Black Sheep Heir

Texas Cattleman’s Club: Rags to Riches #2

by Yvonne Lindsay

He doesn’t do whirlwind romances…Until he meets her! Discover the price of passion in this Texas Cattleman’s Rags to Riches romance by USA TODAY bestselling author Yvonne Lindsay.

He’s never followed the rules…

When rebellious heir and security mogul Miles Wingate accidentally runs into Chloe Fitzgerald—literally!—it feels like fate. She’s beautiful, intriguing and surprisingly interested in his estranged family. One night with Chloe leaves him suspicious—and craving more. But when a crisis forces Miles home to Royal, Texas, a string of bombshells awaits. Including one about Chloe and her hidden agenda…

From Harlequin A luxurious world of bold encounters and sizzling chemistry.

Texas Cattleman’s Rags to Riches
Book 1: The Price of Passion by Maureen Child
Book 2: Black Sheep Heir by Yvonne Lindsay
Book 3: The Paternity Pact by Cat Schield
Book 4: Trust Fund Fiancé by Naima Simone
Book 5: Billionaire Behind the Mask by Andrea Laurence
Book 6: In Bed with His Rival by Katherine Garbera
Book 7: Tempted by the Boss by Jules Bennett

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 11, 2020

About the author

A typical Piscean, USA Today! Best-selling author, Yvonne Lindsay, has always preferred the stories in her head to the real world. Yvonne is a five-time Romance Writers of Australia R*BY nominee and three-time nominee and 2015 winner of the Romance Writers of New Zealand Koru Award of Excellence. She spends her days crafting the stories of her heart and in her spare time she can be found with her nose firmly in someone else’s book.

Reviews

[Kim Reads (Read Your Writes Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Sheep Heir by Yvonne Lindsay is the second book in the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Rags to Riches series. For the most part, this is a standalone read. However, there are some series arc details found in the first book, The Price of Passion written by Maureen Child.

Black Sheep Heir is a romance built on revenge, redemption, and second chances. Miles Wingate is the only child of Trent and Ava Wingate to not go into the family business and work for Wingate Corporation. Instead, Miles struck out on his own. He left Royal, Texas for Chicago, Illinois, and established his own successful personal and cybersecurity firm. In doing so, a wedge was formed between his parents, his siblings, and him. To say Chloe Fitzgerald didn’t have an ideal childhood growing up is an understatement. As an only child, she had the burden of raising herself and taking care of her mother after her father died when she was eight-years-old. Money was tight and still is. But Chloe managed to go to college and become an elementary school teacher. For years, Chloe and her mother have talked about getting even and bringing the Wingate family down for what Trent did to their family. Chloe is ready to put their plan in motion and she has Miles Wingate in her sights.

Miles and Chloe share a really nice, yet painful meet/cute, when he literally runs into her, resulting in her breaking her phone and spraining her wrist. The two share an instant attraction that works out really well for Chloe who hopes to learn some Wingate family secrets to turn over to the press.

Wingate Corporation is in the midst of a security and PR nightmare, resulting in the company being investigated as a result of a fire at the WinJet division of the company. When eldest brother Sebastian calls Miles and tells him they need his expertise, Miles wants and knows that he has to go back to Texas. The problem is Miles’s attraction to Chloe. He doesn’t want to put his personal life on hold for his family so he asks Chloe to accompany him to Texas.

The overall plot of Black Sheep Heir was good. I don’t have a problem with revenge storylines. I just didn’t like the way the initial execution of the story went. I'm all about whirlwind romances and knowing that you've found the one, the minute you two meet. But the relationship between Miles and Chloe just happened too fast for me. The story is a little unbelievable in that Miles is a security guy and he acknowledges to himself that he usually does a background check on people but he didn’t with Chloe. He meets Chloe on a Wednesday morning and by Friday afternoon is flying her down to meet his family, during the middle of a major family crisis. If they would have met and a month or so would have passed after they dated a little, I don't think I would have had as much of a problem with the initial setup of the story. This resulted in me having a back and forth dislike of both characters initially. I spent most of the book being frustrated at Miles for his stupidity. To make the setup more believable, I think a small-time jump in the timeline would have worked. In the end, I did like the characters and the story once I was able to get past the whirlwind infiltration of the Wingate family.

Black Sheep Heir continues where The Price of Passion leaves off. The series mystery arc gets deeper and more interesting. The hero and heroine of the next book, The Paternity Pact by Cat Schield have been introduced. It’s a secret baby story, and I can’t wait to read it.


