I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine.

This book follows a son who feels like he has nothing left to give and the sister who has lived under her sisters shadows. The book follows Gideon and Rory who rekindle their friendship but the friendship line is blurred when their attraction sizzle out of control. This is the perfect read for fans of scarred damaged hero's and friends to lovers.

You can never go wrong with a Maisy Yates book, she is the queen of cowboy romance and this was fantastic.

This is a wonderful series. Maisey Yates Is a wonderful author! The series truly makes you want to move on a ranch live with a cowboy and ride horses. Isn’t that every Woman’s dream. If you need to get away from the chaos of life, this is the series you want to read?

Small-town angsty goodness! Yates can always be counted on for relatable characters and a small-town connection that will have her reader's attention from start to finish. The Four Corners Ranch series is bringing us a touch of several families who comprise the community and this one brings us Rory Sullivan's story. She's the youngest and admittedly the most naive, but she loves hard and has a persistence about her that will take her far. I highly enjoyed her connection with Gideon. A tad slow, but well developed and enjoyable.

Gideon left Pyrite Falls a lucky, golden boy and returned a broken man after losing most of his soldiers to a bomb blast in Afghanistan and being severely injured himself. Rory has always been his little sister’s bookish, awkward best friend. She’s grown into a beautiful young woman who’s struggling to catch up on things she feels she’s missed, or given up on, in her life. When Gideon rents a cabin from Rory’s family, they form an unlikely friendship and discover they’re strongly attracted to each other.

The Hometown Legend is book eight in Yates’ Four Corners Ranch series, but works well as a standalone. Tropes include friends to lovers and best friend’s sibling.

This is my second Maisey Yates’ book and, like the first, I found it outstanding. The characters are well rounded and sympathetic. She describes the setting well enough that I get a good sense of the small town and the surrounding ranches and landscape. The story is interesting and deals with themes such as self image/public image, recovering from trauma, and friends’ ability to help each other grow and heal.

According to Yates’ website, the next book in this series, Hero for the Holidays, comes out on October 22, 2024. Looking forward to that!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC copy via NetGalley.

4.5 stars

Gideon has always been the golden child of his small town. He wasn’t just popular, athletic, and smart; Gideon was also nice. When he joined the military after high school and later was one of the only survivors of an ambush, people in town looked at him as a hero. That’s not what Gideon saw in the mirror, at least not anymore.

Rory never felt like she was anything special. Nobody seemed to notice her and if they did, it was often in a negative way. When she was being bullied in middle school, her best friend’s high school brother put an end to it. Gideon was already her crush, after that she compared everyone to him. So here we are, years later, and he’s returning to town just as Rory is getting ready to leave and start a new life.

I love the way Gideon can look at himself now and realize that, although he was a nice guy growing up, maybe he wasn’t as great as everyone thought. Things always came easy to him so there was no reason for him to be anything but nice. He didn’t have any sort of competition. Not with the girls, no on the football field, not with his friends. When he world is turned upside down while on a mission, he doesn’t know how to deal with the setback. He’s never really had any roadblocks. His life quickly spirals out of control and he pushes his loved ones away. He decides to head back to his small town to rebuild his life. Not because he thinks it will be comfortable there, but because he has nowhere else to go.

With Gideon staying in one of her family’s rentals while he waits for his house to be ready, it’s no time at all before Rory runs into him. Rory is still enamored with the man, but she also sees him as a human instead of someone to put on a pedestal like the rest of the town does. She listens to him and he finds himself opening up to her. They have a special connection. Gideon believes Rory can do anything she sets her mind to and helps her to find her confidence. These two are fantastic together.

This book has many of my favorite tropes with the depth of story to back them up. The way Rory and Gideon understand one another is a beautiful thing.

