READ: NOW AVAILABLE!! Ford by Samantha Chase ~ Sarah A’s Review. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

There are three things Ford Garrison wants more than anything: to build, to report to no one, and the chance to live his life without the prying eyes of the good folks of Eagle’s Ridge. Having spent ten years in the Navy as part of their construction battalion, he was able to live out most of that dream. Two out three wasn’t bad, right? Now that he’s out of the service, things aren’t falling into place quite as easily as he hoped and he ends up back home with all eyes on him.

It wasn’t as if Callie had gone out of her way to end up in Ford’s path, but somehow that happened all on its own and the town gossips were having a field day! Could she help it that she was living in the house Ford had hoped to claim as his own or that the work on his grandmother’s ranch meant they were living not fifty-feet away from each other?

Ford was determined to come home, do a job to help his grandmother and leave. Callie James is a distraction and she represents everything he has spent years running away from. Now he’s at odds with his friends, his family and himself about where his home and future are going to be.

Could he walk away from Eagle’s Ridge a second time?

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Super bummed that this is how the series ended. I was hoping for something more intense, and this just didn’t deliver the impactful ending I was hoping for. Ford was not a bad book, it was sweet and light, and Callie and Ford were endearing, it was just too light for me. This series has been up and down for me, and I was hoping the final book would be a high, so that expectation certainly influenced my rating.

Ford is the seventh and final book in the Seven Brides for Seven Soldiers series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but there are recurring characters, and the stories build on one another, so I would highly suggest reading the series in its entirety, in order. Ford, like all the books in this series, is told in dual third person POV, by Ford and Callie.

Ford was an interesting, frustrating character. He was so stuck on this idea of what he wanted to achieve, of what moving back to the town he was born in would be like, of how stifled he was by the opportunities afforded him by his family’s legacy, he never appreciated all the things he had going for him. Nor did he ever stop to consider the things he wanted from life had evolved from what they’d been when he was barely an adult. Witnessing his slow realization that e wasn’t the same and his needs and wants weren’t the same, was interesting – he fought was his heart and soul knew at every turn.

Callie fell a little flat for me. She didn’t have much of a growth arc and other than being one of the catalysts for Ford’s awakening (and obviously his love interest) she didn’t add much – regarding her own story line – to the book. I always hope for a strong female lead, and she just didn’t quite stand up to the challenge, she spends little time on page where she isn’t completely focused on Ford, and I hoped for more from her.

I wish that Callie had been a more dynamic character. I felt like the only parts of her we got to know where the pieces that would affect Ford and I’m sure there was so much more to her than that. I also would have loved to have seen a little more conflict in the climax; there was so much foreshadowing as to what did happen I felt like it was lackluster.

Samantha Chase is a new to me author. While I wasn’t deeply impressed with the story of Ford, the writing was good. If the cover copy of another book of hers were to pique my curiosity, I would give her another go to make a more well-informed opinion of her as an author.

“What are you working on out here? More wreaths?”

With a soft laugh, she pulled back and stepped out of his arms. “I am. Doing something like this is normally very soothing for me. When I got home, I came right out here rather than going into the cottage.”

“And did it help?”

Callie shook her head. “Unfortunately, it was so quiet out here, and I’ve already made four of these wreaths so I didn’t even have to think about what I was doing.”

“So your mind immediately went to your mom.”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

Stepping around her, Ford examined the wreath. It looked exactly like the one she had given him for his grandmother’s front door, but now he took the time to look at the details. It seemed so simple at first glance, but when he realized how much time went into weaving the lights and how tedious that could be, he was more than a little impressed. The vine was fragile, and he knew he’d more than likely crush some of it if he tried to do it himself.

Unable to help himself, he reached for one of Callie’s hands and studied it. It was small and delicate. Her fingers were slim and smooth. No wonder she could do work like this. He looked at her face and saw her studying him, her expression serious.

And Callie rarely looked serious or intense. Her features were always relaxed or smiling. This was…different.

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “I was just noticing how intricate this work is,” he said gruffly. “I’m a little in awe of what you do.”

“Me? But…what you do is so much more—”

Ford placed a finger over her lips and shook his head. “I’m in awe of you,” he repeated, and slowly pulled her in close again.

Callie’s lips parted on a soft gasp as her eyes met his. And those beautiful eyes seemed to have a million questions in them, and Ford only had one answer.

He kissed her.

Slowly. Sweetly. He savored her as she melted against him. She hummed as her arms wrapped around him and in that instant, Ford knew what he had to do.

He lifted his head and looked down at her. Her lips were wet and her cheeks were flushed and she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. So many nights over the last week they’d been like this, and right now, Ford knew he wanted more.

“Come home with me, Callie,” he murmured against her lips before resting his forehead against hers.

“Yes.”

Never had a single word sounded sweeter.

Ford (#7) – Samantha Chase
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Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance. She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than forty titles under her belt! When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.