Lone Wolf In Lights: Don’t miss this new small-town, spicy cowboy romance perfect for fans of Elsie Silver in 2025!: Book 2 (Naked Moose) Paperback – 24 Oct. 2024

I am absolutely loving this series. Kennedy does cute romance, hard hitting topics like marital abuse and cowboys so well. This is the second in the series and can be read as a standalone although reading the books in order added to my pleasure. This time it is Willow who gets the attention. The book centres on an empowerment group for women who have suffered abuse and this is covered gently but not hiding the horrific impact. Alongside this, the romance of Eli and Willow bubbles along with them both burned by their pasts. Their bruises are well explained and there is a lot of empathy in the telling, a lovely read.

|Netgalley|Lone Wolf in Lights by Stacey Kennedy is described (on the cover, I may add) as a novel about a "fake date with a cowboy".I'd say it's deeper than that - it's actually much more serious than I anticipated, with themes of resilience, female empowerment, and moving on.Willow Quinn has left her old life behind, and opened a bar in a small town in Montana with her two friends. Given her own history with a violent man, she wants to create a safe space for women - and she's going to use Christmas to do it. She sets up a crafting circle so that other women who need support have a safe space to chat and make Christmas themed crafts to sell at a market (a lovely idea, I think).Someone isn't happy about it, however - they don't like the idea of this newcomer coming in and helping women gain confidence and independence. Local cowboy Eli is smitten with Willow - and he thinks that if he's on her arm, maybe the locals will take her a little more seriously. Eli has his own past stuff to work through - but could he be ready to move on with Willow?I dunno, lads. It doesn't really sit too well with me that in a novel about female empowerment, healing and confidence, that it takes a big strong man to come in and "save" this already very capable woman.I'd nearly have preferred if it was just a natural romance that happened - Eli and Willow are nice characters, even if I thought the relationship lacked chemistry. The setting is lovely, and the more sensitive topics are handled well.It's just not what I was expecting.CW for discussion of domestic violence, rage and threatening behaviour.This is the second in a series, although I didn't realise that, so it could be read as a standalone.I would read more from Stacey Kennedy.Thank you to the publisher for granting me approval to read an ARC via @netgalley .

I loved this second book in the series. Considering it was dealing with some pretty heavy topics it navigated them extremely well, showing that the author had really thought about and researched her writing. Eli and Willow are wonderful main characters and this was a lovely romance.However the shinning star in this book is Betty! Having the old matriarchal wise character is alway a bonus for me and Betty is an amazing example!I did at one point think this book was going to go down and overtly feminist route which had me worried as I thought it was going to be ruined but betty saved the day!Read in 2 sittings and really looking forward to Gunner and Aubrey’s story!

I just loved this book and I just couldn’t put it down that I read it in one sitting. It was such a great story with wonderful characters.I would highly recommend reading this book if you love a good story with wonderful characters.I would like to thank Mills and Boon Afterglow and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book early.

When I saw this book up for review, I’d heard so many good things about the first book I knew I had to apply for it even though I hadn’t read the first book yet. Before starting this book I took it upon myself to read ‘The Devil In Blue Jeans’ first. If you’re going to read this book before the first book please look up the trigger warnings as the book is largely based about surviving DV. If you’ve read the first book you can guess what this book will be about for Willow & Eli.I really liked Willow and Eli as a couple and although their story is slow you can really see the growth happening for them both not only as a couple but individually. I really felt like they’re a good fit for each other and I adored the small town vibe. You’d never guess it from the cover but this book has a big christmas vibe and I love it. I don’t think there’s anything better than a small town at christmas, they always give found family.I gave this book 3.5 and the only reason I didn’t give it 4 stars is due to it being third person. This is not my type of book and in the past it’s been a dnf, but I always give them a go and see if I can get into them. I have really enjoyed this series and will definitely be reading the next book.

If you are a fan of the below tropes.. then this book is for you!- Small town romance- Cowboys- Fake dating- SpicePlease read trigger warnings though as it does cover some difficult topics like domestic abuse and grief.I loved this book, it’s a follow on from The Devil in Blue Jeans which I’d recommend reading first so you understand some of the characters and storyline.Willow is a super sweet MFC who is very relatable and has been through some tough times and Eli the MMC is a hot cowboy (former bull rider) who has a lovely personality and would do anything for Willow. Fast forward to his suggestion that they fake date to protect her and help the bar that she owns with her friends… is it really fake though?!Not only did I love the relationship between Eli and Willow but also her friends Charly and Aubrey who would also do anything to protect Willow and their bar that they have worked so hard to become a success.I 100% recommend this book and can’t wait to read about Aubrey’s story!