~ FAVORITE QUOTES ~

“Life is too damn short to spend it wondering what if.”

“Never show fear. Always face it down.”

“True love never dies. It takes a hit sometimes, but it never goes away.”

“The harder you try not to be like someone, often the more like them you become.”

“You decide how you treat people, how you’ll let them treat you.”

**Received a copy of the book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.**

[Judyrudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Sheep Heir is Yvonne Lindsay’s contribution to the Texas Cattleman’s: Rags to Riches series. Chloe Fitzgerald lost her father when she was young and her life was never the same. As she grew-up, she promised her mother she’d bring down the family that caused her to lose her father and her childhood.

Miles Wingate was born in Royal, Texas and now lives in Chicago where he runs a reputable security firm. He was born into a privileged family but hates to recognize it. He hasn’t returned home since his father’s death two years ago.

Chloe comes-up with a plan to take down the family that ruined her life. She literally runs into Miles Wingate which sets her plan into motion. Instantly they have an attraction neither can deny. When an issue arises in the family business, Miles returns home with Chloe. Immediately Chloe is concerned she will be recognized as she’d grown up in Royal and had once known the Wingate family.

Will Chloe follow through on her plan to ruin the Wingate family? Will Miles accept Chloe’s initial deception? Can they put the past aside and found true love?

Black Sheep Heir is a standalone book and a fast read. I enjoyed seeing Chloe come to grips with what happened and accepting of the Wingate family.

I received an advance copy of Black Sheep Heir which I chose to read and review. This is my honest opinion.

[Shelagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A twist on the enemies to lovers trope, Black Sheep Heir brings together Chloe Fitzgerald, bent on revenge for her father’s suicide and Miles Wingate, youngest son of the man who caused it.
Chloe is a schoolteacher and has supported her mother emotionally since she was eight, brought up on stories of how the Wingates ruined her father. She’s engineered a meeting with Miles and plans this to be the first step in her plan to bring his family down. What she doesn’t expect is to find out that while he’s very successful in his business dealings he’s also a decent man. As her plans unravel the problems facing Miles and his family escalate.
This was an entertaining story which kept me turning the pages intrigued both to see how the romance would develop and to see how the Wingates would resolve the issues facing their business. The romance worked out well and I thought the secondary plot would also resolve but was left hanging wondering who had caused things and what the outcome would be. For me this was a bit of a letdown in an otherwise enjoyable story.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miles runs a company independent of his Wingate family but when the Wingates need him he is there for them. he "accidently" literally runs into Chloe while jogging..He doesn't know she has been waiting for him. She is wanting to take his family down for what they did to her family! She never thought that she would start liking Miles. When his family needs him he goes home to Royal Texas.>Chloe offers to go with him so she does. While in Royal they become even closer and start developing feelings for each other..When Miles finds out who Chloe is though he becomes very upset.. He feels she has played him. But she had not..She told him her side of the story but he didn't want to hear it..When his mom sits him down to talk to him he goes to find Chloe..Will she give him a chance? Who is trying to take Wingate down? I think I may know but I could be way off base..A great story in the TCC series

[Lynn Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 STARS!

Deliciously forbidden! With the second book in the Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags To Riches series Yvonne Lindsay brings us a whirlwind romance between an unlikely pair in BLACK SHEEP HEIR. The characters were quick to intrigue me with their chemistry and the back story of each kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen. Fast paced and delightful!

Miles Wingate is such a nice guy. He's semi-estranged from his family back home in Royal, TX, but he's quick to jump to help out when they call to say they need him.

Chloe Fitzgerald has an agenda, and while we can understand it as we learn her back story, it's a little daunting to know what she's up to when Miles is such a nice guy.

I highly recommend this book as well as the series as a whole to anyone who loves a bit of drama and scandal mixed with their romance. I'm looking forward to more in the series!

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revenge sometimes isn't the best plan. Much as heroine Chloe thought she was definitely going to get revenge against hero Miles Wingate's family (for reasons explained in the story), she gradually learns that this may not be the best option.
Much as both lead characters come across as strong, self-assured people, the story also reviews some naivety.
While this story could be read as a standalone book, the characters that become part of the story while Chloe and Miles are in Texas leave a lot of questions that I would hope get answered in the wider Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches series.

