When things get bad (or at the very least, odd like now) I found myself leaning toward books where the characters have it very, very rough. It makes me think, ‘hey, if they made it through, so can I.’ So, here are two stories I read that can fit into the category. One I really enjoyed. The other, not so much.

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My #Reviews of Healing Her Cowboy (Montana Secrets Book 1) by Kay Lyons and Fakers (Canaan Island Book 1) by Meg Collett #RomanceBooks #books #BookLover #GreatReads #bookaddict #MustRead #WhatToRead #weekendvibes

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The first one is Healing Her Cowboy (Montana Secrets Book 1) by Kay Lyons.

He was the one. The one she loved. The one she wanted but couldn’t have. Not without revealing the truth. That’s why she left. Why she’s stayed away. And why she has to return…

Seth Rowland doesn’t want her to see him like this. Of all people, why her? But Grace is relentless. Challenging. He never could resist a challenge. Or her.

Maybe if he cooperates, he’ll be able to walk again. Maybe he’ll get to the truth of why she’d left. Maybe this time he’ll be able to convince her to stay…

Great potential, but not a great delivery.

The characters

Grace.

I’m not sure. I mean, she really tested my patience. And not because she wasn’t sure about letting Seth in–she had very good reasons for it. But she took a step onward, then backpedaled hard, always going around her fears and self-doubts. Always back to square 1. Again, she had reasons, but (to me) a good representation of the character’s evolution would have been showing us her reticence starting from the surface, and then dig deeper and deeper until the resolution, not running in circles around the same (valid) issues.

I liked, an understood, how she treated him at the beginning.

Seth

I liked him. I understood him, and I liked his arch. It made sense, and it was right.

My only problem is, why did she marry his first wife? That part of his story was very grey. We know why everybody hated her, but not why he married her in the first place or, even more, why he stayed with her after he didn’t love her anymore (I guess he didn’t, or that’s the hunch I had from what I read).

The Story

I really liked the basics this story was set upon. What both leads went, and were going, through. It’s real, and raw.What really left me baffled was the absence of a sex scene. Let me explain this one. I don’t need a sex scene to like the book. I loved many books with no such scenes. Also, it was an inspirational book, so I was warned, it was going to be closed doors, and it’s all good.

My problem was that Gracie’s trauma come from sex. The reason for her leaving Seth the first time, and then wanting to run away again, was because of that. It was her issue, the very thing she had to solve. Intimacy with a man, trust him enough to let her feelings flow along with the physical part of a relationship. So, not having that aspect resolved was, for me, a let-down. How did she manage intimacy with him after all she went through? We weren’t there with her when she lived such pivotal event in her life-love again and I don’t mean in the bedroom. Some foreplay that would lead to closing the door, or some good afterwards-pillow-talk paragraph would have be enough to show us she, with him, really left the past behind.

It’s very legitimate for an author not writing intimate scenes. But then, if you know you don’t want to write it, maybe it would be better telling a different story, one that doesn’t move so heavily around intimacy.

The attempted rape by the ranch’s hand was a push. A stranger, maybe, but not someone who worked there. Too convenient.

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The other book I read was Fakers (Canaan Island Book 1) by Meg Collett.

Kyra Aberdeen is a YouTube sensation. Her bubbling personality and fresh beauty capture her audience each week, but they don’t know the truth—she’s just faking it. Beneath the surface of light-hearted smiles is a simmering darkness threatening to pull Kyra under.

When Kyra moves to Canaan Island and buys her deceased mother’s childhood home, she hopes to confront the lurking shadows haunting her every step. But when she meets her grumpy contractor, even her best-laid plans start to unravel.

Hale Cooper is as brutally honest as he is intriguing. He hates fakers, and isn’t afraid to call Kyra on her false personality. Yet, she is drawn to him, and the unexpected attraction to a man who challenges her to be her true self lands her in uncharted waters.

But if she lowers her guard and allows herself to be honest with Hale, will the darkness creep in too?

This book is recommended for mature readers due to some sexual content and language. Cutting is represented in this book, and scenes may be considered triggering to some.

I really liked this story, underdogs that stick together.

Depression and cutting, the heroine’s issues, was handled very well. I read some other reviews saying it wasn’t deep enough, well explained enough… it’s fiction, people. If you want something deeper or more precise, get a manual on the problem, not a novel. I really felt close to her.

I like the brothers’ dynamic, it’s a very good depiction of how family balances and love can get you in deep trouble.

I wish the problem with the heroine’s grandma wasn’t overcome this… I can’t say it was resolved easily because it wasn’t. But it was wrapped up relatively happily and quickly. It’s hard to see so many years of hate and habit to a certain way of being (quoting, a bitch) changed after one screaming match. Maybe they could have made some step forward to give the heroine and us hope, but, especially because there are more books in the series, this could have been completely solved in a subsequent book giving all the parts involved more time.