New park ranger Daphne Baum is a reformed good girl. Breaking free from her overbearing family as soon as she turned eighteen, she’s been on her own ever since. The life of a park ranger, moving from park to park, suits her just fine. Though still a rule follower, she’s okay with a little sin in her life.Every generation of Hill men has its black sheep. The general consensus among the family is … family is that Odin Hill is the lucky bastard this go around. At seventeen, he blew out of town like an angry tornado only to return fifteen years later withdrawn and secretive. Living like a recluse in the hollows in the Smoky Mountains, he’s happy to keep to himself and is content to let locals believe he’s the town weirdo. Odin prefers the company of his pet pig to the nosy citizens of Green Valley.
When Daphne discovers Odin might be committing nefarious deeds on park land, she vows to find out the truth behind the handsome, yet chaotic, loner. Will the stranger help the ranger discover the difference between being good and doing the right thing? Or will they find themselves on opposites sides of love?
‘Stranger Ranger’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #2 in the Park Ranger series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
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Stranger Ranger by Daisy Prescott is book 2 in the Park Ranger series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe and follows Odin Hill of the Hill family whom is mentioned in book 2 of the Winston Brothers Series, Grin and Beard It.
Viking-sized, brooding, recluse hero, Odin Hill lives up in the hills of the Rockies in Green Valley, Tennessee, where his family has lived for many generations. Odin has a pig named Patsy and a hound named Roman. He’s passionate about food and even studied in France. In his younger years, he was a professional chef but in those days he let himself loose and that only brought trouble. Presently, he keeps to himself. He’s a bit of a loner and is intrigued by Daphne. The townspeople all seem to have something to say about the Hills.
Daphne is new to Green Valley. Presently, she’s just been promoted and is now a full-time park ranger. Daphne has cut all family ties and has moved around a lot to work for various National Park Services (NPS). She’s a private person who doesn’t talk about her past much at all. But she’s also snarky and sassy, and I love that she has no filter and the way she describes Odin as this Norse demigod is a hoot #VegetableThor. When it comes to him, she loses her cool and can’t stop staring at him. Daphne doesn’t have much experience with men, hence the constant staring at Odin. She used to live in a strict church community, cut off from the outside world. Her life was pretty much a sheltered one and she didn’t really start living until she went off to college.
I loved Odin and his banter with Daphne. These two could not be more different but at the same time alike in so many ways. Throughout the story we get a better look at Odin and his family background. We learn about his upbringing and get to meet his beloved nannie Ida. We discover the mystery of why he’s always in the unmarked trails with his pig, Patsy. We also unravel Daphne’s character and learn more about the past she escaped from.
Stranger Ranger was such a fun, charming, and sweet read that I could not put down. You heard it from me: un-put-downable!! The first few pages alone had me laughing out loud! Daisy Prescott is a writing genius, her words will capture you and not let you go. This book was a top 2020 read for sure!
Disclaimer: Daisy did such a beautiful job with some sensitive topics mentioned in the story.
Stranger Ranger is the second book in the Park Ranger series set in the Green Valley World from the Penny Reid Universe. Simply put, these books are offshoots from Ms. Penny Reid’s wonderful creations of which several talented authors are participating in expanding said world building.
Now Daisy Prescott has penned both books in this particular series and so far has both stayed true to the original world but adding her own twist making it wholly her own as well. As the series theme implies, Park Rangers are the center of the story line and this time around we get to meet Daphne Baum, newly transplanted to the quirky and quaint town of Green Valley, Tennessee. Here she comes across the enigmatic and mysterious Odin Hill, mountain recluse, black sheep of the Green Valley Hills and also as gorgeous as the Viking gods his name evokes. He also owns a pet pig and may or may not be committing some minor park infractions which Daphne is determined to find out. Because its her job and it just so happens he looks like a god who takes a lot of walks with his pig, who does that? But the more these two try to avoid one another, the more it seems they bump into each other and the more their attraction grows. But these two are both hiding secrets that might cause more than a minor bump in their romance. Can they muddle through it all to find their happily ever after. Stranger Ranger is a charming and humorous small town romance and like I said its also filled with both the familiar and the new. The town is familiar if you’ve read Penny Reid’s Winston Brother series. But its also filled with newer characters who are also part of the offshoot series. Daphne and Odin will definitely keep readers on their toes on how the romance aspect will take off and how everything will fall into place to attain their HEA. Its a slow burn romance but its funny and quirky and adorable and lovable all rolled into one.
