So..hmmm. Bland? Luke warm? Boring? Yes, but not for the reasons I was expecting. I didn't think this book to be an empowering read about a woman in a male dominated work place when I requested it, and it wasn't empowering, but its DEFINITELY a book about a male dominated workplace. I have to give it to the author for doing her research.. pages after pages of the ins and outs of pipe lining! Fair juice to her! But jeeeeeeez was it tedious.

MC was all curves and girly cuteness, a bit lost and sweet, coming to spend a season where her granddad is a foreman at a pipe lining gig. Its harder then she thinks but she works hard and earns a little bit of "respect". The male chauvinist leader of the pack cant help to fall for her sweet self, against his better judgments (She is a distraction in the workplace! And he is angry with her! although its his stupid flipping colleagues that are being distracted) And she cant help but turning ridiculously clumsy and useless every time he is near. Love happens without much excitement, family problems gets sorted out and MC finds her true calling. The end.


Oh! About 60% in to the read, I noticed an overuse of the word "Gaze", and I had great fun noting it from then on. "Jolt with surprise at the heat of his gaze", "He stood silent , his gaze intent", "She was lost in the heat of his gaze". . 23 Gazes in less than half a book, sometimes loads of gazes in a page! This is obviously nor here nor there, but it was a giggle :)

I also got the feeling the author was trying to write "funny" scenes: a mud story, a fluffy armpit story, a story about a sock.. Nooooo! It didn't work for me, it disrupted whatever was going on and it was a bit cringe worthy.

This book didn't sit well with my feminist self, but I really believe the author was trying to do the opposite, and Im truly impressed with the research in to pipe lining!

This was an enjoyable read. The story was slow in the beginning, but it picked up as the story. The characters were great. The author made her characters very authentic and real. I felt the struggles that Andrea aka Andy went through as a female engineer in the pipeline business was very interesting. However, the romance between Andy and Rooster was really enjoyable. I felt their connection and it was cute to see how they tried to stop their attraction, but could not. It was a nice love story. I really enjoyed Grandpa Buck's character the most. He was rough around the edges, but still has a heart of gold type of character. He did a lot of things for his family. He made a lot of sacrifices, but still provided for his family. The ending was sweet. I am glad it was a happy ending. Overall, a great read.

"You're a long way from Kansas, Dorothy..."

Andrea (Andy) has led a protected life in Kansas with her parents and younger sister. She has a degree in Communications but is looking for something else out of life.

She decides she wants to spend some time with her grandfather Buck, an engineer just starting to work on installing a natural gas pipeline in the hills of West Virginia. Her mother has never had anything good to say about her grandfather but Andy wants to get to know him herself and make her own decisions.

Soon she's working alongside Buck as his engineering assistant as the only woman on the construction job - in the freezing cold, rain, mud, bugs, heat, humidity - and finding a side to herself that she never knew existed.

I loved this story. It could have had a better editing/proofreading job done on it but the story itself rocked. I worked in and around the construction field for years and the story is pretty realistic. There's a definite bias against women in most construction jobs and if a woman is interested in excelling, it's something she needs to make her peace with - somehow.

I liked the realism, the characters, the locale, the romance. I thought Buck was a great character. This was a fun story to read. I was sorry to see it end.

I received this book from Augustine Press through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Andrea - Andy - is a young woman who decides to go work as engineering assistant to her estranged grandfather. Working in a man-dominated environment is hard for her, but she is stubborn and I was impressed with her dedication to succeed. Intense cold and later on heat, mud everywhere, intense labor while she is a small woman. Wow!

Tristan (Rooster) is one of the foremen and is against Andy working at the pipeline. She is too small he deems and the work is too dangerous and physical. He is however attracted to Andy. His goal is to make a good impression on the engineer and discovering that's Andy's grandfather makes it difficult. And when the job ends, Rooster will go on to another pipeline-job while Andy will go home.

I thought this was quite an interesting book. Not your usual romance! The only thing I disliked was the family misunderstanding, that could have been resolved easily years ago. There could have been a bit more at the end, an epilogue would have been nice!

(Posted at GR and Amazon)