Hands down my favorite Maggie Gates book!

If you asked me to describe Downpour, I’d say it’s Beauty and the Beast but make it cowboys. We have Brooke who is struggling to keep a job. She gets recruited by a job agency to be a live in caregiver for a handicapped former bull rider. Our former bull rider is grumpy cowboy Ray. Watching their grumpy vs sunshine dynamic blossom and flourish is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a long time.

Brooke is seriously one of my favorite romance FMC of all time. She is so bubbly, kind and patient. Watching her bring Ray out of his shell and realize he is more than just his accident. Ray was also an amazing MMC. His grumpy demeanor and scowling face was no match for Brooke. Watching him get back the autonomy he craved and ultimately learning to give himself grace.

Brooke and Rays relationship journey was perfection from start to finish. The banter and the chemistry were all top notch. I loved watching them overcome their vulnerabilities together. They both went through so much heartache and trauma. Then finally for everything to come full circle and seeing them find their peace within each other. Words cannot describe the happiness it left me feeling.

If you can’t already tell, I highly recommend this book. Please read it. Maggie is forever an auto buy author for me and I’m so happy that NetGalley & Berkley let me read and review an early copy of its re-release version!

Okay so I have pretty mixed feelings about this.

I love love loved this first one but I felt a little let down from this book. I couldn't really get past the age gap between these two and I felt that their connection was pretty surface level. In general, the spicy scenes were well written, but didn't make sense that early on in their professional and personal relationship.

The one thing I do think was written well was Ray's mental and physical growth from his accident to the present. It felt extremely raw and vulnerable with an incredibly realistic feel that Maggie handled with a lot of care.

I truly adore Maggie and love the world she's built in this series, but this one wasn't my favorite.

Thank you Berkley Romance and Maggie Gates for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was good, I don’t think it was a great storyline though. The characters were a little too complex for this book. The spice was a tad overdone. I did appreciate the writers depiction of Ray but the rest was too much. Thank you for this ARC, to NetGalley.

Grumpy Ray, I love you. You had me in tears wishing I could give you the biggest hug and become your cheerleader/life coach. The disability rep was so thought provoking and done with sensitivity and kindness. I felt Brooke's entire personality and related to her clumsiness. This is another book that I need audio for adap to put me in tears.

I enjoyed this book so much more than the prior one, where I struggled with the FMC’s unlikability. In contrast, Brooke and Ray are easy to root for in their own ways. I really appreciated how Ray’s journey was handled, and that the pain and loss he feels is represented in more detailed manner than some in the romance genre may care to do. It made his journey that much more meaningful.

I think this book will do well! I am not sure the library will purchase it but I will personally recommend it.

Love the disability representation and overall premise of the story, but it was a bit too spicy for me and the spiciness also detracted from the story rather than feeling like it fit with the other plot points.

Not something I'd usually pick up, but I'm glad I gave it a shot! It wasn't quite my jam, but definitely a solid book. I particularly liked that one of the main characters was disabled and part of the conflict revolved around him having to accept he wasn't lesser because of his injury -- and that his family & love interest don't have to overcome that at all. Worth a shot!

better than the first book and i stand by that!! im thoroughly enjoying miss gates’ cowboy romances and if you’re missing elsie silver/lyla sage this is the perfect solution 💋

3.5 ⭐️

I love Maggie Gates and her Griffith Brothers books are some of my favorites! The brother of this book, Ray, is trying to live life after a career-ending and life-altering injury and he’s doing it poorly. He’s grumpy, he’s depressed, and he’s angry as hell. While most of the aides sent to work for him get fired, our FMC, Brooke, somehow gets through to him with her sunny personality and incessant chatter. I appreciated how Brooke was able to bring Ray back to life in this story.

My only issues with this book was that Brooke seemed very immature at times and Ray certainly didn’t grovel enough after snapping at her. Otherwise, these two are the definition of grumpy/sunshine in the cowboy romance world!

Thanks NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC!

grumpy/sunshine cowboy romance with disability rep???? i was soooo excited to be approved for this ARC! thank you to the publisher, the author, and netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

first and foremost, ray’s side of the story was engaging and well-written! i was rooting for him the entire time, and i was invested in his growth and recovery. on the other hand, while i love a good old fashioned grumpy/sunshine romance, brooke was blinding. i was a little annoyed by her from the very first page she was on and, unfortunately, it only got worse. she had no depth and was written childishly. yes, she is supposed to be in her early 20s, but i found her behavior to be closer to that of a teenager’s. that especially made the age gap in this book give me the ick. there were moments when i thought her character was developing or when she acted a little more believably, but they were short lived. honestly, ray’s character arc was probably the only thing that kept me from DNFing this book. there was a huge gap between my enjoyment of ray and my very, very thin tolerance of brooke—it almost felt like ray’s chapters were written by an entirely different person.

overall, i would say this book was meh. lines of dialogue and details were repeated and it got tiring. the story felt like a whole lot of nothing. if brooke wasn’t so insufferable i probably would have rated this three stars, but she is a lot to get through.

i don’t think i’ll be recommending downpour for purchase at my library because in my eyes, it needs some refining. i loved the premise of this book and i hope the author continues developing these incredible ideas. i didn’t realize this was the second book in a trilogy when i requested it, so i personally will be going back and giving the first book a try.

Downpour is the second title in The Griffith Brothers series written by Maggie Gates.

Anticipated re-release: 12/16/2025

What to expect:
*Disability representation
*Forced proximity
*Grumpy / Sunshine

Had the FMC not been written as a clueless acting female, this would have been a four star read. However, even with some changes from the original printing, the FMC is written as a woman that just has no clue how to get through life. Very frustrating.

No OM/OW drama, no third act breakup.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Format: NetGalley ebook
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Romance
Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level:🌶️🌶️🌶️
Characters: Brooke (FMC) & Ray (MMC)

LOVED this read. Ray Griffith is a bull riding champion. Except none of that matters now. Not since he was thrown off the last bull and broke his neck, leaving him wheelchair bound and depressed about the loss of his career - and life as he knew it.

Brooke is works for Caring Hands, an organization providing in home help to individuals, and she's sent to work for Ray. No other help has lasted even a week, but she's determined to stick it out.

Ray is drawn to Brooke, this beautiful walking disaster who may very well be exactly what he never realized he needed.

This is a sweet romance with just the right amount of spice. (Though the spice is pretty spicy!)