Chloe was running from her past, keeping her walls up and people out. It's understandable why she was reluctant to open up to people given her past experiences. Trust was something that took a lot of time for her to build, but as time goes by, she falls into a new routine and forms bonds with the people in town who show up for her when she needs them. She slowly starts settling in and finally allows herself to hope that she can truly find her home in Whittier Falls.

Mason was a cinnamon roll hero who was always putting everyone's needs before him, especially his daughter, Abigail. He finds himself struggling to take care of the ranch while also managing Abby's schedule simultaneously. He feels like he isn't doing the best when it comes to his daughter, so when Chloe starts renting his cabin and helps him out of this situation, it leads to them spending more time in close proximity.

Mason is intrigued by Chloe and can sense that there is a lot that she isn't opening up about, but being with her and earning those small shy smiles from her becomes addictive, and he finds himself wanting to learn more about her and feeling a sense of protection towards her. I liked that he didn't push her for details but waited patiently for her to feel comfortable enough to open up and stayed by her side through it all.

I really liked Abigail. She was a precious kid, and I loved how she commanded the book whenever she was present. She was truly a ray of sunshine and made me smile a lot. I also loved the father-daughter bond between Mason and Abigail. There were a lot of moments showing their bond, so many cute moments between them, Mason's dedication towards his daughter, and his love for her that knew no bounds.

I liked how Abby wasn't shy and was the first person to put Chloe completely at ease. The two slowly started bonding, and their relationship felt like it progressed at a good pace. I also like how their presence started healing the other in a way.

The girl gang in this book was something I liked too, and that they welcomed Chloe into their fold, although I feel like they just had one conversation with her and included a total stranger into their group, acting like they were bff's already, so I kind of wish that situation was eased into slower. The side characters were fun and were good friends who helped and encouraged Mason and Chloe when it was needed.

I really wanted to like this book, but there were a couple of reasons why this didn't hit the mark and fell flat for me. The reasons are below and contain spoilers, so if you plan on reading the book, you can skip it. I've still hidden the major spoiler if you are okay with the minor ones.



On to the things I had an issue with in this book (CONTAINS SPOILERS):

* Firstly, I have no idea how old Mason and Chloe were. Mason mentions that there's an eight-year age gap, but their actual ages aren't mentioned.

* The "romance" between Mason and Chloe went from 0-10% at first, and then suddenly they threw caution to the wind, and it just went to 100%. It wasn't convincing, and I couldn't feel any buildup or chemistry growing between the two. They barely had any open, meaningful, or any actual conversation for them to know anything substantial about each other that would result in growing attraction.

* There was no proper timeline mentioned about how long it had been since Chloe moved to Whittier Falls and met Mason for us to get an understanding of how much time they might've spent together for said feelings to develop. It felt like they'd known each other for all of a week, and he had already fallen for her.

* Chloe's character felt a little all over the place. It's hinted from the start that she has a tragic past and has endured some form of abuse, and she was initially shy, closed off, on edge, and all that was totally understandable. But there'd be moments when she'd start opening up and be all witty and humorous, but I felt like that brand of humor didn't align with her personality the rest of the time. The same was applicable when it came to the smut scenes, where suddenly she was this sexy, confident vixen.

* Chloe was very particular about hiding her scars from everyone, and yet when she and Mason got intimate, she had no issues letting him see them without any reservations or even a little hesitance. And even when Mason saw her scars for the first time, he didn't even pause to consider what might have caused her such harm and just glazes over that fact like it was natural by saying, "The scars were proof of the battle she'd survived." I mean, what battle??? Wouldn't you be curious about the scars on the woman who you are supposedly falling for???? And there is no afterthought in Mason's POV even after sex about her scars either. Mason also mentioned her favouring one foot at the beginning but this was again never gotten into or even mentioned again by any other character including Chloe.

* The smut just made me cringe because I felt no connection between these two whatsoever, and the constant mention of "how they'd never experienced anything like this," "how right the sex felt," and "sex had never felt this way" made me roll my eyes so hard.

* We never even get into Mason's past and what happened with his ex. His ex-wife wasn't even mentioned by him. He mentions that he had a dark past, so he gets where Chloe is coming from, but this was never elaborated on or gotten into.

* It was a small town romance, but the town was barely even described, so I didn't know what to even picture. I just knew about the place where Chloe worked, the ranch where Mason worked, and Abby's school, which was mentioned twice.

* I would've liked it better if there'd been a clear understanding of what had exactly happened on the night Chloe's life changed forever. The way it was explained didn't make it too clear as to how the events played out. It could've even been some sort of flashback scene so we'd know exactly what went down.

*

How did her brother find her if they'd both changed their identities, and if he had abandoned her even before she changed her identity and was on the run for years? The whole situation with her brother towards the end felt so abrupt.

Thank you to Kate McWilliams and Luna Literacy for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review.