The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch (Gold Valley Novels Book 9)

Maisey Yates always delivers a captivating, steamy, small town romance that keeps me turning the pages and The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch was a treat to kick off my summer reading.

West is one of the children the Dalton siblings that they have recently found out about it. He has come to Gold Valley for a new start after being released from jail. Pansy is doing everything she can to follow in her dad’ footsteps a a police officer. Her family know tragedy well since her older brother raised her and her siblings, cousins, and friend after their parents were all killed in a plain crash. I love that relationship between Pansy and West. Him being the bad boy ex con, and her the good girl police officer. I can’t wait to see what happens next at the Hope Springs Ranch.

This is a beautiful story of hope and redemption- conveniently happening on Redemption and Hope Springs Ranches in Gold Valley for two lonely people. While it could be read as a stand alone, there are so many wonderful characters and backstories, that it is best to read at least a few of them before diving into this one. The writing is superb, characters well developed and a heartfelt captivating plot.

West Caldwell is one of Hank Dalton’s illegitimate children, who has recently been exonerated and released from prison after having served 3 years for a crime he did not commit but had been set up by his ex-wife. He is slowly getting to know his half sibs and bought Redemption Ranch nearby. He is also reunited with his 18 year younger other half sib, Emmett, on his mother’s side, who had disappeared. Pansy Daniels, along with her siblings, cousins and a family friend all lost their parents years ago when the plane the adults were all traveling on crashed and the kids banded together to stay together by running Hope Springs Ranch. Although she was just a little girl, her father was angry with her when he left and she has felt guilty ever since, changing her wild nature to follow in his footsteps; not following her heart, but doing what is right. They both think that they don’t fit in and are irreparably damaged, but they learn that letting people in, heals the heart.

Little did they know that when Officer Pansy stopped West and gave him a speeding ticket, that it was a blessing for both and the way to find home. We have often tell our children that it is much less painful to learn from our mistakes rather than repeat them, but that is not the nature of children. West says it to Emmett, but in an analogy that is so relatable that it is worth remembering and repeating.

I read an ARC provided by NetGalley.com and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Maisey Yates’ The Bad Boy Of Redemption Ranch is book #9 of the Gold Valley series. Maisey Yates takes readers into the depth of small-town relationship between West Caldwell and Pansy Daniels as each confronts their past to move forward into their relationship. The Bad Boy Of Redemption Ranch is about a strong family ties among siblings, overcoming hardships, and finding love. Maisey Yates gets the grist of human nature in her characters making them very lifelike.

4.5 stars

I always strive to be as honest as possible in my reviews. You all know I adore this author and her cowboys and heroines. Full disclosure, I wasn’t sure if this one would hit me, so to speak, in the same way her other stories have. I was greatly enjoying the story, especially the banter between Pansy and West. (The ways he would come up with to annoy her just tickled me.) But I wasn’t getting all the feels. Sure, they had chemistry. I was just doubtful this story was going to pull me down this author’s usual avenue of making my heart break for one or both of the main characters. That is, until about a quarter of the way through.

That’s not really even that far into the book. Like I said, I was enjoying the story so it didn’t seem like any sort of toil to keep reading. I guess that’s the magic of Maisey Yates, I’m usually firmly swooning by this time. But she made it worth the wait. I seriously went from, “these two are fun together and I’m enjoying the will they/won’t they” to, “don’t you see how much you’re hurting her? don’t you see that he only walked away to protect you both? why does this author always make me cry?!?” In. An. Instant. All the feels, all the emotion, all the heartache I’ve come to expect from this author.

By the end of this book, I was 110% all in with this couple. They are such an amazing counter to one another. Alike in the ways that matter, but different enough to keep things fresh and exciting. Able to be the calm to the other’s storm when needed.

Other than the fantastic love story in this book, we are introduced to Pansy’s family. I’m sure all of which we will see get their HEA eventually. If not in this series, then in a spin-off series. Their upbringing and circumstances are interesting and will provide a lot of material for the author to delve into.

