Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: eARC from publisher
Three years ago, Dalton McKay looked across the altar and saw the woman he knew he’d love for the rest of his life…only it wasn’t his bride. That’s when he took the McKays’ love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation to new heights—fleeing the ceremony and Wyoming.
Now a family issue has brought Dalton back to Sundance, giving him a chance to prove to everyone—especially the woman he thought he lost—that he’s a changed man.
Aurora “Rory” Wetzler has fallen for cowboy hottie Dalton’s smooth-talkin’ ways too many times. So he’s determined to convince her he’s playing for keeps this go around? Fine. She’ll call that bluff—she can’t ignore their intense chemistry or resist smokin’ hot sex, but she’s not willing to gamble her heart again.
Dalton has plenty of fences to mend with the McKays, but his biggest fear is that Rory doesn’t believe they have a future. He’ll have to pull out all the stops to show her they belong together for the long haul.
Product Warnings: Contains a sexy cowboy who tames his sassy lady love with his romantic and his kinky side. In explicit detail.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
I’ve been a die-hard McKay fan for a long time, and as the series comes closer to its final book, I’ve got some mixed feelings. I was excited to read about Dalton, as there were so many questions I had about him, and it was fabulous to see Rory again.
Dalton is the last McKay man standing and when he runs out on his own wedding, he runs from both his family and Wyoming. But when his father gets sick Dalton is called home, and returns weary of how his family and the town will treat him. But despite that worry, the only thing Dalton is concerned about is the second chance he always wanted with Rory.
Rory and Dalton grew up together, and she loved him, once. Now that he’s back and trying to prove he can be a steady guy, Rory has her work cut out for her trying to hold onto her heart. But as she and Dalton get closer physically, her emotions fall quickly after. And Rory will have to decide if Dalton is worth risking her heart.
With the last few Rough Riders books, I’ve felt like I didn’t have as deep as a connection with the McKay men as I did with the first handful of books. I’m not sure why, but the series seems to have lost some of the initial spark that made me a raving fangirl over James and this series as a whole. That being said, I still think James is an incredible author and one of the better erotica authors writing today.
I felt so bad for poor Dalton throughout this whole book. He seemed so lost and alone and separated from his family. I hated the fact that his father was such a raging douchebag, and although I haven’t liked Casper at all, I thought his character stepped above and beyond villain status with some of his actions in this book. For the things that Dalton had to go through alone, I was amazed at the strength of his character.
I liked Rory, but felt that her character seemed a little different than when she appeared in Gone Country. I’m not sure why, but I had a harder time connecting with her, and didn’t love her as much as I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of things I liked about her: she made Dalton really fight to prove that he changed, she didn’t just roll over and accept him back into her bed after the horrible ways he had treated her in the past, and she was an overall strong woman. But there was just a connection missing that I never really felt.
Like I said, I was glad to see Rory make Dalton work toward winning her back. They have a very long and complicated history together, so getting their second chance at love was wonderful to see, especially since they both were still obviously lusting after one another, but Rory was scared of getting hurt. Again. Watching Dalton fight to prove both to Rory and his family that he was a new man was great to watch, and I always love seeing a strong and dominate hero fight, with everything he’s got, for his heroine.
It was nice to see some of my old McKay favorites in this (OMG – Ky is all grown up!), but I am especially excited for the next (and final) book in this series. I do have to say that I’m both sad and happy to say goodbye to the McKays. I think James was getting to be a bit repetitive, and so after we get the chance to see Sierra and Boone finally get their HEA, I’m going to be both happy and sad to say goodbye to the Rough Riders. **purely speculation based off of James’ author notes website**
All in all I enjoyed this installment of the series, and was glad to see Dalton finally get some peace and happiness that he deserves. I loved getting to finally see the bond between Dalton, Tell, and Brandt grow to the level I expect from the McKay brothers. I am very anxious to read about Sierra as well, and can’t wait for the final installment.
I give Redneck Romeo a B
Great review, thank you. I think this series is too erotic for my tastes, but still it is very tempting. And I like that he has to work for it.