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Lottie Jackson is not a good person.

Reckless, bad-tempered, and perpetually mad at the world, she’s no stranger to making bad decisions. When the worst of them gets her kicked off her family’s ranch, it takes one just as bad to get her back.

Except this time, she isn’t the resident grumpy little sister making a mess of her life—she’s the resident grumpy ranch hand fighting to get it back on track.

Finn Akello is chronically good.

With his bright smiles, easy charm, and sunny personality, he is nothing like the girl he can’t stay away from.

But he just might be everything she needs.

506 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2025

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About the author

E.J. Blaise

6 books552 followers
EJ Blaise is an Irish author of all things romance. When she's not creating unrealistically perfect men, she can be found travelling, reading, and dreaming of running a bookstore café.

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5 stars
417 (55%)
4 stars
235 (31%)
3 stars
81 (10%)
2 stars
17 (2%)
1 star
5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
Profile Image for ras &#x1f53b;.
70 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2025
nessisn fanfic (except finn was written how bastard boy should’ve been & was twice the man he was and would never body shame his fmc, emotionally/verbally abuse her, throw her insecurities in her face, tell her she was better off dead, have a side hoe that he had a weird relationship with or choose literally everyone else over her)

i’ll forever be a defender of fmcs like lottie jackson, nesta and lizzie young they can do or have done no wrong in my eyes (except the later two loving/choosing shitty men who don’t deserve them)

anyway this author’s book would be so much better if it wasn’t filled with double standards (ive pretty much read all of her books & in almost every single one of them the fmc has had her first orgasm with the mmc meanwhile the mmcs have been hoes or hella experienced) in this case thankfully we didn’t get much info on the mmcs past or experiences. safety was surprisingly not too bad (esp considering how much of a shit show the previous book was with that & also how much this author loves writing it) the only ow drama i think was when he went on a date with another girl but that’s lowkey the fmc’s fault for being difficult and even telling them to go on that date so i couldn’t blame him too much plus he cut the date short & he was a doormat for her the entire time & had the patience of a saint so he was forgiven. i also loved that he never tried to change her and loved her for who she was

idk how i feel about who i think is gonna be next in this series bc as much as i love single mom romances, i think the kid’s bio dad is gonna be the mmc but he seems like a player…to the point where he was hitting on her sister (the fmc of this book) but idk im hoping i got that wrong
Profile Image for sil ♡ the book voyagers.
1,394 reviews3,179 followers
June 25, 2025
°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 °˖⋆ Chaos takes us back to Serenity Ranch where love truly blossoms °˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 °˖⋆

I savored this book y'all. I didn't want it to end because I don't ever EVER want to leave Serenity Ranch and these characters. It was so wholesome and fun to go back to the ranch and see my favorite Jackson family once again. This time, the story revolves around Lottie and Finn. Lottie is back after she walked away from Serenity two years ago. Her sister has told her that she must pay her back from her DUI so she has to work at the ranch now. There, she meets Finn, another ranch hand, who somehow has developed some misjudgments about her.

This book was everything to me. Lottie was MY GIRL, IS MY GIRL, WILL ALWAYS BE MY GIRL ♡ She's an angry girl who believes she's unlovable, who thinks she'll never be someone's first choice, who is sad and doesn't know how to express herself. On the other hand, we have Finn, literally sunshine in a boy. HE IS BRIGHT AND ADORABLE AND SOMEONE WHO LOVES LOTTIE WITH HIS WHOLE BODY, HEART, AND SOUL. Literally the best person to pair up with Lottie <3

I love many things about EJ's books but the little paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter in Bloom and Chaos? Oh EJ, your mind. This book, and Bloom too, are told in one POV, the heroine's. But EJ doesn't stop there - she gives us a little paragraph, maybe three lines, from the hero's POV. And yeah, his thoughts are always about her. Finn-isms, as EJ has named them as, are the best thing ever. You can clearly see that 100% of his thoughts are about Lottie. You won't ever doubt his love and devotion for her. The pining in this book is ✨ unreal ✨ THE SLOW BURN ROMANCE OF YOUR DREAMS!

I cried because of course I did - I always cry with EJ Blaise's books. Her characters, and their situations, are so real. Lottie is a raw, complex, layered character who you want to see happy. You want to see her succeed on everything she wishes. But it's hard to get to that point and you see it throughout the story but you never stop rooting for her ☀️ And Finn never stops rooting for her! So everyone around her is thinking the same way as you so it's nice to follow along because even though she doesn't believe in herself, she always has someone on her corner, be it you or any other character.

