You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by thecreatureoftheshadows
Montana Sanctuary by Josie Jade, Janie Crouch
3.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
‼️MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD‼️
“But each person’s journey was theirs to share or not.”
After searching for a small-town romance series tinged with a bit of suspense, I finally found this, thanks to @bookwithnatasa (WordPress) who had posted a review about the second book in this series. I’m aware that there are plenty of amazing small-town series, but unfortunately, most of the romances tend to be open-door, and I don’t mind if it’s just a chapter or two, but when it’s more than that and it’s all about the spice, I tend to quickly lose interest.
Since we’re on the topic of open-door scenes, I’d like to quickly mention that only two chapters (chapters 19 and 22) have explicit scenes while the rest of the intimate scenes are mostly restricted to kissing/touching.
Moving on to the content of the book, this being the first in a series sets the scene for the following books. Evelyn is a strong woman escaping from her abuser and finds herself in Garnet Bend, a quaint town in Montana. Fate leads her to Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch, where she not only finds safety but also loves friendship and stability. I loved the security Lucas provided for Evelyn and how everyone on the ranch rallied together to be there for them. One thing I wanted to see more of was Lucas’s past, but there’s only so much that can be mentioned in a book of this length. We meet quite a bit of characters and I’m not going to lie, most of their names have faded off in my memory. But Lena and Jude did catch my attention and I can’t believe I have to wait till the fifth book to read their story, and yup, I already do have high expectations for that.
Based on the characters, the storyline and the writing, this could have easily been a 4⭐️ star, so why wasn’t it? Firstly, the progression of the timeline - Evelyn has PTSD, she is severely traumatised, and yet she manages to not only fall in love with Lucas but also simultaneously open up her heart and past to him within a single month. Yes, this is fiction but it’s also highly unrealistic for someone so intensely abused to trust so easily. Second of all, the Nathan capturing Evelyn bit - yes, we all predicted it would happen right from the start, but it happened in the most foolish way possible, with all of them being highly trained individuals, I expected better from them instead of walking straight into Nathan’s trap. Third of all, I wanted to see Evelyn bonding more with the girls, and I’m aware that this is an ensemble of interwoven standalone novels so we will be reading more of this evolving friendship circle in the following books, yet I wanted more moments of warmth and womanhood being shared amongst Evelyn, Lena and Grace.
Overall, this was a great start to the series and I look forward to reading the rest of the instalments. The writing style made this a rapid read which I took a liking to right from the first page. Was this a unique read? No. We’ve seen similar settings in other small-town series. But was it an enjoyable read? Definitely. I loved Evelyn for being brave enough to make the choices she did and it was heartwarming to see her learn to live again, to dare to dream. I appreciate Lucas for giving her the space she needed and most importantly having sufficient awareness to not impose his possessiveness upon her. I can’t wait to read Harlan’s and Grace’s story next.
“It was wonderful to just exist. To do what I wanted and not be consumed by the things that kept me hanging on to the cliff by my fingernails.”
‼️MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD‼️
“But each person’s journey was theirs to share or not.”
After searching for a small-town romance series tinged with a bit of suspense, I finally found this, thanks to @bookwithnatasa (WordPress) who had posted a review about the second book in this series. I’m aware that there are plenty of amazing small-town series, but unfortunately, most of the romances tend to be open-door, and I don’t mind if it’s just a chapter or two, but when it’s more than that and it’s all about the spice, I tend to quickly lose interest.
Since we’re on the topic of open-door scenes, I’d like to quickly mention that only two chapters (chapters 19 and 22) have explicit scenes while the rest of the intimate scenes are mostly restricted to kissing/touching.
Moving on to the content of the book, this being the first in a series sets the scene for the following books. Evelyn is a strong woman escaping from her abuser and finds herself in Garnet Bend, a quaint town in Montana. Fate leads her to Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch, where she not only finds safety but also loves friendship and stability. I loved the security Lucas provided for Evelyn and how everyone on the ranch rallied together to be there for them. One thing I wanted to see more of was Lucas’s past, but there’s only so much that can be mentioned in a book of this length. We meet quite a bit of characters and I’m not going to lie, most of their names have faded off in my memory. But Lena and Jude did catch my attention and I can’t believe I have to wait till the fifth book to read their story, and yup, I already do have high expectations for that.
Based on the characters, the storyline and the writing, this could have easily been a 4⭐️ star, so why wasn’t it? Firstly, the progression of the timeline - Evelyn has PTSD, she is severely traumatised, and yet she manages to not only fall in love with Lucas but also simultaneously open up her heart and past to him within a single month. Yes, this is fiction but it’s also highly unrealistic for someone so intensely abused to trust so easily. Second of all, the Nathan capturing Evelyn bit - yes, we all predicted it would happen right from the start, but it happened in the most foolish way possible, with all of them being highly trained individuals, I expected better from them instead of walking straight into Nathan’s trap. Third of all, I wanted to see Evelyn bonding more with the girls, and I’m aware that this is an ensemble of interwoven standalone novels so we will be reading more of this evolving friendship circle in the following books, yet I wanted more moments of warmth and womanhood being shared amongst Evelyn, Lena and Grace.
Overall, this was a great start to the series and I look forward to reading the rest of the instalments. The writing style made this a rapid read which I took a liking to right from the first page. Was this a unique read? No. We’ve seen similar settings in other small-town series. But was it an enjoyable read? Definitely. I loved Evelyn for being brave enough to make the choices she did and it was heartwarming to see her learn to live again, to dare to dream. I appreciate Lucas for giving her the space she needed and most importantly having sufficient awareness to not impose his possessiveness upon her. I can’t wait to read Harlan’s and Grace’s story next.
“It was wonderful to just exist. To do what I wanted and not be consumed by the things that kept me hanging on to the cliff by my fingernails.”