His Secondhand Wife was a wonderful book featuring three-dimensional characters. I loved both the H/H. Noah Cutter is emotionally and physically scarred having suffered terrible injuries from barbed wire when he was 13-years old. He is a recluse rarely leaving his ranch in Cooper Creek, Colorado. Katherine was married to his half-brother and finds herself pregnant after he is killed in a brawl. Kate is incredibly strong and never feels sorry for herself. She wants the best for her baby so when Noah offers her a home at his ranch she accepts. I especially love how Kate completely ignores Noah's scars even though he feels he is so hideous and hides behind his long hair and beard. They slowly fall in love and when Noah finally shaves off the beard, it was an emotional moment. CSJ also did a good job of not portraying Noah's step-mother as an evil bitch. While I hated the way she treated Noah, she was not your stereotypical wicked step-mother. (Grade: B+) ( )

Good romance. I'm not really familiar with the era, but nothing the characters did or said jolted me out of that time. And the characters were good in themselves - well-presented. Beauty and the Beast trope, nicely done. Especially the way it was so much more of a deal to him than to anyone else. I liked the townsfolk too - I'll look for the other books in the series (want to read some of the previous romances). ( )

This is the first book I've read from Cheryl St. John, and it has left me wanting to read more of her books. I thought she did an excellent job of engaging me in a tender and beautiful love story. Kate had married Levi Cutter, but after a couple of weeks, he told her he needed to find a good job and would come back for her. After five months of his absence, his brother, Noah shows up to tell her that Levi was shot. Kate soon realizes that Levi had no intention of coming back to her since he was off sleeping around with other women, so she doesn't hold onto any sentimental feelings for him.

When Noah witnesses Kate's mother talking down to her, he offers to take Kate to his ranch where he can provide for her and her unborn child. She accepts and off they go. I loved the fact that she was a chatterbox and he was silent. She was beautiful and he hides his face under long hair, a beard and a hat because of an accident that left him scarred. It reminded me of the movie "Beauty and the Beast". Noah has a good heart and does what he can to make things easy for her, which in turn, makes her feel useless and she begins to think he is only interested in his unborn nephew or niece rather than her.

Getting to know what both characters are thinking made me understand that he did care for her and this caring developed into love overtime. Afraid of losing her and her unborn child because of his step-mother's suggestion that Kate will find a man to marry, Noah proposes marriage. Considering that it will secure her and the baby's future, she agrees. Even from the moment they marry, it's apparent they care more for each other than the other one thinks. Noah's never been with a woman, which I found refreshing because of the many romances that do not have virgin heroes.

Since they aren't communicating what they really think, they assume what the other one is thinking. Noah fears that she feels obligated to be with him because he's providing for her. Kate fears that he is only doing his duty to her for the sake of the baby. This is a great book with two major themes: it's not the outward appearance that makes a person lovely and what we assume someone else is thinking can be wrong. I highly recommend this and will read more books by this author. ( )