Review: Hometown Hero by Liza Kendall

Hometown Hero by Liza Kendall
Series: Silverlake Ranch, Book 3
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 9780593098042
Release Date: July 7, 2020
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

A charming new contemporary romance set in Silverlake, Texas, where love throws old rivals a curveball…

Andrew “Ace” Braddock is a player in every sense of the word. The center fielder for the Austin Lone Stars, he’s also been at the center of numerous sports scandals involving beer, bars, and baseball bunnies. But when he takes the fall for a teammate, Ace wakes up in the hospital, injured and in serious trouble. He’s sent to lie low and recover at his family ranch in Silverlake, Texas, where he’s saddled with his worst nightmare: his high school nemesis—a beautiful nurse who refuses to play doctor with him.

Mia Adams has no time to fool around. The daughter of Silverlake’s high school baseball coach has three jobs and a pile of debt left behind by her missing ex. The very last thing she wants is to spend her time indulging hometown hero Easy Ace Braddock. If she didn’t need the money, she’d have nothing to do with the guy from her past who stole her dad’s time, attention, and love away from her before leaving for the major leagues.

As Mia does her best to corral the irrepressible Ace, keep a sense of humor, and fight her unwelcome attraction to him, he charms, sidesteps, and outmaneuvers her. Will the onetime enemies find love at home base, right in the town where they grew up?

A baseball star with a reckless streak meets his match with a nurse who can’t be swayed by his charm in Hometown Hero. Mia Adams cannot catch a break. She’s working multiple jobs to try to pay off the debt her scumbag ex left in her name before skipping town. She’s a nurse, takes care of so many with compassion and kindness, and has a side business she’s trying to expand on top of it all. She doesn’t have time for Ace’s attitude, but she definitely could use the money his team is paying her to be his babysitter. Andrew “Easy Ace” Braddock works hard and plays harder. But his luck and bad boy charm can’t get him out of the latest pickle he finds himself in. Injured and laying low in Silverlake while he heals, Ace basks in being the hometown hero at first, which makes him a bit hard to like. He’s overly impressed with himself and doesn’t see past his own nose more often than not, which is frustrating, especially when you see how hard his actions have been on Mia and his brother Declan. Fortunately, around the halfway point Ace has a breakthrough. I enjoyed watching him become a better man. He screws up – a lot – but when he does it in the second half of the book it comes from a good (if misguided) place. Ace has a lot of lessons to learn in Hometown Hero but once he starts to grow his journey is one worth reading.

Attraction sparks immediately between Mia and Ace, but that doesn’t mean the romance is an easy one. Mia is at the end of her rope and I wanted her to not only find love but find someone she can depend on, can lean on in the hard times. I liked that she didn’t just fall all over herself with Ace. Part of that is due to her own issues with him stemming from her father ignoring her and focusing on Ace, the son he never had, when they were growing up. Mia takes a lot of hits in this book that just tug on your heartstrings. But watching her find support and love with Ace just warmed my heart.

Hometown Hero is the third book in the Silverlake Ranch series, but it can be read as a standalone. I loved Mia’s friendship with the Braddock siblings and I enjoyed watching the strained relationship between Ace and his brother Declan start to heal. And speaking of the eldest Braddock… Man, I hope author duo Liza Kendall have a book in store for Declan. The often stoic rancher grabbed my heart in the first Silverlake Ranch book and hasn’t let go since. So while I finished Mia and Ace’s book a satisfied reader, I am seriously on the edge of my seat, hoping Declan gets a book.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Review: Home with You by Liza Kendall

Home with You by Liza Kendall
Series: Silverlake Ranch, Book 2
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 9780593098028
Release Date: March 31, 2020
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Anything is possible in Silverlake, Texas when love takes the reins…

Rhett Braddock swore to himself that he'd never return to Silverlake. But when the opportunity arises to buy a piece of his lost, happier youth, he's drawn to the community--and the family--he once loved. Mending fences might not be as hard as he thought--until he ends up in bed with his best friend's sister.

Julianna Holt is over Rhett Braddock. So what if he's a self-made billionaire? His less than flattering dash the morning after they spent the night together made it clear he wants nothing to do with her. Besides, she has her horses and the Holt stables to save.

So when Rhett buys the Holt property as a favor to her brother, Jules makes him feel as welcome as a skunk at a garden party…but is it possible that Rotten Rhett isn’t so rotten after all? Or is the Texas heat melting her resolve to hate him?

I adored Liza Kendall’s first Silverlake Ranch book, Walk Me Home, so I couldn’t wait to see what the authors had in store for the billionaire Braddock brother, Everett. I eagerly dove into Home with You ready to fall in love with Rhett and Jules. The good news is, I did love Rhett. The bad news? I didn’t love his story or the woman he fell in love with.

