Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Countess and the Cowboy - Elizabeth Lane (HH #1247 - Sept 2015)

A new life in Wyoming!

Newly widowed, Eve Townsend is left with a grand title and not a penny to her name. She doesn't know what future she can build in the Wild West…but she's ready to learn, and to reunite with her family.

When she arrives in Wyoming, she discovers her beloved sister's death and sets about caring for her niece and nephew. But burly Clint Lonigan is everywhere she turns! Even though he's Eve's opposite in every way, maybe a rough-mannered cowboy is just what this genteel countess needs…

Good book with an interesting story line. Back in England Eve's husband died and left her with nothing, so she decided to go to her sister, who had married an American. After an exhausting and eventful journey, she arrived in Wyoming to discover that her sister has died. She's determined to stay and care for her niece and nephew, but things aren't quite what they seem.

Clint meets Eve on the stagecoach and is drawn to her beauty and her strength when dealing with an attack on the coach. But she is joining the household of his enemy and he isn't sure that he can trust her. He is caught in the middle of a range war, between cattle barons like her brother-in-law, Roderick, and local farmers and homesteaders. But if he can show Eve the truth of what is happening, maybe she will help them.

I liked Clint a lot. He's rough and gruff on the outside, but he's a good man where it counts. He's still mourning his wife, who was killed during an attack on his property. He doesn't expect to love again, so his attraction to Eve takes him by surprise. He's suspicious of her at the beginning, but takes a chance when he uses her to rescue a friend. He explains what is going on and asks for her help. I liked the way that he decided to trust her, and how his protectiveness started to grow along with his feelings. 

Eve was great. I loved her courage in pursuing a brand new life. I enjoyed her thoughts as she learned about her new country and became accustomed to its differences. She also has a very loving heart, and her determination to care for her sister's children put her in some uncomfortable situations. I thought she handled Roderick very well. She was surprised by her attraction to Clint, and her feelings were very different than what she had felt for her husband. She had some prejudices that she had to overcome, but she did that quickly and saw Clint for who he really was. I loved her strength and ingenuity as she helped Clint. 

Romance tended to move fast in the old west, and Clint and Eve were no exception. I think that working for a common cause helped that along. The times that they were together the chemistry burned hot between them and those scenes were great. Though he had a brief moment of doubt toward the end, I liked the faith that Clint had in Eve's trustworthiness. What happened at the end showed them how much they cared. 

The story line of the range war was interesting and gave good insight into some of the conflicts that happened during that period of history. The creep factor was definitely there in Roderick, and I felt that he definitely got what he deserved at the end. The build up to the final confrontation was really good. Eve was quite clever in some of the things she did, and her actions made a big impact on what happened. I liked the epilogue and finding out what happened to some of the other characters in the story.

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