Totally did not enjoy this one as much as the first in the series. I guess I just didn't care much for the heroine. I didn't really see why the hero liked her. She was a surly whinny bitch. I felt like she just used her home situation where she was enabling her father and brothers to take advantage of her as an excuse not to take a chance and move on. The hero was quiet and came across as much less of an alpha male than the author tried to convince me he was. I guess it had a couple of things that I appreciated. The heroine stopped crushing on the hero's brother once she had slept with the hero. And it was different in that the hero was the one to move to make the heroine happy and that doesn't happen often in romances. Wasn't horrible hence the 2 stars but I didn't enjoy the journey. ( )

You often see in reviews most people complain about the romance not being original that its just a recycled version of the same thing from book to book. Well in this series the romances are anything but typical. They are unconventional in both the story and the characters. If you a fan of this author this series isn’t as gut-wrenching as some of her others but the characters are certainly flawed. I will not forget in the first book her having a heroine who was illiterate and expected to be treated unkindly. In this book the heroine hates her life. After her mother left she was left to take care of her disabled father and her two lazy brothers who do nothing but party. She wants nothing more than to get out of River’s End but doesn’t see how that is ever going to happen.

Kailynn’s abandonment by her mother at an early age messed with her self-esteem and worth. With her self esteem so low she tends to date men that are no good even though she is still clinging to her virginity. Her whole life she has wanted one man - Shane Rydell. Even though he has never seen her as anything but a younger sister type figure. Shane also doesn’t do a whole lot more than drink and sleep with women himself (his story is next in the series and he certainly needs to get his life together). What Kailynn doesn’t realize is its Ian Rydell who is pining for her but she is so caught up in her woe is me life she doesn’t really even see him and the impression she does have of him couldn’t be more wrong.

Ian and his older brother Jack were thrust into responsibility at an early age when their parents died and they in turn had to raise their two younger brothers along with Jack’s two sons. Along with that responsibility they also had the family ranch to run. Ian is not described as being very attractive by Kailynn but its not long before you realize that is because she has tunnel vision when it comes to the good guys. Ian was the strong silent type that didn’t believe in talking about his conquest or getting drunk and acting stupid. He takes his family responsibilities seriously and I think was also the most affected by the loss of his parents. I have to say I felt sorry for Ian for most of this book. You just knew Kailynn was going to break his heart and there was nothing you could do.

There is a HEA so no worries there but there is plenty of heartbreak and growing that has to be done before we got that.
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