For Jess Cook, the Turn Around Ranch is her last best hope to keep her daughter Chloe from repeating Jess's mistakes. Jess was a teen mom and Chloe's started running with a bad crowd. Jess is willing to do literally anything for Chloe, including learning to cook for thirty hungry ranch folk, and it's the mother-daughter story which tugs on the heartstrings most in this book. The hero Wade, a co-owner of the ranch, is a lovely guy who'd come across a bit too good to be true if he wasn't occasionally testy and impatient, is obviously perfect for Jess, and it's really just logistics that get in the way. There's a cute side romance with Chloe and Aidan, a former troubled teen and Wade's adopted brother, and a whole side cast of characters who I'm guessing will all find their own happy endings as this series progresses.
As a mother of two boys rapidly coming up on teenagerhood, there were a lot of messages in here that really resonated with me. Jess was such an easy character for me to empathise with, her maternal instincts trumping everything else, including her own self-preservation. Her grit and determination was genuinely inspiring, and honestly I think anyone who's ever had to dig in and struggle through tough day after tough day with no end in sight can relate to what she told Wade.one night.
"Sometimes in life fair and unfair and easy and hard don't matter. You do what you have to do. You keep on swimming."
It's a powerful sentiment, and interestingly enough, it brings me back to the title of the book, which I admit I looked at with a certain degree of puzzlement once I’d finished it. Yes, the male love interest in the book is a cowboy, but he’s not the one who shows extraordinary persistence, who refuses to quit even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It’s Jess who’s the heart of the story, Jess the one who won’t quit no matter what. But then… I suppose ‘A Mom Never Quits’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
If you enjoy heartwarming stories about overcoming tough odds and finding true love where you least expect it, I reckon you’ll absolutely love this book. I certainly did. Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.