Welcome to Clean Slate Ranch: Home of tight jeans, cowboy boots, and rough trails. For some men, it’s a fantasy come true. Reyes Caldero keeps his past buried deep and his emotions buried deeper. But what he doesn’t say he always makes up for with his actions. When the hot chef he once saved from an abusive ex turns up at Clean Slate Ranch, the quiet cowboy is happy to act on their sizzling … sizzling chemistry, even if he’s not ready to share his secrets–or his heart.
Miles Arlington needs to get the hell out of San Francisco, and heading north for a job near Clean Slate Ranch seems like just the thing. It doesn’t hurt that his secret crush slash onetime rescuer happens to work at the ranch. Miles has never been one for the outdoors, but the superhot Reyes has him ready to saddle up.
Reyes is happy to keep things casual, even though his heart has other ideas. And when Miles is forced to confront his past again, Reyes and Miles will have to put all their trust in each other if they want any chance at building a future together.
Clean Slate Ranch:
Book 1: Wild Trail
Book 2: Roped In
Book 3: Saddle Up
Book 4: Lucky Break
Book 5: Hard Ride
Book 6: Right Move
more
This one was a bit of a slow starter for me. To be fair, I haven’t read the first two books in the series, so I was a bit lost on some of the backstory at times. That aside, other than a couple of hints at danger from an obsessive ex, the first half of the book was slow going. The second half did pick up the pace, but there was a lot of drama from both Miles and Reyes. That drama is understandable and the story touches on dark subject matter, but with so many hints at where things were going, it wasn’t hard to figure out the gist of the secrets both men kept. I did like the patience Reyes showed with Miles even before he knew what had happened to him. He was both tender and understanding. I don’t want to give spoilers, so I’ll just say that Miles’ behavior later in the book was a bit of a turn off for me given everything that had happened to that point. It felt like drama for the sake of drama and didn’t really fit with the relationship. Nevertheless, this pair does have good chemistry and their relationship is a mix of sweet and sexy once it gets started. I would say that anyone who has followed the series to this point would probably have a better connection to the secondary characters as there are things going on that revolve around them. As it stands, I didn’t dislike the story, but it was a bit too slow in the beginning for my tastes.
Miles and Reyes get their HEA!
Saddle Up is book 3 in the Clean Slate Ranch series but it also stands alone well. I think this is my favorite of the series books. It really got me in the feels departments. The story touches on some pretty heavy subject matter (non-consent in someone’s past and something else that would be a spoiler) but never in a gratuitous way.
We met Miles in book one and you could just tell that there was something going on by the way he acted and now we get to find out in Saddle Up. He ends up being a much stronger person than I would have guessed from his earlier appearance in the series.
Reyes was also a quiet character in the first two books and now we find out why he is that way. Something truly awful in his past threatens his budding relationship with Miles. It’s something that he’s never even told his best friend, Mack.
I loved how we get to see Miles grow and become a strong person in this book. While Reyes loves to take care of Miles he’s also proud of how strong he’s become and how he is able to handle a nasty ex-boyfriend.
When Miles finally learns Reyes secret things take a bad turn but this is a romance and it’s “part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!”
I wouldn’t mind visiting Clean Slate Ranch again, and again, and again.
A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***
I liked this story very much because:
* A storyline that is progressing steadily and has a bit of tension that I enjoy
* The characters has interesting backgrounds that makes them vulnerable and human
* No unnecessary descriptions of surroundings
* Enough dialogues to keep the story moving forward without being to much.
* Love scenes is tender and sweet
* The world building is excellent, I would want to visit this place if it was real. This is what I crave from a book and the author delivers.
* The secondary characters has me curious and eager to know their stories.
5 star mm romance
Save a horse, ride a cowboy!
Each new book in this series draws me further into the world Arthur has created at Clean Slate ranch. I love Reyes big, brooding, protective nature and how Miles brings out the best in him. Both men have darkness in their past but offer each other a safe place, a home.
Boudreaux does an amazing job making sure that each character is clearly definable and has their own voice in the story.
Fans of the author and narrator will surely already have this book in their library. But fans of sexy cowboys, hard fought happy ever afters and passionate romances will like this one as well.
4.5 stars
Since book one I have been dying to get Reyes and Miles’ HEA. They both are so quiet and a little bit secretive that I just needed to get to their story and unpack them. We slowly get hints about each of their pasts and it is both captivating and heartbreaking. Even through that, we see them both start to trust and open up to each other.
