HOW TO ROPE A REAL MAN is Book three in Melissa Cutler's excellent Catcher Creek series. I am a huge fan of this character-driven, intense, series. I think this story can be read without having read the previous ones. However, the lives of the characters are so intertwined and it would make for a much richer reading experience to have read the others first. The two main characters in HOW TO ROPE A REAL MAN -- Jenna and Matt -- are both really good people, but a lot of the drama in this story comes from the secrets they keep.

This is one of my favorite types of romance story. Jenna and Matt have both been secretly attracted to each other for quite some time. Although Jenna's sister Rachel might suggest that the only people they have been fooling is each other.

Matt Roenick is a lawyer, all-around nice guy, and prime potential "daddy" material. The only problem is that he can't biologically have children and he has a troubled history with single moms. He always gets attached and then he gets the brush off. It's this past and this psychological hurt that has kept him from getting involved with single mom Jenna until now.

Jenna is keeping a few secrets -- though not all of them deep and dark. I love how well Melissa Cutler develops both characters. I really got a sense of how much Jenna has had to struggle with emotionally over the years, while at the same time turn her life around and be a great mom to Tommy.

The beginning of HOW TO ROPE A REAL MAN focuses on Matt and Jenna flirting with their growing attraction, getting to know each other a little more, and then acting on that attraction. The heat they generate when they finally give in to their desire for one another is explosive.

As with the previous stories in this series, there comes a point when I can't imagine how things can be put right and tangles get straightened. That's the beauty of Melissa Cutler's ability to weave a story -- you care about the characters and you get pulled in and emotionally invested in the story's resolution. When things do get resolved, you never feel as though the author took shortcuts or was predictable.

HOW TO ROPE A REAL MAN is a sexy and sweet love story, full of wonderful complex characters, and great story-telling! Jake really surprised me in this story and his character definitely had some added depth in this newest installment of the Catcher Creek series. I look forward to hopefully reading about a romance between Jake and Tara next.