Book Review: Rocky Mountain Angel by Vivian Arend

Title: Rocky Mountain Angel
Series: Six Pack Ranch, Book 4
Author: Vivian Arend
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy from publicist
Published: November 20, 2012 by Samhain

Allison Parker needs a convincing excuse to come home to Rocky Mountain House. A hopelessly romantic reason that won’t let her mother suspect the truth—that Allison has discovered Mom is keeping a terrible secret from the family.

Gabe Coleman is struggling with two of the roughest parts of ranching: dealing with his bull-headed mule of a father, and making enough to pay the bills. When his old friend Allison offers to help him develop his ideas for organic ranching—in trade for pretending to be her fiancé—it sounds like the perfect set-up.

Yet the deception leads them in an unexpected direction, where their shared daily hells are erased by nights of heavenly distraction. It’s not supposed to be real, but once the gates are opened, there’s no denying they’ve found in each other a little bit of Paradise.

To break free of the past and face the future, though, will take more than temporary pleasures. It’ll take putting their hearts on the line.

Product Warnings: Tortured hero with a guardian-angel complex, grief-stricken heroine willing to sacrifice everything for family. Break out the tissues, this trip to the ranch is a heartbreaker on the way to the HEA.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Good small town romance that series fans will love but will satisfy non-series readers too.

The Set Up: Gabe and his father constantly argue about their ranch management. When his high school crush, Allison, returns and offers to set him up with organic farming in exchange for pretending to be her fiancé, he accepts. But Gabe and Allison don’t want to just play pretend any more.

Why I Read this Book: I’ve enjoyed other books by this author so thought I’d try this one too.

What I Liked: Gabe and Allison are both good characters. I didn’t fall in love with them but liked them well enough. They’re from a small town and just want to build a life for themselves that fulfills them in all ways, including sexually. Their romance is a good blend of sex and emotion and I was satisfied with their relationship and its development by novel’s end.

What I Also Liked: Gabe and Allison’s families play big roles in this book and I liked them. Gabe’s tension with his father is a bit mysterious at first but is satisfactorily explained. Allison returns to Rocky Mountain because of her mother’s illness and this offers a bittersweet emotional storyline that I enjoyed. I was surprised that Gabe is a cousin to the heroes from books one through three in this series since there are three other brothers whose stories I thought would be told before Gabe’s. This book and the series haves a lot of characters but they’ve got a homespun charm that I think readers will enjoy.

What I Didn’t Like: This book is relationship focused: Gabe and Allison’s romance, Allison and her mother and siblings, Gabe and his father, Gabe with his brothers and cousins. This doesn’t have a lot of external tension, no mystery or suspense. I read this book and the previous one in one day and found that I wanted something to happen and not just read about relationships. Still, I think most readers won’t mind, especially those who enjoy contemporary small town romances. I’m a bit conditioned to paranormal romance or MM romance both of which have different drama than a traditional contemporary romance like this one.

IMO: Six Pack Ranch series fans will gobble this installment up and non-series readers should also enjoy this sexy and uncomplicated romance.

J9’s Rating: