Free ebook. Didn't finish; I found the characters hard to believe. ( )

Free ebook. Didn't finish; I found the characters hard to believe. ( )

The “devils” are a band of ex-confederate soldiers that are running from the persecution that follows being on the wrong side of the war. Made brothers by the sheer amount of death and destruction they have seen, and been part of, the Devils form a small company to make ends meet. DH Enterprises take on any task; everything is considered in the quest to stay alive and out of jail. On a trip into the town to get supplies, Nate meets Samuel O’Shea, a local landowner. He hires the devils to “remove” some squatters on land he owns. The squatters in question are Elisa Taggert and her family, and the land in question is her family home, bought after her mother’s suicide for a mere 20 dollars. Nate has never quite met anyone like Elisa. She dresses like a man, fights like a man and is as prickly as a cactus. On their very first meeting she calls him an “enemy” for working for O’Shea. She elicits feelings in him that he thought had been beaten away by the horrors of war. The devils need the money; it has been months since they had stability, and the threat of being arrested by the Yankees’ is constant. But try as he might, Nate can’t seem to treat her as simply an obstacle to be removed for a hell of a lot of money.

Elisa has never had the time to simply be a girl. She has been running the ranch, whilst taking care of her little brother, for as long as she can remember. She can’t afford to develop feelings for Nate; she has no time to be anything other than the protector of her ranch against a new threat. Unfortunately for Elisa, no matter how much she tries to blend in as “one of the boys”, the way she responds to Nate is distinctly feminine. The clever southern gent makes her remember that she has needs outside of food and water.

This book was an unexpected gem. The little town in the Wild West, made a perfect setting for a lovely little book. Grayson was a vividly written town with small town politics and western ways of settling differences. I enjoyed reading about all the characters, from the local bargirl to the shopkeeper; every character was a joy to read. All of the devils captured my imagination. We had Gideon, the unofficial leader of the bedraggled crew, who was sure and gentlemanly. Next we had Jake, the suave red-head, who could charm the paint off walls (I’m looking forward to his book next!). Then we had Zeke the quiet and brooding soldier, who doesn’t have a lot to say but what he does is always important. Last, but definitely not least, we have the physically damaged Lee, a man who is hurting so much on the inside he comes across as irritable and snarky. I have a feeling his will be the book to make me cry! All of these men have a camaraderie that is beautiful to read. It is clear that the only thing these men have is each other, that home to them is anywhere that they are all together. I love a good bromance and this one was definitely one!

Nate is the epitome of a perfect southern gentleman. Obviously educated, he has all the fancy words and manners to be the perfect spokesman for the Devils. On meeting Elisa, all those manners seem to go out of the window. The way he acts towards her isn’t trained or schooled. His actions towards her are almost desperate and I adored the way he couldn’t keep up his facade with her. His behaviour towards her is almost primal (there is a scene against a tree....it’s very good!). At one point someone points out to him that he acts towards her like she’s his mate and I have to say this is a good analogy. He is possessive, protective and completely without reason. When he wants turn on the charm he can, but the second he loses control that southern smoothie disappears and the man is replaced with heat and passion. I loved him, he acted towards her exactly the way that I expect a good alpha hero to behave. There is a scene where he bears his soul to protect her brother, exposing deep wounds that he had never shared to try to save her from having to bear the heartache of losing a brother. If I had any doubts towards him, they would have buggered off and left at that point. I adored him.

Elisa is a product of her upbringing. She is a mixture of what she wants to be and what she needs to be. She needs to be the protector of the household; her daddy fell apart after her mother’s suicide and now he is next to useless. She needs to be hard and tough so people don’t threaten the ranch. What she wants to be is a normal 19 year old girl, with that girl’s hopes, dream and problems. She reacts to Nate with such untapped passion and naivety that I found her incredibly sweet. She talked tough because she didn’t know another way of proving that she could handle everything on her plate, but the second she got within spitting distance of Nate, all the toughness disappeared to be replaced with lust and insecurity. The scenes where she is the aggressor in their relationship are quite comical, both in her techniques and Nate’s shocked reaction to them. I enjoyed her character and willed Nate to get her out of the horrible mess she was in and teach her how to just be herself. This isn’t what I would call an erotic romance, but what sex scenes there are hot and satisfying. The heat between them is real and undeniable, with the resulting moments being packed full of forbidden lust and unrealised feelings.

There were twists in this book that I didn’t see coming. It isn’t a simple loves story; there is real danger for Elisa and her family. The only questions is do Nate and the devils sort out the sticky mess she is in, or become part of her downfall?
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I didn't like it much. The plot was good but the heroes were a little off key, specially the heroine. I didn't like her at all, she was supposed to be strong not bipolar... ( )