Ever since her spouse died in a horse-riding accident, Ava Garcia has been living in survival mode. She finds herself unable to return to the ranch, Hidden Meadows, where the accident occurred, and she’s spent the past year raising her toddler, Nina, and working overtime as an office assistant. She’s been trying to save enough to put a down payment on the ranch property: “If I lost our ranch, I lost him forever.” She’s been working for her current boyfriend, a real estate agent, and she’s shocked to learn that he’s secretly arranged to sell the ranch to a luxury hotel developer. Their very public breakup at a strip mall leaves Ava without a job or a place to live. Help arrives in the form of Eli Anderson, a nomadic mechanic who rescues Nina from a near-accident in the mall’s parking lot and offers the pair his family’s trailer for the night. Eli’s in town to help his retired architect father with his own recently bought ranch, although neither of them have any ranch experience. He helps Ava get back on her feet as she hunts for a job, applies for apartments, and does chores around the ranch to earn her keep. She’s determined to convince the aging owner of Hidden Meadows to sell the struggling property to her. But will Eli’s fear of putting down roots cost them both the ranches and their budding romance? The greatest strength of Sloane’s novel lies in how authentic Ava’s grief is, revealing itself in her stubborn independence, self-isolation, and desperate need to hold everything together on her own. The romance unfolds naturally via steady banter, with Eli consistently showing up for Ava and Nina when they need him most. Hidden Meadows and the other run-down ranch provide strong, lived-in settings, with both properties ably reflecting the characters’ emotional journeys. Although the plot follows familiar romance conventions, the nuanced handling of loss and love gives the novel additional depth.