Spencer wants to protect his children and their legacy. He will protect them by any means necessary even at the price of his own happiness. Natasha wants to produce a quality cooking show on his working ranch and include his children. NO! Well maybe. OK.

Though the romance follows the pattern (like, sneak around, love, crash & burn, rebuild together) the story as a whole surprised me. The end should have been predictable but came about in an unexpected way. Made me smile. There is a reason this is part of the Harlequin Heartwarming collection.

With Book 3 in the Family Secrets series, we finally get to hear Natasha’s story. We’ve seen her producing the show and wondered what made her tick, and now we find out! It was a bit slower moving than the previous books in the series, but still an enjoyable cast of characters.

Let down by one city-gal already, Spencer Longfellow isn’t happy about allowing another one onto his ranch, but money is money and he’s looking forward to getting some put away to solidify his children’s future by agreeing to this production.

Natasha Stevens is producing an off-site portion of her reality cooking show competition and what better place to do it than on a ranch that produces a great source of beef that they can educate the audience about? She’s not expecting to be drawn to the single father and his adorable kids. She doesn’t do relationships or roots.

When a secret comes to light and the future is unsure, Natasha will be the one to step forward and offer help in the situation … and in doing so, will realize that she has been wrong all these years!

A Loving and appealing story about parenthood, from its good days and triumphs, to its challenges and demands. Spencer would have done anything to his twins, to keep them safe, to provide for them, and protect them. There was no question of his affection and care for his children.
Natasha felt like she wasn't built for a loving, lasting relationship, but her commitment to her career was enough to keep her challenged and satisfied with her life.
The story is well written and flows nicely off the pages. The pacing of the tale is a bit slow for my taste, but you really get the feeling of the struggles the characters goes through and the lessons they learn through their journey.
The setting of the story is very different from the norm when it comes to romance novels. I would actually rather characterize this as a women's lit instead of a romance novel.
Even though Spencer and Natasha are attracted to each other, through most of the book Spencer is dating other women, or a woman and looking for others for his project to find a wife. I have never liked the third person 'drama' in my romance novels, and even though it wasn't so much in your face 'cheating', it was still a triangle were feelings did get hurt.
Regardless, the story is well done and gives an insight to the cooking reality show with plenty of details, as well as into the beef industry and farming. I enjoyed the twins and the determination Spencer had to be the best parent he ever could have been. The characters were well thought out and the journey they were on gave the opportunity to get to know them thoroughly.
~ Three Spoons with a teaspoon on the side