I’M SO IN LOVE WITH ODIN & DAPHNE!!! Gah! It was so good that my brain is literally jumbled…I’m not even sure the rest of the review will make sense!
Odin & Daphne just made me smile the entire book. I loved watching them be oddly intrigued and attracted to each other. They both have their secrets and watching them try to figure out if they can trust each other was so endearing. Plus I just loved how the whole book flowed. It was so smooth and I couldn’t put the book down. An even bigger bonus was Patsy Swine! She was so dang adorable!
I seriously hope we get more Ranger books from Daisy in the future. They’re some of my favorites!
Daphne loves being a Park Ranger traveling from park to park. Landing in Green Valley she meets Odin who is a strange man walking a pig. Odin avoids people but Daphne is someone he wants to spend more time together. What a fun read! Can’t wait for the next book!
Stranger Ranger is a Fantastic Addition to Daisy Prescott’s Park Ranger Series.
Daphne Baum is the newest ranger in Green Valley, she is also a little on the quirky side, looking to make herself a nice life after leaving a past life she didn’t want to have, what she never expects is meeting a man who would turn her head.
What can you say about Odin Hill, a little mysterious, definitely a loner but also a man who has led one kind of life but has come back home to just be himself.
What Daphne & Odin have is something sweet. Two people who totally understand the other, both have their reasons for who they are, but they make no apologies for it and will enjoy each other each and every time they are together.
There is nothing about this couple that you won’t love, if anything you will fall for them with each and every turn of the page.
Daisy Prescott has a knack for writing quirky, endearing characters, and I really liked Daphne and Odin, plus,it was fun to (re)connect with the other rangers too.
I enjoyed the banter – both between the MCs, but also among the rangers – and some scenes had me grinning from ear to ear or even laughing out loud.
Looking forward to reading more books in this series!
***I received an ebook copy from the author at no cost***
You guys. I wasn’t even halfway through this book and I fell head over heels for Odin. He’s earned the top spot on my list of favorite book boyfriends for 2020.
Every time I pick up a book by Daisy, I feel like I’m coming home again. Her stories are cozy, sweet, and funny, and Stranger Ranger is no exception. Daphne is a new park ranger. Odin owns and runs a farm up in the Smoky Mountains. The two first cross paths at the local farmers market, where Daphne does an excellent job of putting her foot in her mouth–numerous times. Odin is an introvert with a bit of a past, so even though he’s attracted to Daphne, he has no intentions of acting on it. His recluse life suits him well and he’s happy with it.
Except he runs into Daphne again and again, sometimes unplanned and other times on purpose. And the more these two cross paths, the harder it is to keep the feelings they have at bay.
Since I could gush about Odin for hours, I’ll start with Daphne. I got a kick out of her. She was sort of hard to figure out at first, but Prescott did a good job of developing her character and giving readers enough info to understand how and why Daphne is the way she is. She’s all about the rules and she’s not looking for a relationship. She’s moved around a lot and lived in different places, and has never really settled down anywhere to make roots. But she likes the area enough and wants a permanent ranger spot in the park, so it’s easy to envision her turning her temporary home into a permanent one. Prescott threw a HUGE curveball into the plot with Daphne and while I won’t share so as not to spoil anything, I will say I didn’t see it coming and it was a complete shock. But the curveball helped some previous things make more sense. Daphne was easy to relate to because she’s your average woman in many ways.