You would think I’d learn by now not to doubt this author or the journey she has mapped out in her stories.

Who is West Caldwell? What happens at the beginning of the story? Who are Sammy, Logan, Iris, Rose, Ryder, and Pansy? What do they each/all do for a living? Who is Roger Doering and what bombshell does he drop? What do we learn about West and his family? Who are the Daltons? What do we learn about them? This story is so full of second chances, hope, family, friendship, and love that I worried at times that my teeth might start hurting! It was so sweet, but then I had tears too! It turned out it was the perfect amount of sweetness coupled with the sadness. Read and see why I feel that way!

RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A GIFT from Netgalley FOR A FAIR/HONEST REVIEW and REVIEWER FOR Bloggin’ With M. Brennan.

The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch
A Gold Valley Novel Series #10
Maisey Yates

https://m.facebook.com/MaiseyYates.Author/
Release date 06/23/2020
Publisher HQN Books

Blurb :

This rebel cowboy is looking for a fresh start—will he find more than he’s ever hoped for in Gold Valley? Police officer Pansy Daniels is the poster girl for responsible behavior. Orphaned as a child, she has dedicated her life to safeguarding her local community. The last thing she needs is a hot-headed cowboy with attitude cruising into town. He may be her new landlord, but that’s no excuse for provoking her…or sending her heart into overdrive.

West Caldwell has come to Redemption Ranch to put his past behind him. Flirting with a pint-size police officer who thinks he’s bad news is definitely not part of the plan, but it’s deliciously easy to get under Pansy’s skin. Then West discovers the vulnerability Pansy keeps so well hidden, and suddenly this renegade cowboy is in over his head. In her arms, West feels like the man he always wanted to be—but can he become the man Pansy deserves?

My review :

When love lands unexpectedly at her door, will she open it and let it engulf her …

Mrs Maisey Yates is a new-author-to-me, and while I read very few contemporary romance, the blurb of this one caught my eyes, the police officer and the ex-con looked like a great premise, and it was more than a great argument.
I loved everything in this book, the foray in the countryside life, the many siblings from both sides, the hardships the heroes had to deal with, the bond they create and how their romance progressed.

West is such a wonderful man, he is flawed and accepts his faults, yet he paid dearly for his wrong choice of a wife. He thought he had it all when ultimately he is left with even less than before.
Still he didn’t let bitterness poisons his life, he is no more the man he was prior to his marriage, thus he can’t go back to his previous life. He needs to fix new roots, somewhere far away from the page of his life he has decided to turn over.
Why he sees humor in his first encounter with Pansy, an ex-convict and a police officer. But there is much more than irony to make him pursue her. She awakens something weird and strange he never felt before. She ignites a spark he thought long dead.
Pansy is dedicated to only one thing, her job. She made it her life goal, she even shaped herself to become the opposite of her young self to reach it. She curved her way to be what she thinks would have been the perfect girl then woman in her father’s eyes. She followed his foot steps in the hope to deserve his praise even from the beyond. But in alienating her wild child side, she erased all memories of her childhood to focus only on her intend.
And West arrival in her life is seen from her side as a disturbance, his presence reopens involuntary old wounds she has let fester.

Both are two lonely people in their own way, West because he never had someone to rely on, but that now he has found a new family, he learns slowly to open his heart and to let others in. Pansy while surrounded by her many siblings, she grew up alone trying to make up for the errors the little girl she was did, but on the road she lost her path and forgot to live. Why together they face their burgeoning relationship a very different way, he by forward when she tends to run away. And while I do not like characters acting the coward way, Pansy is no usual miss, her special upbringing while heartfelt left her with many scars time only exacerbated as all the kids had so much on their plate to be able to plainly assist each other in a deeper way.
This 5 stars tale is a scorching hot read to savor like a delicious meal, one taste at a time.

