This is, I believe, Emily Mayer's first novel (unless she has written others under a different pen name) and it's pretty good. It's an easy-breezy chick lit read, with appealing characters, good dialogue, and a feel-good plot. There's even some personal growth for the main character, Evelyn Mercer, who's a woman who cannot function well without making plans and does not feel comfortable if she has to deviate from them.
At the moment, Evelyn, who graduated law school and is a bar member, is not working as a lawyer in Chicago, but rather as the executive assistant of a successful, hunky, handsome businessman. In spite of this job not being quite according to her plan, she's enjoying it. Problem is, however, that her boss is also a womanizer and just got caught in a high-profile affair with a married woman. So he's off to Montana to his family's ranch until his peccadillo is no longer the gossip du jour. And that means Evelyn goes with him.
A trip to a ranch in Montana is definitely not part of any of Evelyn's plans. She doesn't feel comfortable around strangers and in unfamiliar surroundings, and most definitely not around very handsome men. And her boss's brother, the manager of the ranch, is, apparently, the Most Handsome Man in the World.
Well, we go off to Montana and Evelyn learns to be more comfortable with herself and new surroundings and with Handsome Men. And there are Handsome Men all over the place here. I count at least 5 if you include the handsome middle-aged father of one of the four younger ones. We readers are never allowed to forget how Handsome they are. They are really, really, drop-dead Handsome. Muscular forearms, shapely rears, great abs, shoulders, biceps, and great hair. Not to mention their handsome, manly faces.
I confess to enjoying the sight of a Handsome Man myself. But enough is enough. This got really annoying. And it was so tiresome to see the women here going all googly-eyed and jelly-legged over them. There were comments or thoughts about the Handsomeness on almost every page.
The story itself is pleasant. A slow-burn romance and a personal-growth story of a woman who felt a bit like a nothing girl becoming an Everything Girl. I think the author shows promise. Maybe in future books, she could branch out more and make her secondary characters more complex and less like they were plucked from Central Casting. And maybe tone down the "OMG he's so Handsome" element.