[KAREN MCCRAW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sins of the Father

Chloe didn't expect to meet Miles the way she did but it was just what they both needed. I hope there is another Installment coming so I won't be left hanging. Miles mom surprised me.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

cw: suicide

I liked the chemistry between Chloe and Miles, esp. before they left Chicago for his family home. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the story because it came into conflict with my ethics. I understand the impulse to turn a structural problem into an interpersonal one, but it does Chloe and Loretta Fitzgerald a disservice when the narrative points to hard work, philanthropy, and family loyalty as if they can replace accountability. I recognize that the surviving Wingates are nice (ish) and care more for ethics than their father, but even if I didn't think of the environmental impact as soon as I heard "oil" and "aviation" or the issues with "philanthropy" in general, I know that they've all profited from their father's ruthlessness. Worse, they know it, too.

Chloe is right that their father should've faced consequences after he broke an agreement, knowing it would destroy his friend's business and leave a young family destitute. It is unfair that a series of risks plunged John Fitzgerald into such debt that suicide seemed a better option and that neither Chloe nor Loretta had adequate support as they navigated the grief and trauma that followed. While I know that Miles felt betrayed, I would've had far more respect for Ava Wingate if she reached out to Loretta and promised to honour the terms of the agreement. Instead, she defends her late husband on the grounds that he loved his children and wanted to provide for them as if they didn't have a thriving empire before he deceived a friend. I understand that it might have been true for the character; I know it's hard to reckon with a partner or parent's misdeeds and even more so after their death. At the same time, though, I wanted more from the narrative.

We're told over and over again that financial precarity hurt Chloe (and Loretta)--that it made her feel less-than, left her worried about food, limited her mother's independence; however, it is little more than a source of security and window-dressing for the Wingates. It might mean that their home is bigger or the family barbeque is a bit more elaborate, but it doesn't change their essential (good) character or impose on them any obligations they don't choose to take on. From the outset, I'm supposed to see Sebastian and Sutton as exemplary because they take responsibility for their workers' injuries rather than use their superior financial position to avoid a pay-out and Chloe is effusive about Beth because the latter is friendly towards her--as a prospective in-law--and her assistant, Gracie. It made Chloe seem incredibly naïve because she clung to a narrative so simplistic that the most superficial display could shatter her resolve.

That is not to say I thought Chloe should move forward with her revenge. It is, after all, a romance. I would've much preferred to see her confront Miles and tell him that as nice as his family is, and as much as they care for one another, they need to reckon with their history at a minimum. Ideally, they would leverage their immense power for structural change rather than pretend that they're as vulnerable to law enforcement as everyone else, but I know that's a big ask. In other words, I wanted Chloe to want change for other people more than she wanted revenge for herself. Whether or not the Wingates committed to that, I wanted Miles to do so. As it was, Chloe individualizes her father's decision (i.e., no one made him do it) and Loretta does the same with her grief (i.e., I've been selfish) because they both see the consequences of their anger as too great. It's hard for me not to see their anger as justified, however, and to wish the narrative would do more to affirm those messy feelings rather than brush them aside for the sake of romance.

In the end, Chloe is returned to her "rightful" position in the upper class and she is indebted to Miles not only for restoring her wealth, but for excusing her betrayal. While I wanted Black Sheep Heir to have more Robin Hood energy, I expect I'm in the minority there and I think most people would find it a charming, if fast-paced romance.

[Mattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I disliked it, I really disliked that heroine was after revenge and planned on destroying son of man that was at fault (yes he died so she couldn't but it's disgusting the whole sins of father are sins of the son concept). I thought relationship was extremely fast and unbelievable to me, not that they slept together but the amount of trust a guy in the security business gave to her right from the start. I also disliked that heroine being mad at hero in the end for sending her home was ridiculous (she lied to him from the start and wanted to ruin his family he has a right to be mad). Plot on the whole was kind of boring. Np.

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revenge can kill a relationship. Love can negate revenge. A families heirs can try and right the wrongs of the father. There is another side of the Wingate’s. Themystery of who us trying to bring down the Wingate’s us still going on .
True love and fate are real.
Miles was a goodman. Went out on his own to develop his own country. He wanted no part if his families business. He was nit going to be like his father.
Chloe’s life was destroyed by the Wingate’s She wanted revenge. After she purposely runs into Mikes, everything changes. People change.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good book

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Contemporary Romance, Sagas, Western Romance
Miniseries
Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches (Book #2)

[Elizabeth Mckernan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book Good series!

[Trisha Arrowsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to know who was the mole!! Why leave it unsolved?