Hello, Yates, my old friend, it’s been a while. Reading an author you’ve put aside helps you realize two obvious things: one, that what you liked about them is still there and what you didn’t is as well. Yates is big on internal monologue: it’s compelling internal monologue, but there sure is a lot of it. Because this is the main way in which she builds her romances, it can get repetitive and lose its effect; it can also, at least for this reader, make her stay up past her bedtime and spend a day groggy and waiting to return to Yates-World. Because, darn it, there’s something about her protagonists that makes you care about them and the way they relate to each other, the attraction, the emotions, draws you in. After ages of not-reading-Yates, I read The Hometown Legend in two sittings, moved by Yates’s protagonists and utterly convinced about their thoughts, feelings, and interactions. There is nothing new in what Yates does, but boy does she ever continue to do it well. The publisher’s blurb offers the details, but most of this novel is interaction-dialogue and rumination:

Rory Sullivan has always grown up in her sisters’ shadows. But this summer, she’s determined to make some changes. Rekindling her teenage friendship with Pyrite Falls’s prodigal son, Gideon Payne, feels like a good start. She can instantly see he’s in pain, but she’s sick of being afraid of life and she refuses to be intimidated by him. But is she brave enough to act on her attraction to Gideon’s raw physicality?

Decorated army hero Gideon’s return has sent the local community into parade-planning overdrive. Except Gideon isn’t the all-around golden boy who left. His life imploded in the same explosion that caused his honorable discharge from the army—he lost his career, his marriage and he damn near lost himself. Gideon knows Rory is far too innocent for someone as damaged as him. But the scorching hunger between them is irresistible… All he can offer is something temporary, unless Rory can make Gideon see he’s capable of giving her everything she needs…

Hmmm…not sure that truly represents the romance thematically. The details are correct, but the emphasis on the “raw physicality” is only what happens initially. To many, this “insta-attraction” may sound like “insta-lust”, but Yates uses it to say something about recognition: the soulmate, the mate-mate, and the breaking open of the self to reach the HEA. It’s consistent, but it isn’t simple; it may appear repetitive given Yates’s sheer number of romances, but when she’s not tired with it, neither is the romance novel.

Was I away from her books for too long? I’m not certain, but I found The Hometown Legend compelling because when Yates is good, she’s got the greatest of emotional stakes. Recognizing your mate means opening yourself up, remaking yourself, and being vulnerable. In Rory and Gideon’s case, they come with significantly heavy pasts and those pasts serve as defining their greatest vulnerabilities.

Yates is interested in characters who are “broken,” whose lives have been shattered in some way and who, through a relationship that forces their issues to the surface, have to remake themselves to be able to have their HEA. In The Hometown Legend, she starts her protagonists’ brokenness at opposite rungs of the social ladder: Gideon is the “hometown legend,” returned after years away, after suffering physical and psychological injuries in Afghanistan. He carries a great burden of guilt and feels shame more than any other emotion. Rory, on the other hand, is on the ascendant, in a way, in her estimation. After years of being a nonentity, bullied in school, humiliated in college and quitting to return home, she is taking on her virginity, physical, yes, but also emotional, social, in every way. She has a job in Boston and will be moving away from her loving sisters and a town that she thinks doesn’t think of her, or consider her worthy of attention. Rory’s resolution is to leave the town with a scorching impression behind; she has a list of things she’ll do to boost her confidence and leave them regretful. Gideon returns to a hero’s accolades, but what he wants is to hide in the ranch he’s bought since his family lost it and hermit his way through life. Needless to say, both plans are more about keeping themselves emotionally in the same place than they are about growth and healing.

In Yates-World, healing means ripping the bandages off, exposing the wounds, and confession. Not religious confession. To each other, in deep, painful conversations between Rory and Gideon where they offer to the other person their deepest shames and vulnerabilities. What “romance” is for Yates is the trust the other person will honour the confession: that’s love. And then, there is what the bodies say in love-making that the soul-obstacles won’t allow them to admit in words. It is the Yates-World and you either enter it gladly, or it might alienate you. Given her success, I’m going to go with the former; she has her devoted fans and then, she has her fans, like me, who need their break, but love the return, like a hometown legend. Miss Austen wouldn’t be a fan of Yates’s emotionally visceral world, but I am and I’m going to quote her on The Hometown Legend by saying it offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Maisey Yates’s The Hometown Legend is published by Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press and released on July 23rd. I received an e-galley from Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press via Netgalley. The above is my honest and AI-free opinion.

The Hometown Legend by Maisey Yates is full of introspection by two people: Rory Sullivan, hometown girl and Gideon Payne, who had been everyone’s hero and returned a broken man. Rory had had a crush on him since middle school, but this was not the same man. War had damaged him. Coming home had damaged him. She had come home from college because she was a quitter. She didn’t want to be one anymore so she had started a list of things to do. Not least of which was move to Boston and be a property manager there. She already had the job. But first, she had to take care of the cabins here, one of which Gideon was staying in. She wanted to help him. He wanted to help her. They worked on each other.