I liked that this was a slow-burn romance because it was very true to the characters. Even though there is some tension with each of their pasts playing a piece in the storyline, it was interesting and kept me wanting to learn more. The author gave us a little bit at the end of the book that showed Reyes working towards forgiving himself for his past but I do wish that he was able to get a little bit more closure than he did. Even though Miles’ closure was a bumpy ride, I still appreciated it and wanted that for Reyes as well.
One thing I loved about this book was the character development of both Reyes and Miles from book one when we meet them, to the end of this book. It was nice to see Reyes being more open with his family at the ranch and just letting himself be happy with Miles. Also, the changes we see in Miles from that first visit to the ranch in book one is incredible. He was jumpy, scared, standoffish and just unhappy and then in this book, even with some drama going on, he just lights up and I loved seeing that. I really hope this is not the end of the Clean Slate Ranch characters!
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn’t a requirement. ***
**Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.**
Saddle Up is book three in A.M. Arthur’s Clean Slate Ranch series. I highly recommend you read this series in the appropriate order. The characters and many storylines mentioned in this book are carryovers from the other books, so you’ll enjoy it much more if you start at the beginning. And, come on, all the books are about cowboys finding love, who wants to skip any of that? No one!
I was really looking forward to Reyes and Miles story and it did not disappoint! Both men are secretive in the other two books so I knew there was going to be a lot of heartbreak in this one. I mean, come on, have you ever read a book by this author before? Well, this one was surprising. There have been many of her books that have made me cry, but not this one. There was a lot of sad elements involved and hard stories and feelings to get through, but I must have hardened my heart and eyes to manage it.
Once Miles is able to fully come into himself, to get past his fear and to start truly living his life, he was an easy character to love. He loved hard, and really just wanted to be loved in return. Reyes was still secretive throughout the book, until forced to finally tell his secret and it was a doozy. Sometimes authors will build up the secret and then you get to the reveal and it’s something like, Oh, when I was 4 I stole a piece of gum from the store. And as a reader you’re going, um, all that drama for that? Anyway, back to this story. That was NOT the secret being kept and it was a big one. One that for a lot of people probably could easily kill a relationship. So, the author really has to put Reyes and Miles through their paces to find a HEA.
I love this author’s work and this series. I love the Clean Slate Ranch and all the characters that make up the ranch. The author did a fantastic job of showing Miles working through his previous relationship abuse. He’s not in a bad relationship and then a few days later attracted to someone else and magically better. He really struggles with making himself stronger. When he’s finally ready to act on his attraction to Reyes, it’s a slow build-up to more. There’s no magic penis fixing him in this book! Even though this is a slow-building relationship, it never felt like it.
I’d highly recommend checking out this series! The author has built a world of easy to love characters. There is heartbreak throughout the series, but with a rainbow at the end of each storm so the characters know they’ve lived through those hardships and have succeeded in truly living after the heartbreak. This series will make you run the gamut of emotions and at the end of each book, you’ll have loved the ride.
Rating 4.5 stars!!
Saddle Up is a sweetheart of a romance with lots of thrilling suspense and sizzling chemistry. Reyes and Miles are both strong, compelling characters that readers easily connect to and fall in love with. The romance between these two is full of heat and an electrical attraction but these two fight their attraction due to unresolved past issues which keeps this romance on an emotional rollercoaster of ups and downs. There are a couple of sensitive subjects brought up in the story but they are not brought up in elaborate detail. The story is also about new beginnings and overcoming seemingly insurmountable issues which is really inspirational as these two try to reach for the their happily ever afters which tugs at the heartstrings and has the readers cheering this couple onward.
Suspense and danger adds thrilling adrenaline pumping excitement to this story as the past comes back to torment each of these characters. Miles’ stalker ex-boyfriend and an emotionally torturous event from Reyes past which adds to the emotional turbulence and adds intense friction not only between Miles and Reyes but between family and friends as well. The ranch and ghost town setting really adds to the ambiance of this romance as well adding excitement to the story since that means there are quite a few hunky cowboys in the story and the getting a new ghost town venture off the ground is a fascinating subject on its own, but with these characters, also adds a bit of fun. So while the story is mostly a heartfelt and sweet read, it has uplifting moments and chuckle worthy moments which gives readers an enjoyable read.