She isn’t supposed to care about a ranch.
She definitely isn’t supposed to fall for the foreman.
And his six-year-old son is absolutely, definitely not supposed to capture her heart.
Lainey Brown is not ranch material. She’s a city girl who landed on the legendary Wallace Ranch to give the place a fresh coat of branding—and get her career back on track. She’s got no interest in cowboys, cattle, or the infuriatingly gorgeous foreman who clearly wants her gone.
Colton Wallace has spent every day since losing his wife building something worth leaving his son: a spotless reputation, a thriving operation, and a life with no room for complications. The last thing he needs is a firecracker from Austin with a sketchbook full of big ideas and a smile that makes him forget every reason he swore off wanting things he can’t keep.
But somewhere between their very first fight and a Texas night sky that stretches on forever, something shifts. Lainey stops counting the days until she can leave. And Colt stops pretending he wants her to.
The ranch has always been the Wallace legacy. But Colt is starting to wonder if the best thing that’s ever happened to it—and to him—just walked in wearing city shoes.
(ARC Read)
If I could give this grumpy cowboy six stars, I would.
Jessica Peterson just knows how to write cowboys, and Colt Wallace is exactly the kind of hero I want when I pick up one of her books. Give me a hardworking, broody single dad who carries the weight of his entire family on his shoulders, thinks he knows exactly how everything should be done, and absolutely does not appreciate a city girl showing up and threatening to change any of it. I was sold.
Colt is tired. He’s the oldest child, the ranch foreman, a single dad, and the person everyone seems to look to when something needs to be handled. Since losing his wife, he’s poured everything he has into the ranch and raising his six-year-old son, Dean. He’s dependable and decisive, but underneath all that grumpiness is a man still carrying an enormous amount of grief of the mother Dean should have while constantly questioning whether everything he gives will ever be enough.
And then Lainey Brown shows up with big ideas and absolutely no intention of letting Colt scare her away.
“You are a tough one.”
“As nails.”
“Just so happens I’m good with a hammer.”
Lainey has been hired to rebrand Wallace Ranch, and while Colt sees no reason to change something that already works perfectly well, she desperately needs the opportunity to prove herself. She’s spent years feeling like a disappointment to her parents and watching her mother remain in a relationship that doesn’t fulfill her. She knows she needs distance from that life, and the Wallace Ranch gives her a chance to figure out what she wants on her own terms.
What I loved most was that Lainey understands the pressure Colt carries because she’s lived her own version of it. She’s a firstborn too. She knows what it feels like to help hold everyone else together while barely keeping yourself together. Their circumstances are different, but that shared weight creates this underlying connection between them long before either is willing to admit there’s anything happening beyond attraction.
Of course, getting there is ridiculously fun.
“You want me to cuff you, you just gotta ask, Dallas.”
Colt does not want Lainey on his ranch. Lainey could not care less what Colt wants. She’s sassy, stubborn, smart, and more than willing to go toe-to-toe with him. Their banter and tension had me hooked, and once that attraction finally boils over, these two are HOT. The no-kissing-on-the-mouth rule. The infamous glovebox. The barn. The back of the truck. The stairwell. What begins as two stubborn people using each other to blow off some steam very quickly becomes a whole lot harder to keep uncomplicated.
“Show me. Show me how good you think I taste.”
Because eventually Colt doesn’t just want Lainey when they’re fighting or when the tension gets to be too much. He wants lazy mornings with her. He wants her building LEGOs with him and Dean at night. He wants her woven into the ordinary parts of his life. Most of all, he starts allowing himself to want something he hasn’t let himself have in a long time: happiness.
And DEAN.
That little boy may be one of my favorite child characters I’ve read. He feels like an actual six-year-old—funny, curious, sweet, and completely himself—but he also has the purest little heart. Watching the relationship between Dean and Lainey develop was one of my favorite parts of the entire book. There is so much genuine tenderness between them, and some of their moments together had me tearing up because of how naturally she comes to care for him and how completely he lets her into his world.
That’s really what made Colt and Lainey work so beautifully for me. Neither one swoops in and fixes the other. Instead, they challenge each other. Lainey pushes Colt to see that change doesn’t have to mean losing what matters, and Colt gives Lainey the space and encouragement to recognize just how talented and capable she already is. They bring out the best in each other because they inspire each other to become the versions of themselves they’ve been too exhausted, scared, or stuck to reach on their own.
“Why’d you think I couldn’t stand you at first? Because you called me out on my bullshit. It was annoying. And the biggest fucking turn-on ever.”
Lainey’s sass and spunk made her the perfect match for a man as stubborn as Colt, while his steadiness gives her something she desperately needs. And somewhere between all that fighting, flirting, grief, family pressure, ranch life, and some very questionable glovebox contents, they create something that feels like home.
Six stars for the grumpy cowboy. Six stars for Lainey refusing to put up with his shit. Six stars for sweet little Dean.
I loved this one.
Release Date: August 18th, 2026
Thank you to Jessica Peterson and Valentine PR & Literary Management for the ARC read!