Odin … Oh, Odin. He has a bit of a colorful past, which led to a reputation that precedes him around town. He’s intelligent, kind, and likes to keep to himself. He has a pet pig (Patsy!!) and I loved that about him. He’s got a bit of a wall up around himself but once he lets a person in, they’re able to chip away at that wall. I loved how passionate he is about food, everything from growing to harvesting and especially cooking. He’s such a gentle and kind character, and he didn’t just say how he felt about people, he showed it through everything he did. I adored that. Daisy did an amazing job with his character and left me craving more stories with him in them.
Characters from Happy Trail make regular appearances in this story, which I liked. I love the worlds that Prescott creates with her writing. She dreams up these amazing locales that are small enough to have a homey feel but popular enough to draw in outsiders and crowds. Everyone knows everyone and there are always small-town secrets and scandals. Prescott’s writing is vivid and each time I pick up one of her books I feel like I’m immersed in the world alongside the characters. I felt this way as I read Stranger Ranger. I was in the forest with them, smelling the dirt and the air and feeling the wind on my face.
This story is wonderfully written and the plot is great. There’s humor, sass, and swoon worthy romance laced throughout it. I loved the banter between the characters and the way that everyone felt like a family. The characters are fantastic and the book left me with a major case of butterflies and a book hangover like no other.
I can’t wait to see what Daisy dreams up for the next book in this series!
Five star to this novel!
Favorite Quotes:
The only vegetable I’ve ever seen you eat is a potato, preferably fried or formed into a tot.
“Is that apple cake? There are free samples. Bet they’d be nice enough to let us have more than one.” Her steps falter as she swivels her head, pausing and sniffing the air like a velociraptor.
Because our last name is Hill, some people like to joke that we put the hill in hillbilly. Some people think they have a sense of humor when they’re just being mean-spirited. As my Nannie Ida always says, glasshouses provide good views, but then again, so do mirrors.
This woman makes no sense. One minute she’s accusing me of being a criminal, and the next she’s petting my bicep like a baby animal.
“I love your accent.” She sighs, her eyes all dreamy like I’m her favorite boy band member.
I should know better. Both assumption and bias have “ass” in them.
My Review:
When you need to add a smile to your day you can always count on a Smartypants Romance to provide not just one but several. This amusing slow burn romance was hours of fun. Stranger Ranger features a female forest ranger who becomes rather obsessed and intrigued with Odin, a former small-town hillbilly turned world-class chef who has traveled the world before returning to his hometown for a simpler life of farming and foraging. Odin enjoys walking his beloved pet pig, Patsy Swine, down Mainstreet. And if that doesn’t make you smile then you should consider consulting with your doctor regarding the possible need for pharmaceutical assistance.
I really enjoyed this book! It’s a great addition to the Green Valley Chronicles.
This is a great fast read, I was surprised to find I had gotten to the end.
I really liked the relationship between Odin and Daphne. There’s a nice slow burn, and I liked that it was a fun relationship, they are both very relatable and rational characters. I enjoyed the mystery of their pasts and seeing them unfold, I would have loved to read even more backstory.
Okay, I’m just going to start off by saying that I absolutely adored this book. First off, it’s Daisy Prescott, and I was a diehard fan already. Add in that it’s part of the interestingly named but totally addictive Pennyverse (named for the book world created by author Penelope Reid), and also Odin Freaking Hill, and I am in love.
Daphne Baum is my kind of quirky. As the most recent addition to the team of rangers at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Daphne is in her element. Her past has made her a wanderer with a love of nature and a heart for the Divine. She’s also more than a little bit awkward, which makes her all the more engaging.
Odin Hill, of the Green Mountain Hills, has a storied past himself. He’s definitely marching to his own drum, and I absolutely love it. What I love even more is him and Daphne together. I honestly think that they’re surprised by each other, and the relationship that develops between them. But once they lean into it, their slow burn had me fanning myself, because it was all kinds of hot. I love a man that knows what he wants, and Odin definitely does, and he goes for it. And, let’s not forget, he has a pig. Named Patsy Swine. Does it get better than that?
Daisy has knocked it out of the park once again, because STRANGER RANGER is definitely on my list of recent favorite reads. Written with wit, humor, quirkiness, heat, and just the right amount of sweetness, this is a book that I would happily recommend, and will read again and again.
