SPORTOCHICK’S MUSINGS: This book made my heart ache, cry buckets of tears, and smile with joy.

DESCRIPTION

You can hide from your past…but you can’t escape it—not even with a hot cowboy and a Christmas craft circle—in this lively and poignant romance from USA TODAY bestselling author Stacey Kennedy.

Everyone daydreams about a fresh start…but Willow Quinn is making it happen. She’s left her life in Phoenix to open a bar in cowboy-country Montana with her two best friends. It’s a chance to reboot in a new town with a new life—and leave behind the shadows of her past and heal. Hopefully.

All she wants to do is create an empowering space for women who need support. Snow and the holidays are on the way, so surely a craft circle is the perfect way to build community… Except who knew her plans would ruffle so many feathers.

Enter former bull rider Eli Cole. She’s drawn to the green-eyed cowboy, his intensity and the electrical charge between them. (Even though he seems to have as many dark secrets as she does.) And when she and her bar, The Naked Moose, go viral for being interlopers, suddenly Willow’s new life is on rocky ground.

But Eli has the perfect solution—give the fiercely single bar owner a fake relationship with a local. But while it might dim the negative spotlight and convince the town she really does fit in, it definitely won’t protect her heart from the cowboy she can’t resist…

REVIEW

Lone Wolf in Lights by Stacey Kennedy Book 2: Naked Moose Series

This book handled the abuse storyline with thoughtfulness and empowerment. Intertwined with the love of her two BFF’s, Willow learns how to move forward from an abusive relationship. I love, love how the Author created her character to be supportive to others who are/were in abusive situations. She is empowering for herself and others by helping other women to talk while they craft.

This is an area I am familiar with from my childhood, so I was able to relate to the storyline and its authenticity. It did trigger some childhood trauma but it also made me smile that these women were projected as strong and moving forward with their lives.

Eli is broken and stuck but what a great character he has. He is pivotal to the storyline and his protectiveness is attractive as it’s done allowing Willow to heal.

This book is special because it shows guy friends supporting each other and talking through issues and life. It shows that just because two people are broken it does not mean that they can’t heal and love again.

I give it 4 stars.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine.