Review: How to Rope a Real Man by Melissa Cutler

Title: How to Rope a Real Man by Melissa Cutler
Catcher Creek Series Book Three
Publisher: Kensington
Imprint: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Against all odds, the Sorentino sisters saved their family’s rundown New Mexico ranch, but the youngest has a dream that just may ruin their hard-earned peace–unless a certain sexy cowboy lawyer changes her mind. . .

Jenna Sorentino is as independent as they come. Despite her wild past, she’s grown up enough to keep quiet about the identity of her baby’s daddy, go to night college–and hide her plan to escape tiny Catcher Creek. She’s also stopped dreaming of happily ever after–except in the case of gorgeous, rugged, Santa Fe native Matt Roenick. Too bad the oil rights attorney acts like he barely knows she’s alive. . .

Matt knows only too well that Jenna’s alive–in fact, she’s driving him crazy with desire. But Matt’s got his reasons for resisting her. And when her son’s father shows up, those reasons multiply. Trouble is, Jenna’s secrets are more complicated than he imagined, and forgetting her isn’t as easy as he’d hoped. Matt knows life can be messy as hell. For Jenna, maybe it’s time he got dirty. . .

The Review:

How to Rope a Real Man is the scorching hot third installment in Melissa Cutler’s marvelous Catcher Creek series. This highly anticipated romance reveals the intriguing secrets that Jenna Sorentino has been keeping from, well, everyone. Equally important, Matt Roenick’s reasons for keeping his distance from Jenna are also divulged. Following their revelations, the two eagerly embrace their mutual desire for one another, but their future is jeopardized by unresolved issues from both of their pasts.

Jenna ran wild until her unexpected pregnancy forced her to grow up and leave her hard partying days behind her. She has never named her five year old son Tommy’s dad but with her sisters’ help, Jenna has provided him with the loving, stable home she never had. She is fiercely independent and determined to make a better life for herself and Tommy, and she has big plans she has not yet shared with either of her sisters. Plans that she hopes to put into motion before her past comes back and destroys everything she has worked so hard to protect.

Matt comes from a large and loving family and he is quite close to his parents, siblings and assorted nieces and nephews. He has a successful career and while he is relatively content with his life, the ghosts from his past that continue to plague him. He is very attracted to Jenna but he has a strict no dating single mothers policy that he has no intention of breaking. But a chance encounter with a stranger provides Matt with a new perspective and he decides to give love another shot.

Matt and Jenna have been dancing around their mutual attraction for months and it does not take much for their simmering passion to explode. A couple of untimely (and frustrating) interruptions prevent them from acting on their desire and the sexual tension builds to a fever pitch. This anticipation leads to some incredibly erotic yet playful sex scenes between them.

There is a strong emotional component to their relationship as well. Matt and Jenna are surprisingly honest with one another about their respective pasts and their plans for their futures. While both carry scars from previous relationships, Matt has the most emotional baggage. When conflict arises between them, his unresolved issues come between them. Matt receives advice from an unlikely source, but will Jenna give him a second chance?

How to Rope a Real Man is a delightful conclusion to the Catcher Creek series. It was well worth the wait to learn Jenna’s secrets and her revelations bring unexpected depth to the overall story. All of the loose ends for the Sorentino family are neatly wrapped up but the tantalizing (and unresolved) relationship between Matt’s sister and Jenna’s brother-in-law leaves me hopeful Melissa Cutler might revisit the series at a later date.

Although How to Rope a Real Man can be read as a standalone novel, I highly recommend the entire series.