Review: Only Yours by Susan Mallery

Title: Only Yours 

Author: Susan Mallery 

Series: Fool’s Gold, #5 

Published: August 2011, HQN  

Format: Paperback, 378 pages  

Source: Library   

Montana Hendrix has
found her calling: working with therapy dogs. With a career she loves in
a hometown she adores, she’s finally ready to look for her own happily
ever after. Could one of her dogs help her find Mr. Right – or maybe Dr.
Right?

Surgeon Simon Bradley prefers the sterility of the
hospital to the messiness of real life, especially when real life
includes an accident-prone mutt and a woman whose kisses make him want
what he knows he can’t have. Scarred since childhood, he avoids
emotional entanglement by moving from place to place to heal children
who need his skillful touch. Can his growing feelings for Montana lead
him to find a home in Fool’s Gold, or will he walk away, taking her
broken heart with him?

My thoughts: This is the second story in the trilogy of books about the Hendrix triplets, which is part of Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series and I have to say I am loving this trilogy. I fell in love with these girls when they first appeared in the series and have been patiently waiting for their stories. I wasn’t disappointed with Dakota’s in Only Mine and now we have Montana’s in Only Yours.

I might be biased because this story involves dogs and I just got a new puppy myself, but I think Montana’s story might be my favorite of the three triplet’s. Of course, we haven’t gotten to Nevada’s yet, but ever since first meeting Montana in some of the earlier books, I felt a certain kinship to her. I love what she ends up deciding to do – setting up a program with the schools and library where struggling readers read to dogs. I have actually looked into doing a similar program with my older dog. She also brings some of the dogs she works with into the hospitals and nursing homes as therapy dogs.

Then there’s Simon…how to describe him…he’s a hot, crabby, dedicated surgeon who seems to avoid personal involvement at all costs. He has so many skeletons in his closet that he runs at the first sign someone is getting too close. To say that he and Montana get off on the wrong foot is an understatement, but a furry friend seems to bring them together along with a patient that responds to the dog. From there, the sparks start flying. It’s not an easy path to their happily-ever-after, but they do get there eventually.

I really loved this story – the heat is intense between Simon and Montana, partly because Simon is so resistant. Of course, there are some familiar faces making appearances in this book –  Mayor Marsha and her agenda for the town and Denise Hendrix (Montana’s mom) and her on-going dating saga – along with some new faces – we finally meet the middle Hendrix brother Kent and his son. 

I’m really looking forward to reading Nevada’s story in Only His…who will she find her happily-ever-after with?

Books in this series:

      1. Chasing Perfect                     8. Summer Nights

      2. Almost Perfect                      9. All Summer Long

      2.5 Sister of the Bride             9.5 A Fool’s Gold Christmas

      3. Finding Perfect                     9.75  Halfway There

      4. Only Mine                               10. Just One Kiss

      5. Only Yours                             11. Two of a Kind

      6. Only His                                  12. Three Little Words                     

      6.1 Only Us                                 12.5 Christmas on 4th Street

      6.2 Almost Summer

      7. Summer Days