Welcome to Clean Slate Ranch: home of tight jeans, cowboy boots, and rough trails. For some men, it’s a fantasy come true.Mack Garrett loves the rolling hills surrounding his Northern California dude ranch. Leading vacationers on horse trails with his two best friends is enough—romance is definitely not in the cards. When a sexy tourist shows up at Clean Slate, he’s as far from Mack’s type as can … far from Mack’s type as can be. So why is the handsome city slicker so far under his skin in less than a day?
Roughing it in the middle of nowhere isn’t anywhere near Wes Bentley’s idea of fun. Then he lays eyes on the gruffest, hottest papa bear he’s ever seen. But Mack is as hard to pin down as he looks—distant, sharp-tongued, and in desperate need of a shave. Until a campout gone wrong strands both men in the mountains with nothing to do but get to know each other.
Mack intends to keep his closely guarded heart out of Wes’s very talented hands. But for a seven-day cowboy, Wes is packing some long-term possibility. The cold country air can do wonders for bringing bodies together—but it will take more than that to bridge the distance between two men whose lives are worlds apart.
This book is approximately 90,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Carina Press acknowledges the editorial services of Alissa Davis
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Audiobook. DNF @ 22%. Even Greg Boudreaux couldn’t save this for me. It was boooooring. Yes, we need back story. But not backstory and hang-ups and issues on repeat. They both had bad breakups but we hear the same thing over and over. They have literally shared 5 or six sentences together at nearly 1/4 of the way through. Sadly, I just don’t care about either of them.
I looked back and realized this is the 4th series I’ve tried to read by A.M. Arthur and I seldom get past the first or second book. I’m thinking we’re just not a match.
Don’t Let the Amateur Hour Cover Fool You…
I almost passed this title up completely due to the truly awful cover art but decided to give it a try anyway and was pleasantly surprised to find that at least in this case, one should NOT judge a book by its cover! Arthur does a fine job with this opposites attract/slow burn romance between his ex Swat officer-turned-cowboy Mack Garrett and pretty boy/struggling actor Wes Bentley. A great eye for details of place and space and a nice roster of supporting characters fill out their world in a completely believeable way. A little Scooby Doo mystery with some bonus gunfire thrown in and ya gotcherself a mighty satisfying (if maybe a lil lengthy) read pardner!
Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
There is nothing sexier than a cocky cowboy. Except maybe watching that cowboy meet his match. Mack has a steadfast rule of not mixing business with pleasure. He’s also convinced himself that relationships aren’t for him after his last one ended, well, badly isn’t a strong enough word. Enter Wes, not the actor in American Beauty, Bentley and all those walls Mack’s built around his heart start slowly coming down.
This story was sexy and romantic with a little bit of suspense for good measure. I felt like I was riding a horse through the trails at the ranch the world was so vividly described. And Greg Boudreaux did such a good job bringing these men to life. Definitely going to grab the next book in this series.
4.5 stars
I LOVED the back and forth between Wes and Mack. The dialogue in this book was entertaining and kept me wanting more. Also, who doesn’t love a good cowboy story?
Wes and Mack had a lot of depth to them that I did not really expect. Wes seems like a flirtatious guy without a care in the world but we quickly see his passion and genuineness on the page. Mack has his own issues from the past that give him pause when it comes to relationships but Wes sort of sweeps past those. This was the perfect opposites-attract story with easy to like MCs. The author did a great job of setting up the main characters and side characters that have me eager to keep reading.
I enjoyed the storyline of the ghost town and everything that came with it, but I am glad that the drama that was tied up in it got resolved by the end of the book. I wanted to make sure we got Avery and Colt in all of their glory and I am excited to start their story!
it was a nice read. nothing in particular stood out for me. However, one thing that bothered me (which can be stupid and irrelevant to other people) but this is something that bothered me through the entire story enough for me comment about. It is in regards to the characters Derrick and Conrad. Let me first say that white authors can create black characters. That is fine and as a matter of fact i love when they do. However, as a black person they didnt feel black or authentic, and i’m not talking about painting them in a stereotypical way of how black men are perceived. What i’m talking about are little things that makes a big difference. For example, the name Conrad, that’s not a name black people typically have (Derrick was cool) or the way they spoke and interacted (and i’m not talking about being loud mouth ghetto people either) Maybe throw in a safe slang word like lit/fire or throw in Jay-Z or Kendrick Lamar as a musical preference. I can understand if an author want to play it safe and avoid do those things because it might come off the wrong way. But I believe that a white author can have black characters and present them in a respectful and tasteful manner without stereotyping them. Over all i like the story and think its pretty good, this was something that i notice and wanted to addressed it in my review.