Mountain Boss

Mountain Men #1

By S.J. Tilly

~ Can be read as a standalone ~

TheStory

Courtney gets a job at Black Mountain Lodge but her new boss, Sterling, thought he had hired a man. Upon her arrival, Sterling realizes his mistake… and his attraction. Due to his own inability to control himself around her, he comes up with the only logical solution - force her to quit. But Courtney is desperate and not so easily intimidated. 

TheReview

Woooo… this book was absolutely hilarious. 

Sterling is awful to Courtney but it’s on purpose because he can’t stand his own attraction to her. To make it even better, Courtney is strong and unwilling to be intimidated by him. Poor girl struggled for so long, of course she has her moments of weakness and breaking points in which emotions get the best of her. But overall, she took everything thrown at her with stride. 

While she doesn’t necessarily do anything back to him, their banter was really good. She threw that back at him just as much, all without actually doing anything that would feed into the idea that he could fire her with any good reason. The back and forth sass was everything!

Other than their actual relationship, they do actually have to work together. So the other workers at the lodge are the side characters. And they slayed. They gave us another aspect of the MCs to follow and appreciate - sometimes adding much needed comedic relief. 

The only glaring issue I took with this book is that there is zero character background whatsoever. It didn’t negate the story but I would have liked some information on why Courtney had to take the job, why she was so desperate and willing to be hazed, why she had no family and no money, why Sterling was all alone on his land, how he came to be there, etc. etc. 

It’s a long book - not a 250 page short romance - so there was definitely room to put that information in there. The storyline, characters, relationships, and all that was great, but there was certainly room to throw some heart into the characters to give a purpose to the set up of their situations. About 70% through, Sterling and Courtney do divulge their pasts, but it’s not emotional, detailed, or in-depth. 

That being said, I still liked the book a lot and lapped up every page I read. Cute. Fun. Long enough to have time to fall into the world. Funny. Quick read. 

ProminentTropes

Boss/employee

Insta-Attraction

Slow Burn

Lumberjack

Forced Proximity

TheRating

Storyline: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Side Characters: 5/5

World Building: N/A

Writing: 4/5

Overall: 📘📘📘📘

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Mountain Men Series

Mountain Boss

Mountain Men #1

Mountain Daddy

Mountain Men #2

Mountain Grump

Mountain Men #3