ROSS (7 BRIDES FOR 7 BLACKTHORNES #3)

Meet the Blackthorne men, each one as hot, fast, and smooth as the whisky that built the family fortune, and the yachts and race cars that bear their name. From proud Scottish stock, Blackthornes never lose. But, one by one, the seven sexy men in this family are about to risk everything when they fall for strong and beautiful women who test their mettle in life…and love. 

ROSS 

Ross Blackthorne likes his cars fast and his women faster. As the third son, he’s accustomed to living his life without the pressure to succeed that his older brothers face. But when he crashes his race car during a public event, his father decides enough is enough. It’s time for Ross to step up and join the family business. 

Holly Brooks has her hands full running operations at the Blackthorne Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. The last thing she needs is to babysit an unrepentant playboy who doesn’t have any interest in learning what it takes to make world-class bourbon. 
Ross only intends to stay for as long as it takes to convince his father he’s better suited to driving fast—but working in close proximity to Holly is more interesting than he expected. 

Can daredevil Ross convince good girl Holly that he’s worth the risk? Or is their budding relationship doomed to crash and burn? 

Don't miss these sexy, heartwarming, emotion-filled books by seven bestselling authors: Barbara Freethy, Julia London, Lynn Raye Harris, Cristin Harber, Roxanne St. Claire, Christie Ridgway and Samantha Chase.

Devlin #1 – Barbara Freethy

Jason #2 – Julia London

Ross #3 – Lynn Raye Harris

Phillip #4 – Cristin Harber

Brock #5 – Roxanne St. Claire

Logan #6 – Samantha Chase

Trey #7 – Christie Ridgway 

Release Date: August 15, 2019

H.O.T. Publishing, LLC

7 Brides for 7 Blackthornes #3

Contemporary romance

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Ross is the 3rd book in the 7 Brides for 7 Blackthornes series of books. A different author writes each of the 7 books, yet all are on the same timeline. Ross is by Lynn Raye Harris and I read it as a stand-alone initially, but do plan to go back and read the first 2 books in the series.

Ross Blackthorne is a gear head. He loves fast cars and is extremely blessed to come from money so he can feed his love of cars. While a member of the Blackthorne family, his love of cars has always superseded the family business of distilling bourbon. However, when he crashes his race car, his father demands Ross learn the family business at the Kentucky Blackthorne Distillery. 

Holly Brooks has only ever wanted to work in the Bourbon industry and grew up working in her family's distillery until they had to sell their business following a fire. The Blackthorne family bought the location and allowed both Holly and her uncle to remain with the distillery. Holly is a master distiller and as the best at the Kentucky location, it is her job to teach Ross everything about the business from the ground up.

It was so much fun to watch Holly and Ross interact from the moment they met. Holly was bitter about having to take time out of her already insane schedule to teach Ross the ropes, and he was bitter because he wanted to be racing cars and was forced to learn the family business instead. I really felt like Ross was a bit more open and less hostile in the beginning and I loved that he was such an open and generous individual. He totally and completely melted my heart when he was letting kids sit in his fancy cars and talked to them and took pictures just to make them happy. I really felt like Holly started to thaw about Ross being there when she witnessed this happening over and over again.

I felt the chemistry and attraction between Holly and Ross from the beginning. I loved that Holly was so career minded and loved every moment of what she was doing at the distillery. You could feel her joy as she talked about the process and growing up in that area. Yes the attraction was always there, but I felt like Ross and Holly really became friends the more time they spent together and it was a natural progression to lovers. I get there could have been some sort of enemies to lovers description with this story, but I never really felt it, but did enjoy the progression of their relationship. 

I broke one of my cardinal rules by reading the 3rd book in a series without reading the first 2 and while I think Ross and Holly's story read well as a stand alone, I do think I would understand more of the family dynamics and history if I had started with book 1. I plan to read all 7 books in the series as each of the authors contributing to this series are favorites of mine. With this being the first book I've read in the series, I was pulled into the family and want to know more. 

Rating: 4 Stars (B+)