At the beginning this reminded me so much of Franci Mahones', "The Impasse", although the former predates the latter by ten years.

Shirley nearly runs into Rachel on the road and it's lust at first sight for both of them. But, they go their separate ways, assuming their never see each other again.

Needless to say, they do meet up again, not once, but twice. Rachel is staying at Shirley's Dude ranch, Springdale. Her day job has been a s a political strategist and she is becoming disillusioned by it. and so she goes to the ranch to get away from it all since one of her best childhood memories is at a ranch (a different one).

Shirley meanwhile is still getting over the death of her partner Dale four years before the novel starts.

Still the two get closer, but because they both have significant baggage , it's not a smooth ride at all.

I liked the characters, although I really would have loved to read more about the other guests other than Christina. For example, Jane the Librarian. I don't know, maybe this is like a Brayden or Radclyffe series book where they're from other books?

Either way, some of these filler characters just felt really flat, and I would have loved to see more of them so they'd be fleshed out. ( )