I had read all of Ronica Black’s stuff on pdafiction.com and I enjoyed them very much, particularly In Too Deep. Hearts Aflame is the only of her published works that I’ve read and, like the non-published work, I liked it a lot.

Here’s a brief summary: Krista Wyler loves her job selling real estate, and she’s very good at it, but she’s feeling like something’s missing. Even casual sex has lost it’s appeal. While contemplating this fact, she gets a call that will change her life. Her aunt and uncle, who she hasn’t seen in 15 years, are no longer able to take care of themselves or the ranch that was a huge part of her young life. She takes off to help. What she finds is a dying aunt, an uncle who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer’s, and more bills than money. The ranch must be sold. This is completely unacceptable to Aunt Judith, who then conspires with her friend and veterinarian, Dr. Rae Jarrett, to figure out a way to save the ranch. Krista, in a moment of inspiration, comes up with the solution to turn the ranch into a dude ranch. Rae and Krista end up on the trail with the clients and that’s when we discover that the women each have some issues. Will they be able to get over them to find love?

I like the author’s writing style and she tells a good story. I was drawn in quickly and didn’t lose interest at all. Black paints a great picture with her words and I was able to feel like I was sitting around the camp fire with the characters. Technically, it was very good and there was nothing that I got hung up on grammatically. The only thing that holds me back from REALLY liking the book is that I don’t understand Rae’s hesitations. I can’t go into it here without going into spoiler territory. I know how I was supposed to feel about it but I just couldn’t buy into it. Krista’s trauma seemed much more understandable to me, although it still seemed a bit extreme.

So, if you think you’d like a romance with cowgirls, good sex, and plenty of angst, Hearts Aflame is for you. It’s a nice read for a lazy day.