Of course, you know where this is going. It was a long journey, though, not necessarily in time. Plenty had happened between them and Gideon was beginning to see daylight. He didn’t want to stop her from fulfilling her dreams, though, which caused some dissension. The thinking and the conversations shined a light on PTSD and also on how living up to other people’s expectations can damage a soul. Both were well-written, feeling humans who wanted the best for themselves and for others. It took a while to see how expectations had made that all difficult., but it happened and in a big way. It was an interesting book, not always easy, but always enlightening. A good read. Thanks Maisey Yates!

I was invited to read The Hometown Legend by Harlequin Trade Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #HarlequinTradePublishing #MaiseyYates #TheHometownLegend

Two broken souls in need of healing. Rory Sullivan had been bullied in school and college. She yearns for something different in her life. She once had the biggest crush on her best friend’s brother, Gideon, but felt he was way out of her league.

Gideon Payne, hometown legend, has returned and just wants to be left alone. He suffered injuries while serving in the military and ended up losing his career and his marriage. Now that he’s back, he reunites with Rory, his sister’s best friend. He’s renting a cabin from her family until he’s ready to move back into the family home he purchased after his family lost it. He has big plans for the property.

The more time they spend together, the more their feelings for each other grow. But Rory is leaving town soon for a new job and Gideon doesn’t want a relationship. When he finds out Rory had a list of things she wanted to accomplish in her life, though, he feels compelled to help her achieve them and prove to her that she’s worth more than she believes herself to be. Can they help heal each other and maybe find true love along the way?

A heartwarming story. Could have done without the bad language.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Hometown Legend is the eight book in the Four Corners Ranch series. It follows Rory Sullivan, a lost soul looking to find the place where she belongs and best friends with Gideon’s sister. Gideon Payne, Pyrite Fall’s own hometown legend who is also a war hero struggling with PTSD.

This is only the second book from The Four Corners Ranch series that I have read, but I am really enjoying it! This is a slow burn, which is not typically my go-to but is something I do enjoy from time to time.

The banter and chemistry between the two main characters is great. I really fell in love with the characters throughout this book. Gideon became a more open and vulnerable person when with Rory. Rory became bolder and sure of herself when with Gideon. They both have past traumas and were able to find strength in each other to move on. My only gripe with the book is that Rory feels rather naive, but that was just a small blimp in the storyline to me and didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book.

You will love this book if you like:
Western
Grumpy x sunshine
Military mmc
Virgin fmc
Slowburn

The Hometown Legend can be read as a standalone or as part of the series. If you love a good slow burn Western romance, this just might be the book for you!

Thank you to Maisey Yates, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Netgalley for this opportunity.

THE HOMETOWN LEGEND – Maisey Yates
Four Corners Ranch, Book 8
Canary Street Press
ISBN: 978-1-335-00628-8
July 23, 2024
Contemporary Romance

Pyrite Falls, Oregon – Present Day

Gideon Payne had always been the town’s prodigal son. He was popular in high school and left to join the military. He later was injured and given a Purple Heart, but he is still held in high regard in town even though he hasn’t been back. Rory Sullivan had a crush on Gideon growing up and since she was his sister Lydia’s best friend, was kept up to date on him. One day while Rory is out walking, she spots a mysterious man out of nowhere. She runs away, but later, wonders if that was Gideon. If so, he is not like the man she remembers. Why is he back and why hasn’t Lydia mentioned it?

Gideon is indeed back but he hasn’t contacted his mother or sister. They lost their ranch after his father passed away and he has bought it back with plans to turn it into an adventure camp for families. Gideon is indeed different from before. In Afghanistan, he had been injured in an explosion that killed several members of his unit and left not only physical scars but emotional ones. He doesn’t recognize Rory, but when she shows up at the cabin that he rented from the Sullivan family, he is stunned at how she has changed. She is now beautiful—and he’s attracted to her. He learns she is going to be leaving soon for a job in Boston. He accidentally finds her journal, where she lists the things that she wants to do. He vows to help do as many as possible, including her wish to kiss a man. There’s an attraction building between them. Will it lead to something more than a kiss?

