Erin Zak

Could a love worth staying for be the key to breaking down Julia Finch's walls?

Breaking Down Her Walls

Leaving is what Julia Finch does best. When a meeting with her birth parents goes horribly wrong, Julia escapes on a hastily planned road trip and winds up breaking down in a Colorado town so small the cows outnumber the people. Completely out of her element, she takes a temporary job as a ranch hand at Bennett Ranch. She only has to survive long enough to get her car fixed, and then she’s out of there for good. Her bad luck continues when she meets the ranch owner, Elena Bennett. Elena is unhappy, abrasive, and annoyingly breathtaking. But the longer Julia stays, the more the ranch starts to feel like home, and her feelings for Elena become impossible to ignore. She’s spent years building her defenses high and running from her past. Could a love worth staying for be the key to breaking down her walls?

Lucia Correa

3.6 Stars rounded up to 4 Stars for this pleasant romance. An easy, fast read.

I held onto this book until I got to Colorado. I'm visiting family for the holidays and they live in a small resort town with a home that is surrounded by trees and mountains. This book however, mostly takes place in the sweltering summer months... So I guess it help me feel warm when it was freezing outside.

Twenty-six year old, Julia Finch is on the road, with no particular destination, just away from her former life. Unfortunately her car breaks down in a small Colorado town. She doesn't have enough money to fix it so she agrees to work as a ranch hand in exchange for repairs. At the Bennett Ranch she meets the 40-something, beautiful and abrasive owner, Elena Bennett.

I enjoyed following Julia as she tries to learn to muck out the stables, care for the horses and later to ride. She makes close friends at the ranch, especially with Cole, Elena's teenage son. She begins to really enjoy being and working at the Ranch. 

Julia is instantly attracted to Elena and at the same time dislikes her as Elena is naturally abrasive, especially since Julia who obviously has no experience, horse or ranch skills and was not impressed with the City Girl. We learn that Elena has lived through a lot of losses, can Julia help her heal? And likewise can Elena help Julia heal from whatever she is running from? There are bumps in the road as Elena's past returns to complicate things.

A couple of quibbles. This book is that it is written from Julia's point of view and occasionally it is not clear who is talking, Julia or the other person. I had to pause and decipher it. I hate when that happens. But it wasn't enough to make me stop reading. Second, we see quickly by her actions that Elena is probably attracted to Julia. Which seems out of character from how she is described. But it isn't until later that Elena feels it was out of character for her too. The problem of third-person stories?

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book and it sounds like I liked it more that some other reviewers. I'll definitely check out Zak's next book.

Breaking Down Her Walls

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