COWBOY TO THE RESCUE

By Stella Bagwell
Silhouette Books (2009), 213 pages, $4.99 (paperback)
As Silhouette books are designed to do, “Cowboy To The Rescue” gives readers a hefty dose of romance in a small, easy-and-quick-to-read package.
And it’s quite a delightful one.
Even if you haven’t read about the other Saddlers finding their loves, you’ll enjoy watching Lex find his soul mate. The book is full of tender moments and caressing words as he and Christina sort through the confusion of falling in love.
Lex has a playboy reputation and has pretty much given up on finding true love. Christina always has yearned for hearth, home and a soul mate but a disappointing relationship has her doubting she’ll ever find those things.
So while their brains send out love-at-first-sight signals, their hearts are reluctant to believe they actually have found what they’ve spent their lives looking for.
Christina arrives at Lex’s family ranch to investigate the suspicious death of Lex’s father, who drowned 12 years earlier. Lex’s mom hired Christina, a private investigator, to find out the truth behind his death.
At first, Lex is resentful of his mother’s plan but agrees to serve as the family liaison to Christina. Immediately, he is drawn to her and is confused about what he’s feeling.
Is this love? he keeps wondering.
Of course it is, foolish man. But it takes him about 200 pages to finally figure that out, and a few more to utter the words Christina longed to hear.
Those caressing words? How about when Lex finally realizes he does love Christina and thinks, “She was the very thing his heart, his soul, had been searching for…. He wanted her to be happy, deep-down happy. He wanted to love her. Really love her.”
One of the most tender moments was when he realized he loved Christina, but opted to wait to share that because he knew she wouldn’t believe him. Yet, he knew she was hurting because she didn’t think he did. So he said, “Don’t worry, my sweet. Everything is going to be all right.”
And it was.


Overall rating: 4 of 5 hearts. Just a pure, simple, romance full of those tender moments and ahhh-inspiring words. There is a bit of suspense to add to it, but the romance is the main feature.

Hunk appeal: 10. Lex isn’t extraordinary. He’s just a rancher who is a good man, a man who wants to be sure he’s found his true love even though at some level, he recognized her the moment he saw her.

Steamy scene grade: XXX. At several levels.

Happily-Ever-After: Very good. Once Lex tells Christina “everything is going to be all right,” the romantic ending just spiraled to a very satisfactory conclusion with a nice epilogue. The suspense portion of the book had to be wrapped up, and perhaps it was a bit distracting, but all’s well that ends well. And this does.




Also this week…..

Mr. Perfect

by Linda Howard (2000, hardcover and paperback) 5 of 5 hearts.

Even though I rated this at 4-plus nine years ago, it keeps improving with age. This has become a favorite classic. Linda Howard manages to insert a healthy dose of humor into a book fraught with evil and murder. The murder of characters you know and like. Still, the heroine, Jaine, is quite possibly the most fun romance heroine you'll ever read about. And Sam is her perfect mate. You're likely to dog-ear the pages of "Mr. Perfect," the binding becoming creased and its hold on those pages growing precarious. The repertoire between Sam and Jaine borders on hysterical at times. You'll be reading portions aloud to loved ones and friends.