Blurb
Ned Matheson is sharing a house with the woman he loves, but he can’t kiss her, or even touch her. In fact, she can barely look him in the face. He knows he needs to be patient; Fila Sahar has been to hell and back as a captive of the Taliban for over a decade. Now she’s safely back on American soil, but her fears hem her in so tightly, she might as well be a prisoner again. If he wants to marry her—or even date her—he’ll have to help her regain her courage. He thinks he’s found the perfect way for her to become a strong, independent woman—he’ll give her a restaurant of her very own to run.
Fila can’t believe she’s finally home, or that a handsome cowboy like Ned cares for her, but before she can give her heart to any man, she has to find the courage to stand on her own two feet. When Ned surprises her with his perfect solution—the restaurant he’s leased and renovated in her name—she’s overwhelmed—with fear, not gratitude. She can barely leave the house, let alone run a business. So when Ned’s father sends them out of town to check on the family’s remote hunting cabin, she’s grateful for the delay.
Ned knows his father hopes this trip will split them up, but he’s determined it will bring them together instead. When disaster strikes, all bets are off. Ned will learn what it’s like to be helpless. Fila will have to recover the courage she lost years ago.
Can they survive the weekend? Or will this trip be their last?
Review
In book seven in the Cowboys of Chance Creek series, cowboy Ned Matheson is falling in love with his shy, timid houseguest, Fila Sahar, despite his gruff father proclaiming Fila is no good for him.
After ten years of captivity as a Taliban prisoner, Fila has escaped Afghanistan and now lives in Chance Creek, Montana. Her tight-knit group of friends want to help her succeed and straighten out her life, but everyone treats her with kid gloves. Due to her trauma, she’s afraid of loud noises, being around large groups of people, singing aloud, and drawing attention to herself. She’s especially afraid of men, except when it comes to Ned. When she and Ned wind up stranded in the middle of a snowy mountain forest, she has only two choices—give up and die, or push past her pain, fear, and anger to survive.
I’m surprised I liked this story as much as I did. Ned was a jerk in the prior books, but he grew on me in this one. While he was patient with Fila and gave her tough love when she needed it, he did push her too hard at times (buying her a restaurant without asking if she even wanted one was pretty insensitive, in my opinion). He was also blind to her emotions when it came to his friendship with Camila, a new woman in town.
I loved Fila! After all the horrible things she’d endured, I enjoyed seeing her break free little by little. Each victory was something to be proud of. She was strong where it counted and became her own woman throughout the course of the story.
I’m looking forward to the next book.
4 Stars
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