This book left me very conflicted. I love age gap stories and characters with troubled pasts, but the third-person present tense was very clunky for me to read. I love first-person present but this was just hard for me to read. I enjoyed the tension between Elena and Julia but agree that Penn just wasn't necessary. There were some timeline issues for me and the ending felt odd and disjointed. But the scenery was fantastic.

This is a very good story about how two broken women who have strong protective walls around themselves meet and a little by little begin to penetrate each other's wall . The story revolves around two women, the first is Julia who is running away, but doesn't know where she's running too. And her journey from Chicago to wherever , her car breaks down in a small town in Colorado where she meets a ranchhand named Elijah who offered her a job at a ranch for money to pay for her car repair. The ranch is owned by Elena Bennett , A hard woman who is very demanding of people and always appears sad. Elena lives on the ranch with her son Cole. Cole is the son she conceived while married to the love of her life, a woman, who died unexpectedly and left Elena to retreat into her self in grief. Julia who is very much a city girl learns quickly what it means to work on a cattle ranch and take care of horses. Both women learn to live and work together and slowly they begin to penetrate each other's wall with a little acts of kindness . It seems every time and I act of kindness appears both women retreat back into their shell. All the while both women are attracted to one another and yet are afraid for a variety of reasons. Both women tried to figure out each other's history and what turn them into the women they are today.
As life on the ranch becomes an easy give-and-take for the two women suddenly their peaceful existence is interrupted whenElena ex lover appears at the ranch and wants to get back with Elena. No one at the ranch is happy when Penn arrives at the ranch especially Cole and Elijah.
Julia suddenly is determined that Penn will not get back with the Elena because she realizes that she wants to be with her.
From this point in the story there are twist and turns with many surprising revelations . Will Julia and Elaina ever be able to be open and honest with each other and develop a life together or will Elena go back to Penn ?
Erin Zak develops each character in the story in such a compelling way that keeps the reader involved until the surprising end.

Julia - orphan who had a rough life through the foster care system and has this Who can ever love a failure like me wiev of herself and finds it easier to just run as soon as things get hard and feelings get to hard to deal with

Elena - had a perfect life with a baby and a woman she loved, until an accident takes her away, so when she finally lets someone new in ,she ends up hurt badly when one day she wakes up alone, left behind without a word,,, i mean jeez, who wouldnt swear of love and be fullmode grumpy ?

Story of two women, different paths in life, both miserable behind their protective walls until their paths collied when Julias car breaks down during one of her big getaways and she finds herself taking a job at Elenas ranch to earn enough money to pay for the repairs and speed away again.

I loved the scenery, the secondary characters - the son, the friends, the interactions between Julia and her horse, it was beautifully written.
I love how i think of Julia and Elena interaction as ”I came in like a wrecking ball” ..you know how at first you absolutly love the way characters piss eachother off, then moments start to happen, and those walls crack, and every crack makes you smile cause its just so sweet to read about this love that shines through.

So i gave it 4stars, due to 2 things that i had an issue with, first the writing style the author went with, was a little hard for me to get into at first.
2nd thing that put me off abit was the return of the ex , i get the need for lil drama i guess but it didnt work for me, it fell flat, every scene with her i was sitting with ??? over my head.
Thankfully i could block away and enjoy the book cause everything else made it worth it.


An ARC was given to me through netgalley for my honest review

I'm not in the age gap train like at all. yet i gave this a huge chance. good story i loved the way it was written. I think the author gave both characters enough spotlight tho J took the majority. I also loved the horses facts "if they're true i don't know". Loved the last sentence of the book.
I give this 3.5 stars in truth.
Thank you for giving me free copy in exchange of an honest opinion

First time reading something of this author and I was nicely surprised about how much I enjoyed it. At the beginning I struggled with the third person present tense use and I was close to giving up but thankfully I didn't.
Julia, a young woman with a painful past, is stuck working for free in a ranch as she needs money in order to get her broken down car repaired. The ranch owner is an apparently cold and rude woman called Elena who thinks that Julia is not capable of working there as she has no experience with horses and ranches in general. Somehow these two women are attracted to each other almost instantly but they have to overcome their painful bad experiences in order to have a chance in happiness.
The way the story is written is captivating and after the initial struggle I literally finished it in one reading. This is not a perfect book by any means and I particularly disliked the way that the last 20% of the book unfolded (drama for the sake of drama) but overall it was an enjoyable read with lovable characters.
*ARC was given to me by NetGalley in exchange of a honest review.