I had the pleasure of reading both this book and Happy Trail back to back (but backwards lol) and I can tell you they are true standalones. I don’t know why I had to make an announcement out of that, but there it is.
I enjoyed Stranger Ranger in particular because of the slow burn between Odin and Daphne; it fit their characters and their journey perfectly and that makes me happy. Author choices can make or break a story for readers and as much as I love to read any romance fiction (okay, not the paranormal), I like them best when the choices the author makes make sense. Sometimes you have to suspend your *reality* with fiction, but I didn’t have to do that with this book. They both have such unique and captivating pasts as well and when you put all of it together it’s a story that captivates you to reading in one sitting and stays with you!
I am so in awe of this series from Daisy Prescott. The world she creates within the Smartypants Romance arena is so on point and relevant.
This is the story of Daphne and Odin.
Both characters have a shaky past and I admire the quirkiness of both of them. I admired the courage of Daphne and her innocence in discovering her new world.
Odin is an enigma! It was a delight to find out more about his history and the way he became the character he is today.
The chemistry between Odin and Daphne is both swoony and funny. I loved the humor and the situations that both Daphne and Odin find themselves in throughout the story.
It was also fun to see past characters make an appearance and how seamlessly they wove into the fabric of Green Valley and all of its inhabitants. I cannot wait to see what comes next from Ms. Prescott.
4.5 Stars
This is the second book in the series and I enjoyed just as much as the first one. This book had me hooked right from the beginning. I really liked Odin and Daphne. They were so adorable together. One of the things I loved about this book was the banter between them. Another thing I loved was the humor. I laughed quite often especially when it comes to Daphne. I gobbled up this story. All the characters were great. I liked catching up with Jay and Olive as well. I hope there is more to come in this series! The humor and heart will pull you right in and you won’t want to put the book down. I mean Daphne calls Odin Vegetable Thor. Can’t go wrong with a guy who looks like yummy Thor.
4.5 stars really. This was a slow burn romance. Obviously there is always the physical attraction between the two characters pretty quickly, but then the romance and all that took its own sweet time. I don’t mean that in a bad way though, just that is how the story went. I enjoyed the first book in this branch off series of the Green Valley Chronicles, Happy Trail, also by Daisy Prescott, and so it was fun to jump in and spend more time with these park rangers and the people of Green Valley. And Odin was fun because we got to meet him just recently, very briefly in another book, Carpentry and Cocktails. I just love all the little connections in these stories!
I had an inkling what Daphne’s past was like from the little hints she’d given as the story went along, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when she revealed her secret to Odin. Odin’s secret wasn’t quite as bad as it might have been made out to be by the media and articles that Daphne found about him when she first googled him. In the end I loved that while both of them had times they were upset that the other didn’t tell them something up front, both were reasonable and listened, like I think is realistic. That way the end was a perfect ending all the HEA I wanted and none of the extra drama that I dread in romances sometimes.
rating 4.5
I’ve been waiting for another Park Ranger book since I read Happy Trail. Daisy Prescott’s story mesh well in the Green Valley/Penny Reid universe. I like how quirky, smart and independent Daphne is. I had some laugh out loud moments! Odin is grumpy but a total mystery. I do wish we would have gotten some more chemistry between the two but it was a slow burn of a romance. The ending came quicker than I wanted and left me wanting more.
Stranger Ranger is the second stand alone in the Park Ranger series by Daisy Prescott. A romance between two slightly socially awkward people both with pasts they would prefer to forget.
Odin, Odin , Odin I honestly can’t say that there was a single thing I disliked about him. Sexy farmer with a beard , amazing cook , pet PIG , a pup , introvert , attentive lover Seriously no complaints in the hero department in this one. Sadly I didn’t vibe with Daphne right away. She is an interesting character because you can tell she is smart and committed but holds part of herself back. It isn’t until after a scene where she takes one too many Benadryl and lets her walls down a bit with Odin that I liked her much more. I appreciate that he has to work to get to know Daphne and work even harder to get her to trust him. The chemistry they have works off the bat and Odin just wants to care for Daphne in every way. When they finally embrace the interest in each other her and Odin create an interesting pair of people who just want to be together and the rest of the world is just background noise.
