Review: Sweet Historical Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2013
3.5 STARSI would rate this as a sweet historical romance. The author teases us with a lot of stroking, groping, and breath-taking kisses, but when it’s time to “do the do” she closes the bedroom door and lets us use our own imaginations.In the year 1856, eighteen-year-old Temperance Jones is the oldest child of six traveling with her parents from Pennsylvania to the promised land of Oregon. Her father is a preacher and a conscientious objector who is moving the family so his sons won’t be dragged into the impending Civil War.Temperance’s father is already ill, and when the family stops at a bank in St. Louis, he  collapses. The wealthy owner of the bank, Basil Fitzpatrick takes pity on the impoverished family, providing them with food, shelter, and a job for Temperance. When Temperance’s father dies shortly after, the family is forced to rearrange their plans and spend the winter in St. Louis.Temperance is determined to fulfill her father’s dying wish of journeying to Oregon, and she does whatever it takes to try to get there, including using her feminine wiles and putting herself in danger to prove her mettle to Jake Stanton, a wagon master who ends up vying with Basil for her affections.This book was somewhat predictable for me. I usually look for interesting twists and plot turns. The heroine was feisty and very proud. The hero was somewhat of a dandy who came to appreciate women’s rights. It was a given that Basil and Temperance would fight their attraction to each other and end up falling in love, but for me, the premise really wasn’t enough of a conflict to keep them apart. On the one hand, Temperance resisted Basil because she felt he was only looking for a mistress. But when she really wanted to manipulate Jake, she turned on the charm and let him do some things “nice girls” of that era wouldn’t do–simply to entice him to take her family on his wagon train to Oregon.Other than that, I enjoyed the storyline. The historical details were accurate, and I liked the author’s use of Native American traditions sprinkled throughout the book.  I also liked the her clever play on words in the book’s title. In the end, the family triumphed over their tragedy and they were able to rebuild their lives and there was a great happy ending.