Sunlight

My first day in Montana, I got into a tug-of-war over a grocery store shopping cart. The most handsome man I’d ever seen broke up the scuffle before he asked me on a date. I was seconds away from accepting but then he told me his name.

As an owner of the Haven River Ranch, Jax Haven wasn’t my boss. But he wasn’t not my boss either.

Obviously, my only option was to turn him down, scurry away, then pretend like he was a stranger on my first day of work. And obviously, I could never, ever admit that he was my secret crush.

For as hard as I work at my job, I work twice as hard to pretend Jax doesn’t exist. I don’t let myself think about his dazzling eyes or charming smile. I refuse to acknowledge how good he looks in a pair of faded Wrangler jeans. And as tempting as he is in a cowboy hat, Jax is a distraction I cannot afford.

Everything was going according to plan until the annual holiday party. Until I drank one too many flutes of champagne and let him sweep me off my feet. After a night in his bed, there was no more ignoring Jax Haven. Not when I’m pregnant with his baby.

• Sunlight by Devney Perry
• Series: Haven River Ranch, book #2
• Published: Brilliance Audio on October 15, 2024
• Genre: Romance, western romance
• Listening length: 9 hours 16 minutes
• Dates listened: 8.23.25 – 8.25.25 (3 days)
• Format: Audiobook (Kindle Unlimited)
• Narrators: Ava Erikson, Stephen Dexter
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• ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🌶🌶🌶🌶

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Y’all, I’m beginning to think I’m just too jaded to really enjoy a lot of these romance tropes that are so popular. Maybe that’s why I tend to read more horror or thriller books, they’re more realistic to me! haha Sunlight is the second book in the Haven River Ranch series, and I did enjoy it, but not as much as I enjoyed the first one. I just don’t buy into the whole “love at first sight” trope, unless there’s some kind of underlying supernatural explanation for it, like a curse or something. The only way I will believe in the magic of love at first sight, is if there is some magic actually involved! lol

Jax and Sasha have an actual, pretty hilarious, meet-cute in the beginning, but I didn’t get on board with the insta-attraction. Nor did I really understand Sasha’s motivation for avoiding Jax and keeping him at arm’s length. Throughout the book, there is an underlying sense that there is more to Sasha’s backstory that may explain her hesitation, but in the end, it turns out to be related to the death of her parents and the stress over having to raise her younger brother, who has issues. Doesn’t really quite add up to why she would push away “the hottest man she’s ever laid eyes on”. At least it didn’t to me.

I wished I could go back to that day. To reassure my past self that it would all be okay. That soon, the man of her dreams would flip her world upside down. That the lonely years were over.

I’m also not a huge pregnancy trope fan. Maybe that’s personal, as someone who wanted badly to become a mother and sadly couldn’t. Perhaps it subconsciously feels like a little stab at that jealous part of me, and that’s why that trope has never been my cup of tea. It’s just too much for my snarky inner self. I can hear her saying, “Oh, great! So you get the dream boat, perfect man, AND you get to have a baby with him!! How awesome for you!” It doesn’t make me swoon, but roll my envious green eyes. Call it my character flaw, I don’t care! lol

With all that being said, it was still a really great romance. The spice was delicious, much like the first. So at least that didn’t disappoint. I loved how Indya and West make appearances in this book, so you get a little glimpse into their HEA, which I loved!!! And I’m almost certain, if there is a book 3 to the series, I know exactly who it’s going to be about. Which will be interesting, because we don’t know too much about them just yet. Perry does an excellent job of setting up for the next book, so we will see if I’m correct. The resolution between Sasha and her brother Eddie, was good. I’m glad that it had a happy ending in that department as well. Overall, really good book, I’m just not a huge fan of the tropes this book had in it.