The first time Finn calls her 'baby', I was a goner. That man is swoon-worthy AF ♡♡♡
Profile Image for Jeeves Reads Romance.
1,683 reviews814 followers
June 8, 2025
SO GOOD

Tender, quietly intimate, and wildly powerful, this was a PHENOMENAL read. With slow burn goodness and a genuinely kind, loving, and patient hero, this had me SWOONING. Pretty sure I rubbed my aching chest on more than one occasion, and there were tears falling down my face as I turned the last page. It’s the kind of story that slowly builds before burrowing under your skin, taking its time to develop and leaving an impact. At 600 pages, the slow burn is not for the faint of heart, but I was completely hooked on the romance the whole way through. We only get the hero’s perspective in little snippets, but you could feel his love grow and grow. His girl is the textbook definition of a “difficult” heroine, and watching her slowly bloom was the best kind of feeling. It’s another stellar read from an author who is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and one of the best I’ve read this year.

The story follows Lottie (22), an angry, emotionally bruised woman who is fresh out of rehab. After being estranged from her family for the past couple of years, they have insisted that Lottie return to the family ranch for the next six months while she works to remain sober. Family has always been a complicated thing for Lottie, and grappling with her newfound sobriety at the same time makes her quick to lash out. To make things worse, Lottie’s family seems to have replaced her with a friendly, universally beloved ranch hand, Finn (26). Kind in a way Lottie has never been, there’s something about Finn that gets under Lottie’s skin. As the two live and work together on the ranch, they form a connection no one saw coming.

After absolutely loving the first book in this series, I knew that Chaos was going to be a complex read that put me through my paces. The page count might be intimidating, but it’s the kind of story that needs space to develop and grow. Lottie has some work to do on herself, and that’s as much a part of the journey as her relationship with Finn - though the romance is front and center throughout. I loved Finn’s patience and compassion, the way he loved Lottie as she was but was also there every step of the way as she grew. He is book husband material, without a doubt. They’re opposites in so many ways, filling in the empty spaces in each other’s lives. Their love story is not an easy one, but it’s fulfilling and impactful. I flew through the chapters, eager for them to find their HEA, yet just as happy to be immersed in the pages. It’s not a story I’ll forget anytime soon, and one I loved in a big way.
Profile Image for Christine.
391 reviews3 followers
May 2, 2026
Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review. 3.5 ⭐️ Lottie is angry at the world and everyone in it, Finn is a gem of a man with the patience of a saint. While I love a black cat FMC, Lottie felt more like a honey badger, making it difficult to sympathize with her (doubly so since she seems to have a fair amount of self awareness and no care to do anything with it). I found Finn to be walking a dangerous line between being an exceptionally compassionate human being that is willing to put in the work to lower Lottie’s walls (or more accurately, fortified barricade) and being a pushover that tolerated a lot more than he probably should have. That said, as the story progressed, my perspective of Lottie changed as her character growth (however sluggish) was substantial. The burn was slow but the payoff was worth it.
Profile Image for D.
385 reviews16 followers
June 5, 2025
This was phenomenal. I don’t truly know how to word this review but just bear with me.
I’ve read all published books by this author and they have all been amazing, this book however it’s like you could feel the emotion leaping through the page. The emotions were raw and unfiltered and it was written beautifully. Lottie and Finn are just so amazing. Lottie Lottie Lottie, we’ve seen her in previous books and she was always so angry. Reading her book is gonna shut all her haters up and if you still hate her afterwards, you’re immature and you need to grow up. I may not have related to her fully (which doesn’t matter btw) but I could feel her emotions cause it’s feelings we have all had. Wanting to be understood and just at the end of the day wanting to be loved. Lottie is for the girls who have been scorned too many times and don’t know what they deserve, for all of you that feel that way I hope you find your Jackson family and I hope you find your Finn. Finn and Lottie are the perfect example of “you are never too much for the right person”.
Truly this book is in a league of its own.
Profile Image for gudtanya.
171 reviews28 followers
July 26, 2025
5⭐️

The release of a new E.J. Blaise book is always a surprise — they come out of nowhere, and it’s always such a lovely feeling to know there’s a new story with my favorite characters waiting for me.

This book isn’t perfect — there were moments I didn’t love — but I adore this big family so much, and I love the way Erin writes so deeply, that I didn’t want this story to end. I laughed a lot, I cried a lot. I let this book run through me and truly lived it alongside the characters.

Lottie is such a unique girl — she’s bold, fiery, loud, and fun, but at the same time she’s broken and distrustful. Even though she was born into this big, tight-knit family and has a twin sister, Lottie still feels unwanted, unloved, and alone. And it takes her a long time to realize that’s not true.

