jennyreadsalot4 's review for:

Dust Storm by Maggie Gates

4.0

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That was… good. I think.

The romance was fine, the emotional depth was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the family dynamics. I think overall the romance and the relationship believability were iffy for me. I do think it was a fun, easy to binge book, and I’m looking forward to reading about the other family members.

What’s to love…
- single dad, cowboy MMC + city girl “I don’t want kids” FMC
- MMC with a dad bod (it was cute, trust me) + a man bun
- tall FMC (“topping out at six feet”)
- great emotional depth
- Emotionally mature MMC
- easy to binge
- forced proximity (she’s staying at his house)
- Mickey the adorable pet cow who wears pool noodles on his horns

What’s not to love…
- The FMC is going to rub some readers the wrong way. She’s gruff, matter of fact, and take no sh-t, sometimes bordering on excessively so.
- The MC that doesn’t want kids trope can go either way for me and this was an instance where I didn’t love the FMC/kids interactions at first.
- The behavior of both the MCs was, at times, a little much.
- It could have used a little more tension, banter, and chemistry. None were particularly bad, but not particularly amazing either.

A small thing to note…
There were a number of statements, or word choices that were… not great. It felt like this could do with a pass from a general sensitivity reader. I’m reading an early arc copy from Berkley so I’m hopeful that a few changes are yet to be made.