"Jess's Journey"

"Jess's Journey" by SJD Peterson

Lovely, quiet and romantic

Very Highly Recommended

*This is the fifth in the Whispering Pines Ranch Series. While it is a stand-alone book, it's best to have read the other four so you have a sense of character. If not, read on anyway!*

Once upon a time there was a man named Jess Jenkins. Now Jess, he had a heart and a smile the size of Texas, but not much luck in love. When he tried to give his heart away the first time, he fell in love with his boyhood best friend. That bed was too small, and when his friend didn't return Jess's feelings, Jess got angry and tossed him out of his life.

Then Jess fell in love with Lorcan James. That bed was too big, since he had to share it with not only Lorcan, but Quinn, the man Lorcan really loved. And that lasted for a while, until Jess was in a terrible accident and smashed up his legs. Feeling like less than a man, he chased Lorcan out of that big empty bed, letting him go to the man he loved.

As Jess tried to recover and heal his body and heart, he had two men who looked after him. Collin, the younger brother of his childhood best friend, and Jack, his physical therapist. Both were good men, but would one of them be the man that had the bed that fit just right?

SJD Peterson has finally, finally given me Jess’s tale, and I have to tell you, it was worth the wait. This book is as sweet as Jess’s smile, and as warm and comfortable as your grandmother’s quilt on a cool fall night. While not without some angst, because Jess is a broken man on the mend, this loving, beautiful book wrapped around my heart and snuggled its way home. I was enchanted.

I wasn’t so sure, when I started, where Ms. Peterson was going to go with this. But the crafty woman took me surely along a familiar path, but under her sure hand, it was shiny and new. Jess was being courted and cared for by two worthy men. Collin, a sweetly innocent boy with a heart as big as Jess’s, and Jack, the gruff bear to Collin’s sweet young cub. Either man would have made a good match for the prickly, broken but ultimately honorable and vulnerable Jess.

Now we have two more men I want to see have their own books. Collin, who I’d take home in a minute and never let him go, and Troy, Jack’s counterpart from the hospital.

Oh, and were there any eight more romantic and touching words to build this fairy tale of a book around? “You still love me…You still want me”. Oh, hell yes I do.

Beautiful, masterfully told, and sincere. What more can a guy want?

Tom