Happy Trail (Park Ranger)

By: Smartypants Romance, Daisy Prescott

Narrated by: Chris Brinkley, Marnye Young

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A man of few words, Ranger Jay Daniels values the calm, quiet solitude of the Great Smoky Mountains. Never quite fitting in with either side of his family, he prefers the company of birds and trees to people.  

Yeah, he’d most definitely prefer a bird — any bird, any bird at all, take a vulture for instance — to the human-tornado hybrid that just blew onto his peaceful stretch of the Appalachian Trail.  

The path of true love never has run smooth for Olive Perry. After getting dumped and promptly abandoned in the middle of her multi-month hike, Olive swears off men. Determined to finish the long trek by herself, she doesn’t need a prince — or broody and taciturn ranger — to save her. Yet, when an early snowstorm threatens the mountains, and Ranger Daniels is charged with getting hikers to safety, that includes hot-tempered Olive Perry. 

Snowed in and forced to share an abandoned cabin, can Olive’s heated intensity melt Jay’s cool reserve? And if so, will this happy trail lead to true love? Or will their time together be just another bump in the road?  

Happy Trail is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, can be listened to as a standalone, and is book one in the Park Ranger series.

©2019, 2020 Smartypants Romance (P)2019, 2020 Smartypants Romance

Sweetness

I love the whole Penny Reid universe and when other writers take part in it, I love it even more. Those little glimpses of those Winston Boys ♥️ The only thing that keeps me from ever really giving them the full five stars is my love of smut and these books just aren’t dirty. I embrace filth but I love these books. Chris Brinkley is vocal perfection for me, maybe because I am from Mississippi and he sounds like the men I know and love. This story was a great listen!

Not okay

Let me start out by saying that I love Chris Brinkley as a narrator. His voice was the only good thing about this book. It started out very slow and boring but that’s not what upset me. I can take slow. What I can’t take is the B.S. stereotypes. I am from a small town in Tennessee right in between Knoxville and Nashville. I was born and raised here. My husband is part Asian. He moved here when he was in his early twenties. He has NEVER been put down or made fun of because of his ethnicity. Just being from a small town in the south does not make you prejudice, racist, or evil. People who believe it does are the real problem. I will not listen to anything else by this obviously misinformed and judgmental author.

I just love this green valley universe.

To be honest I was skeptical because there is nothing that will replace the Winston series in my heart but this story I truthfully will say now stands next to it.

Social Justice in Romance

the whole plot line sum: Rich girl goes hiking "finds herself" complains about people on the trail giving tips. later gets stuck in a snow storm with a man." Omg what could happen there?".To writers if your going to write a book leave the virtue signal out. I really wonder if the writer has every met a ranger or been hiking. Focus should have been to telling a good story.

A good listen

I love that the Winston Brothers series from Penny Reid has led to several other great stories. What I like about Daisy's novels is that her "dramatic problem" the couple faces is realistic - not unrealistically improbable. Her characters are likeable and believable and the narration on this one was great!

Good book

Good book I am a sucker for the classic trapped in a snowy cabin and fall in love storyline. Chris Brinkley is my absolute FAVORITE narrator. This my 1st time listening to Marnye and is ok but her southern male narration sounds exactly like Dolly Partin and it REALLY bugged me.

Love it!

Cute romance story very few F words!
I like the awareness for mixed cultures and the prejudices towards them.
Loved all of it!

Sweet love story!

I absolutely loved Jay, he was so genuinely sweet. Olive had a great rebirth during her AT hike. Great narrators. Chris Brinkley has become one of my favorite male narrators, he does a southern accent perfectly.

Cute story until...

POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
I really liked the vibe of the story right up until those couple super odd erotic chapters at the end. The detailed events, dialogue, and commentary felt out of place within the story and out of character for Jay, at least. He made one comment earlier about taking his feelings into his own hands during a shower, then, rather suddenly, his internal dialogue got incredibly graphic for a couple chapters, and went back to normal for the rest of the story. It felt like a character shift that didn't need to happen. I don't necessarily mind explicit content in my novels, but it needs to fit the established characters. This felt like a sex scene was put in just to check a box before the story ended. It felt out of place, and almost completely ruined the book for me.

Loved it.

An uplifting happy story with old friends making appearances. A listen I didn’t want to turn off.