Rance Crawford, a grumpy alpaca rancher meets his new sunshiny neighbour, Ben McCutcheon and finds himself awkwardly trying to court him.

This was not great. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. I love alpacas and I was hoping for a cute fluffy romance with animals but it just wasn't. The writing and plot was stilted and awkward. As was the dialogue. The constant references to animals having sex was over the top and I could've really done without the way Crawford kept thinking how he'd "poke him". It wasn't romantic or sexy and it wasn't particularly funny either.

The connection between Crawford and Ben was pretty thin. There were few sparks and very little plot. The progression of their relationship is abrupt. I think the author was trying to portray Crawford as being grumpy - which it did - but it also made the transition between scenes stilted and it affected the whole book. I honestly didn't really see why either of them would like each other. They were very two dimensional.

Possibly the length worked against being able to fully develop the relationship and characters, but either way it was a miss for me. 1.5 star, rounded down to 1. ( )

Or: How To Woo With Knitting. :)

Crawford is our point of view character, with his gruff, direct (abrupt) outer shell. When he sees Ben, it is smitten at first sight. But Craw's new at this courtship stuff, and not sure gorgeous Ben could possibly be interested in him.

I came into this series via book 3, so to me this is a fairly straightforward story. It's perfect if you're wanting a sweet fall/winter love story between a gruff fellow and his new neighbor. ( )

This was a cute story overall and I did enjoy the MC's but I would have preferred to know more about them. Rance Crawford is a grumpy cranky guy. I would have loved to know more back story about why he was the way he was. It would have helped me understand more about how he could be so dang cranky yet fall so quickly for Ben. He had a sweet side that we saw come out a little but I feel that character development would have made this story even stronger. ( )

I love a grumpy MC so Craw was perfect for me.

This book was so sweet. I loved it.

( )

Originally read 28/Nov/2012 - An absolutely charming story! Sweet without that cloying, sugary aftertaste! Crawford was such a wonderful character - crusty on the outside with a soft, gooey centre! Brilliant!

13/Jan/2014 - Upon re-reading, this short is still just as charming and full of warm fuzzies! ( )