Recent Read

Montana Wild by Stacey Kayne

Why this one: I’m not really sure other then it was a Western and I was in a mood for a Western

Steam Level: Warm but you don’t have to worry about burning your tongue

From Author’s Website:

A promise from his past threatens what Chance values most...his freedom

Cora Mae Tindale isn’t looking to stir up trouble—she just needs a safe place to hide while she plans out her future. Having escaped the marriage trap set by her conniving mother, she’s arrived in the wilds of Wyoming searching for the stepbrother who promised to always protect her. She hadn’t counted on the boy from her childhood becoming a war-hardened rancher with heart-stopping looks that could tempt a saint.

Plagued by horse thieves and marriage-minded females, the last thing Chance Morgan needs is a woman on his ranch. But Cora Mae is more than just a pretty face—she’s part of his past; a reminder of the guilt and broken promises he’s spent too many years trying to forget. A distracting array of curls and curves, she hardly resembles the mischievous spitfire from his youth, but her eyes hold the shadows of a painful past, and a passion she struggles to conceal. Cora Mae’s indifference entices Chance in a way that blatant flirtation never could. He yearns to discover the truth she hides, but will uncovering her secrets expose his own?

My thoughts: This book is why I love Westerns and why I am grateful Harlequin still publishes them and why I wish other publishers would get back on the Western bandwagon in a bigger way.

Cora Mae and Chance (along with his twin brother Tucker who has his own story in a previous book which I am now going to have to track down) knew each other in childhood. Chance’s father was married to Cora Mae’s mother – a wicked witch if ever there was one! It’s so bad Chance and Tucker have to get away from her and join their father in the war even though they are only 12. They feel bad having to leave Cora Mae behind with her evil mother but there is no choice. They promise to come back for her though. This was all covered in the prologue

Then the book starts years later. Chance and Tucker are the owners of a thriving ranch and Cora Mae has just arrived to see them after all these years. She runs into Chance and sparks fly though Chance is equally suspicious that Cora Mae is working for her evil mother.

It’s refreshing to read a book with no Dukes; no Earls; no Britshness in sight. I love books with ‘working’ heroes.Chance makes a fine hero. He’s equally suspicious and attracted to Cora Mae.

And I really liked Cora Mae. She had a horrible childhood with her mother yet made a good life for herself once apart from her mother. But once her mother gets involved with her life, Cora Mae is on the run and runs to the two people who were her best friends from childhood.

There’s nothing spectacular about this book, instead it’s a book about two people who have a history of good memories coming together.

Although this is the second book in a series I didn’t have much problem following it. Stacey Kayne is a new-to-me author and one who I will definitely read again.

Grade: 4 out of 5