Review: Straightforward contemporary Western
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 17, 2014
In Romanceland Westerns, ranches are either prosperous and world-famous, or run down almost to the point of foreclosure. This book features the latter. It's a shabby affair after a couple of years of neglect by the owner, a former bull-rider whose wife died in an accident. He has only two ranch hands - his best friend and an untrustworthy drifter. Onto the scene comes a young female reporter who needs to interview him in order to advance her career...not that she's particularly career-minded, but she has serious expenses for a dying grandmother. Cade hates reporters, but she's so tenacious that she agrees to work for him at any menial task in exchange for the story. Although Cade was devoted to his wife and has been mourning for two years, he falls almost instantly into lust with the feisty reporter and her scanty wardrobe. I suppose female reporters have "feisty" somewhere on their resumes...have you ever read of a quiet and intellectual one? The story follows the predictable path: the struggling ranch on which too many costly accidents have been occurring, the best friend who secretly pines for the equally feisty bar owner in town, the hero and heroine alternately falling into each other's arms and then backing off. Eventually The Bad Guy is revealed, almost as an afterthought, the action speeds up, and a satisfactory ending concludes this generic tale. But it's a pleasant, if mindless, read. If you enjoy contemporary Westerns and never tire of the same old setting and heroes, this isn't too bad.