Lottie’s whole world changes when Finn comes into her life — a sweet, kind cowboy, her complete opposite. He manages to break through her thick walls, love her fiercely, and show her the world isn’t as cruel to her as she thinks. Sometimes I just felt so sorry for Finn — he bent over backwards trying to reach Lottie. Even when she pushed him away, said awful things, and hurt him, he never gave up. He just kept fighting for her attention. His thoughts at the start of each chapter drove me absolutely crazy — he loved every dark, angry edge of her with every fiber of his being, with his whole heart. And then he just waited for her to see that she loved him too. He’s patient, he’s gentle, he’s so wonderful it makes me want to cry.

I loved Lottie’s fight for Ruin so much. She saw a part of herself in that horse and tried so hard to earn his trust and help him heal.

I love the Jackson family. Every interaction between them filled my heart with such warm, comforting feelings. I can’t wait for a book about each of them — I’m so curious to see what E.J. Blaise has planned for us next.
Profile Image for monica •.
851 reviews35 followers
June 27, 2025
4.5 stars. that epilogue hit like the most beautiful gut punch
Profile Image for alina.
138 reviews43 followers
July 30, 2025
every insecure girl deserves someone who doesn’t get tired of reassuring her that she’s easily loved
Profile Image for Erika Wilde.
386 reviews3 followers
June 6, 2025
if you talk shit, you didn’t understand it.

is it a romance? sure, but it’s really about healing. fans of the villain will enjoy “chaos”.

lottie is the angry little sister you come to hate in blaise’s other books. in “bloom” you see glimpses of someone that rubs you the wrong way, but after being no-contact for two years, she comes back to her family’s ranch an alcoholic who has been through shit.

we don’t see stories with this level of angst, hate, and self loathing and i was hooked. lottie blames herself, her abusive and neglectful parents/ grandparents, but also her siblings for why her life is the way it is. i repeatedly was emotional following along her journey. lottie had to learn to accept her addiction and understand that people do love her, including those who kicked her out in the first place.

loves:
-single point of view
-2ish sentences from finn’s 3rd point of view start each chapter (so much better than dual pov)
-angry younger sister protagonist
-raw emotion: she felt it, you read about it
-family tensions
-diverse characters!!!
-emotional roller coaster
-punk/alt girl who was always a cowgirl
-making big mistakes and someone still loving you
-not all is forgiven quickly
-ruin and lottie’s connection
-finn showing her real love and acceptance
Profile Image for Crina Miruna.
175 reviews2 followers
July 29, 2025
Infinite stars.

The best cowboy romance I’ve ever read hands down.
This one is for the angry girls that don’t know how to handle their emotions and push everyone away.
It is an easy book to describe- just perfect.
The romance is not far-fetched or suffocating, the dynamic between the siblings is so fun and I adored the ending, especially the epilogue. It’s so satisfying when everything seems to happen organically and not rushed.

Profile Image for Tattytex.
43 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2026
4.5⭐️
Grumpy x Sunshine mas ELA é que é a grumpy🤭

Gostei bastante, seguindo o primeiro. Adoro o facto de termos certos tópicos mais maduros à mistura, um romance querido sobre aceitação e crescimento pessoal.

Esta autora promete!
Profile Image for Madison.
114 reviews
February 7, 2026
loved the writing. loved the recovery storyline. and of course obsessed w finn. only complaint is it was a little long but loved the conflicts throughout the book
Profile Image for Madeleine.
238 reviews6 followers
May 13, 2026
AUDIOBOOK UPDATE: Tara Montana did such a great job narrating Lottie and hearing the epilogue (especially the end lines) in audio hit that much harder; finnlottie they could NEVER make me hate you !!

...

“You are difficult, Charlotte. You are fucking infuriating. You make me wanna bang my head against a wall, and I love you so much it’s literally all I think about."

a very real reminder that being angry is okay <3

lottie and finn are so precious to me <3

lottie jackson i will protect you with my life! god forbid a woman be a bit messy while she heals??? If you've ever been the angry little sister, this is the book for you; LOTTIE is the character FOR YOU!!! I felt her anger so deeply, like it was my own at times, and there was something so beautiful about seeing Lottie get to a place of accepting the love her family has been trying to give her for so long, but also realise that she is worthy of love from others (like finn!!!)

finn is so sweet and reassuring, and I love the banter he has with lottie, but also how gentle he is with her; he doesn't try to change who she is, just supports her how she needs and loves her through it all.

He can’t pinpoint the exact moment his heart decides to leave his body and live in hers.
He just knows it does.


I love the finnisms we get every chapter, and the family dynamics through this whole book; there are so many fun, sad and sweet moments that we see the Jackson siblings go through this book and it is everything.