The town learns Gideon is back in town and throws him a parade. For a wounded veteran, it’s the last thing he wants in THE HOMETOWN LEGEND. Gideon rebuffs a lot of people around him because he feels like a failure after what happened in Afghanistan when he survived but his friends did not. Rory decides to help him get reacclimated to living back in Pyrite Falls and they develop a friendship. They also spend a lot of time together as they work on his plans for the adventure camp. Yet, there is more to them than being friends. That promised kiss may just be the spark to set the pile of kindling on fire to their attraction. Hovering over them is his PTSD and her plans for leaving. Will things change before the end of this tale?

Readers will enjoy the camaraderie between Rory and Gideon. Despite the years apart, she hasn’t gotten over her crush on him. He thinks of himself as damaged goods, and she wants to help him. THE HOMETOWN LEGEND is a feel-good tale with a side of sensuality as the passion heats up between them. Will Rory and Gideon find love together? Discover the answer by picking up a copy of this sizzling and enjoyable tale.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

Thank you, Maisey Yates, for this latest installment in your Four Corners Ranch series. My favorite trope in contemporary romance is wounded warriors, and you knocked this one out of the park. It's a 5-star read.

I loved both main characters, Gideon, the titular returning hometown legend, and Rory Sullivan, who has crushed on him from afar since her early school days--he's her best friends' brother. Rory is a 27-year-old, never been kissed, never been on a date virgin, who has been working at the family farm store, and losing herself in books. She's rather shy and retiring and for good reason. She was bullied in school, and humiliated during her one semester at college. The bright savior of her early school days was Gideon, who protected her from those who bullied, teased and/or put her down.

Rory has always considered herself to be plain, boring, beige, and nerdy, and she's recently decided that to change her life, she needs to change her location. Using her computer, she's just applied to and been hired to manage an apartment building in Boston--a long way from home and Four Corners Ranch. She's looking forward to starting over in a new place, and she doesn't want to go to Boston a virgin--but no one is asking her out, and she doesn't go to bars looking to hook up with a stranger. She has one month before she leaves for her new job. Then she learns that Gideon was wounded in action, has been honorably discharged from the military, and will be renting one of the Sullivan family cabins that she manages, but the golden-boy Gideon she remembers is nothing like the dark, humorless, angry, Gideon that returns home.

Growing up, Gideon was quite the hottie, the town's legendary and lauded football player, smart, gorgeous, and able to get any girl he wanted. At 18 he joined the military and hasn't been back home since, except briefly to attend his father's funeral. Thirteen years later, after being gravely wounded in Afghanistan, and losing many of the men under his command, what he has to show for it are scars, burns, PTSD, anger, depression, a bout with alcoholism as well as drugs, and other losses--his self-esteem, his self-worth, his sense of humor, and his 8-year marriage. He doesn't even let his mom or his sister know when he arrives back in town, choosing to secretly rent a cabin from the Sullivan's and hide out there for a while.

In this novel, Ms. Yates has created two well-developed, incredibly sympathetic, and deeply troubled characters--both of whom are broken, although for different reasons. Gideon finds himself attracted to grown-up Rory, and she has always been attracted to him, but can these two wounded souls help heal each other? As someone married to a wounded veteran with PTSD, I can tell you that it's no easy task, but it's so worth the effort. To find out more about what happens when Gideon and Rory re-establish contact with one another, you'll just have to read this emotionally gripping novel--it's one I highly recommend.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.

I have really been enjoying the Four Corners series. I find it has as much heart as it does heat.

Rory & Gideon really stole my heart with their story. I could totally relate to Rory. She wants to get out of her shell but doesn't quite know how. She was very sweet but not a pushover. I enjoyed her character a lot. Gideon's storyline was so heartbreaking. He's a wounded soldier returning home and he feels not only out of place but he's also dealing with PTSD. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes. I think Rory & Gideon complimented each other. They both helped each other with their issues which was so romantic in my opinion.

The romance is a slow burn which makes sense for the characters. I really liked how their relationship developed. I found a lot of their romance to be very romantic.

This is an emotional read so I would not recommend this if you're looking for a romcom. If you want an emotional story that's going to put you through the ringer then stitch you back together, this is the book. This story is touching, romantic and full of hope. Would recommend. Can be read as a standalone.

Growing up in a small town myself, I truly enjoyed reading this one! I absolutely loved the descriptive settings and felt transported to the ranch every time I picked up my kindle.