Great book. Reading this book i got so involved like I was one of the characters. I loved cole such a sweet young guy. I was on everyone's side when Penn showed up it had me very concerned of how things would end. Love love love the ranch atmosphere,the camp fire, the horses, and the romance.

Third person present tense. I now know that I dislike that even more than first person any tense. This made the book so difficult for me to read that I stopped after every chapter and cleared my mind with another book. I can't say too much negative or positive about the actual storyline because of the tense issue. I really liked this author's first book much more. I'm sorry I don't have more to offer...

4.25 Stars. This was a really enjoyable romance. An ice queen character on a horse, yes please. In all seriousness this was such a pleasant surprise. Zak’s debut book Falling into Her, was not for me at all. I disliked it so much that I was not going to read Breaking Down Her Walls. However, after reading some of the good reviews on here, I just had to take the chance. I’m so glad I did because this was a huge step-up from her debut book and I really enjoyed it.

First off I do have to mention the writing style. It is odd and gives you this weird mix between first and third person. There have been some conflicting answers about how the book is written. Some have been saying this is first person present tense, others say it’s third person present tense. My guess is its third person present tense. The writing is “she this” and “she that”, not “I” as first person is. Anyway, it does take a little while to get use too. Eventually you do and you don’t even notice but it is a little jarring in the beginning.

Lesbian and bisexual women on a horse ranch, plus an age-gap romance with an ice queen character... This totally worked for me. I loved the setting of the ranch in Colorado and the slow-burn relationship that just got hotter and hotter. The two mains had chemistry and the sex scenes were nice and steamy. The difference in this relationship compared to Zak’s first book is just like night and day. She improved so much that I’m really impressed.

Was the book all smooth sailing? No. Unfortunately, Zak fell into the trap of needing to manufacture some angst so she brought in an ex-girlfriend. There was enough going on in the main character’s pasts that she didn’t need to go here. I actually think I would have given this book 5 stars if the ex was not in it. On the good side, the forced angst does not last long. It could have been way worse than it was. And in the end it didn’t stop me from really enjoying this story.

This book was a good reminder to me to give authors more than once chance. I almost always do and the one time I didn’t, I almost missed out on a book I really enjoyed. I hope Zak keeps improving; I’m very excited about what she’ll put out next.

This was my first story by this author. I was totally hooked from start to finish. I have to say, however, that ex-drama was extremely frustrating and the way it all plays out had me rethinking some of my allegiances to certain main characters, Still, I enjoyed it and will be looking out for more to come!

While this was a enjoyable read for the most part, I don't share some of the same feelings as other reviewers. To me, Zak created a good novel, but it just wasn't GREAT. I had trouble with the tense that the novel was written in also - first person present tense is tough, and it took me a few chapters to feel the flow of the writing style.

MC Julie is a runner, running from her past and trying to find her place in the world, but her back story didn't really show through until halfway through the novel. It made it a bit hard for me to care about Julie or why she was running. Her car breaks down mid-run, and she's forced to work on a ranch to pay off debts to get her car repaired. MC Elena is the "hard-ass" ranch boss who's been beat down by losses in life and that's made her a bit icy. She's not really an ice queen though, just temperamental.

What really bothered me most about this read is the whole ex-girlfriend showing back up theme. Not to spoil it for anyone, but the obligatory angst that was created at the 80% mark because of the ex was a complete waste of reading time and brain cells for me, and almost ruined my whole read. I knocked a whole star off of my review just because of how Zak handled the whole ex situation.

The premise of the novel was pretty good, but unfortunately, it's been done time and time again, and Zak didn't put enough differences into this novel to make it stand out to me. In all fairness to Zak though, I was sick, sick, sick while reading this, and it may have affected my enjoyment level.

All in all, 3 stars.

