Tuesday, March 10, 2015

ARC REVIEW: Dances With Wolf by Farrah Taylor

Title/Series: Dances with Wolf
Author: Farrah Taylor
Publisher: Entangled Bliss
Published: March 10th 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 195
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher
★★★ (3/5) Stars!

Farrah Taylor | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Some men can never be tamed…

Horse whisperer Abby Macready's love for animals runs as deep in her blood as her Native American heritage. If she were even half as good at reading men, she'd…well, she'd probably still be fantasizing about her best friend's big brother, Wolf Olsen. Playboy, cowboy, and breaker of Abby's teenage heart.

Staying on top of the rodeo circuit means that Wolf has to stay focused and never settle down. He certainly wasn't expecting to return to the Flathead Valley to find Abby's flashing dark eyes and a backside that could bring a man to his knees. But his sister's best friend is definitely off-limits…even if Abby's soothing touch has a completely different effect on Wolf. But this wild cowboy can’t let one sweet whisperer tame him…



I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!

There were a few things that initially had me instantly wanting to read this book. For starters there's the best friend's older brother trope, which happens to be a personal favorite of mine. Then you add to that fact that said best friend's older brother is a cowboy, a rodeo cowboy in fact. I'm not exactly big on the rodeo part, but sign me up for the cowboy! Plus his name is Wolf. Seriously a cowboy named Wolf! I could already feel the swoons and I hadn't even read a word yet. The last thing that piqued my interest was the fact that Abby was a horse whisperer. Horses have always been one of my all time favorite animals so I figured between rodeos and horse whisperers I'd get my fill of them with this book. Having said all that I have mixed feelings upon finishing. There were things I liked and things I didn't like but I'll start off with the things I liked.

Like I said Abby being a horse whisperer had me intrigued. I also liked the fact that people were skeptical about her career choice, even Wolf. It was fun to watch her prove herself and work her magic. The fact that she was so passionate about what she did and the welfare, health and happiness of the horses she worked with and just animals in general was something I admired about her.

Even though I'm not really a rodeo person, I feel like the moments we were in Wolf's POV and he was actually competing the description was done really well. I could picture everything perfectly. If you took away the whole cowboy aspect, I would still love Wolf's character. He was very sweet and I loved how much he cared for and took care of his family, even though the responsibility he felt ended up costing him in the past. He may be a bit cocky about his cowboy skills but I actually found that sort of endearing. Plus you gotta love a man who loves animals!

One of the biggest things I didn't like was all the puns. They tapered off towards the end, but before that happened I counted at least 5 or 6. And the thing about puns is that generally they are worthy of an eye roll and an exasperating sigh. Which is exactly what I ended up doing every time. I mean one I don't mind, I'll probably even chuckle at it. Two, fine, I can deal with that. But pun after pun just gets old because they're never truly that funny.

I had been very excited by the fact that we had the best friend's older brother trope going on here, the only thing is I didn't really feel the romance until the very end. There was no heavy flirtation or really any flirtation at all. It was mostly just them thinking about the fact that they were attracted to one another or the possibilities of what could have been in the past. I felt the friendship, but there wasn't any spark. Things just sort of happened with them and I was left feeling like, "This is it....?" which was sad for me because I really wanted to feel so much more with this book.

It was still a very fun and quick read. It may have been lacking in passion in the beginning but the same couldn't be said about the end. The grand gesture that Wolf comes up with to win Abby over at the end was extremely swoon worthy. The cowboy definitely knows how to woo! In the end it was just okay for me but I feel like had there been more passion and sexual tension in the beginning it could have been great. I realize it's a Bliss book so it's all about the sweet romance, but the thing is you can keep things sweet and tame and still ramp up the sexual tension and flirtation.

Thanks to Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!




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