Review: Summer Days – Susan Mallery

“New York Times “bestselling author Susan Mallery returns with a new Fool’s Gold trilogy featuring three rugged cowboys who will find love in the unlikeliest of places…. Locked in an unexpected land dispute, Rafe Stryker is trapped in the one place he vowed never to return to-the Castle Ranch in Fool’s Gold, California. He made millions facing ruthless adversaries in the boardroom, but nothing could’ve prepared him to go head-to-head against stubborn, beautiful Heidi Simpson. No one is more surprised than Rafe to discover that he’s finding Heidi-and life as a cowboy-much more compelling than he wants to admit.

For Heidi, the Castle Ranch is the home she’s always wanted. After a life on the road, the vivacious blonde has finally put down roots. She won’t give that up without a fight, not even for a man whose late-night kisses make her yearn to be a little less…wholesome.

As the two turn from passionate adversaries to passionate, period, they’ll discover that summer love can last a lifetime.

Series:  Fool’s Gold #7
Release Date:  May 29, 2012
Publisher:  HQN
Source:  NetGalley
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

I’ve been wondering how Susan Mallery was going to create a love story for the girl who was raising goats and making cheese out at the Castle Ranch.  I should know by now to never question (even if it’s only to myself) how Susan Mallery is going to make it work, because she always does and it’s always entertaining.

Heidi Simpson thinks she the proud owner of the Castle Ranch, along with her grandfather.  It’s the perfect place for her to raise her goats and make her goat cheese in the tunnels underneath the ranch.  She finally has roots, the one thing she didn’t have all the years she lived with her grandfather during this time with the traveling circus.  But her hopes and dreams come crashing around her when she finds out her grandfather tried to sell the ranch he technically doesn’t own.  She embarrassed, but at the same time devastated to think she’s going to lose what she tried so hard to establish.  But when she meets the man who wants to throw her out of her home, she decides to fight.

Rafe Styrker has done everything physically possible to stay away from the small California town her grew up in.  But when his mother calls to tell him that she’s been swindled out of $250,000 she thought was going towards purchasing Castle Ranch, he finds himself in his fast sports car heading to Fool’s Gold.  But when he wants to strike hard and fast to get what his mother wants, he finds his mother wants to co-exist with Heidi and her grandfather at the ranch and work things out.  

Rafe and Heidi were an unlikely couple when we first meet them.  She was all about her goats, cheese and the ranch, where all Rafe wanted to do was boot her out, instill his mother at the ranch and get back on his way to San Francisco.  They immediately rubbed each other the wrong way and you had to wonder how on earth they were going to end up together.

But the ranch had a very calming effect on Rafe.  For a man who vowed to never set foot on that ranch again, he took to the chores of a cowboy as if he has been doing every day since the day he was born.  He loosened up and started to see that making money hand over fist wasn’t the only thing that could make him happy.  Of course, he doesn’t come to that realization overnight and without a bit of emotional upheaval, but he eventually gets there.

Heidi was one of those people who you root for, from the very beginning, because you can tell they are trying so hard to get it right.  She tries so hard to live up to the agreements she made with Rafe’s mother and the judge, but it seems everyone is working against her…even her grandfather.  And when she thinks she’s been wronged by the man she’s falling for, even her evil attempts to put a roadblock in Rafe’s plan isn’t all that horrible.  She’s too nice and feels too guilty when she’s doing something that might cause someone else the slightest discomfort.

I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next two to see just what is up with those Stryker brothers and how they are undoubtedly going to be hooking up with Heidi’s friends.