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Hard Loving Cowboy (Crossroads Ranch #3) by A.J. Pine [arc review]

Hard Loving Cowboy was a wonderful heartfelt story about facing your demons and finding your way. It was emotional, touching, and most importantly: so very romantic! 
The blurb:
Walker Everett spends his days at the Crossroads Ranch wrangling cattle-and steering clear of anything that would complicate his already too-complicated life. Until Violet Chastain, the ranch's newest employee, asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend for her parents' anniversary party. She's the most beautiful woman he's ever met and needs his help. How can he refuse?

Violet isn't about to fall for a brooding bad-boy cowboy, no matter how sizzling their chemistry. But she also never expected Walker to go along with the charade. Before long, he's charming her parents at their weekly dinners and kissing her way more than necessary. Spending so much time together tests the limits of their "just friends" relationship, but what happens when their game of pretend becomes all too real?


5 Glorious Stars

This is the 3rd book in the Crossroads Ranch series, but it can easily be read as a stand alone. I would know it since I started the series with this one :) 

Walker and Violet both have a lot going on in their lives. Walker is living one day at the time, trying to stay sober and trying to figure who he is without his companion of so many years- alcohol. Violet is juggling multiple jobs so that she can have enough money to help her mother receive the medical treatment she needs. 
The way they meet is unconventional but it helps them both in different ways. Violet can be honest with someone about her struggles and Walker finds someone that doesn't look at him through the lenses of his past.

The chemistry between them was undeniable. But more important than that they made each other better people, more confident and stronger. Neither character shies away from the reality of their situation and they accepted the relationship they have for what it was- they are falling for each other but they also needed to figure who they were apart from one another. 

My favorite thing about Hard Loving Cowboy was how AJ Pine managed to make the characters feel so real. I felt Walker struggles as if they were my own and it was wonderful that she also wrote what his decisions in life did to his family, how much it hurt them, and how much besides it all they still love him. 

This was a great book and a great series. I really can't recommend it enough.

Release Date: March 26th, 2019 by Forever Pub. 
Find the book at: GoodReads - Amazon 

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