Devon Reid, veterinarian, had a partner of two years, a beautiful house, and a fantastic job. Then, life as he knew it, changed. Six months ago, he became his mother’s sole caretaker when her cancer returned. With his constant absence from home, his relationship ends leaving him alone in one of the most emotionally draining points in his life. When his mother passes, he is lonely and loses his zest for life. With his emotions and life in turmoil, Devon decides it’s time to make a change.

Leaving the city life behind and taking a job in a small town in Montana, was just what the doctor ordered. Then, he meets the hunky ranch foreman, Greg Elliot. Greg has lived most of his life on a ranch. Living in a small town didn’t offer many prospects for a relationship, until he meets the new veterinarian in town.

While they try to resist the obvious mutual attraction, a fateful call during the night changes it all. What is a city boy to do when a small town cowboy ropes him in?

When the Bluebird Calls is Leiland Dale’s first book in the Heart of the Mountain series. It is a sweet and romantic story of promising love at first sight that takes the reader on an enjoyable and relatively carefree reading journey.

After the death of his mother and the break-up of his relationship, Devon Reid picks up stakes and moves to Bridger, Montana to reestablish his veterinary practice and start anew. As the foreman of the Mountain Heart Ranch, Greg Elliot travels to town to meet the new veterinarian and enlist his monthly services to look after the ranch’s horses.

Upon their first meeting, Greg and Devon are thunderstruck with instant attraction and cannot stop thinking about one another. Devon immediately brings to the surface all of Greg’s protective instincts as he senses Devon’s sadness. For his part Devon cannot understand the strength of his attraction to Greg, which goes deeper than just lust.

When the Mountain Heart Ranch’s prize mare goes into difficult labor Devon is called in the middle of the night to assist with the birth and the promise of a cup of coffee before returning home brings Devon and Greg together.

The story is well written and Mr. Dale finds his writing stride in his descriptions, in particular in respect of the sex scenes in the book, which are quite arousing and erotic. Mr. Dale also does a very good job of building the sexual tension between the two characters only adding to the reader’s anticipation of Devon and Greg’s coming together.

The author provides the right amount of angst to keep things interesting between the two protagonists in the form of unfinished business from both their pasts, but in the end all is resolved and there is an HEA. Mr. Dale also introduces a number of interesting secondary characters, two of which I suspect will get their own story, hopefully with the second installment in this series.

Over all I felt the story enjoyed a good flow that was only interrupted in some parts, but not enough so to detract away from my interest in it. Also, while there were some editing glitches they were minor enough that my attention remained with the characters. I was easily able to sink into this story from beginning to end and I finished it in one sitting.

All in all, I enjoyed When The Bluebird Calls by Leiland Dale. It is a light, romantic and erotic m/m reading escape, with likable and sexy characters and the promise of more to come. I look forward to reading the next book in this new series.

When the Bluebird Calls by Leiland Dale is available at Silver Publishing, All Romance eBooks and at the Amazon Kindle Store.