Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Once An Outlaw by Debbi Rawlins
Time travel historical western released by Harlequin Blaze 1 Mar 09

No one can accuse the folks at Harlequin Blaze of playing it safe, that’s for darn sure. Fast on the heels of their latest foray into historical settings, they’re now offering up readers a time travel. And not just any time travel, Debbi Rawlins’ latest is a time travel that takes place in Deadwood, South Dakota. Yep, you read that right – it’s a western! Well, y’all know as a diehard western fan that I just had to give this one a shot.

Dr. Reese Winslow is the daughter of two bonafide Hollywood movie stars. Her parents weren’t necessarily neglectful, more like indifferent. So Reese decided a long time ago that her brains were her ticket to personal self-worth. She’s now a respected doctor making the media rounds. However, she had to take time out from her busy schedule to accompany her sister to Deadwood, South Dakota. Their beloved grandmother has passed away, and they need to clean out her old Victorian house because the realtor finally has an interested buyer.

It’s while in the attic that Reese and her sister discover an old wedding gown. It looks to be about Reese’s size, so as a lark she tries it on. While her sister runs down to the car to get her camera, Reese discovers an old photograph of a man named Sam Keegan , propped up in a coffin. Seems the man was a horse thief and was hanged in 1876. This is when the funny stuff happens. Next thing she knows, Sam in the photograph is opening his eyes and starring at her! Then she stumbles, falls, hits her head – and voila! She wakes up in a brothel in 1876 Deadwood wearing a wedding dress and everyone thinks she’s the new whore. She high-tails it out of there lickety-split, and runs into a knight in shining armor. None other than the doomed man, Sam Keegan, who happens to own the livery in town.

What follows is Reese trying to get her bearings (darn, she wishes she’d paid more attention in history class!), and trying to discover a way to get back home to the 21st century. In the meantime, she’s helping the local doctor (who has problem with whiskey) patch up the local residents (mostly from gunshot and knife wounds) and trying to ignore the fact the Sam is the sexiest man she’s ever seen. She also has to figure out why she’s traveled back in time. Was it to save the doomed Sam? To bring modern medical techniques to backwards Deadwood?

Sam is a haunted man with a tragic past. He stays as far away from the law as he can, and that suits him just fine. Unfortunately Reese brings with her unwanted attention. The local madam, Margaret, isn’t pleased that her new whore has run off, and the sheriff is sniffing around the livery. Now there are rumors that a woman is playing doctor. He also can’t seem to keep his hands and eyes off Reese. She certainly has peculiar notions, but damn if she’s isn’t a sexy little thing.

It takes a while for this story to get going. Time travels can be a little tedious with the details (Oh my gosh, I can’t possibly have traveled through time? Can I?), and with the shorter format of the Blaze line this is kept, blessedly, to a minimum. That said, it takes a while for Reese and Sam to get on the same page together and actually talk to each other. Mostly because Sam seems determined to avoid her as much as possible. Luckily, right around the time these two finally get naked together, they also finally start talking.

The second half of the story really picks up. Unfortunately by this point the page count is dwindling and the ending is really abrupt. No mistake, it ends happily, but there’s a pretty big plot hole. Without spoiling it too much, the past has not been put to bed and could certainly rear it’s ugly head. Also, there’s the small matter of Reese’s sister, who isn’t really addressed at all. The author does have a another time travel book coming out in May 2009, Once A Rebel, and one assumes that will be Ellie’s story. Although it’s hard to know for sure since the author’s web site (at the time this review was written) is lost in cyberspace.

Even though the ending didn’t tie things up in an entirely satisfactory manner, this was still a pleasant read with a handful of steamy love scenes. Sadly, for fans, the paranormal boom has not correlated into a time travel boom. While it’s not perfect, it’s sure to please hungry time travel fans in need of a fix.

Grade: C+

Summary:

In the rough-and-tumble town of Deadwood in 1876, cowboy Sam Keegan is about as hard as they get. Considered a real sexy piece of man by the local womenfolk, Sam runs the town livery stable. And he was last seen in the company of a pretty gal in a wedding dress, Reese Winslow…who escaped one of the local brothels!

The little lady claims to be a doctor—from the future, no less! Beware of her, as she’s causing no end of problems. Mostly for Sam, who is real skittish about the law. But trouble or not, the man can’t seem to stop himself from wanting Reese…and learnin’ firsthand what women from the future like to do with hot, hard cowboys!

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series.  Maybe?: