Review: Sweet Romance Inside Imaginative "Wild West"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2014
I did not intend to read this story as quickly as I did, but once I started I couldn't stop. An alternate history southern U.S. swarms with Reapers, once-men who, while technically alive, are governed by a violent, cannibalistic parasite that makes them mindless killers - among other things. Rangers roam the tentative border between Reaper land and human civilization. Dedicated and immune to the Reaper's bite, but still mortal, they race to take down the flesh-eating hordes to guard the rest of humanity - even the Scrapers in their fat, luxurious cities high above the plains.Abby's tough, one of few female rangers - most women with the star-shaped mark of the Ranger are secured in forts, reproducing the ranks. She's never wanted that life, but being a Ranger is tough. She's the only woman in her platoon and, while her fellow Rangers are her friends, she's always felt at least somewhat apart and alone. While delivering a message to a Ranger fort, she stumbles into a spot of trouble and tall, dark and competent cowboy Jake helps her stumble out of it. The attraction between them is as intense as it is complicated. Jake's a Reaper, once who's outlived the mindless carnage of his infected  "youth" and survived years of torture at the hands of human scientists presumably looking for a cure for the parasite.The push-pull denial/attraction of their relationship is delicious, the danger surrounding them very real. This is a sweet romance built inside of an imaginative "Western" world packed full of dire adventure. Recommended for fans of Moira Rogers and Kristen Callihan.