This story is set in Montana where Miles runs a cattle ranch and lives with her intellectually challenged brother and a few animals. She is still getting back on her feet emotionally after the loss of her last partner.
Miles is approached by a woman running an outdoor travel business catering for women. The role is leading a group of women on a horse riding trail ride, camping and stopping at a few sites of interest along the way. When the trail hand arrives it isn’t long before they feel a connection and form a relationship with no promises.
Hal has worked hard to develop a business breeding pigs for human consumption. One day government officials arrive and state most of his stock must be destroyed as they are considered invasive to the environment. A visitor appears claiming to know Hal from the war and Hal invites him into his home despite not remembering who he is. After an incident at the property a firearm is discharged and the two men go on the run. They join up with some unsavoury types and set off cross country to somewhere they escape capture.
Little do Miles and the other riders know who is waiting for them on the trail. The best and worst qualities will be drawn out of each and relationships tested and formed before the last page is turned.
Originally I was attracted to this book as I have trouble resisting horse or horse related stories. After a few chapters I realised it was geared towards the LGBTQIA/romance reader. I remember thinking this is a bit of a surprise and in the next breath thought why not. Books of this genre would not normally be on my reading list but I am glad that I did read it. The storyline flowed quite well and I felt the author knew her stuff by experience and/or research. The tantalising during and post shower sex scenes were a particular favourite.
One of the characters who got under my skin was Hal. Initially he impressed me when he tried to stand up for his animals. That opinion changed after he took off, acted in a spineless way going along with what the others wanted and spending a lot of time whinging. Definitely not my type of man!
Of course I would recommend this book to fans of LGBTQIA/romance, horse lovers like myself and really anyone else who dares to try something a little outside of their ‘interest’.

Not sure exactly what I was expecting, but this was definitely different than it.

It's the story of a group of women who want to go on a journey in Montana to see a beautiful place near the Continental Divide. Unfortunately along the way they run into trouble, really, really bad trouble.

I was a little surprised by how the trouble was introduced in the story. But once I got used to how the two stories flowed around each other it was interesting interplay.

My favourite part of the novel, though, was all the different characters and their widely varied relationships with each other, not to mention how those relationships changed during the book. It made the entire novel so different and intriguing.

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I thought it would be a romance/suspense story. I did not find it to be a romantic story at all. It did, however, have an element of suspense haphazardly threaded throughout the last half of the book.

Although this book is the third in a series, I feel that one could read the book as a standalone. There is a reference to the main character’s dead spouse, but it was mentioned in the context of grieving.

From the start, I had trouble reading this book. It was very slow and I couldn’t get into the story until I had read at least a third of the book. One of the problems is that there is too much horse terminology. For someone who is into horses, it would have been fine but not for the average reader. The fact that the author was trying to weave two different stories—the women’s adventure trip and three men running from the law—made it initially confusing. Once the two story-lines collided, the pace of the book picked up.

I could not get into the characters at all. If one reads the first two books in the series, it might help. Miles, the main character, is a rancher and her character leads the reader through the book. I didn’t get much of a connection with her character and her quick jump into bed with Stormy. At the end of the book, the story rushed Miles into a relationship with Rachel then bang … the book ends! It almost felt as though the author had a long book that was split in two so that there could be a book four in this series.

Once the two story lines come together, the thriller aspect of the story takes over. Instead of skipping over the text pertaining to horses, ranching, and camping, I could focus on the story of how the women were going to survive being hostages in a hostile wilderness environment. Because of the suspense element, I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

I was given this ARC in return for an honest review.

There was an interesting plot but it seemed to develop at an unusual pace. I struggled with believing that after certain events that the group didn't have to follow normal protocol.

Although this book is labeled in the Intrigue/Thriller Romance genre, it is actually a book of adventures. And with very little romance, actually. Leaving aside the parts of the book that tells the story of the wicked men, told in third person and that I have found too long sometimes, the story is narrated in first person, by voice of the main character Miles, a farmer who agrees to join on a journey through the mountains of Montana, where she has a lot of experience. The story has much of horse maintenance, farm work and travel arrangements. I have found the characters, both main and secondary, not well developed, somewhat superficially treated. But the whole story has been entertaining for me.

This is definitely one for horse lovers as there is a lot of horse talk that went way over my head. I tended to skim quickly over those parts as it’s just not my thing. I thought that might mean I wouldn’t enjoy the story but in the end I did. Once it got going it was exciting and fast-paced, with a fair amount of peril involved. A group of women out on a trek in the wilderness of the West come across three of the most appalling excuses for men I could imagine. They were vile human beings. It was violent at times and full of danger but it was interesting to see how the group coped. There was certainly more to this book than I first thought.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books in return for an honest review.

Tepid tale weakened by themes of sexual and other violence that were too difficult to read through in their entirety. Miles would have been an interesting character in an alternate volume by this usually reliable author, but she was lost in the pitfalls of the "adventure." Women have been victimized enough, continual depiction of the horrifying forms that that violence can take does not, for me, inspire awareness, only memories. I do, however, appreciate the broader intentions of awareness/survival implied in the work.

2 1/2 Stars. This book didn't really work for me, it was just okay. While the writing wasn't bad, I didn't care for the subject matter. And considering how much I usually enjoy lesfic stories with ranches, horses and wilderness, I was surprised that this story wasn't for me.

The book is about Miles, a rancher, who is asked to lead a group of women on a wilderness trip in Montana. While the women are starting their trip, a murderer, rapist and thief are on the run, in the same direction. Will the women be able to survive this trip in the wilderness?

I had not heard of this author before. I also did not realize this was the third book in an ongoing series. I really wished I had know that as I'm a stickler for reading books in order. While this story seemed to totally stand alone, they kept talking about Miles' ex, who past away. McMahon, would have Miles tell the story of how her ex died, but it always happened off camera, so I still don't know how. It would have been nice to know for new readers like me. Especially since the death of her ex, really seemed to effect Miles.

Right from the beginning I was a little lost. There was a ton of horse, ranch, riding terms thrown out at the reader. Instead of using it as a chance to educate the reader, the terms are just spit out with no explanation. I was disappointed since I wanted to understand how the trip was going to come together.

Then we transfer to the bumbling nasty trio of men on the run. I didn't like this part, it went on too long and I found myself skipping some pages. I think this was one of my main problems with this book. Instead of a great adventure of women in the wilderness, it turns into a bumbling hostage situation. I do want to mention a trigger warning. There is a rape, but it happens "off screen".

I had mixed feeling about the characters. I liked Miles for the most part, I just wished I could have had a deeper connection to her. The men were annoying and obviously awful. There was one random dumb straight woman, and one woman who was trans-phobic. That was really odd to me and I didn't see the point. A few of the other main women were alright, the rest got lost in the background.

There is not really a romance. While there are relationships that happen, there is no romantic relationship. I also felt weird, reading about two of the characters off having sex, while the rest of the women are being watched over by the men. I just gave me a little ick factor.

There were some parts I liked, when there was some excitement that didn't really have to do with the men. And as I said before, I think McMahon writes well, the story was just not to my personal tastes. I can't recommend this, but maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.

An ARC was given to me by Bold Strokes Books, for a honest review.