The Ranch (The Birch Creek Ranch, #3) by B.E. Baker

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Women's Fiction, Romance
Content: Clean

A ranch they didn't expect to love. A family they didn't expect to find.

Amanda and Abigail Brooks didn’t even want a ranch. They should be pleased the secondary beneficiary is trying to take it away. But now they’ve been in Birch Creek for a while and they’ve started to put down roots. They won’t give up without a fight—even if the odds of winning are bleak.

Donna Ellingson started on the wrong side of things, but she’s eager to rectify past mistakes. But when helping one widow harms the other, none of the choices she’s presented with are clear.

Can the women save the ranch that has brought them all together, and learn to love openly and boldly, even when life keeps getting in the way?

 

I was eagerly awaiting the release of The Ranch and was pleased when the author actually released it early! This is the third book in the The Birch Creek Ranch Series and I enjoyed reading it just as much as the others. There was good character growth, but it did seem like Abigail and Amanda went backwards for a little while, reverting to their old selves when things got tough. I think that can be very realistic though. Sometimes we fall back on old habits when things get hard. I love both of these characters but Abigail could get on my nerves sometimes with her always good at everything and take control of everything personality type, but I was able to see beneath all that. 

On the other hand, Amanda could get on my nerves because she couldn't seem to take control of her own life. Both ladies needed to work on their communication skills. There were a lot of assumptions simply because they didn't talk to either each other, or the men they loved. Sometimes this can be an annoying trope in romance stories, but it was done in a way here that felt less annoying, and it was helped by the fact that I think they learned they needed to communicate more.

I liked that Donna is now a permanent part of things and we get chapters from her perspective again. Donna grew on me a lot, and I have a lot of respect for her. I can see romance looming in her future and I can't wait for it to happen; hopefully in the next book! She deserves someone who will truly love and respect her. It was hard reading the way the people in her life, that were supposed to love her, treated her, but when she stuck it to her sister-in-law before she went to the motel, that put a smile of my face!

Mostly, what I love about this series are the characters and how real they feel. I like that I could identify with certain things about these ladies. If there is anything about the book that I felt was maybe a little unrealistic, it would be that some things felt like they were wrapped up too neatly, but I do love when good people prevail and bad ones lose, so how can I really complain? I'm excited to see what is in store for these characters in the next book, Amanda especially, since she is more at loose ends right now.

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.