Dust Storm
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for digital review copy, the opportunity to be an early reader, and the offer to join the blog tour. This one hit shelves on October 7th.
When Cassandra Parker shows up at the Griffith Brothers Ranch as a publicist, she’s all New York City sass and knows this is her penance for a high-profile client smearing her name with lies. Her fiancé and also boss, Tripp, sure didn’t come to her aid and quickly abandons her amongst the cowboys. Christian Griffith wants nothing to do with what Cassandra has been hired for, but he can’t keep his eyes off her. Unfortunate for both of them, her planned lodgings are in worse shape than expected and she ends up moving in with the single dad and his two daughters. When Cassandra’s relationship implodes alongside her career, her chemistry with Christian can no longer be denied.
This one was fast-paced and low conflict. Christian and Cassandra are fairly opposite in their personalities but they worked well together. It was a zippy romance with some emotional moments and Christian in particular had a great backstory with being a widower and single dad. I enjoyed myself as I read for the most part, but did have a couple sticking points.
I had trouble envisioning the timeline and wasn’t sure how many weeks were passing as the romantic relationship developed. I also wasn’t clear on how long Cassandra’s genius business plan took to come up with. It felt like a quick turnaround, but then, she seems very good at her job despite the sabotage she experienced before the book’s opening.
I felt like this was book 2 in a series because there were so many references to Nate and Beck’s romance. In the acknowledgements, I realized that their story was the author’s debut, but it is not part of this 3-novel “Griffith Brothers” series. This still is a standalone and I was able to follow everything in this one; it just felt like I was missing out on some easter eggs/cameos here.
I don’t love the term “spicy” as a descriptor but the entire romance-reading community seems to have embraced it, so I’ll say: this is spicier than my preference not only in terms of quantity but also bedroom talk, if you catch my drift. I think this is better suited to an audience that will appreciate all its parts, but I was still able to enjoy the story overall.
Here’s what I did like about it:
🤠 the ranch and all the Griffith brothers interacting (and I’m not a big “cowboy romance” reader)
🤠 the father-daughter relationships; Gracie and Bree were fun characters
🤠 the way I deeply disliked Cassandra at first with her dislike of kids, but her fierce protectiveness over the girls and eventual claim of them as her own won me over; change my mind, especially with kids involved, and you win
Overall, I liked but didn’t love this one. I’m still glad I gave it a try though and it had some great moments.
I’d say the writing, steam level, and storytelling is similar to Tessa Bailey or Elle Kennedy, both authors whom I’ve given a chance, but have determined are a little out of my comfort zone. I think this book is a great fit for fans of those though and I’m sure Maggie Gates has a wide readership and will gain more fans with this publication through Berkley.
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🌶️ This book contains several on-page intimate scenes and dirty talk. If you are a skipper/skimmer these are in chapters: 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 28, 32, and the bonus epilogue.
