Back to Basics by Erin McCarthy

Angel Weiss can’t believe that her old friend Brian has stood her up at their wedding, for a stripper no less, ruining her plans to collect on some old college bet money. If you can’t trust a man to follow through on a fake wedding, who can you trust? So maybe she is a little uptight and suppressed, as Brian points out, but after watching her father run through six wives, she can’t help but be a little bit of a control freak. Who never intends to get married for real.

Rick Dengler did the marriage thing and the only good thing that came out of it was his daughter. Otherwise, it just left him broke and disillusioned. So he isn’t looking for anything but illegal campers when he’s doing rounds through the park on his job as a ranger. What he finds is a sexy blonde in heels frozen in the path of a black bear.

Which leads to them both covered in poison ivy. Which leads to stripping down to what nature intended in a heart shaped hot tub. Which leads Angel and Rick to conclude that maybe they’re not out of the woods yet when it comes to falling in love with a person all wrong for you..

Type: Contemporary Romance, Novella
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Amazon All Romance Goodreads

Aw Back to Basics was a cute little novella with fun characters that I really grew to like. Angel's just been abandoned at the alter by her future husband and while trying to track his ass down she nearly becomes bear bait and ends up being rescued by one Ranger Rick--who is all kinds of yummy manly goodness and sparks feelings in her she never expected.

Since Angel's wedding was an arranged one she's not all that gung-ho about it but darn it she needs to marry the man so they can win a bet with college friends and the cash that comes with it so she can make a dream of hers reality. While I didn't love this part of the storyline (the end goal that she's striving for just wasn't all that thought out or realistic) I did enjoy the story and characters quite a bit.

Rick and Angel were both pretty simple but felt real and I enjoyed them. They don't have flashy jobs and they struggle with things that happen in real life--infertility, divorce, crazy siblings and unfortunate crushes but they take a risk on each other and I loved watching them open up and grow through the novella. The two, well, sparks fly. I loved their different personalities and the humor that could result from it. He's really pretty charming and has that rugged sexy going on and she's, well, Angel's a little bit of a control freak and needs someone to help set her loose.

Staring at him, she stood speechless for a good thirty seconds, watching him settle himself onto the hunter green couch. Finally, she said, “You’ve got a lot of nerve!”

He smiled in what he hoped was a charming manner. “Come here and sit on down right next to me.” He patted the cushion.

“No!”

“Why not? I promise I won’t touch you.”

Disappointment flared in her eyes, or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part. “Or if you like, I’ll touch you all you want.”

That was definitely a nasty glare she was giving him. Good thing he was thick skinned.

I really enjoyed watching Angel and Rick find love. It's always fun watching jaded characters have their world flipped and flopped about. Back to Basics was a fun sweet little read with some nice humor mixed in that's perfect for when you just have an hour or so to get lost in a story. I'm really hoping there will eventually be stories told for some of the secondary characters--namely all of her crazy siblings who were a hoot, loyal and loving and added a nice layer to the story.

Have you read McCarthy?

Which was your favorite?

Do you have a favorite run away bride/ranger story?