Ranger’s Courage by Vella Munn

In Ranger’s Courage we have the pleasure of meeting Sari and Jack. Two people with secrets they’re unwilling to let go of.

RANGER’S COURAGE by Vella Munn

Publication Date:  July 3, 2018
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Tule Publishing

Story Time:

I’m going to start this with a story. 🙂

Once upon a time there was a blogger. A very beautiful, organized blogger who liked to schedule her posts weeks in advance. The system worked well for her. She could go on about her life and let the blog do it’s thing.

One day, in early June, the unthinkable happened! She forgot to schedule the post  leaving it all alone in draft folder limbo for over a month! *gasp* The poor post was so lonely by the time she found it. It had to be coaxed out of the corner it was hiding in with promises of edits and new graphics.

Worry not, the good blogger made sure the sad post got a happy ending. It has been settling into its new home quite nicely, even making some friends in the scheduled folder and is looking forward to finding its permenant home as a published post.

Would you believe this is based on a true story? It’s why this review is coming to you a month after the publication date.

This is also the one and only example you’re going to get regarding why I’m a blogger and not an author.

Review:

Firstly, let’s take a minute to appreciate the cover. He’s pretty handsome, isn’t he? I thought so. If I ever have to spend the night alone in the wilderness with someone, I hope it’s him…

Let me start by saying, I loved the beginning of the book. Jack was a strong confident park ranger comforting a family who was looking for their daughter. He was great with the family. He was also good at dealing with Sari whose people skills left a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, even her awkward way with people was endearing in the beginning.

Then things changed. It pains me to say this because I enjoyed the authors writing style so much. I have to say Ranger’s Courage was a good book, it just wasn’t a good book for me.

Both Jack and Sari have secrets. Jack tragically lost his wife and Sari has problems talking about her past. It’s not really a secret as the blurb suggests. But their inability to discuss anything of depth meant they were reduced to superficial conversation and numerous disrespectful attempts to get the other person to talk about things they weren’t comfortable talking about. For much of the book (like 20 – 90%) I read the words on the page thinking they’re both cowards and they deserve each other.

It made me uncomfortable how fixated Sari was on Jack’s dead wife. Over and over she asked questions about ‘did Harmony like this?’ ‘what did Harmony think of that?’ even though Jack repeatedly told her he wasn’t prepared to talk about it. If I were in Jacks position, the relationship would have been terminated before she could get the third question out of her mouth. Her behavior was beyond inappropriate.

I’m not overly familiar with the etiquette for this situation but I imagine it would be similar to asking about an ex. It’s a red flag when your date talks about their ex too much, it should be an even bigger red flag when all your date wants to talk about is your ex.

This was a hard read for me because whether I tried to imagine myself as Jack or Sari, I would have ended the relationship. I’ve never wanted to dump my book-boyfriend before.

Anyway, this is a story about two people learning to trust each other. It was very muchly a slow burn. The characters behaved in ways I wouldn’t tolerate. However, I think there are many people who can relate to that situation and will enjoy reading about Jack and Sari falling in love and learning it’s ok to be vulnerable.

With all that said, I did find myself enjoying the authors writing style. While this story didn’t work out for me, I am eager to read further works by this writer

Overall, A Ranger’s Courage was a well-written book. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to read about the Montana wilderness without cowboys.

If you enjoy books like this, you may also enjoy Total Bravery by Piper J. Drake.

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