An explosively hot, enemies-to-lovers romance from New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates! Arrogant, infuriating, insufferable… And the sexiest man she’s ever met. Wren Maxfield hates Creed Cooper, but now she’s working with the wealthy rancher over the holidays! Those strong feelings hide undeniable chemistry…and one wild night results in pregnancy. Now Creed vows to claim his … pregnancy. Now Creed vows to claim his heir. That means proposing a marriage in name only. But as desire takes over, is that a deal they can keep?
From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire–welcome to the lives of the American elite.
Gold Valley Vineyards
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4 1/2 STARS!
Enemies to lovers … and soon to be parents! With the book two in her Gold Valley Vineyards series, Maisey Yates has two rival families collide when Wren and Creed can no longer fight the temptation when they’re in the same room with each other. Both characters have strong back stories, but Wren’s is easier understood if you have read the first book in the series before reading this one. I enjoyed their connection and am looking forward to more in the series.
Wren is fit to be tied when a stupid night of passion with her sworn enemy leaves her pregnant and having to decide if she will give in to Creed’s demand of marriage. She’s headstrong and loyal and an easy to like character.
Creed is super easy to understand once his past is unraveled and brought into the storyline. I adored him.
I recommend this book and the series as a whole to anyone who enjoys a family owned winery taking center stage as the siblings find their happily ever afters.
Who is Creed Cooper? Where is he from? Who is Wren Maxfield? How do they know one another? Why the animosity between the pair? I loved it when something was stated about Creed’s family and Wren’s family that had me having an, “Oh yeah! I remember that!” moment. Oh, the hate between these two ends up steamy, for lack of a better word. Oh, I think that a phrase such as “bodice ripper” seemed to /me/ to be more appropriate in spots. Hehehe, oh, post-sex regret makes me shake my head with these two. The conversation between Jackson and Creed at Creed’s house was funny. Wow, I truly want to read more of this series. They are hard, romantic, soul-searching, passionate, and self-realizing romances.
RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A GIFT from Netgalley FOR A FAIR/HONEST REVIEW and REVIEWER FOR Bloggin’ With M. Brennan.
Good enemies to lovers story. Wren Maxfield and Creed Cooper are co-owners of competing wineries. Maxfield Wines tend toward a more posh clientele, while Creed’s Cowboy Wines have a more down-home reputation. When Wren’s sister proposes a joint venture between the two wineries to promote their products, Wren and Creed must work together to make it happen. The difficulty is that Wren and Creed are like oil and water. Whenever they are in the same room, the sniping and bickering are nearly constant, each insisting that they don’t like the other.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Wren and Creed. They both proclaim out loud that they hate each other, but the sparks that fly say otherwise. They use their antagonism to keep each other at a distance, as mentally they admit to intense attraction. When a fierce argument explodes into passion neither one can resist. Wren ends up pregnant, and Creed insists that they marry to ensure that he has a role in the baby’s life. Wren is reluctant but agrees to a temporary marriage to soothe Creed’s fears.
While Wren and Creed’s attraction is undeniable, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other. It was fun to watch them get to know each other’s likes and dislikes and begin to believe they can make a go of the marriage even without the dreaded L-word. Both Wren and Creed have issues from their pasts that affect their willingness to allow their emotions to be part of their marriage. As Creed’s support of Wren causes her to look at her life and her dreams, she realizes that her feelings for him have changed. I ached for her when she confessed those feelings to Creed, and he pulled away. It took some straight talk from one of his brothers to open Creed’s eyes to his feelings for Wren and why he pushed her away. I liked the ending and seeing him finally let go of his guilt and believe in a happy future with Wren. The epilogue was terrific and had a nice twist at the end.
CLAIMING THE RANCHER’S HEIR (Gold Valley Vineyards Book #2) by Maisey Yates is a new enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance featuring the second sister in the Maxfield winemaking family and the sexy cowboy/vineyard owner from the Cooper family. Although this is the second book in the Gold Valley Vineyards series is can be easily be read as a standalone.
Wren Maxfield cannot believe her sister, Emerson, wants to do joint events with their biggest winery rivals, the Cooper’s to increase tourism in the Gold Valley. For years, Wren has been butting heads with Creed Cooper and now they have to work together. Wren hates Creed and his laid-back cowboy persona, but she also cannot stop having very steamy dreams featuring the man she supposedly hates.
Creed Cooper runs his family’s winery and enjoys his sparring with the uppity Wren Maxfield. Creed has no interest in a relationship after being wounded in his past, but his dreams all feature the feisty Wren and now they are thrown together.
After an explosive sexual episode in a wine cellar, Wren is pregnant. Creed vows to marry Wren and take care of her and the baby, but it is a marriage in name only. But Wren has other plans.
