This RITA® Reader Challenge 2017 review was written by ClaireC. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Short Contemporary Romance category.

Here is ClaireC's review:

Sierra Bailey has just been fired from her job as a physical therapist and needs a temporary job while she evaluates her future and tries to find a long-term position. A former client gives her a lead to a job in the tiny Texas town of Cupid’s Bow, which has the added bonus of being out of reach of Sierra’s overbearing mother. The job is part physical therapist, part live-in help for Vicki, a 19-year old recovering from a serious car accident. Also in the house is Jarrett Ross, Vicki’s inconveniently hot older brother. He’s returned home to help out on the family ranch after Vicki’s accident and his father’s subsequent heart attack. Ding ding, forced proximity alert!

Jarrett is a former rodeo bronc rider and ladies man. At the beginning of the story, he feels an incredible amount of guilt and responsibility for his sister’s condition, as he chose a one-night-stand over dinner with his sister, and said sister was struck by a drunk driver on her way home. The siblings’ formerly good relationship is now strained and awkward, with Jarrett clamming up and treating Vicki like she’s made of glass, and Vicki lashing out in anger and frustration. Sierra arrives on the Twisted R ranch just as the Ross parents decamp, leaving the siblings to work things out on their own.

Sierra comes to Cupid’s Bow confident on her professional skills, but a bit battered in her personal life. Her romantic relationships have failed to go anywhere, and she’s realizing that her family relationships aren’t as close as she may wish, even though her mother keeps badgering her to move home to Dallas and set up house with any number of nice young men. Both of Sierra’s parents are a bit overprotective after a childhood accident, whereas Sierra chose to become more daring and follow her own path into a career helping others as a physical therapist. She uses a good technique to connect with Vicki, not giving in to pretend bouts of tiredness, but not letting Vicki overdo it either.

Jarrett and Sierra both find each other physically attractive, but resist acting on that attraction for a number of reasons. Sierra knows that this is a temporary job and doesn’t want to get involved with him, plus there is the fact that Jarrett is her employer. Jarrett is trying to turn over a new leaf and not jump into bed with every attractive woman, and reminds himself that Sierra is there to help Vicki. Of course they both continue to think lustfully about each other, and soon are sneaking around behind Vicki’s – and the town’s – back. You can see that this won’t end well, right?

Ms. Michaels does a good job working within the compressed timeline of this short novel, using the close proximity and intimacy of their living situation to bring Jarrett and Sierra together quickly, but believably. And while it’s evident that this is the second in the series (judging from the amount of time spent on her life details, Sierra’s new friend Kate was the subject of the first), at no point did I feel that I was missing vital information, or confused about what was going on. Both hero and heroine are well written, and the supporting characters aren’t mere cutouts, nor do they steal the show. Vicki was a great secondary heroine, exhibiting drive and determination in her recovery, and not above making jokes at her own expense. The town itself is also a bit of a character, with the various festivals and nosy neighbors common in small-town romance.

My main issue with Falling for the Rancher is the ending. In the final chapter, we get both the big fallout AND the heartwarming resolution. There is simply not enough time to really work out whether Jarrett and Sierra have a HEA, or a HFN. I’m sure this is partly due to page limits, but I also expect that they will play a part in the next story, much like how we are caught up with Kate’s life in this volume. The abruptness of the ending, combined with the semi-predictable plot, makes this a good book, but not a great one, and probably not one I’ll re-read.