The Impasse

Miles #3

by Franci McMahon

After a year of mourning, Montana rancher Miles feels stagnated. When Karen, an outdoor adventures leader, turns up at Miles's ranch in the bone-chilling winter with a proposition for her to lead an all-woman group into the Montana wilderness, Miles snaps it up like a rare steak. Her body comes awake at the sight of Stormy, the horse wrangler sent by the stock supplier to assist her, but Rachel, one of the guests, reaches into her heart with the warmth of a freshly baked pie. The pack trip leads them deep into an isolated area, where cell phones are useless, and the trip morphs into an excursion with a deadly obstacle. The eight guests, the two outfitters, the trip organizer, and Miles must bring their singular wits to bear to surmount an impasse of not granite but men.

242 pages, Paperback

Published February 14, 2017

About the author

Franci McMahon mines her years of riding and breeding horses to write novels of suspense for even those unlucky enough to be born without the horse gene. Rounding out her life as a writer, she has a previous novel, many works in anthologies, stories for children and adults in national magazines, a poetry prize, and an enriching stay at Hedgebrook. Beyond horses, Franci's life is filled with classical music, cooking, knitting, reading complex novels with a story, dancing close to a warm woman, and sitting in silence, often at Quaker meeting. These are some of her deepest pleasures. She divides her time between Montana and Tucson, Arizona.

Reviews

[Lex Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 Stars. This book didn't really work for me, it was just okay. While the writing wasn't bad, I didn't care for the subject matter. And considering how much I usually enjoy lesfic stories with ranches, horses and wilderness, I was surprised that this story wasn't for me.

The book is about Miles, a rancher, who is asked to lead a group of women on a wilderness trip in Montana. While the women are starting their trip, a murderer, rapist and thief are on the run, in the same direction. Will the women be able to survive this trip in the wilderness?

I had not heard of this author before. I also did not realize this was the third book in an ongoing series. I really wished I had know that as I'm a stickler for reading books in order. While this story seemed to totally stand alone, they kept talking about Miles' ex, who past away. McMahon, would have Miles tell the story of how her ex died, but it always happened off camera, so I still don't know how. It would have been nice to know for new readers like me. Especially since the death of her ex, really seemed to effect Miles.

Right from the beginning I was a little lost. There was a ton of horse, ranch, riding terms thrown out at the reader. Instead of using it as a chance to educate the reader, the terms are just spit out with no explanation. I was disappointed since I wanted to understand how the trip was going to come together.

Then we transfer to the bumbling nasty trio of men on the run. I didn't like this part, it went on too long and I found myself skipping some pages. I think this was one of my main problems with this book. Instead of a great adventure of women in the wilderness, it turns into a bumbling hostage situation. I do want to mention a trigger warning. There is a rape, but it happens "off screen".

I had mixed feeling about the characters. I liked Miles for the most part, I just wished I could have had a deeper connection to her. The men were annoying and obviously awful. There was one random dumb straight woman, and one woman who was trans-phobic. That was really odd to me and I didn't see the point. A few of the other main women were alright, the rest got lost in the background.

There is not really a romance. While there are relationships that happen, there is no romantic relationship. I also felt weird, reading about two of the characters off having sex, while the rest of the women are being watched over by the men. I just gave me a little ick factor.

There were some parts I liked, when there was some excitement that didn't really have to do with the men. And as I said before, I think McMahon writes well, the story was just not to my personal tastes. I can't recommend this, but maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.

An ARC was given to me by Bold Strokes Books, for a honest review.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book difficult to read. The plot was difficult. There was a lot of jargon I didn't really understand. Which would be ok, if it somehow added to the story in some way. But I couldn't see that at all. The setting was enjoyable and I wish the descriptive style of the author had been focused more on that than all the supplies and equipment.
There wasn't much romance here. More hook-up than anything else.

I received a ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I loved the story of Miles. I was sad when Jane died but I liked how this book showed her get through the pain. When she met Rachel I kept thinking she sounded familiar then I realized she was a cross over character. Great storyline and characters. Nice happy ending. I definitely recommend this book.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I thought it would be a romance/suspense story. I did not find it to be a romantic story at all. It did, however, have an element of suspense haphazardly threaded throughout the last half of the book.

Although this book is the third in a series, I feel that one could read the book as a standalone. There is a reference to the main character’s dead spouse, but it was mentioned in the context of grieving.

From the start, I had trouble reading this book. It was very slow and I couldn’t get into the story until I had read at least a third of the book. One of the problems is that there is too much horse terminology. For someone who is into horses, it would have been fine but not for the average reader. The fact that the author was trying to weave two different stories—the women’s adventure trip and three men running from the law—made it initially confusing. Once the two story-lines collided, the pace of the book picked up.

I could not get into the characters at all. If one reads the first two books in the series, it might help. Miles, the main character, is a rancher and her character leads the reader through the book. I didn’t get much of a connection with her character and her quick jump into bed with Stormy. At the end of the book, the story rushed Miles into a relationship with Rachel then bang … the book ends! It almost felt as though the author had a long book that was split in two so that there could be a book four in this series.

Once the two story lines come together, the thriller aspect of the story takes over. Instead of skipping over the text pertaining to horses, ranching, and camping, I could focus on the story of how the women were going to survive being hostages in a hostile wilderness environment. Because of the suspense element, I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

I was given this ARC in return for an honest review.

[Ivory Castle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is set in Montana where Miles runs a cattle ranch and lives with her intellectually challenged brother and a few animals. She is still getting back on her feet emotionally after the loss of her last partner.
Miles is approached by a woman running an outdoor travel business catering for women. The role is leading a group of women on a horse riding trail ride, camping and stopping at a few sites of interest along the way. When the trail hand arrives it isn’t long before they feel a connection and form a relationship with no promises.
Hal has worked hard to develop a business breeding pigs for human consumption. One day government officials arrive and state most of his stock must be destroyed as they are considered invasive to the environment. A visitor appears claiming to know Hal from the war and Hal invites him into his home despite not remembering who he is. After an incident at the property a firearm is discharged and the two men go on the run. They join up with some unsavoury types and set off cross country to somewhere they escape capture.
Little do Miles and the other riders know who is waiting for them on the trail. The best and worst qualities will be drawn out of each and relationships tested and formed before the last page is turned.
Originally I was attracted to this book as I have trouble resisting horse or horse related stories. After a few chapters I realised it was geared towards the LGBTQIA/romance reader. I remember thinking this is a bit of a surprise and in the next breath thought why not. Books of this genre would not normally be on my reading list but I am glad that I did read it. The storyline flowed quite well and I felt the author knew her stuff by experience and/or research. The tantalising during and post shower sex scenes were a particular favourite.
One of the characters who got under my skin was Hal. Initially he impressed me when he tried to stand up for his animals. That opinion changed after he took off, acted in a spineless way, going along with what the others wanted and spending a lot of time whinging. Definitely not my type of man!
Of course I would recommend this book to fans of LGBTQIA/romance, horse lovers like myself and really anyone else who dares to try something a little outside of their ‘interest’.
A digital copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via Netgalley and my review was happily provided.

[Margaret L. Hedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

The Impasse is a great book. Lots of action, romance, suspense and beautiful scenery. I loved the story and the strong, smart women in it.