I really enjoyed this Harlequin Desire quick read. I did read the first book, but it is not necessary to enjoy this one. I find enemies-to-lovers stories very entertaining and I believe Ms. Yates did an excellent job of bringing all the verbal tension to a head and turning it into believable sexual tension. Wren and Creed were both dealing with emotional baggage that I felt was handled realistically. The sex scenes are explicit, but not gratuitous.
I can recommend this contemporary romance for a quick, satisfying read and I am looking forward to Cricket’s story next.
If you’re looking for some heat on a cold autumn night, this is the perfect book for you. Wren and Creed are an inferno when they’re in the same room. I’ve never been one to understand couples who constantly fight, so I wasn’t sure how this one would play out for me. No worries, their love/hate dynamic was handled beautifully. Just when it seemed it would get tired, their interactions changed subtly. Bit by bit…
This story is marketed as a holiday romance but that’s not how I viewed the book. Sure, it was set in the late fall leading up to Christmas, it just didn’t really focus on the whole holiday thing enough for me to consider it a true holiday romance. I love holiday stories, but I was okay with this story not delving into that too much. It held up fine without having to rely on the Christmas angle. The only issue I had with the timing is there were times throughout the story that the timeline didn’t seem to add up correctly. I’m a stickler for those things, though.
So far, this series has stories that move quickly and carry a ton of heat. I’m loving it! There’s no pussy-footing around. Once Creed and Wren realize their situation, they don’t hold any punches. Well, they hold back their true feelings, but they move ahead at warp speed. I appreciate how they both try to cater to and understand the other while hoping the other doesn’t notice they’re actually being kind. Gasp! Imagine these two actually getting along. Once they realize there is more than sexual chemistry between them, they actually start opening up about their pasts…but still not their true feelings.
The relationship between Wren and her sisters is also intriguing. You just know that when Cricket finds her match there are going to be fireworks. Not to mention whatever the heck is happening with Wren’s mom and Creed’s dad. I am so on board for that story.
Basically, what I’m saying is that this story is a fun, quick, and sexy read. It will get you out of your head and take you on a delightful ride for a while.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and Harlequin. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
First, I will admit to being a Maisey Yates fan, and also a fan of both the enemies-to-lovers trope and cowboy romances, so Claiming the Rancher’s Heir, the second book in Ms. Yates’ Gold Valley Vineyards series, sounded right in my wheelhouse, and it comes as no surprise to me that I absolutely loved it, that I wished it was a longer novel, and it nevertheless gets 5 stars from this reader.
Gorgeous cowboy, Creed Cooper, helps run the family business, Cowboy Wines. They have been competing with the more posh Maxfield Vineyards for years, and Creed’s adversary is pretty Wren Maxfield, someone he sees as prissy and stuck up, but someone he’s very much attracted to, just as Wren is attracted to the handsome cowboy. As representatives for their two family vineyards, they are planning a joint wine tasting event, and after sniping at each other, these two end up having a very brief, very hot, up against the wall sex session in the wine cellar that neither of them ever expected. They were so hot for each other, they forgot one thing–protection, and Wren, who never thought sex with her former partners was all that interesting, now knows what she’s been missing, but she considers it a one-and-done, until she discovers that she’s pregnant and Creed insists on marrying her immediately. Wren is no pushover, and the constant sparring with Creed over how to deal with the birth of a child they both want and their long history of disliking one another leads to a lot of soul searching, and Ms. Yates does an admirable job at giving her readers real insight into the psyches of both main characters.
What these two characters don’t know about each other is a pretty much everything, and when Wren, who is perfectly willing to give Creed unfettered access to their child without the benefit of marriage, finally finds out why Creed is strongly insisting on marriage immediately (and no, I’m telling you why), she finally begins to understand him and his motivations, and, in the process, discovers the reasons for her own reluctance to marry a man who obviously dislikes her as much as she dislikes him.
Expect a great deal of soul-searching in this novel, something that I’ve come to expect from Ms. Yates’ addictive novels, and yes, there’s an HEA ending in your future, but it’s the getting there that hooked me from the very start and kept me reading until the wee hours of the morning. If you enjoy enemies-to-lovers romances as much as I do, I think you’ll enjoy this one every bit as much as I did.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
A true opposites romance
After their hate-fueled escapades result in an unexpected pregnancy, Creed practically drags Wren by the hair, kicking and screaming, to the altar to ensure he has complete access to their child. Once she understands what the thorn is in this lion’s paw, however, she is completely sympathetic and maybe even a little cooperative.
I loved the way Wren stood up for herself, negotiating for her interests even when Creed was ready to steamroll over her every objection. It takes a strong woman to patiently get through to a hardened man like Creed, and Wren was perfect for the job.
Creed sure can come off as an arrogant jerk, but we can immediately see it’s because he’s been so very hurt in the past, and that hurt is still affecting his decisions and confidence all these years later. He’s afraid to want what he wants because he simply couldn’t survive the disappointment again.
Their love is tried and tested and ultimately triumphant. The HEA and epilogue were joyously perfect. For a shorter novella, this book packs a whole story in an afternoon’s read. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.