I was granted an advance copy by the publisher, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

https://www.facebook.com/429830134272830/posts/645451389377369/?d=n

The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch is the ninth novel in Maisey Yates’ Gold Valley series, a series I’ve been avidly following since its inception, and Ms. Yates has yet to disappoint me. True to form, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and liked its characters, although I did feel it was just a tad short on conflict, and had a few issues with its main characters, which is why I’m giving it a 4-star rather than a 5-star rating.

Pansy Daniels is a 27-year-old police officer when we first meet her. She and her siblings, cousins and friends were devastated by the loss of their parents. All three couples were headed to a vacation in Alaska when their plane went down, leaving no survivors. Pansy was still a child when this tragedy occurred, but the death of the man she looked up to and admired all of her short life left its scars on her psyche. She’s been haunted ever since then by the fact that she was a wild, disobedient child, and her last memory of her father is of him being both angry and disappointed by her misbehavior. The guilt she feels has left her broken. As someone who lost her mother at age 15 and wishes she could undo the last words she ever said to her mother before her unexpected and untimely death, this novel and Pansy’s feelings about her father hit very close to home for this reader. From that point on, all Pansy wants to do is make her father proud of the woman she’s become, and follow in his footsteps, which which is why she is so set on becoming the new Police Chief. With her sole focus on being the best she can be, there’s been no time for men, dating or romance, and at 27, she is still a virgin, but that is about to change.

If you’ve been following this series, you already know that West Caldwell has been one of the missing half-brothers in the Caldwell family, another of rodeo legend Hank Caldwell’s many illegitimate offspring, many of whom have found their way to Gold Valley in the previous novels. West left home early and grew up working on a ranch in Texas, leaving his dysfunctional mother and her many poor choices in boyfriends behind. He knew he wanted a better life, worked hard, made a lot of money, married a woman he didn’t really love, a woman who later divorced him, then lied about him and sent him to prison for 4 years. He was eventually exonerated but once released, West had no desire to return to Texas, and instead heads for Oregon, buying Redemption Ranch in Gold Valley, and trying to make a fresh start. Redemption Ranch has a tenant living in a small house on the property–that tenant is Pansy Daniels, whom West first encounters on his way into town when she pulls him over and tickets him for driving 20 miles over the posted speed limit–and that’s not the only ticket she gives him, as the attraction between these two characters builds.

Pansy and West are quite the odd couple, the bad boy and the good girl, and I did have a problem with Pansy losing her virginity in a dirty, dusty tack room and the way she and West treated their sexual liaison as rather trivial. West telling Pansy that he had no intention of ever falling in love or marrying again was, in my opinion, too little, too late.

Pansy also has issues with the fact that there have been a number of unsolved break-ins and burglaries in town recently, and when she and West find that the culprit is West’s 15-year-old half-brother, Emmett, who ran away from home and who made the mistake of stealing a wallet full of cash from a car belonging to a nasty and snooty woman, Barbara, who is short on forgiveness and who may stand in the way of Pansy’s ambition to become the Police Chief, Pansy tries to distance herself from West, and tries to do her best to set Emmett on the right path–but will it be enough?

Pansy and West are both characters broken by events and experiences in their past, and Ms. Yates exhibits are great deal of wisdom about how to move beyond the broken pieces within each of them, how to help heal themselves and each other, and how to move forward. While I wished for more of a relationship between these two characters beyond the sexual sparks between them, I felt that both West and Pansy spent a little too much time inside their own heads, expressing little of what they were each feeling to each other for most of the novel. There was indeed the expected HEA ending, which I also felt could have been explored at greater length.

While this novel can be read as a standalone, there are so many characters and their inter-relationships appearing in it from the previous novels, I’d advise reading the novels in the order they were written. This novel was a very good, very well-written addition to the series, and a very enjoyable and heartfelt read. I am happy to recommend it.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.