Review: A Fun and Entertaining Collection of Fiction in the Wild West
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2013
The Rocky Mountain Heiress Collection: The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper, Anna Finch and the Hired Gun & The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte BeckWhen I first requested this collection for review from Waterbrook Press, I did not realize that - a) it was three books in one - and b) I had already read the 3rd installment of The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck. I also seemed to remember being not all that impressed with that novel. Nonetheless, I started in at the beginning with The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper. Let me just say that it was my favorite of the series! Gennie was a fun and vibrant character. Although the thought of a high society lady traveling by train to the Wild West is a little silly, it was well written and full enjoyable.Gennie traveled to get a Wild West adventure out of her system before she settled down to marry a wealthy banker. She took the position of a governess to an unruly little girl as an excuse to go. Little did she know that the little girl, the Wild West and Mr. Beck - her charge's father - would win her heart!I also greatly enjoyed Anna Finch and the Hired Gun. Both Anna and her hired gun, Jeb, were secondary characters in the first book and I was glad to follow their story some more. I DO have to say that the Anna Finch from the first book and the Anna Finch from the second book did not seem resemble each other much. I felt that Anna was much more reserved in the first novel, but maybe being secretive was just part of her nature.  Anna has a secret life as a dime novel author and journalist! No wonder her father can't get her married off to anyone and has to hire someone to keep up on her whereabouts!Anna's relationship with Jeb is slightly scandalous and I liked it all the more for it. Although, I think some of their travels would have been discovered in real-life long before they were discovered in the book. This book focused a lot of time on the legendary Doc Holliday, which I found fascinating! The author really made me wonder how much of it was true or not (she did provide historical notes in the back - thank you! I love it when author's do that!)And lastly, my review of The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck can be read in my review history.  I don't think I gave it an extra favorable review at the time and although I didn't re-read it again, I have decided this is a series that should definitely be read in order. Some of what I remember being annoyed about Charlotte Beck made more sense when I was introduced to her as a 10-year-old girl in the first book of the series. She was an unconventional woman... but she was definitely an unconventional child, so I guess that should have been expected.Thank you to Waterbrook Press for the opportunity to review these books. All opinions are solely my own and I was not compensated in any way for this review.