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

In an emotional turmoil, Julia Finch is driving away from the devastation of being rejected by her biological parents for a second time. Unfortunately, between a detour and her car breaking down, she finds herself in a half-horse town with no means to get herself out. An opportunity to work on a ranch presents itself and it might be the only way to solve her problems. The ranch comes with its own problems though, like the angry and abrasive Elena Bennet who owns the place.

I enjoyed reading this for most of the book. In many ways it reads like fan fiction with an ice-queen who requires diligence and perfection from the hands working for her and a new, fish-out-of-water, much younger farm hand who is cheerful but also doesn’t want to fail. The young city slicker surprises the inflexible ice-queen by her unexpected competence. It’s a trope I enjoy reading.

The story is told from the third person point of view but only from Julia’s side but because Julia is very closed about her past we don’t get much information about what drives her until well into the novel. I would have liked to have seen flashes of her past much earlier in the novel instead of all the information being dumped in one go and I would have liked Elena’s point of view. These things didn’t bother me that much and I really enjoyed the horses and aspects of ranch life.

What broke it for me though, was the last 20% or so. I’m not putting in any spoilers suffice to say that my reaction was partly personal, and won’t bother most people but left me intensely irritated, and partly because I could not suspend my disbelief for a separate incident. So, what started out as a three to four star read ended as a two star read.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Julia Finch is running away from life. The destination is 100% unknown. How can you run away totally from your past and self-hatred? She tries like hell too, that is until her beat-up old clunker of a car finally gives up on her journey in a teeny tiny Colorado town. With little money, she has to make a deal to work off her automobile repair debt by lending a hand at a large cattle ranch.

Julia spends her days shoveling manure and bonding with the ranch's horses. Her immediate connection to these beautiful working animals endures her to the ranch's owner, Elena Bennett.

Elena Bennett spends her time working her ranch and being perpetually pissed off. Her heart has been broken too many times and she cannot shake off her anger. Her wife was killed in an automobile accident breaking her heart the first time, the second women she trusted with it decided to up and leave her with little warning. Now she's just angry and a bit broken. When she first meets Julia she is hard bitter and has very little patience for the new ranch hand.

I like the premise of the story. Two characters overcoming past tragedies to find their way to love, trust and respect. For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I will be honest I thought the ex-girlfriend showing back up after her disappearing act was a bit contrived and made to story slow way down and become a bit too contrived. I mean if your ex-lover dumps you with no word, disappears out of town and now you have a new lady you are just pining for you're going to hang out with said ex when she shows back up. Hell no! Penn showing back up was a monumental waste of reading space. It would have been infinitely better spent on dialogue between the two mains.

Overall a good book that I am happy that I spent some time with.

3 out of 5 stars

I absolutely loved Breaking Down Her Walls by Erin Zak. This is a charming contemporary romance set on a cattle ranch near the Colorado Mountains. When Julia Finch’s car breaks down in a tiny Colorado town, she is forced to go to work as a ranch hand at Bennett Ranch to pay for the repairs. There she meets Elena Bennett, the owner of the ranch and her teenage son Cole. The meeting between the two women does not go very well since Elena did not know that Julia had been hired by her ranch manager, but the attraction between the two is undeniable. Both women have darkness in their pasts that affect how they interact with each other in the present. Julia herself ended up at the ranch because she was running from her demons and one of Elena’s dark spots shows up in the form of an ex coming back wanting to reunite with her.

It is really refreshing to see how the two main characters work through the angst that is inevitable in this story. This is a slow burn romance, but the chemistry is obvious and strong almost from the beginning. Breaking Down her Walls made me feel good, and I believe you will feel the same when you read the book.
I received this book from Net Galley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections:
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I think the cover does a disservice to the book or maybe the cover just made me think the book would be about something different.

I didn't especially like this book. I love small-town romances and the characters that come with a small town. I did not particularly like any of the characters. I didn't root for them and I didn't really feel that I was even given a reason to like them. I forced myself not to skim through pages, but I really wanted to.

I was honestly pretty excited when the book was over and if it weren't for the animals this book would have been a major fail for me.

Erin Zak really wow’d me with this wonderful story.

