Ten Years Lost: "Cold Creek Reunion" by RaeAnn Thayne

He was the one you called when you needed rescuing… but who was Taft Bowman going to call when he needed help? Because ten years ago Laura Pendleton, the love of his life, had left town without a word, then or since. Now she was back, with a new last name–and two adorable, high-needs little ones in tow. Well, Taft had been stupid enough to let her go once before…he wasn't about to make the same mistake again. He'd never stopped loving her–and one look at those adorable little faces and he knew that he was meant to be with Laura and her kids forever. All he had to do was convince her that this time he was a man she could count on!

I knew when I received this review copy that there was something familiar about the title, and when I was looking for information about the book I realized that I had read an earlier novel in this Cold Creek Cowboys series. This 10th book in the series is a delightful short novel that tells the bittersweet tale of two people who missed their chance as married bliss ten years earlier and the hurts of that break-up appear to still be somewhat unhealed. One would think that as these two characters had moved on in their lives that they could meet again and find a way to put aside the disappointments. But such is not the case. She is now a widow with two children and she has come home to Cold Creek to help her mother with their family inn that is beginning to "sink out of sight." He is not the fire chief of this small Idaho community and is well-established as a bachelor with a reputation for playing hard, a reputation gained in the months and years since the broken engagement.

But all is not as it seems and through a series of unfortunate occurrences and some stealthy matchmaking on the part of family and friends, these two individuals begin the long and rocky road back to one another. As all of us know--many of us from personal experience--old wounds are really sore and our willingness to revisit those bad times can prevent people from moving on. These two characters discover that they haven't moved on as far or as effectively as they thought.

This is a very good piece of writing and the families and other background characters form a lively backdrop to the angst and difficult encounters these erstwhile lovers endure. The two children are delightful--full of fun, getting into trouble by way of their never-ending curiosity and their delight as they discover dogs and horses and lots of other things that are a part of the ranching world. One can't help falling in love with them.

This series and this novel from Harlequin are the books we return to when we want something to read we can trust, knowing that there will be romance, anxiety, despair, family, and some crisis of one sort or another, but in the end there will always be romance. So I recommend this novel as a very nice way to spend some reading time--not a big investment for the wallet, but one that will be fun and will satisfy that inner urge for a good romance. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.