Cheyenne (The Women of Merryton, #4) by Jennifer Peel

What happens when your motto in life has been to always love yourself more than anyone else could, but then you find someone who does it better? If you’re Cheyenne Fairchild, you do your best to push him away.

Cheyenne’s life has taught her to never depend on anyone, especially men. She’s done her best to keep every relationship short and every man at arm’s length. That is, until the mysterious Aidan Bates moves to town. Not only does he give earth-shattering kisses, but he has the audacity to save her life after a tragic accident. Now Cheyenne can’t stop thinking about him, and it’s driving her crazy. Worse, he won’t stop trying to help her.

While Cheyenne is doing her best to keep Aidan from working his way into her no vacancy heart, she finds herself embroiled in more than one Merryton scandal. One that rocks her best friend’s world and shows what Cheyenne is really made of. And one that she’s created in hopes of deterring Aidan. Unfortunately for her, she finds that it only brings them closer together.

Can Cheyenne let her defenses down long enough to see that Aidan is unlike any other man she has ever known? Or will she cling to the past and the walls she’s carefully constructed around her heart?

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Oh, Jennifer Peel.  You are amazing.  How do you take a character that by all outward appearances is selfish, vain, antagonistic, aggressive and a tad mean and make me love her?  How do you do that?!

We get a glimpse of Cheyenne in the previous books in this series and honestly, the view we see isn't always very flattering.  It's obvious from those books that there is more to Cheyenne that meets the eye because after all, she IS friends with those awesome women of Merryton but she is just so intimidating!  

Cheyenne isn't for the faint of heart.  I wondered about Aidan in the beginning and if he really would be able to break through the mass of difficulty and complexity that is Cheyenne.  But that Aidan.  He really surprised me.  He grew a spine of steel and man, when he made up his mind?  All in.  Relentless.  Positively sexy.  And Cheyenne thought so too. Ha.  Aidan is incredible.  In the book, Aidan always asks, "Do you like me?"  I told him yes every time.  Cheyenne?  No.  She didn't.  But I did.  Every.  Single.  Time.  

I ran through a whole myriad of emotions in this book.  At times I was embarrassed for Cheyenne and her behavior, at times I was frustrated and I just wanted to thump her.  But then there were moments where I wanted to pick up those broken pieces and help her put them back together.  I wanted to be her friend.  You could do worse than having someone like Cheyenne in your corner.  Especially if you take the time to really know her.  I loved the internal battle that raged within Cheyenne and the journey to trusting and loving.  It was very satisfying.

This book was a good reminder to me to not judge people but give them the benefit of the doubt and take the time and put in the effort to look beneath the surface to see the real person underneath because some people are really good at hiding beneath those facades.  

I loved this addition to the Women of Merryton series.  Cheyenne is a complex and difficult character and I am constantly amazed at how Jennifer Peel can create such a variety of characters and make me love them all.  She is fantastically gifted at writing and I love her for writing books for me.  :)

Content:  mild swearing, references to past sexual relations with no details, innuendo, kissing