THE RUSTLER

By Linda Lael Miller
HQN (2008), 374 pages, $7.99 (paperback)


Take a former outlaw-turned-good guy in the early 1900s. Pair him up with a damsel in distress and what do you get?
A fun, pure romance by Linda Lael Miller.
Following in his brother Rowdy’s footsteps (“A Wanted Man”) Wyatt decides to shed his outlaw ways and find a law-abiding job. He ends up in Stone Creek, where his brother is the marshal.
And he meets Sarah.
Sarah has two rather significant secrets that make her rather sad, and keeps her from allowing any man to get too close. She considers herself an old maid who is “too plainspoken and too smart to suit most men.”
And Wyatt decides right after meeting her that he’s going to marry her.
It takes a bit longer for him to realize he loves her.
Sarah is immediately drawn to Wyatt, but those secrets hold her back. Her father, the town’s banker, suffers from what seems to be dementia. She can’t let anyone know, or realize that she’s actually running the back, or she knows the business will be taken away.
Her other secret is a past relationship with a city man, who is a total jerk.
And the result of that relationship.
When the jerk comes to town with his son, Sarah is ecstatic to spend time with the boy. But when the jerk turns the visit into blackmail, her life becomes a nightmare.
One Wyatt intends to turn into a dream.
And, of course, he does.
It’s nice to visit characters from the other books in Miller’s “Stone Creek” series, and nice to get to know Wyatt, who ends up making a rather good, good guy.


Overall rating: 4 of 5 hearts. Nothing complicated about this book, just a pure, unapologetic romance with a determined hero, an independent damsel in distress, and a villain who gets his due.

Hunk appeal: 10. Romance books like to tout that reformed rakes make the best husbands, but the Yarbro brothers seem to be proving reformed outlaws are pretty good as well.

Steamy scene grade: XXX. Definite “carrying on.”

Happily-Ever-After: Good. A bit of excitement, and a sweet “I love you” scene, along with a happy epilogue.




Also this week…..


Raintree: Inferno / Sanctuary / Haunted

by Linda Howard, Beverly Barton and Linda Winstead Jones (2008 paperback) 4 of 5.

The stories that were released separately a year ago are now together in a three-for-one. Howard’s “Inferno” starts off the trilogy, introducing Dante.
This is a series that probably will sound ridiculously stupid when you try to tell someone about it.
But it's so good, you won't care.
It is a paranormal series, but don't let that turn you off. Dante is king of a far-reaching group of people with special powers, including brother Gideon (“Haunted,” by Winstead Jones) and sister Mercy (“Sanctuary,” by Barton.) They can do stuff like control fire and lightning and read minds.
The Raintree, as the clan of powerful and power full people are known, use their abilities for good. The Anasar is a clan that has been warring with the Raintree for centuries, and they come to blows big time in the series.