Evie Forrester flew across the world to surprise her boyfriend, only to be surprised herself when things do not turn out in her favor. Tanner Harding, an expert bullrider, swoops in to save the day by saving her entire trip. When things get more involved between the two of them than Evie would ever have guessed she has to figure out what exactly she really wants.
This is an author I’ve really loved in the past so I jumped to get an ARC of this new one from Sarah Mayberry. This is going to be the first in a series featuring books by different authors, but all focused around the American Extreme Bull Riders Tour. This isn’t a traditional type of sports romance book that I would normally be interested in, but that comes purely from not knowing anything about the sport or ever reading anything about it before. After reading this first book I’m definitely open to reading more in this series and about this sport in general.
The one thing that didn’t work for me with this book was the initial premise, and that comes right at the beginning. Evie flies across the world to surprise ‘her boyfriend’…but it’s clear that he is not her boyfriend. He is someone she slept with, a lifelong friend, that she had grown up with, and been texting with since they slept together. She refers to him as her boyfriend repeatedly, but also acknowledges that she was seeing something there that wasn’t there. Later on in the book she clears this up more thankfully but I wish that she didn’t repeatedly use the word boyfriend to refer to the original guy…that just implies so much more to the relationship.
Okay, but beyond that, I really liked this book! Tanner was perfection. For the first half of the book I kept thinking that he was too perfect to be true and I’m glad that the author doesn’t have that be the case because I need imperfections in my characters. I really enjoyed the build-up between the two MC’s throughout the first half of the book. I was able to connect with them and their romance and then in the second half I was able to really root for them and dig in even more.
I needed a light-hearted romance, which this was to an extent. There was more feeling behind it though too, which I appreciated it. This author is a solid one for me who rarely, if ever, lets me down.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for a review.
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewer: Melinda
Title: Tanner
Author: Sarah Mayberry
Release Date: May 9, 2017
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