Millie Criswell

Ethan Bodine is a Texas Ranger who has the hardest assignment of his career: he has to track and bring in his brother Rafe on a murder charge. Wilhelmina Granville, called Willy, a horticulturist turned bounty hunter, is also after Rafe, desperate for the reward money so she can save her aunts' home from foreclosure. A professional lawman and tracker and a green, innocent newly returned west after years in Boston would of course be destined to meet this way, right? Well, in this book they show more are and so not only do they meet up but Willy saves Ethan's life with the judicious use of a parasol poke to the eye. After that, Ethan's sense of justice and fair play keeps the two of them together as lust ratchets up and eventually blossoms forth as fully-fledged love, complete with misunderstandings and groveling.

Just about everything in this book is so completely unbelievable to the point that it becomes hard to read with a straight face. The sexual tension is pretty palpable almost from the get go. Willy's attitude about sex and specifically premarital sex is not typical of the era. Her blase acceptance of pregnancy outside of marriage is positively modern. She is certainly drawn as an early feminist but the characterization goes too far, making it impossible to believe her as a character of her time. It was also rather unbelievable that Willy, with no experience of tracking, would be able to be as quick and effective (and sometimes more so) than Ethan with his years of experience. Sometimes I can go with the flow on things like this but I couldn't do it with this book. Each additional farfetched moment served to rankle and irritate like a burr under a saddle blanket. Other people have really loved it but I was relieved to turn the last page and move on to the next read. show less

Cute idea with some lovely moments but everyone talked so stilted: "I'm so glad you suggested we alk home after that lovely dinner." "I'm just mortified that my mother talk to you." And there were continuity errors - such as the main character being hungover at work and then later telling someone she's never had a hangover in her life.

I give it 3.5 stars. Good, but could have been better. I enjoyed it and it kept me reading. But I've read other books with this same plot (I'm fine with the plot) that were better. Hero Phillip masquerades as the Phantom and also as James Ashland. Heroine is Danielle.

I love Criswell's novels and unlike her historical this contemporary didn't quite hit the mark. The story line was anti-climatic and flat, along with its characters.