🎤🎼🐎🏔️ “Almost Perfect” (Back to Silver Ridge #3) (2022) 🏔️🐎🎼 🎤 – Book Review

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

 

Series: Back to Silver Ridge (Book #1)

Paperback: 362 Pages

Publisher: Claire Cain (January 5, 2022)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1954005237

ISBN-13: 978-1954005235

⬅️ Click Photo for Purchase Information

 

“When a small town rancher and a world-famous pop star collide, it’s Almost Perfect.

 

All I want are the simple things in life. A wife, a family of my own, and a peaceful existence. And I can picture the kind of woman to share it all with. She’d be sweet. We’d click. It would be uncomplicated, and it would feel easy and right from the start.

 

Callaway Rice, AKA bad girl pop star Miss Mayhem, is not that woman. She’s too beautiful for her own good, her life’s a mess, and she’s an outsider in this town that I love so much.

 

But now she’s staying in the cottage on my property. She’s showing up at my place for breakfast every day. And for some reason, I’m gravitating to her like she’s the one I’ve been looking for all along.

 

Almost Perfect is the first book in the Back to Silver Ridge Series and is a closed door small town romance.”

 

Thank you in advance to the author, Claire Cain, for providing a complimentary review copy Prism Book Tours, a positive review was not required nor requested, and all words are my own.

While the author has other books published, including the previous connected series that introduces Wyatt – The Silver Ridge Resort Series, this is the first book I’ve read. And, it is the first book of the series.

 

As of note – I didn’t feel like I was missing something by not reading the previous one, but it might be interesting to see where some characters of this book originate.  

 

One thing that amazed me, was something few authors do – a content warning for potential readers. I’m not saying authors don’t care about their readers or their preferences, but when an author goes the extra mile and the first page has that warning – that definitely grabs my attention in a good way.

 

The content includes the death of a parent at a young age (Wyatt) and the drug overdose of another parent (Callaway). However, it also has some “barnyard” language which includes the use of B.S (🐂💩) cr@p, d@mn, jacka$$, he!!, and a “sexual reference” to Calla possibly “jumping his bones” in reference to a fling with Wyatt. While this language doesn’t bother me too much, other readers might take some offense to it. Some might object to an “out of marriage” pregnancy depicted with one character. There is an off-page/between pages intimate scene, only briefly referenced though and done so tastefully.

 

The premise described above is what Amazon has listed, but according to the back of the book …

 

“When a small town rancher and a world-famous pop star collide, it’s Almost Perfect.

 

Callaway Rice IS ON THE RUN – from the press, form her bad reputation and from her life as an internationally known limit-pushing popstar. She needs peace, quiet, and the mountains of her small hometown. She does not need a quiet cowboy alternately judging her and make her wish she could turn his head.

 

Wyatt Saint wants the simple things in life: a wife, a family of my own, and a peaceful existence. After stepping back from a successful cattle business to pursue these goals, he meets Callaway Rice – the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and the opposite of everything he says he wants.

 

But now she’s staying in the cottage on his property. She’s showing up at his place for breakfast every day. And for some reason, he’s gravitating to her like she’s the one he’s been looking for all along”.

 

Based on the back of the book description, how could I NOT want to read this? And, with the cozy cover on front? Definitely fits my idea of a “curl up on the couch, get comfy under a blanket” kind of read.

 

The main three characters are Wyatt, his younger brother Warrick, and of course Callaway (Calla). Of the three, I really gravitated more to Warrick. He just had a personality and sense of humor I could relate to. The other characters – the boys’ mother Jane, Quinn, and others were intricately woven into the story to provide support. The story is told in first person format from Wyatt and Calla’s points of view.

 

Right off, Calla comes off as shallow and spoiled. I honestly did not like her at all. She was an unsympathetic character. Once I did get to know her, I saw how the stage name “Miss Mayhem” might’ve tied in. However, the readers don’t learn the real origin of the name except in a “blurb” where she tells Wyatt that the record label liked her “bad girl” image. That would’ve been interesting.

 

Wyatt is looking for a simple wife. And, of course learning who Calla is – despite the attraction, she isn’t quite what he wants.

 

Obviously, Calla is in her hometown to recover from the fallout from her mother Candy’s death. She isn’t taking any calls, even those from her friend Jenna. Is she running away or hiding out? The answer – a bit of both.

