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Title & Author: Small Town Smokeshow by Holly Renée
My rating: 4/5
Publication date: 12th May 2026
Blurb:
Hunter Calloway is a small town smokeshow and the kind of man my father warned me about.
He’s got a reputation a mile wide, a smile that could burn through any girl’s good sense, and did I mention he’s also the man my sister once loved and left behind?
He strolls through town like he owns it, tips his hat with a promise in his eyes, and slides those calloused hands across my bakery counter like they haven’t been haunting my dreams for years. He’s six feet of pure temptation wrapped in worn Wranglers, and every time I’m near him, it’s like striking a match during a drought…
Dangerous, inevitable, and exactly what I shouldn’t want.
I try to convince myself I don’t notice the way his gaze lingers, or the way he says my name as if he’s tasting it. But all my good intentions crumble to dust when we find ourselves alone under a sky full of stars with nothing but whiskey and want between us.
And it changes everything.
We promise each other we’re just having fun, yet his fingertips brush across my skin when no one’s watching, and we pretend we don’t ache for each other in a room full of people who would never understand. Every kiss stays in the dark, every desire whispered like a secret, and every touch brands me with guilt.
I know better than to fall for a cowboy like him.
I know better than to want my sister’s past.
But when his eyes find mine, I forget every reason I’ve ever had to say no.
Every touch feels like a risk and every secret like a countdown. I’m lying to everyone, falling harder for a man who never promised me anything, and wondering how much longer I can pretend I don’t care whether I’m just another notch on his well-worn belt.
Because I’m in love with Hunter Calloway regardless of the cost.
Review:
I read Cowboy Casual, the first book in the Calloway Ranch series, back in October 2025, and absolutely adored it, so I'd been impatiently waiting for Hunter Calloway's book ever since. Hunter and Maggie were mentioned so much throughout that first book, so I was immediately intrigued to read more about them in depth.
Maggie runs the bakery in Willow Grove after moving there with her sister, Ella. In Small Town Smokeshow, we learn that Hunter previously dated Ella but Ella cheated on him and moved back home to Tennessee. Maggie has always had feelings for Hunter, which he absolutely reciprocates, but she believes that acting on those feelings would be crossing a line because of Hunter and Ella's history, despite how she treated him.
The tension between Hunter and Maggie is palpable and their relationship and concerns felt so real. We love a man who yearns and Hunter does exactly that. Everyone around him notices too, despite him thinking that he hides it well.
Alongside this sister's ex/forbidden romance storyline, Maggie's relationship with her family adds an emotional layer to the book. She is very much the black sheep and I did really feel for her.
I loved being back with these characters and in my review for Cowboy Casual, I mentioned how beautifully Ruby, Colt's daughter was woven into the story. She wasn't forgotten about and this continued on in Small Town Smokeshow, with some lovely scenes between Ruby and not only her uncle Hunter, but the rest of the gang too.
McCoy and Sutton to come? 👀
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