Taming The Mountain Man (Thickwood, CO Book 3)

This book packs a bite sized punch

This is my first book by Mila and Aria and I have to admit even though it was a novella bite sized snack, I really enjoyed the character development, the chemistry between Reese and the Sheriff but also the story line was great, flowed well and didn’t leave me hanging with unanswered questions

I will definitely keep an eye out for more by these two authors I received an advanced copy via Booksprout and I voluntarily leave my honest review

I liked this entertaining short story. The characters grew on me. I wasn’t sure that I was going to like either of them at first, but I’m glad I gave them a chance.

Elliot Shephard is the sheriff of Thickwood and when he isn’t being sheriff he is a “reclusive mountain man”. He is very independent and is a big believer in hard work is the best kind. Elliot thinks that he is happy with his life of just him and his dog. When she comes to town, everything changes and he’s not sure that he’s ready for that. Reese is color and light where he is dark and grey. Elliot has to find out more about her and the way she makes him feel because he’s starting to think that she might just be his.

This story took me a little bit to get into. From some of the dialog, I thought it was going in a different direction than it ended up going and that threw me off. I re-read the story prior to leaving my review because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t knock it down for my directional mess up.

Elliot and Reese are like opposites, but not once Reese gets Elliot to open up. I loved that he was protective of Reese right away even when he was teasing her. I liked that Reese had no problem teasing him back. Their relationship went from 0 to 60, but it was still sweet (and hot!). I loved their happy ever after. I recommend reading this book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A Lightning Fast, Yet Overly Safe Story of Love Overcoming Pain and Abuse…

As I wrote in an earlier review, when I first came across this series, I wasn’t sure I would care for it. I don’t normally go for the typical, sugary sweet romances, much preferring darker, edgier, more alpha driven fare. And to be honest, thus far I’m still not completely sure a whole series of plain ol’ mountain men, no matter how gruff and grumbly, will be interesting enough to hold my attention. However, a few of my favorite paranormal and alpha, bad boy authors are penning installments for this series. And that coupled with the knowledge that each is steeped in angsty, more serious topics such as physical and/or emotional trauma, loss, etc.. I decided I had to give Thickwood a try.

This particular book, “Taming the Mountain Man” by Mila Crawford & Aria Cole, is the third installment in the series. It is the story of Elliott, Thickwood, Colorado’s reclusive sheriff. A man, who after a tumultuous childhood filled with loss, alcoholism, and abuse, vowed to stay alone forever, avoiding the pain he endured in his youth. And Reese, a vibrantly quirky elementary school teacher, new to town. A woman as colorful as she is kind. And also a woman about to take a certain grumpy sheriff down a path neither of them saw coming.

What follows is a sweet, if not somewhat predictable story of insta-love. And while it is a heart warming story of kindred spirits coming together. Coupled with a mid-story twist that, unless you’re completely dead inside, will have you rubbing your chest, and feeling pangs of both sorrow and happiness deep within in your soul. It jumps from first meeting to forever in such an abrupt and clunky manner, you’ll pause and wonder if you missed a chapter or two.

Additionally, while what the authors pen here is lovely and easy to read. It lacks the lush, emotional richness of the books before it. Nor does it contain the same searing chemistry between the male and female leads as the other installments.

Overall, it is still a lovely story. It is a quick and easy read that is sure to satisfy hea lovers fully. However for me it lacked depth and emotional complexity. As well as only dipping near the underlying topic of abuse, giving only superficial attention to it. Something the other authors so far in this series have been far braver with and honestly attentive to.

In the end, for me, despite its potential, this foray into Thickwood was less than memorable and overall just an okay read.

Little Miss Sunshine and Rainbows KO’s the Big Crabby Mountain Man

Well bring on the grouchy and huge mountain man and the spunky colorful young woman that ends up taming his heart. Taming The Mountain Man is the third book in the Thickwood series where each book is written by a different author. If you are familiar with Mila Crawford and Aria Cole’s writing then you will love this latest book.

Sheriff Elliot Shephard is a man unto himself. He basically raised himself after his mother got sick when he was younger and died when he was fourteen. He father was an alcoholic who was violent when he was really drunk. While his mother was alive she shielded him from his father’s rage for the most part but as she got sicker dear dad just got drunker. That is until the day of her funeral when Elliot had had enough and cocked his drunk dad well and good. Elliot inherited the Shephard Lodge which is outside of Thickwood nestled into the woods near the base of the mountain. There he has a main log cabin and several trappers cabins outback that he has fixed up.
Reese Winters is the new first grade teacher at Thickwood Elementary school and is new in town. She was born and raised in California and decided she wanted to go somewhere else to be herself. Her mother is a famous model and her father is an Ethics professor at Berkeley. Reese does not exactly fit as she is curvy and quirky who loves life and always see the best in everything. Plus she is an explosion of color and fun….”A grown woman that was stunning in her beauty and like a toddler in every other way.”
One evening Elliot heads to the local diner for dinner, just like he does every night. But this night his usual booth, the one where the seat is perfectly molded to his butt, is already taken by someone else. As that person is outside on a call he decides to sit in his seat anyway, a good way to exert power. Reese slides into the seat across from him and the games begin as she is not letting him get away with stealing her booth and he is not giving in as it is his booth. These two are about as opposite as you can get but they are attracted to each other which grows more as they eat together and the witty banter and talk ensues.
As Reese is staying at the only place in town available, with the crazy Dolly, and she is having issues Elliot shows up the next day in her classroom to offer her one of his cabins. In Friday he picks her up after school and they drive to the Lodge for her to see the cabin. She likes it and his big bad and grouchy dog Bruno just loves on her like he has never seen. It seems Bruno likes “Little Miss Sunshine and Rainbows” better than the grouchy mountain man. They then go to eat and back to Dolly’s to move all of Reese’s things up to the cabin. Later that evening the power is knocked out when a storm starts coming. Elliot had not shown Reese where he had put some flashlights in the cabin so he puts on some boxers, as he was just getting out of the shower, and runs out to the cabin. He opens the door and when he finds a flashlight and turns it on he finds an almost naked Reese sitting on the edge of the clawfoot tub filled with hot water. When she stands up her robe gets caught and Elliot gets a showing of all of Reese’s curves and then some. Well you can tell how they are going to keep warm that night as they generate enough heat to warm the cabin. So it seems that Elliot may not be the complete loner he thought he was as once Reese grabbed his heart it was hers for a million forevers.
But things are going to change even more when one of Reese’s students is being abused physically and finally tells Reese. When Bobby Williams’ mother shows up obviously drunk Reese contacts Elliot immediately and he arrests her while Reese takes Bobby to the cabin. But he is not content to have them in her small cabin and moves them both into his larger cabin. It seems this loner may have just got himself an instant family as he falls further in love with Reese and also starts falling for Bobby.

This is a sweet, instant love, short story that has a great story-line with a bit of everything and a great HEA,. The rugged, grouchy, loner mountain man ends up definitely being tamed by the feisty, beautiful, curvy, adult toddler woman. Then when you add in a wonderful and sweet little boy it is game over for Elliot. I loved this book and definitely recommend it to other readers.