Review: "Tucked Away" by Jennie Marts (Hearts of Montana #1)
Note: This ARC was provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie Ryan arrives in Tucked Away, a ranch left to her by a grandmother she never met or knew about, and immediately recognizes just how out of her element she is. She's the quintessential city girl, more used to the skyscrapers, traffic-filled streets, and paved walkways of New York, but she's determined to make a go of this, wanting to abide by the wishes of her grandmother to at least stay on the ranch for the summer. After her fiancé broke her heart and her bank account, Charlie needs this chance to start her life over.
Zack Cooper enjoys living in a small town with her teenage daughter and running his own veterinary practice. He doesn't have time for a personal life but when he meets Charlie Ryan, he's immediately attracted to her. However, she's screams "city girl" and his ex-wife already abandoned him and their daughter all those years ago because she needed to get away from small town life. Zack wonders how long Charlie is going to last in Montana and if he's willing to risk starting something with someone like her.
As Charlie becomes more acclimated to country living, Zack finds himself opening up to the possibility of a relationship with her. Things start to become problematic when Charlie's mother unexpectedly arrives, as does Zack's ex-wife, plus a mutual friend becomes takes things too far. Add an annoyingly persistent man wanting to buy Charlie's land, the sudden appearance of the father she's never met, and suspicions that her grandmother's death was anything but accidental and life in the country becomes complicated.
Tucked Away is the first book in the Hearts of Montana series by Jennie Marts and is a contemporary romance that has a city girl-country guy vibe to it. Charlie is in Montana to live in the ranch her paternal grandmother left her and is like a fish out of water. I did like her determination in trying to make the best of her situation and finding the turn of events as an opportunity for her to not just start over but also to learn more about the grandmother she never even knew existed but who loved her from all this time.
There was a lot going on in the story, to the point that I found myself wondering why Charlie simply didn't pack up and leave. There were secrets being kept from Charlie, not just by her mother but by Sophie, the teenage girl Charlie saw as a little sister/cousin of sorts. Then there was the mystery behind her grandmother's death, someone wanting her land, Zack's ex-wife, Cash's near kiss, etc. Sheesh. A girl can only handle so much! One or two issues delved into deeper would have been more than enough here.
Charlie seemed a bit more clueless than I would have liked in a heroine and she had a bad tendency of jumping to the wrong conclusions without finding out the truth first. I also didn't feel an absolute connection between her and Zack. She actually had more of that with Cash, but I'm guessing his story is going to be told in a future book in the series. All in all, Tucked Away had its moments and was an okay read and would probably work for fans of cowboy romances. I'm going to give this 3.5 stars out of five. ♥
Release Date: 28 April 2015
Date Read: 27 April 2015
Learn more about Jennie Marts here.
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