Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
When Micah was 15 years old, Ryan Astor came to Split Rock Ranch as the ranch manager. Micah knew immediately that he wanted to marry Ryan, but with Ryan being 27 years old, he didn’t notice Micah in the way Micah wanted to be noticed. The ranch was the only place Micah wanted to spend his time and it felt like home. Now, with Ryan there, it could be everything he ever wanted.
Ryan came to the ranch to start over after the life his father wanted for him wasn’t what Ryan wanted. He’s found a home and a family at the ranch and that life includes Micah and Ryan can’t imagine any of it changing. But Micah is growing up and when Ryan notices, it hits him all at once. But after one kiss, Micah is off to college, leaving both men in a tangle of feelings and emotions. All Micah wants to do is get back to Ryan and the ranch, but after a few years pass, the men have to see if the spark is still there and if a relationship will work between them without it upsetting the balance of life on the ranch.
The atmosphere of life on a ranch is an enjoyable setting in books for me and Something Undeniable offers that feel from the start of the story. Micah lives with his father, but the ranch is where he has always wanted to be and the owner, Maggie, is the closest Micah has to a mother after his mother died years before. Micah does everything on the ranch and he’s taking more responsibility with the horses and his world is turned upside down when Ryan arrives as the new ranch manager.
Micah is so taken with Ryan and his crush is all consuming. Ryan only sees Micah as the cute, accident prone teen and Micah understands their age difference is impossible when they meet, but it doesn’t stop Micah from dreaming of a future with Ryan. Their relationship is a slow burn as the years pass until Ryan realizes that Micah is no longer a child. Even then, there are some obstacles in their way and, while their future together is anything but certain for a time, Micah and Ryan seemed meant to be from the start.
This is a shorter book that packs a lot of story into its pages and it works fairly well for Micah and Ryan’s journey. There are several secondary characters that are brought in and kept purposely mysterious, and for the length of this book that was too heavy handed for me. These secondary characters do not have a full story here and it then didn’t add to Micah and Ryan’s story and only served to detract from it as these characters were the loose ends at the end of the book. There is another book coming out next year in this series and it’s unclear whether it will be another book with Ryan and Micah as the focus or if the story will move on to any of the other characters.
Something Undeniable was still a good start to this series and I did enjoy the slow burn of watching Micah and Ryan find their forever together on the ranch.
