Ash has been considered the bad boy of Rumor for years. Convicted of a crime he didn't commit, he served five years in prison. Now he's found his way home - for the time being.
Maura is Rumor's good girl. The only daughter of the most prominent rancher in the area, she runs the town's community garden and wants to open up a ranch for underprivileged kids.
When Ash saves Maura from a forest fire, they fall in love. But will their differences keep them from finding happiness together?
I'm waffling when it comes to rating this book, because there were bits I liked a lot and bits I didn't. I liked Maura a lot - she was a really great mix of spunky and tenderhearted - and I had a lot of sympathy for Ash, because he really got shafted by the town of Rumor. That said, his insistence that he couldn't possibly find happiness or love got pretty tired pretty fast, and I spent much of the book wanting to smack him upside the head.
The town of Rumor started out great, and quickly soured for me. I don't generally like books set in the open West of Wyoming or Montana - all that space makes me a bit agoraphobic - so I was surprised to find I liked Rumor initially. However, after reading about how people treated Ash, and later Maura (just for associating with him), I lost any good feeling I had for the town. That's probably prevented me from deliberately reading any other books in the series (though I'll likely pick some up by accident - the Montana Mavericks series, both original and offshoot, seem to have more books than there are folks in Montana).
Without reading other books in the series, some of the events didn't make a lick of sense. Like, there's one character who's invisible. In a paranormal series I'd accept that, but in a series with no paranormal elements, it threw me off a bit. Apparently this will be explained by science (???) in another book, but for someone who hasn't read the rest of the series, it was a bit WTF.
Overall, I guess I'd give this 3 stars. It was pleasant enough to read, but I don't think I'd read it again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Ash McDonough saves Maura Kingsley’s life during a Montana forest fire and it is mutual love at first sight. However, Ash is back in Rumor, MT, to redeem himself in the town’s eyes after spending 5 years in prison on a drug charge and another 5 on parole. He has a job as foreman on a ranch and is saving for his own spread. Maura is the daughter of the biggest rancher and business man in the area, with a dream of having a ranch to assist disadvantaged children. She is optimistic that they can work things out. He thinks he will just bring her down. These two need to convince a town that they have what the town needs. Good story but a little over-dramatic in places.
I liked it, but I wanted more from the main characters. I think the ending was climatic and good but I wanted that urgency and page-turning urge through the book. I just thought it was a little slow.