Review: Snow Melts in Spring by Deborah Vogts

When author Deborah Vogts asked for influencers for the second book in her Seasons of the Tallgrass Series, I eagerly put my hand up. As you may recall, I’m working on a contemporary romance series myself and so I’m always curious what is currently available. If an author is willing to give me a book to review, I’m willing to accept it.

Not long after I’d put in my request, I discovered that book one, Snow Melts in Spring was available as a free Kindle download. It seemed like a good idea to download it to my iPhone so that I could read the series in order. So today’s review is about the first novel, and I’ll get to the second one, Seeds of Summer, once I’ve had a chance to read it.

Young veterinarian Mattie Evans calls the Flint Hills of Kansas home, even though her parents lost their ranch here in an unscrupulous business deal years before. The locals aren’t sure she can manage a vet practice, and Mattie struggles to prove her competence. When an aging horse escapes his pasture and is hit by a drunk driver, Mattie’s instincts tell her not even to fight. No use. The horse is a goner. But the old man who owns the horse is one of the few that have stood by her so, for his sake, she gets to work.

The old man’s son, Gil McCray, left the ranch years before after his brother’s fatal drunk driving accident, not even returning when his mother died. But now, with his career as a pro football player over and his old horse in jeopardy, Gil returns to try and set things right with his dad, but the two are cut from the same stubborn cloth.

It takes the wild young veterinarian to force the two McCray men to give each other another shot, but there isn’t anyone who can help her make her own decision–whether to trust Gil and leave the Flint Hills behind, or stick to her game plan and lose him–and her best friend, his father–forever.

As debut novels go, Snow Melts in Spring is strong. I found myself wearing down my iPhone battery several times over the course of a traveling weekend as I immersed in this ranch-based contemporary romance story.

It’s easy to see that Deborah Vogts loves Kansas, horses, dogs, and nature. She’s been writing since 2002 and this is her first novel.