When Erin Poletti pulls her car into the thousand acre Rydell River Ranch in River’s End, Washington, looking to stay with her hated brother Chance, she never intends for it to be anything more than a pit stop on the way to the rest of her life. After her mother’s suicide, Erin has no choice but to seek out her brother where he works as a ranch hand, as she is left penniless, homeless and for … reasons she will share with no one; without the basic skills to navigate her life. Ranch owner Jack Rydell watches her pull onto his ranch and knows that trouble has come to his ranch, his three brothers, his two sons, and most of all: to himself.
Erin has a short lived relationship with Jack’s youngest brother until circumstances eventually leave Erin nearly destitute on the ranch, and finally reveals the secret Erin has desperately hidden. And only then, does Jack finally begin to know the woman whose presence has so altered his life. Eventually, Erin finds a job, and starts to work with Jack and his horses in order to repay the debts she feels she owes him. But the longer Erin is there Jack begins to wonder if he can resist the woman he now knows, despite everything that stands between them.
Please be warned that all my titles contain swearing, sexual situations, mature content matter and often mild violence.
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I don’t usually read books about cowboys but I have to say I totally enjoyed this one! Erin is a woman who has had it really rough all her life–when her mother dies she has no where to go except to her brother who she really doesn’t get along with. He is totally no good. She packs up her old car and everything she owns and takes off. The ranch is definitely not what she expects.
How her life is turned around is wonderful to read about–with bumps along the way of course. I was so happy that there was a happy ending!!
This is the first book I have read by Leanne Davis but I have already put book 2 of the River’s End series on my wish list. I read the synopsis on a Facebook page and decided I should give it a try. I am an eclectic reader classics, contempory fiction, romance , fantasy I like it all! This book is not your usual Contemporary Cowboy romance, though. And normally it would not be my thing at all. It’s too real, too gutsy, too painfully truthful. And while it does have a happily ever after ending, even it is not the bright and shining look at us all happy and loving. It is again more real life where happiness is a choice a choice many of us have to fight for daily in order to make happen. I read to escape my reality, to learn of different worlds or lives and to have happily ever after feeling I didn’t have to work for.
So when I read what some other reviewers had said about the book was depressing, heroine is weak, male characters were not likeable, too much slut-shaming, I could see where they were coming from. Yet, I kept coming back to how well written this book was. I could SEE this ranch through Ms Davis’s words. I could really understand what the female lead alone desperate hiding a disability that has made her doubt herself all her life was going through. I could imagine a beautiful vulnerable woman coming to a ranch with 4 men and two boys who have been alone without any female balancing out all that testerone, could be intimidating. For a woman with low self esteem, who wants to assure she is not alone, hooking up makes sense. It’s a real reaction to those circumstances. And the slut-shaming well isn’t that what you see in small towns with sometimes the distrust of outsiders and on a ranch full of men without a women’s influence. To make us see this , feel the injustice, dislike the characters, that takes a talented writer. To get this upset over fictional characters behavior means we find the characters believable. That means that Ms. Davis has done an excellent job in character building.
I think if we were really honest, if you like me read to escape, it’s difficult to escape something so gritty and unfortunately real in our world. Children fall through the cracks of our school system and we try to create systems to prevent that but we end up graduating kids that can barely read or write. Or they feel so “stupid” they drop out. We woman have fought for our rights for years. Face it most of us romance readers want to read about strong independent woman, who find men who love them unconditionally and treat them as equal partners. Because reality is there are still men out there who feel a woman who stands up for what she believes, who refuses to let anybody make her feel less then because she is a woman. We want Alpha men who fall in love with big butt women, and treat them as soul mates. Yet society does still fat-shame. So we might not like a story for its real life characters and plot that plays out to close to reality. Yet we can’t fault the writer who executes her craft so well that we have all these negative depressing “feelings” about her writing.
How about women who share the lead characters problem, the woman who are vulnerable, depressed, with low self esteem. Do they not deserve to have someone write about them in a way that shows that someone truly understands them. Don’t most fictional plots include some kind of flawed human being who through whatever happens in life they grow, mature and change enough that by the end of the book they are a better person then they started out to be.
In the end Leanne Davis’s characters do just that. They slowly grow in understanding and maturity, becoming better people who can finally love someone other then themselves unconditionally. And isn’t that what happily ever after is really all about.
Yes this book made me mad and depressed at time. At times I cried over the topics that hit too close to home. But I also cheered when the main characters gained new insight and understanding and became better people for it. Well done, Leanne. Thank you for making me feel!
Oh and the extended epilogue was really good too!
Great read!
KU. Free.
I’ve read this 4 or 5 times now and love it every single time. Davis does an amazing job of bringing harsh realities of several lives coming together while still being real, relatable people.
I loved, cried with, hope for, and celebrated with all the characters. You can’t help but be drawn to all the Rydells and Erin.
Really enjoyed reading this book! All though there a few curse words and a few sex scenes it has a really good story! I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good romance!
Wow, what a conflicted group. Is Erin a worthy opponent or is she so confused about life that she made the decisions she made? Joey came on as so nice and helpful and turned out to be quite an a$$. Jack seemed to be rough and tough but he was really trying to do the right thing for the family. He thought Erin would be trouble with a capital T, just exactly like her no good brother, Chance. Who and when would they find a HEA? In spite of all this, I really liked the book River’s End by Leanne Davis.
How do I explain how I feel about this book? I am a dyslexic reader so let me begin by saying that. This book deals with a woman who can not read and feels she is less than a person because of that issue. She has always been taught that by her mom and others in her life (I was lucky and that is not the case, nor do i pass that on to my daughters/granddaughters). So many who read this book might see the book from a different view than I do as a person with learning differences. I see the world, in a way through Erin’s eyes for those reasons. Jack is widower raising his 2 sons and a brother as a son. Also 2 other brothers on their ranch when Erin shows up looking for her no good brother Chance. Of course there would be a brother, Joey who catches her eye and he likes her (men tend to forget that don’t they) and while they are not dating they are “mating”. Course that is not something that goes unnoticed in a house full of men and young boys and her no count brother uses it against her as well. Slowly things start to come out in the book about her life back in the Seattle why she left and why she is as closed off as she is to most people and then at times not so much. Yes, there is slut shaming in the book and sadly it goes hand in the hand with the inability to read. And folks that sadly can be something that happens for read hand-in-hand just like was mentioned in this book. Sadly so it goes… especially with girls exactly as the writer wrote it. We need to do better for our girls and boys in our schools! No falling thru the cracks!! This book was a hard one for me to read as it brought back many painful memories of struggles thru school to read but at least i had help at home. How many are like Erin and get shoved out, told they are stupid or like so many reviewers shamed. This author wrote the truth. I am digging into the next book in this series and wonder which direction will we go on next?
Love the romance!
Enjoyed reading the whole series!
I can’t wait for the sequel.
great story, loved it
Overcoming great odds in life.
I really liked this book
;I reallyy liked this book. I was an original story, and showed a lot of compassion and forgiveness. I’m hoing tto read the next one in the series I’ve never heard of this author, butt from now on I’m going to look for her.
Great story!!!
Touching story. I cried through much of it. So heart wrenching!
The characters were so complex and real in this book I felt like they were real and I couldn’t put the book down. I definitely will be reading more in this series!
This is one of those books you do not want to put down until you finish it.
This was an interesting read. Good story line!
I really enjoyed the flowing tale of finally finding love and working together.