His objective: marriage. His opponent: a stubborn single mom. After ten years, Rachel Charbonneau is finally back in South Dakota. But she intends to sell her family's farm and rush "home" to the city. Ex-solidier Matt Dalton won't let her go without a fight. Well, a secret fight. He can't let her know he's loved her since they were kids. Or that thoughts of her saved him through the worst of times. And Rachel seems scared to tell him the real reason she wants to leave. So, his strategy: arm himself with all the faith and love necessary to be her hometown hero.
I thought these characters were very realistic and that the dialogue was authentic. Since Rachel had a rough marriage, it's easy to understand why she wasn't sure about staying in South Dakota. She was also an actress, so she had to decide what to do about her life in California as well. Even through that, old memories of her childhood crush with Matt kept coming to the surface. In real life, people don't just jump into that type of relationship. Both sides will have their hesitations and wonder if their friendship will lead to something more, so I applaud the author for not rushing the romance but giving it time to naturally develop. As much as I enjoyed Rachel, I fell in love with Matt. What appealed to me was that he was scarred from the war and had a limp, but he didn't turn his back on God. He was a sweet and terrific guy. I can understand why Rachel had such a crush on him! An added bonus for me was the trip they took to Rapid City. I've been through South Dakota several times and love being there. It was so fun to visit Wall Drug, the 1880s town, and the Black Hills. That was probably my favorite part of the book...but for sentimental reasons.
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