Rory is a lost soul looking for adventure and escape from her very basic life. She came off a bit naive and honestly a little cringy at times, but I think those two things really contributed to the innocence that the author was trying to portray.

Gideon is a hometown hero with tortured soul. Together, Gideon and Rory help one another with their struggles and fall for each other along the way.

I enjoyed this book. It was deeper than I initially thought it would be going in, with running themes of PTSD and trauma. I felt the tenderness in Rory and Gideon’s relationship and enjoyed the slow burn.

This was my first Maisey Yates book, and I enjoyed her writing style, even though I did feel like it was a bit young-feeling. It was a very easy read, and I flew right through it!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Hive, and the publisher for this ARC!

Gideon, the hometown hero of the title, has retuned to town struggling with PTSD. He's hidden himself away, much as Rory, his sister's friend, has hidden herself away. Her trauma is not the same as his by any means but they appreciate each other and slowly help one another to heal. Some of this is a tad cringey (Rory is like way too naive for a woman these days) but it's also got a big heart. I'd not read the other books in the series but this is clearly designed as one of those series where each installment is fine as a standalone. Thanks to the publisher for the Arc. For fans of Yates.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I have read several of Maisey Yates books, but this is the first of this series. I found this one to be very deep and very sweet, what a combination. Returning war hero and hometown girl. Great story. Enjoyable read. At times I found it ad too much detail, nevertheless I would recommend.

The Hometown Legend was a great escape from reality. I had to shut out the world in order to concentrate, understand and absorb the story. The story is detailed. The story is very complex. The story is very emotional. My heart bleeds for Gideon and Rory. My whole being shines for their new beginning, for surviving the past, and thriving in their own way.

Gideon had a bright childhood. He excelled in high school sports. He is still a hometown legend. He is now considered a war hero to everyone but himself. He returns to Pyrite Falls under the cover of darkness, renting a Sullivan Cabin, in search of a new self. The last thing he wants is to be recognized and for people to think he is the same. He is anything but.

Rory is lost and has never been found. She struggled to fit in junior high and high school. She was frequently fell victim to others. When she tried to escape to college, thinking things would be better, she returned home when she discovered they weren't. Now she takes care of the family's cabin rentals. Delivering a welcome basket to Gideon, checking on Gideon, will be a new beginning for both of them.

The Hometown Legend is a very slow build. Gideon and Rory are honest with each other. Reading their story was group therapy in a book. They made each other think. They made me think. Acceptance didn't come easy between them. The Aw-ha moments were a pleasure to read. Their troubles were heart breaking but their emotional development left me feeling at peace.

Rating 3.75

Always enjoy returning to the Four Corners Series.

Gideon Payne, home town legend is returning and is viewed as a hero for his service in the war.But in reality Gideon does not feel like a hero, more like a broken man. He's dealing with a lot of aftermath emotionally and physically from the war and he's not the same man as when he left.

Rory Sullivan, a woman that has decided she turning over a new leaf. She's not going to be the same predictable, safe and naive girl anymore. She has decided to leave Four Corners and move to a big city and spread her wings.

Well Rory finds out Gideon is back in town, her secret crush. She's asked to check in on him and see how if he needs anything. After the two meet a couple times they begin to realize that they can assist and help each other with some of their issues. Rory can help Gideon work through his past pain, hurt and PTSD. Gideon wants to help Rory be a more confident and self assured woman and believe in herself.

This story has a lot of heavy topics, so not really a lite read. More I think this is really about second chances. Both have a past that needs to be worked through and let healing take place as well as forgiveness. But I so appreciated their HEA.

The Hometown Legend is everything I’ve come to know and love about a Maisey Yates book.

Rory and Gideon became one of my favorite couples pretty quickly. I enjoyed that this one was more of a slow burn type romance. Best friends older brother is always a great trope in my opinion and this was no exception.

Everyone I know is aware of my love for these books and I’ve got several of my friends into reading them too. There’s just something about a small town romance with flawed characters that hits different.

If you’ve never read Maisey Yates before I recommend starting with the first in the Four Corners series or Gold Valley series.

I always enjoy reading a Maisey Yates book! This one involved quite a bit of healing for the two main characters, Rory and Gideon. Each needed to overcome emotional hurdles to be able to fall in love. Stories like this one help give the reader more insight into the unseen traumas of PTSD as well as the healing power of love and understanding. Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and honestly review this book.