Friday, January 8, 2016

Review: Be Mine by Cait London


Genre: Historical Romance/Western Romance

Description:

1881 Montana. Hardened businessman Sam Taggart hires Emma to care for his mountain man father and little sister-brat. Emma is neat, plain, a sock knitting, curvy German immigrant, who alternately enchants and drives Sam nuts. She isn’t the society businessman’s wife Sam wants, but he sure wants Emma who is definitely a virgin with every bachelor in the Territory wanting her and her socks. What’s poor Sam going to do?”

Author:

NYTs bestselling Cait London is published in 28 countries, either as Cait London or as Cait Logan (both pseudonyms). Currently, she is placing her early books under the Cait London name and in epublishing. In her national award-winning career and with millions of copies, she's written historicals, category/series, paranormal, and now romantic suspense and women's fiction. She moved to the Midwest from the sand and sage of rural Washington State. Her novels reflect that small town western upbringing. In her former creative life, she is/was a wildlife/scenery artist, specializing in large canvas. 'I love painting, but writing is where it's at for me now. It's just a different canvas,' she says.”

For more, visit Ms. London's website.

Appraisal:

I don’t read a lot of Historical Romances and I am not sure what drew me to this Western. It’s an enjoyable read. Sam Taggart has had a hard life growing up as an illegitimate half-breed whose father, Harry, never married his Native American mother, Feather, the white-man’s way. After Feather was murdered, when Sam was only six, Harry is set on revenge and drags Sam along with him. As a result Sam left home as soon as he could take care of himself and never looked back, unless it was in disgust and self-loathing. When Sam decides to drop in on Harry to show him the success he has made of himself, his whole life gets turned upside down.

Enter the girl down the road. Her parents are German immigrants, and Emma wants to be a business woman. She has no interest in marriage. However, she sees a way to get out from under her parents thumb. When Sam drops in on the family, his only interest is hiring one of the daughters to clean the house he grew up in and to take care of Harry and Sam’s half-sister, Mary, from Harry's third marriage. Eleven-year-old Mary hates Emma because she makes her bathe and keep her room clean. Mary is an unruly character, but is very protective of her father. I liked her a lot.

After taking care of Harry’s debts, Sam sets credit up for him at some local stores and takes off to tend to his business dealings. When he returns several weeks later to see how Emma is working out, he is quite pleased with the condition of the house, garden, and other things around the property. He also learns that Emma has earned a name for herself knitting socks. She barters for provisions, repair work, or whatever the passing strangers have to offer for the price of her socks. She is quite efficient in her small business and keeps meticulous records.

There are several twists in the story when Sam decides he could use Emma in his business dealings by having her keep his books. Mary is thrilled that Emma will be traveling with Sam until her replacement arrives. When things start heating up between Sam and Emma you can’t even imagine the twists and turns that happen. What a fine mess this has created. Sam has no intention to ever marry or have kids because of the things he had to endure and still has to deal with due to being a half-breed. Emma has stars in her eyes and old German traditions that are important to her and she does eventually want a family. Both Sam and Emma are very stubborn people, set in their ways, and not willing to give up what is important to them. Can these two headstrong people find some middle ground that works for both of them?

Besides the fact that Emma is a bit whiny and the author seemed to repeat Emma’s frets too often, I enjoyed the story.

Buy now from:      Amazon US      Amazon UK

FYI:

There are several sexual scenes some may find offensive. However, I enjoyed them.

Format/Typo Issues:

I don’t recall any issues of significance.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words

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