To start things on a positive note, Rhett was far more endearing than I thought he’d be, given the way his siblings talked about him in the previous book. After the death of his parents, Rhett was forced to leave Silverlake and attend a boarding school in order to capitalize on his brilliant mind and set him up for success. Unfortunately no one ever asked Rhett what he wanted, which was to be at home with his remaining family and become a rodeo cowboy. Still, Rhett became a glowing success, a self-made billionaire who uses his wealth and status as armor. He’s smart, hardworking, and super sexy, but also quite vulnerable. It was easy to fall in love with Rhett. Is he perfect? No. But his mistakes come from an honest place of trying to do right by everyone, even if sometimes misunderstands what the right thing to do is.

One of the things Rhett does is return to Silverlake and buy Holt Stables as a favor to his best friend, Grady, and his family. Only no one told Julianna Holt, Grady’s sister and Rhett’s one night stand that went horribly wrong the morning after. Jules is furious that her dream of one day taking over the family business has been shattered, even though she’s guaranteed a lifetime job as manager. I understood why she was furious at first because her parents and brother treat her like a child and don’t listen to her ideas for the stables. The problem is, the longer the book went on the more I realized that maybe the Holt family treats Jules like a child because she acts like one. She’s selfish, rude, and can’t even be bothered to take care of basic things all other adults do, like buy necessities. I gave Jules a lot of leeway to begin with (1) because of her history with Rhett and (2) I don’t mind deeply flawed characters so long as they grow. To me, Jules never grew as a character. The only time she considered anyone other than herself was when her aunt advised her, but even that was problematic. Her aunt Sue has a terrible and tragic backstory that has made her cynical and though that’s completely understandable, Jules should be aware enough not to follow Sue’s advice. Honestly, Jules’s love of animals was pretty much her only redeeming quality.

The romance between Jules and Rhett is a struggle for me to believe. I don’t understand why he falls for her and there’s a plot twist you can see coming that was aggravating because it forces their hands rather than requiring them to act like adults and come together naturally. There was so much false drama and quite a bit of sexism coming from secondary characters that I grew frustrated. I hate to say it, but I finished Home with You feeling like Rhett would be better off without Jules. Perhaps if they had spent some actual time as a couple their love story would have been more believable. Instead, it felt like their happy ending was shoved in at the end in a rather tone-deaf way given the incredibly emotional, heartbreaking scene that preceded it.

Despite the fact that Home with You made me angry at some points, I’m still looking forward to reading more Silverlake Ranch novels. There were things I enjoyed about this book: Rhett repairing his relationship with his siblings, his love for his old horse that made me cry buckets, and I do like the authors’ writing. But this book simply wasn’t my cup of tea and I wish Rhett had been given a more satisfying love story.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Review: Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall

Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall
Series: Silverlake Ranch, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 9780593098004
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible

A feel-good, funny second chance romance proves it's never too late for love in the small Texas ranch town of Silverlake.

Firefighter Jake Braddock is used to fixing things, and he's never met a problem he couldn't solve—except for his sweet ex-girlfriend Charlotte Nash.

Charlie Nash has been a big-city girl ever since her family made a clean break from their small town, after the tragedy that drove a wedge between Jake and her wealthy parents. She's never gotten over abandoning Jake—and he hasn't, either.

Then Charlie returns to Silverlake to stand as a bridesmaid opposite Jake in her cousin's wedding. The event sparks awkwardness, laughter, and heartbreak as they dance to the tune of the craziest bride in the west...and repair broken family bonds.

Can their long-lost love find a second chance?

Walk Me Home is a heartwarming story that will delight fans of second chance and small town romances. Author duo Liza Kendall made me fall in love with the Braddock family and the town of Silverlake, so much so that when I finished this book I was disappointed I have to wait to read the next one.

Charlie Nash and Jake Braddock fell in love as teenagers, but after a fire claimed the life of Charlie’s grandmother and her family home, the Nash family left town and cut almost all ties with Silverlake. Now Charlie’s back and she and Jake have both been conscripted into the wedding party from hell. Old wounds and even older attraction don’t stand a chance of staying buried when Charlie and Jake are thrown together. It’s easy to fall into their romance as Jake and Charlie just simply click. They’re both good, kind people and you could feel the pull between them. It’s not easy for them to deal with the past, especially when there are people like Charlie’s grandfather who won’t let it go. Both Jake and Charlie have lessons to learn in order for them to get their happily ever after and I enjoyed every step of their journeys.

Walk Me Home is funny, romantic, and sweet. The only thing that took this from a five star read to a four star is the drama that felt slightly forced at the end. Jake is a firefighter and I will admit that I am completely baffled and more than a bit irritated by how Jake and his fellow firefighters are treated. Perhaps it’s because I’m a Californian and fires are a near-constant threat where I live, but I was aghast reading about the campaign Charlie’s grandfather goes on against the fire department. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that I found this storyline to be unsatisfying from beginning to end. That one issue aside, I really enjoyed Walk Me Home and I cannot wait to read about the rest of the Braddock siblings, especially the eldest, Declan, whose hard work and loneliness grabbed at my heart and didn’t let go.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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