Review: Fantastic, feel-good romantic read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 9, 2014
Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.comHe was her very own cowboy hero come to life, but after the wedding, was she really his wife?With her more recent romance novels suffering a slump in sales, writer Michelle Garrison was rather peeved when her editor Mark Conner took it upon himself to book her a stay at a dude ranch in Colorado. But having just rejected her first Western romance manuscript, Mark was adamant Michelle needed to get the finer details just right in order to re-work her novel for publication. After all, who would name the heroine of their cowboy romance a clichéd name like Lee Stetson?So, armed with new cowboy boots that pinched, new jeans, and fringed cowgirl shirts, Manhattan dwelling Michelle headed for the Columbine Camp in Colorado. She just never expected to have her rental car swept off the road in a rain storm, end up totally confused with temporary amnesia, find herself married to the cowboy hero of her dreams, or be calling herself Lee Stetson or Mrs. Tag Martin, but a large bump on the head could apparently do that to a woman!Taggart Martin would do anything to keep his Gramma Lenore from leaving his beloved Double Eagle Ranch to a wild animal rescue organization, even if he had to get himself a wife before he turned forty in order to inherit the Double Eagle. He'd made a temporary wife mock marriage deal with his neighbor at the Columbine Camp, but after Betsy Mae fell in love and married a rodeo clown, she'd arranged for another of her barrel racing friends to stand in as Tag's temporary bride.Naturally, when Tag's foreman Coop found a bedraggled and confused woman carrying a battered suitcase down the highway near the ranch on the day his nuptials to an unknown woman was scheduled, neither he, Coop, nor the lovely stranger questioned that she was his intended temporary bride. And while the lady cleaned up nice enough to make Tag stand up and take notice and she seemed to pass the Gramma Lenore wife test, who in their right mind named their daughter Lee Stetson?Branding this tale as a gentle parody on cowboy romances, Kate Douglas makes delightful use of multiple romance plots and sub-plots to weave an engaging marriage mix-up tale of lies, love, and subterfuge. The author pulls you in despite her intended use of clichés and plot devices that ought to come across as overdone, and she somehow pleasingly melds them all together into a fantastic, feel-good romantic read. Tag and Michelle worm their way into your heart, as do secondary characters Coop and Gramma Lenore, and even editor Mark Connor redeems himself to the point that Ms. Douglas awarded him his own story.I simply can't touch on all of the many ways Ms. Douglas skillfully makes this romantic parody work, but suffice it to say that she created such wonderful characters and a mish-mash of happy, sad, funny, and touchingly tender moments that she had me hooked from the first chapter. Needless to say, I'll be looking to read Mark Connor's story titled Dime Store Cowboy in the Berkley romance anthology The Promise of Love.