books come to life...
2,829 reviews8 followers
August 31, 2015
An enjoyable book, but I wish it was a bit longer. The ending was rather abrupt, and it took a while to really get going since it is the first in the series. I am excited to read book 2
Profile Image for Dawn Pressel.
1,675 reviews
February 24, 2022
I read another series by this same author and wanted to read this series - sadly book 1 bored me. By chapter 3 I was done
Profile Image for Brandi.
547 reviews3 followers
September 20, 2015
3.5....I liked it, didn't love. I'm interested in Tammy's story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews

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