 

Warrick and Wyatt know who she is, and Wyatt makes assumptions about her based off of her stage image and an internet search. Some are rumors she provided her mother with drugs and caused her mother’s overdose – obviously the rumors surround the Miss Mayhem identity and not Calla herself.

 

Of course, Wyatt isn’t interested in that, then again his lifestyle and work keep him from pursuing his dream of a wife and family. Then, there’s the middle brother – Wilder, who’s in the military.

 

After Wyatt apologizes to Calla, the gesture is touching to her. He even offers to be there for her. And, she realizes she’s cried more in the time she’s been there than in most of her life. She didn’t consider “Candy” her mother, especially once Calla/Miss Mayhem became famous. Sadly, Calla was Candy’s ticket to the good life. A touch of reality for some actors and singers.

 

Warrick invites her to the main house and Calla realizes she needs the company and conversation more than she realized. Yet, despite Wyatt’s own apology, for some reason Calla puts him on edge, as if she is a threat.

 

Warrick begins to see something in his brother, though Wyatt won’t admit it. In fact, Wyatt is still trying to “app date” – trying to find matches in an app that even his mother uses. There’s no connection with the dates – and he doesn’t let there be one. He’s sadly beginning to realize that Calla is who he wants even if she is wrong for him.

 

Eventually, Calla reconnects with Jenna who thinks a “fling” might help Calla. Though, Calla knows she doesn’t want to return to the lifestyle she fled. Still, it is a matter of time before she has to return.

 

She learns to live in the moment, has gratitude, hope, discovers healing, and how to more forward. Though, she now wants to try to balance Miss Mayhem and Calla as they are the same person and hopes Wyatt can accept that. And, he is wondering if he can too – especially since both want to take a chance.

 

As with most stories like this – the relationship takes a bit of a dent and scratch on its way to the happy ending. The dialogue and story take predictable, but at times, enjoyable turns to get where it needs to be.

 

It was a bit hard to get into, but it picked up about halfway. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s realistic approach to fame, fans and their fickle behavior, along with the seedy side of management of celebrities.

 

I love how the author presented Calla as someone on the catch-22 fence – people complaining she’s auto-tuned, but the record company not letting her do her own stuff, something she really wants to do. And, I was left wondering if she couldn’t re-brand from Miss Mayhem into simply Calla, doing her own stuff and going indie after the last record to the studio is fulfilled.

 

Wyatt was interesting – loved the fact he talked to his horse. It was amusing, charming and endearing. He truly knew what he wanted and nothing was going to sway him – not even the allure of money.  

 

Warrick, at times, saved the day with his humor. I loved a reference to him forgetting the reusable shipping bags and not wanting to walk back to the truck to get them. I’ve done that SO MANY times myself. His remark about the weather being “colder than a bucket of ice cubes” is spot on. We’ve had days in the desert it gets THAT cold!! 🪣🧊🥶 

 

As far as the ending story-wise, one resolution I was expecting and didn’t get was Calla’s manager, Rad Bickman’s shady practices and what happened to him. Was he a criminal or just disliked? Another one was – who was responsible for Calla’s mother getting the drugs. Was he the one responsible?

 

The fact that Calla was severely indecisive about staying in Utah and returning to L.A was fascinating yet annoying. She recognized it not as an escape, but a soul deep need. I think she needed to really focus on herself rather than an identity.

 

The short chapters kept this going for me. And, yes, it really is a slow burn romance. Some readers might not enjoy the “will they, won’t they, they never will, they might, they might not” kind of romance that this book is. It delivers more in the way of connections than romance.

 

There was, at times, too much narrative; but at other times the descriptiveness of food, location, and emotions drew me in.

 

This was an alternately infuriating, emotional, realistic, and heart-warming read.

 

Fans of the author, particularly her Silver Ridge Resort Series will no doubt want to read this.

 

I would definitely be interested in reading Warrick’s story – “Almost Real” as well as getting to know Wilder in a future book.

 

RATING:

 

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads

 

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub

 

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

         

Claire Cain lives to eat and drink her way around the globe with her traveling soldier and three kids, but is perhaps even happier hunkered down at home in a pair of sweatpants and slippers using any free moment she has to read and cook. Or talk—she really likes to talk. She has become an expert at packing too many dishes in too few cabinets and making houses into homes from Utah to Germany and many places in between. She’s a proud Army wife and is frankly just really happy to be here.

 

 

She can be found on the following social media networks:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairecainwriter

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clairecainwriter

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/writeclairecain

 

Website: https://clairecainwriter.com/

 

 

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