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Crimson Ridge #1

Audible audiobook

Author: Elliott Rose

Narrators: Amy Hall and Gabriel Spires

You have to have been under a rock if you haven’t heard of this series! In this book, Layla is a struggling vet student who is doing her final externships. She needs to move and there is a box of mementos that belongs to her ex-boyfriend and she doesn’t have the heart to throw it out. The only contact she has for him is an address in Bumfuck, Montana, and, what the hell, she’s heading that way anyway. Well, it’s really out of the way and when she goes to pay for gas her card gets declined. A handsome ‘older man’ gallantly pays for her bill. There is definitely a spark but he suddenly leaves. To her surprise, when she finally gets to Devil’s Peak Ranch, guess who’s there? Colton Wilder, the gas station hunk – and he’s Kayce’s dad. Add a car that won’t start, a lost job, a Montana winter and Layla sees herself working at the ranch. 

Colt can ‘t believe his (bad) luck. He hasn’t felt a spark for anyone in forever and when it happens, it’s his son’s girl. A son he feels indebted to and with whom he wants to make amends. More bad luck has him snowed in alone with Layla, his dream girl. That is a line he can’t cross. But what if no one finds out?

Narrated dual style by Amy Hall and Gabriel Spires, this one will get you very hot under the collar. Amy’s voice is perfect for Layla – the determined, loyal and hardworking girl who can’t believe she’s falling for the most forbidden man. Gabriel is new to me. His voice is very fitting to Colt, a man tortured by his past and the idea that he can’t even contemplate a future. 

It’s an instalusty, snowed in, forced proximity, age gap, forbidden romance that is made unique by Elliott Rose’s style of writing. You are right there inside the heads of these characters all the time. Some readers may get bothered by it but I believe it truly made you know these characters’ mindset. But it does make for a longer book. Don’t get discouraged by the 16-hour running time for the audiobook. You get a 3-hour bonus novella in the same universe. 

If you want an age gap romance between a dedicated vet student and a tortured soul cowboy with some very good spice, dive right in! Get it in audio! 

Rep: FMC is a curvy girl

Content notes: Financial insecurity, alcohol abuse, family member with dementia, (past) child abuse, SA, animals in distress, panic attack on page. For a more comprehensive list, visit the author’s website.