When Stella Jo Chandler gets an offer to work at the Second Chance Ranch celebrity rehab facility right after graduating from Texas A&M, she’s tempted to turn it down. She wants to help real people with real problems, not spoiled celebrities going on vacation for publicity. But growing up on her family’s ranch left her with a love of horses that draws her to the opportunity. How bad can babysitting a bunch of strung out celebrities be?  What she didn’t count on was being roped into a tangled mess with infamous rocker and three-time rehab drop out Van Ransom on her first day. And she sure didn’t expect to feel the overwhelming attraction that pulls her to the man who has more issues than she can count on both hands. Like the hotel rooms and tour buses he’s famous for trashing, the havoc he could wreak on Stella’s heart would be irreparable.

 

Van isn’t at Second Chance for publicity or because he’s suffering from “exhaustion”. He’s on the brink of destruction, and he needs the kind of help Stella isn’t sure she can give. But without her, he’ll lose everything. Because he’s on his last second chance.

Van stood at the edge of her bed and stared down at her. He had to clench his hands at his side to keep himself steady.Fuck, she was beautiful. She was more than beautiful. She was a goddess. She was something no one had created a word for yet. Because no other such creature had existed.

“Lose the blanket, Stella Jo.” His gravelly voice filled the small room.

She nodded, licked her lips, and slid the white comforter down. His eyes narrowed when he saw that she’d left her bra and underwear on.

“I said naked, cowgirl. But you know that, don’t you?”

“I was…” She paused to take a deep breath. “I thought I had more time.”

Setting the rope and riding crop on the bedside table, Van crossed his arms. “You have all the time in the world. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

Her emerald eyes widened, meeting his with an ‘are you serious’ stare. He nodded once at her unspoken question.

She stood on shaking legs, and he resisted the urge to let her off the hook. She was nervous. She should be. He was going to do things to her that would wreck her—things she wouldn’t be able to forget for as long as she lived.

He planned to make damn sure of it.

Stella Jo Chandler has always done the right thing. Former champion horse rider, she graduated with honors from college and wants to help people. For Stella Jo, who has never felt good enough, like no one has ever wanted her, Second Chance Ranch is just the opportunity to give to people what she has always missed in her life. Van Ransom is in deep trouble. He’s the ultimate bad boy, the guy that pushes the envelope and then some. As the lead singer of Hostage For Ransom, Van is living the whole ‘sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll’ to the extreme, and has finally gone too far. With his life and future of his role as hot lead singer in jeopardy, he has no choice but to get cleaned up for good.

“So this is it then? No second chances? Epitaph is sending me to rehab and I have to fake my way into a whole new me or else I ruin it for the whole band? That’s some messed-up shit, Sid.

Now it was the manager’s hand that fisted, clenching the rail tightly as he stared at Van in disbelief.

“You have got to be screwing with me, kid. You’ve had more second chances than any other person on the planet. And as much as I hate to say this to you, if you don’t complete the program this time and get your shit together, Epitaph won’t be the only one washing their hands of you. This is last second chance, Van. Plain and simple.”

Good Lord, I love a hot rocker. One that’s got a story, that is tortured and just waiting for the person that will help put him back together (even though he never thinks that that’s what he wants or needs, mind you), even better. Van Ransom is all of this and more. He’s at Second Chance Ranch, a rehab facility that caters to the rich and famous, to get it together once and for all. Stella Jo, running from a cold and unloving home life, has come to Second Chance to be able to give back, to help people get past their problems and get on with their lives. From the moment that Van and Stella Jo literally run into each other, they are like magnets, unable to stay away from each other. Each sees in the other a reflection of themselves, and and the brokenness that needs fixing.

I absolutely loved this book. Caisey Quinn writes one heck of a story, and this in no exception. Van and Stella Jo are on fire, and I loved reading about the two of them. The plot, the characters, and, did I say, Van, makes this absolutely a 5-star read for me.