Stranger Ranger was low angst and slow burn romance but at no point was I ever bored with the story line. It had very funny moments, where Daphne would make comments in her head that had me laughing out loud and when Odin would be out walking his pig on a leash through the park. I appreciated that both characters were just who they wanted to be and that they didn’t try to change to be together.
Another fantastic addition to the Smartypants Romance Green Valley Universe filled with new faces and plenty of friendly faces from other books.
4.5/5 stars
Really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this story – it was 5 star for me, but felt the story dragged towards the end; I am not sure why. I am not a fan of big blowups to resolve relationship stories, so I was not looking for more drama, but it is still a 4.5 star read for me. Hoping there are more in the Park Ranger Smartypants series.
I love Daisy’s writing and she is a master at Green Valley and small town romances. Loved having normal GV people in this one as well as Book one characters also showing up. Odin is vegetable Thor and has a pet pig, Daphne meets him a the local farmer’s market and makes an impression on him with her love of ranch/iceberg lettuce and a bible verse. They meet again in the park while he is hiking and he keeps coming back, until one day she is sick and needs help. The chemistry was there but just felt a little off for me, and wish there was more of them.
The ending was way too fast for me and would have loved another 50 pages of these two as a couple towards the end. It was a slow burn and then fire steam! But I wanted more of a HEA over the HEN. Loved the setting of the park and GV which was all done perfectly. Also, loved getting more of the Hill family and old timers of GV with the history of the park. Can’t wait for more of this series and to see who is next!
Overall, 4 stars and 3.5 steam
As the newest park ranger in Green Valley, Daphne Baum is learning a thing or two about life in the ‘hills’. Up until this point, Daphne has moved around the country from one National Park Service job to another. With the Smokey Mountains as the backdrop, Daphne is looking forward to the stability of this long-term assignment.
Odin Hill enjoys his life in the confines of the hills. Living in seclusion isn’t all that bad. After all – Odin spent years exploring all that life had to offer when he turned seventeen. There were fifteen years that Odin relished in all the experiences that he could experience in the big city. Upon returning to Green Valley – Odin made his living off the land. Using all of the resources at his disposal, Odin enjoyed the quiet comfort that life in the mountains provided.
During one of Daphne’s trips to the market, she ran across ‘Vegetable Thor’. Unbeknownst to Daphne, Odin took notice of the newest park ranger in town. As Daphne learned more about the elusive ‘Vegetable Thor’, she began to question what Odin was doing in the wilderness. Was it something illegal? With a pig in tow, Odin certainly posed quite the mystery to Daphne. What will Daphne uncover when she decides to peer deeper into the woods? Unexpected things may leave Daphne facing more than she bargained for.
Can I start by saying how much I loved Stranger Ranger? Odin was one hot ‘mountain man’!! After all – what would you expect from a Vegetable Thor?? Daphne was a unique character in the Green Valley world. I really liked the independence that Daphne exhibited. Living as a park ranger can certainly be lonely, and I think that sentiment carried through the story with ease. Once Odin came into the picture, I loved watching Daphne grow as an individual. The spark between these two characters was unmistakable. A great addition to the Smarty Pants Romance collection!! I look forward to uncovering more characters in the Park Ranger series!!
This is the second Park Ranger novel from Daisy Prescott, and it is just as much fun as the first! Daisy Prescott writes amazing small town rom-coms that just draw you in and keep you laughing, having fun and smiling.
Like the first Ranger novel, this is also a sweet slow burn romance. Odin is a grump Viking, and Daphne is a rule-abiding feminist! They are both so witty and snarky and entertaining. Their flirting is awful and awkward, and I mean that in the best way possible because it is so much fun to read.
Thank you, Daisy Prescott, for another unforgettable, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable trip back to Green Valley.