Riding & Regrets by Bailey Bradford

Jody Bates just wanted to fit in and forget his past, but you can’t escape everything.
Jody Bates had a hard life as a kid, but he’s moved past that and is making a home for himself at the Mossy Glenn. Sometimes he smarts off, but he’s young, and he’s learning.

What he hasn’t learned yet is that you can never completely escape your past.

Jody has a few blank spots, things he can’t quite remember. Like a lot of kids, he did some stupid things and figures he’s lucky to have come out relatively unscathed. Sure there’s a scar here and there, but on the whole, he’s doing just fine.

But something that happened brings about an enormous change in his life. Jody finds himself with a kid he didn’t know he’d fathered, and memories trying to surface about the drug-filled night the child had to have been conceived. Jody, at twenty, is overwhelmed and more scared than he’s ever been in his life.

Noel Cuthbert needed a change. He was tired of the bar scene, tired of getting dumped. He seemed to have a six-month expiration date per relationship. The last guy almost broke him in more ways than one, and moving across the country had sounded like a brilliant idea when he’d first thought of it.

Now he’s in Ashville, Montana, and his Aunt Gertie is doing everything she can to talk him into staying. She needs his help, and Noel needs to be needed.

And he’s never seen anyone who needs him more than the young man who walks into Gertie’s day care with a screaming baby on his hip.

Reader Advisory: This book contains reference to rape.

I have loved all of the books that Ms. Bradford has released, but there was just something about this book that completely pulled on my heartstrings. There was a lot of love and happiness in this book that just made me never want the story to end.

There is always something different in each of the books in this series that makes it stand out from all the other books, and in this case, it has to do with Jody and his adorable child! Also, the fact that Noel is recovering from an abusive relationship. Those are 2 factors that made this story stand out from all the others that I have read from Ms. Bradford in the past.

Jody’s character was one that was really easy to connect with. There was an innocence about him that just made it that much easier to connect with while reading what he was going through. And what he had been through in his past. Noel was one that I was able to connect with when it comes to trying to recover from past relationships that have gone wrong.

Being able to follow along with the relationship between those two men was amazing to read about. One massive thing that I enjoyed was watching as all the men came together when it came to helping with Jody’s child. It was so cute to see how they were all able to help with the child, you could tell that they honestly cared, and were willing to do whatever they could to help in such a tight position.

Not only all of that, but there was a large amount of action and suspense that takes place during the story. There were also parts of the story that also brought back characters from the Love In Xxchange series. The action kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what was going to happen next. Ms. Bradford was able to bring a lot of different aspects of the book together, and turn it into another must read book.

Once again, Ms. Bradford has written an amazing story and I really can’t wait to find out what is going to happen next in this series.