Hi ForeverBookers,
How are you doing in this hot weather? I hope you’re doing well!
I’ve just finished reading “A Photo Finish,” which I really enjoyed. It had a little bit of a slower start than “Off To The Races,” #1 Gold Rush Ranch which I was worried about when I started but at about the half way point it gathered pace and was really good from then on.
“A Photo Finish” tells the story of Violet, the little sister of Rhett and Cade that have their books in the next Elsie Silver series, “Flawless” and “Heartless” books 1 and 2 in the “Chestnut Springs series.” I loved reading about Violet. She’s a horse woman as most of the main characters be they male or female, in Elsie Silver’s books are. She’s very much just into her own life. Her horses are the most important things to her. Her main horse in “A Photo Finish” is called Pipsqueak, or Pippy as she’s affectionately known. That is until a certain man called Cole Eaton enters her life…
I read “A Photo Finish” for a few readathons. They were:
Reading Rivalry - Yellow Card - A yellow book cover - there’s enough yellow on the US cover of “A Photo Finish” to count.
Spoilers Below…
“It’s been too long since you last had sex, Vi.
Pretty_in_Purple: Well, thank you for considering me?
Goldigger85: Are you going to think about it?
Pretty_in_Purple: Probably not.
He doesn’t respond after that.” - 49
This is one of the messages that Violet and Cole send each other before they know each other. Violet wants to have a sexual reawakening if you like. She meets this guy online and likes him. What she doesn’t know is that, said guy turns out to be her boss, Cole Eaton. Cole has issues of his own to contend with. As an ex soldier he lost his leg in combat so he thinks he’s not wanted by anyone. However, Violet wants him more and more every time she sees him. Can they be together or do things keep getting in the way? I’ll let you read for yourself but it was touch and go. Elsie’s books only end one way in my experience, though!
At the beginning of the book, Violet has an incident with another horse man, Patrick Cassel at a race. He’s rude to her. “Patrick is slimy and entitled and makes me feel like I have bugs stuck under my clothes. Based on Billie’s retelling of their encounter he’s condescending and sexist to boot. I want nothing to do with the man.” This is how Patrick makes Violet feel. He causes an accident, that means Violet has to take time out of horse racing while she recovers…of course, this also means that she can’t move around as much or even walk properly to begin with. She therefore moves in with Cole because his house is the most accessible one going. This encounter basically sets up the rest of the book, as without the accident I don’t think Violet and Cole would have had to spend much time together.
Where I really started to enjoy “A Photo Finish” was around the chapter 15 mark. “Where are you sore?” he repeats his question.
Transfixed by the sight of him kneeling over me, oozing raw masculine power, I lick my lips. It’s like a shot to my core. What I wouldn’t give to watch Cole Harding move above me with that look on his face.
“My neck and shoulders,” I squeak out, trying to play it cool and failing miserably.
He leans over me, the sheer width of him casting a shadow over my body as his hands slide across my collarbones and rub at my shoulders, digging in so hard that it almost hurts, an ache blooms into a burn that blooms into pure consuming heat.” - 167 This is significant because it’s the first time we see Violet hot and heavy for Cole. She wants to remain calm and collected around him but in this story, of course that isn’t going to happen. She wants Cole and she can’t deny it, however much she might try to.
Cole is an ex soldier with issues of his own. Also because his father died on the track, racing years before he doesn’t like horses or at least he claims not to like horses. When Violet moves in with him she takes her horse Pipsqueak with her. I enjoyed seeing Cole relax around Pippy kind of like he was getting his life back thanks to Violet. They both help each other see what the other is missing and are there for each other. I love stories like this.
Cole becomes very protective of Violet, some might say a little too protective. When he questions if her career is safe as a jockey, this puts a wall between them.
“Is that safe?” I ask before I can stop myself. But really, she just spent the night sleeping poorly and hiking up and down a mountain to help my crippled ass. Running around at high neck speeds on a thousand-pound animal being anything short of perfectly alert seems dangerous to me.”
Cole wants to make sure that Violet will be safe on her horse. He loves her at this point even if he hasn’t admitted it to himself yet! Before this scene, they went up a mountain to train Pippy. They got stuck and she had to help him by getting his other prosthetic leg from his house. Of course, she did it.
Overall then, I really enjoyed “A Photo Finish.” I liked reading about Violet. I’d already read Rhett and Cade’s books so it was nice to read their sister’s romance! I’ll reread their books too when the time comes!
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