"Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met? Never seen?"
I love this book so much. I know everyone goes on and on about Chestnut Springs, but give the Gold Rush Ranch series a chance.
This book… It doesn’t matter that I've read it before. It hit me harder this time. And also gave me the worst case of imposter syndrome.

"That voice. The low rumble of it. The threat woven into it. The man behind it."
I’m just going to say that Cole is one of my favorite Elsie heroes. The darkness around him is one I can relate to, one I’m familiar with. So are some of his issues. And I love his heart so much, and how much he feels and loves, even though all you hear are grunts and growls. That’s fine. There’s a lot more underneath the surface.

"She shines like the sun, golden and bright. What a man like me wouldn’t give for that."
I often say we all deserve a [insert hero name here] in our lives. No. I think we all deserve a Violet. Someone who’s reinvented herself, someone strong who loves with her whole heart but who is not willing to back down. She may love you, but she won’t put up with your BS. She’ll bring out the best in you, and she’ll be there for you every step of the way.

"Nice to see you again, Pretty in Purple. I almost didn’t recognize you with your clothes on."
Cole and Violet don’t know each other. Wrong. They do, but not in person. The first time he sees her at the tracks, he realizes he’s seen her before—at an online forum. She’s Pretty in Purple, the girl he used to talk to online. The girl who once left the chat and never came back. The girl he… Let’s not go there. Not yet.
And being his usual dickish self, he lets her know exactly who he is.

"Her glassy eyes gaze up into mine unsteadily, wide and lost and so fucking pretty. My lungs constrict at the sight of her, the girl I haven’t been able to shake."
She’s shaken up—she didn’t expect to hear from him again, let alone see him in real life. But neither did he. Cole is back at Gold Rush Ranch due to work and staying at the big house, since his brother’s living with Billie in the Love Shack (IYKYK). And when Violet falls and hurts her leg, she can’t climb up stairs, so she’ll have to stay with him.

It’s fine with everyone, because they have no idea they have a history.

"Except I’m alone. I’m always alone. It seems like this is how my life will be. I think it started out that I wanted it that way, but now I’m not so sure."
Cole pushes everyone away, but he won’t have a chance this time. This close proximity thing will drive them both up the walls. Like I said, he growls and scowls, but that doesn’t stop Violet. And he bends for her every single time.
He’s so damn lonely because he thinks he needs to be, and I wanted to hug him and tell him he’s so much more than he gives himself credit for.

"I’d wanted him before I ever knew he looked or felt like that. I’d wanted him even when I knew he’d never want me back."
I’ve said again and again that I’m a sucker for flashbacks. Elsie does it masterfully here. You get small bits of their online conversations with each chapter, and you want more. You see when they stop talking to each other. And when you find out everything that exists between them… I don’t think "pining" is enough to describe what’s going on here.

"Tell me you don’t want me to touch you."
"I’m not a very good liar."
You have all the usual Elsie Silver tension, but the moment she finally sees all of him is everything. When he drops the walls and risks her leaving again, only to find out she won’t. Because they want each other—they’ve been wanting each other for so long, loving each other without even knowing each other’s last names.

"And I sigh into him, a little overwhelmed by how right it feels to be here with him. By how little everything else matters when he takes me in his lap and claims me like this."
You’ll probably think this is less spicy than the usual Elsie book—maybe. I think it’s right for who they are. For two people who’ve been missing each other like old lovers would when they never got to be lovers—not really.
Is this a second chance romance even so? You bet your ass it is.

"I’m coming apart at the goddamn seams, and you’re the one holding the thread that could undo it all."
While Cole has things to work on if he wants to be with Violet, another woman would probably let him have his pity party. Not Violet. She knows how good he is, how good they can be together. So she pushes him.
And Violet is trying so hard to be this independent woman that she doesn’t fully realize that she needs him too.

"He thinks he’s dark. I think he just shines differently. The way the moon illuminates the world at night, soft and subtle. He doesn’t shine, he glows."
What really got to me was seeing someone who is damaged and who thinks he’ll never find anyone who wants all of him. Until she does. Until she shows him it’s OK to be afraid. It’s OK to embrace the darkness within him, especially when she’s the sun shedding a light on all his dark corners.

"Because you? Us? I think we’re meant to be. You found me, and I found you. Over and over again. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is."
There’s so much need in this book. Need to be wanted, not to be alone anymore, to be seen, to be understood… Even when they were nothing but user names on a computer screen somewhere. To be loved for who you are, the way you are, because you are perfect just like that.

Cole and Violet are goals.