4.5 Wine Glass #Review of Rancher's Dream by B.J. Daniels

Title: Rancher’s Dream
Series: The Montana Cahills #6
Author: B.J. Daniels
Format: Paperback (384 pages)
Published: July 24th 2018 by Hqn
ISBN-10: 1335006990
ISBN-13: 978-1335006998
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Wine Glasses

A bride becomes a target in New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels’s latest can’t-miss suspense

Tragedy sent Deidre “Drey” Hunter running from rancher Hawk Cahill and into the arms of a sleek businessman who promised her a new life. But dreams of Manhattan days and cosmopolitan nights shatter when he brings her back to an ultramodern paradise in her hometown of Gilt Edge—and vanishes on their wedding night.

Taunted by seclusion and silence, Drey starts to doubt everything…including her sanity. Only Hawk, the stubborn cowboy from her school days, believes the threats are real and that someone is ready to kill. But is he willing to forgive the past if it means ending her nightmare?

Linda's Thoughts:
Turning, she saw a crow staring at her from the balcony with its beady little dark eyes. The bird flapped its silken ebony wings at her and hopped to the chair closest to the open door. Wasn’t there some superstition about crows and death?

Rancher’s Dream by B.J. Daniels is a brilliantly concocted masterpiece of western romantic suspense. It is the sixth installment in the author’s Montana Cahills series. However, this tale works very well as a standalone read if that is your preference. As with the other Montana Cahill books, this installment is about one of the Cahill siblings. The focus this time around is on Hawk Cahill and his long-time love, Deidre Hunter. The ominous mood is set from the beginning.

As the story opens, Dierdre “Drey” Hunter Baxter has given up on ever reconciling with her true love, Hawk Cahill, and married Ethan, a handsome, mega-rich businessman, after a whirlwind courtship. She was surprised at their wedding reception by her husband’s announcement that they would not be living in his penthouse apartment in New York City miles away from Hawk as she’d expected. Instead, her husband plans to have them reside in Mountain Crest, or as the locals call it, Baxter's Folly – an ultra-modern, high-tech glass monstrosity built into a mountain overlooking Gilt Edge. That’s only one of many revelations to come as her new husband disappears without a trace on their wedding night whilst a stranger shows up the next morning claiming to be her husband’s brother. Meanwhile, in a second interwoven thread, Billie Dee’s quest to find the biological daughter she had given up for adoption progresses.

Rancher’s Dream is a second chance at love story with just the right amount of sexual tension. That said, the suspense takes center stage for most of the tale with premonitions and seriously bad vibes adding to the ever-present danger in the unfolding story line. Drey and Hawk share a long history together but a tragedy and mistrust drove them apart. Then, they were both too stubborn to bridge the gap between them.

Even so, when Drey, now married to another man, believes she’s losing her mind and starts having hallucinations and periods which she can’t remember, it’s her ex-boyfriend, Hawk, who she turns to in her distress. I loved how Hawk couldn’t help himself as he was all there for her despite his own misgivings and the wall between them. The characters are believable and Drey’s distress is tangible as she is frightened out of her mind. Fans of the series will enjoy the updates on previous favorite characters which are interspersed throughout.

Following please find a few of my favorite lines from Rancher’s Dream:

You will die in this house.
--- 

You’ve made a terrible mistake.
--- 

Here she was on her wedding night and nothing about it was as she’d once dreamed. Dierdre “Drey” Hunter Baxter. Married to the wrong man.
--- 

Everything was going to be all right, she told herself. Every woman got wedding jitters, right? Every woman felt a little nauseated at the thought of her first love on her wedding day. Every woman saw herself lying face down, dead in a pond.
--- 

What man didn’t join his wife on their wedding night?

B.J. Daniels is an awesome storyteller. Rancher’s Dream is a page-turning thriller that you won’t want to put down. Just when you can’t breathe from the building suspense, she provides a bit of relief with a short respite via Billy Dee’s story. This book kept me up way past my bedtime as sleep was impossible until I’d followed the mystery to its shocking conclusion. Teeming with twists and turns, I was kept guessing until the end. Now, I can’t wait for Cyrus Cahill’s story coming in November!



Suggested Reading Order: 
Renegade’s Pride 
Outlaw’s Honor 
Cowboy’s Reckoning - a novella, digital only
Cowboy’s Legacy 
Hero’s Return
Cowboy’s Redemption 
Hero’s Return 
Rancher’s Dream 
Wrangler’s Rescue  – Cyrus Cahill’s story coming November 2018!