Fielder’s Choice (The Tavonesi Series #3)

Twenty-three year old Alana Tavonesi is having the time of her life in Paris.  She’s enjoying the art, the clubs, and, most of all, the lack of responsibilities.  All of that changes when her Nana dies and leaves Alana in charge of the family business - the Tavonesi Olive Ranch in California.  What was Nana thinking?  Alana does not feel capable of taking responsibility for the running of the ranch and the 20 or so families that live and work there.  Further complicating her life is Matt Darrington, a strikingly handsome baseball player.  During their first meeting, he saves her from a potentially ruinous fall from a ladder, but the more disastrous plunge is happening to her heart as she falls in love with Matt.  He has an adorably precocious six-year-old daughter to consider, and Alana never planned to be a mom, but taking a chance on Matt, the ranch, and love could be just the thing Alana needs but didn't realize she was lacking.  

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read!  The author writes about wonderfully complex characters and puts them in a setting so well-rendered that readers can almost feel the ranch dust swirling off the page.  Alana and Matt have sizzling chemistry together, but frustrate readers with their insistence on keeping their relationship casual even though both plainly want more.  More than just a romance, this story weaves family, responsibility and persistence together to show us that sometimes the best dreams are the ones we don’t even know we are searching for.  

Leslie Stokes