Julia is a runner. She takes off again after her first meeting with her birth parents goes terribly wrong. When her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere in the state of Colorado, she panics until a local cowboy offers to pay for her car repairs in trade for her helping as a ranch hand over herding session. Julia gets stuck into her new job but she can’t stop thinking about the ranch owner and boss, Elena. Elena is the definitive ice queen character but there is something about Julia that she just can’t help but be drawn too. The more time they spend together the more Elena’s walls come down and then Elena’s ex, Penn shows up and Julia starts to worry that this is just another moment of let down in her life. But will she run or stick around and see what life could be with Elena by her side?

This is a love story, 100%! Breaking Down Her Walls had me completely spun. One minute I’m thinking that it’s such a sweet romance, the next I found it sexy as hell then by the end, I had it as an all-encompassing love story that I just adored.

Erin Zak has written Breaking Down Her Walls in third person, present tense and normally I am not a massive fan of that style but Erin Zak wrote it with such finesse, I was immersed in the story from the first chapter.

I really enjoyed the level of angst in the story and found that it created the perfect balance throughout. The sex scenes were fantastic… I mean wow! The build up in the entire book was like foreplay and then when it happened... boom, my brain explodes!!! Very well done.

Just a side note that I love Colorado and this book took me back there to all of the wonderful memories I have from my time there. Secondly how amazing is this cover? Red Chucks? SOLD!

I really can’t wait to see what comes next from Erin Zak because I will be waiting very impatiently.
5 Stars

Julia Finch just wants to skip town, like always. But this time, she can't. With a broken down car in need of expensive repair, she finds herself paying her way at Elena Bennett's ranch. As Julia learns the ropes - and gets to know the aloof Elena - each woman breaks down the other's defences.

I read this book quickly and thought the sexual tension between Julia and Elena was well-crafted and maintained throughout the story. The author clearly knows the setting intimately, and the location is a character in its own right. At some points, there was a little too much narrative distance for me, and the role of Penn (Elena's ex) could perhaps have been more measured, but overall a really enjoyable read.

Thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an ARC via NetGalley.

Although “Breaking Down Her Walls” deals with raw emotions & hardship, I struggled getting in to it. The plot sounded great, but I was disappointed.

The cover should have had a picture of a ranch or horses or even Colorado mountains as those created the setting that was integral to this story.

Oh, Julia. Damaged by life. Driving across country without purpose. Running from her past. She stops in a small Colorado town and ends up having to stay awhile.

She encounters a mean but incredibly attractive woman, Elena, that gives her all sorts of confusing and conflicting thoughts.

This is a story of healing. Meeting people that help to break down those walls you so tragically build to prevent further destruction.

The book is told in first person present tense. That is always so distracting for me. It took awhile for me to get into it. But I'm glad I did. It really found its rythym.

I love good dialogue between characters and this one satisfied. I always like some angst and there was some where appropriate.

The romance builded slowly. Sweet pull, a bit flirty, a lot of attraction. I really felt the connection.

The supporting characters were all unique and necessary. Likeable. Except for the ones you're not supposed to like of course.

This was a solid 4.5 for me.

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books through Netgalley for my honest review.

While this story was a good read it took me minute to get into it.

It starts with Julia who basically runs from life. When her cars break down she get stuck in a small town.

While she there she meets a man named Elijah who needs help on the ranch he'll pay for her car to get fix if she works it's off.

Here where we meet Elena and her son Cole. She owns the ranch and she is abrasive and unhappy. As Julia adjust to life on the ranch she realize she has a gift when it comes to the horses.

As the two starts to get closer Julia starts to realize that she doesn't want to run and the walls that she build around her heart is slowly breaking down as for Elena same goes for her she didn't think she can love again but as Julia make her way into her heart her ex Penn comes back into town to win her back.

Can these two damaged people overcome theirs problems to see that they can be happy.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Julia's car breakdown, and takes months to be repaired, she ends up stuck on a ranch.

There, she meets Elena. Elena is unhappy, abrasive, and annoyingly breathtaking. The latter being something the reader is not allowed to forget.

This was an okay story to wile away some time, but I had a disconnect throughout. I felt like I was sitting on a bench being 'told' a story that struggled to hold my attention.

It's told in third person, present tense. A style of narration I struggle with, so don't let my review deter you from giving this one a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Copy provided by the publisher, Bold Strokes Books, via NetGalley