This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️.5
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
Autumn Lover is the first book in the Maxwell duo series and is number five in the "Only" series. This story has been on my watchlist for the longest time and for almost a year I have been trying to get this one read. I am not sure why I have put off this book for the longest time, but I finally braved the wild frontier and grabbed up this book and it was actually way better than I expected. But also reading this made me realize why I don't read too many older historical's anymore, the angst was unreal in this book and the hero is a jerk alpha hero. So if that isn't for you, then I don't recommend it. But if you don't the jerk hero type, and love some great plot machinations and strong western themes, then I do recommend this one to you. It definitely has a storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat and really delivers such a strong thought out story.

First Line
I hear you need a ramrod who can handle a gun

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Hunter Maxwell
An Alpha Male, Gunslinger, On the hunt for revenge for the death of his family. Bitter about his late wife who had countless affairs and used him and mistrusts most women.

The Heroine: Elyssa Sutton
With her parents dead, its up to Elyssa to save her ranch from outlaws and rustlers. She loves pretty things but has never found a place where she has been accepted and loved for who she is. She lives and breathes her family's home.

Summary
When Elyssa Sutton returns from England to her family's home and ranch in Wyoming, following the end of the Civil War, everything her parents built is falling apart. With rustlers and scavengers picking the place clean, she will fight with everything she has to protect what is left. When Hunter Maxwell arrives, to be her foreman and to stop the destruction, she hires him on. Hunter is on the road to revenge against the Culpeppers who destroyed just about everyone he loved. He doesn't trust Elyssa, she is a beauty just like his late wife and wears satin dresses and he doesn't trust her to not flirt with every man within a mile of her. Hunter has been burned badly, and despite the unfair treatment he deals toward Elyssa, there is a strong connection that forms between them. But they are in great danger now and it will be a miracle if they survive the coming storm...

What I Loved
Autumn Lover wasn't a easy and light filled story. This is most definitely not for the faint of heart, but it was a solid story that packed quite a punch. It does have a writing style that was typical of authors back then, so keep that in mind. There is quite a bit of inner relationship angst in this story. But there is also a very well written plot and great storyline that will keep you moving forward on the story. We have some great character development here. The hero is a tough nut to crack, but eventually he redeems himself. We see such great torment in him over his past and losing his children, so he definitely is multi dimensional and it takes a while to get down to the heart but once you do then its pure gold. Then we have our heroine, whom I really loved. I just had a blast with her character. She has such spirit and genuine heart and intentions and I admired her strength. She stands up for herself which I really was endeared by. The plot of the story is what really makes this story shine. The author kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through this and I was so eager to see it play out in the end.

What I Struggled With
I really struggled with the angst and how the hero treats the heroine. This was really hard to see, because the heroine has such a tender heart. And the hero has all of these wrong misconceptions about her character and its really tough to see how hard he is on her and he can come off as very demeaning and almost bullying in some respects. So keep that in mind before reading this one if these characteristics might be triggering for you.

Overall View
Autumn Lover is a story that is full of autumn vibes, spicy angst, and a plot to keep you eager and involved....a solid win of a story!

Favorite Quote(s)
For Elyssa it was like being in one of her restless dreams—darkness and moonlight, the scent of rosemary and the rippling murmur of water, Hunter’s eyes watching her with a hunger that made her heart turn over.

“No one can stand upright on fire,” Elyssa whispered. “All you can do is sink into it…and let it burn.”

Autumn lover. I’ll remember you each year when leaves turn to fire.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance
Time Era(s): American West, Civil War, Reconstruction
Character Types: Alpha Male, Jerk Hero, Tortured Hero
Themes: Angsty, Pining Heroine, Groveling Hero, Danger, Western, Autumn Fall Vibes
Tropes: Unrequited Lovers, Revenge, Age Gap

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
Both

Song This Book Inspires
This Is My Trying-Taylor Swift

Recommendation For Reading Order
You can read as a standalone

Steam/Spice Explanations

Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments. ( )

That needed about 600x more groveling. The "hero" is a total jackwagon for 90% of the book. A sexist, judgmental, sneering, superior jackwagon. ( )

The story itself merits 2 stars. Thru Amazon, I found out the word "flirt" was only found in the book 28 times. I would have thought it occurred at least 100.

The narration by Laurel Merlington merits only 1 star. I've always thought she was rather melodramatic in her performances, but she was down-right irritating to listen to on this book. She does an excellent job in giving each character a different voice, but the nuances made me feel like I was at a "B" movie - BAD!

Oh well. It at least made laundry chores a bit less boring. ( )

I really enjoyed this story. Elizabeth Lowell can make a fluffy romance a very entertaining experience. This has everything you would expect in a romance, but this author always seems to throws in some twists to make her books better than average fluff. I will definately be looking for more of her books. ( )