I loved every moment of this book, and I can't wait for the rest of this series :)
Profile Image for Oana.
461 reviews35 followers
March 18, 2026
The peak of romance can be found in this book🥺
Reread
Profile Image for Holly Schwartz.
892 reviews38 followers
August 31, 2025
I LOVE this universe so much. When I first read Unexpected I just knew it was going to be special, and it’s been that and so much more. The Jackson’s especially have my whole heart! Serenity Ranch is a special place and I love seeing these characters find their home, and with Lottie, finding her home again.

Lottie is rough and vulnerable and angry and sad. But she’s also just a girl who HAS BEEN THROUGH IT. And doesn’t know what to do! Her journey wasn’t necessarily a fun one, it was hard and complicated and she didn’t want to do the work!!! But eventually…she did and it was SO GOOD!

I LOVE THE JACKSON SIBLINGS! They love each other so much. Finn said something like they’re all one person in five bodies and I seriously cried bc it so perfectly explains them. I cannot wait for the rest of their books. I fear Lux’s book WILL wreck me. But her and Alex are the SWEETEST duo!! And seeing Jackson and Luna living their lives!! With Izzy!!! Newly married!!! I just can’t wait to see where else everyone goes!

Lottie and Finn HAVE MY HEART! The way that man LOVES HER! And loves her for who she is!!! I am always desperate for dual pov, but the way Erin just writes little chapter subheadings as the MMC’s pov. Idk what they’re called! But they’re honestly all perfect and truly everything we need!

I loved this book. I love this universe, this series, these characters!!
Profile Image for Rebecka Bean.
272 reviews
April 27, 2026
4.25✨ *NETGALLEY AUDIO ARC* 🎧

I really struggled with the FMC at first. Like, truly hated her. But that was clearly intentional, and it worked. As the story unfolds, you start to understand why she is the way she is, why she believes she doesn’t deserve good things and keeps sabotaging herself. Piece by piece, your perspective shifts, and suddenly you’re rooting for her to work through it all, even when she’s making it so hard. Watching her navigate those highs and lows is both heartbreaking and healing.

And Finn… wow. Completely swoony. He had my whole heart. Reading him felt like watching a kitten trying to snuggle a rabid rottweiler (Lottie), and somehow he never gives up. I loved the little snippets of his POV at the start of each chapter. They added so much to the story.

“You are difficult, but you are not difficult to love.”
Profile Image for sinn.
11 reviews1 follower
June 6, 2025
my angry girl and her sweet cowboy 💟

i genuinely cried so much that i think my period must be among me because the amount of tears i shed has to be unnatural. ej blaise you are one of three go-to authors for me, and i can’t see that ever changing. the way she writes her dynamics between even side characters is so beautiful (and is definitely the reason i cried 40 billion times). lottie has to be one of my favorite book characters ever. her story hit so personally and she is now forever in my heart, sat alongside her sister in law. i am beyonddddd happy they had so many scenes together. two girls cut from the same cloth.

i literally started a kindle unlimited free trial for this book and i don’t regret it. lottie jackson, i will forever support your rights and wrongs, princess. 🤍⭐️🐎
Profile Image for Chloe.
90 reviews2 followers
June 6, 2025
5⭐️
Absolutely devoured this book! It was exactly what I needed to get out of my little slump. I’m obsessed with this family and ranch! I don’t think anyone can beat EJ when writing about found family or family dynamics. She hits the mark every time! Lottie might be one of my favorite FMC ever! I love a firey girl! I loved Finn and Lottie’s story so much! I need the next one immediately but we all know it’s gonna be awhile! 🥹😆
Profile Image for Nicole.
5 reviews
July 26, 2025
A brilliant one sitting read

Lottie’s complex story will grab you right from the beginning until the very end. A captivating story that I couldn’t put down until it was finished. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Profile Image for Zo.
58 reviews
June 6, 2025
This book!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️ I have loved this whole series but this one was a special type of different and it was done so well!! Many more thoughts - too fresh rn but demolished this book in a like 2 days.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for nicole.
636 reviews3 followers
August 5, 2025
Idk I had a good time but I didn’t read Bloom first so I was for sure missing out on some lore
Profile Image for Rayne.
87 reviews12 followers
December 3, 2025
Cowboy romances really do fix everything
Profile Image for Sofia.
585 reviews139 followers
January 4, 2026
First book of 2026 and it was a BANGER.
Profile Image for caitlyn .
316 reviews21 followers
April 30, 2026
Thank you NetGalley for this ALC in exchange for an honest review

I’ll start out positive: I like the setting of this book and I appreciate the growth the FMC experienced. That being said, unfortunately being positive ended there for me. I found the FMC to be very insufferable and I felt like the MMC didn’t have much dimension to him.

As far as audiobooks, this also wasn’t my favorite. I’m definitely a fan of solo narration, but this narrator didn’t have much inflection and there was no variation between characters so it was very difficult to tell who was saying what.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a book I would recommend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews