Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Texas Wedding For Their Baby’s Sake by Kathryn Albright
Historical romance released by Harlequin Historical 1 Sep 09

As readers, oftentimes when we read a book we love, we immediately hope for a sequel.  Sometimes those sequels are just as good, and sometimes it’s a case of be careful what you wish for.  I loved the first book in this series, The Rebel And The Lady, and gave it a glowing review last year.  I really and truly adored it.  So naturally, I was looking forward to this follow-up romance, featuring the wayward Brandon Dumont, who left behind a sweetheart in South Carolina to join the fight for Texas’ independence.  I wish I could say this story worked just as well for me, and I loved it just as much.  Sadly, I cannot.

 Five months ago Brandon Dumont arrived in Texas to join the fight for independence.  He ended up getting captured and was ultimately rescued from a Mexican prison camp by his older brother, Jake.  A doctor, Santa Anna only kept him alive to tend to the hundreds of wounded Mexican troops.  He walked away from the ordeal bitter, scarred, with a bum leg, and a serious case of post-traumatic stress.  Brandon is completely out of sorts, treading water, with no plans for his future.  The only thing on his agenda is the impending arrival of Franklin, the family hired hand from Charleston, who is making the trip for Jake’s upcoming wedding to his fiancee’, Victoria.  Imagine their surprise when Franklin arrives with the lovely Miss Caroline Benet in tow.

Caroline and Brandon were sweethearts that were planning to marry.  However, a failure to communicate, and a kiss shared between Caroline and Jake (oopsie!) sent Brandon running off to Texas.  Since he hasn’t returned to Charleston, she decides to take matters into her own hands and go to Texas to find him.  See, the poor gal is pregnant with his baby, and she’s determined to let him know he’s going to be a daddy.  It does come as a shock to her though that the Brandon she finds in Texas is completely different from the Brandon she fell in love with in Charleston.

This story requires an extreme amount of patience on the part of the reader, and it was only my love for the first book that had me persevering through to the grand finale.  Brandon and Caroline are “torn apart” because they’re both two stupid kids who won’t talk to each other.  My profuse apologies to all the Regency romance couples I maligned over the years for “not talking to each other.”  Turns out romantic couples from the American South also suffer from the affliction.

When Brandon isn’t having a pity party for himself, he’s pushing Caroline away for “her own good.”  No, they can’t be together.  He’s too damaged.  He’s no good.  Besides that, she done him wrong.  Caroline starts out equally as shaky: a prim Southern belle who’s sole purpose in life is to look pretty, smile and do needlepoint.  She’s a bit of a stuck-up snob once she lands in Texas, simply horrified that Brandon would want to live like this rather than returning to South Carolina.  But do you think she tells him about the baby right away?  Of course not!  That revelation doesn’t come out until after they fall into each others’ arms again and Jake finally notices that she’s got a baby bump.

Adding to my annoyance was the fact that Jake, the wonderful hero from The Rebel And The Lady, who I adored, was an insufferable jackass for about three-quarters of this book.

Still, I kept reading – and I was rewarded for it, because the story did get better for me.  Brandon keeps up his noble, sending-away-the-woman-I-love-for-her-own-good nonsense pretty much until the bitter end – but Jake stops being an ass and glory be, Caroline grows up.  The girl reaches deep down and finds her spine.  She starts giving it to Brandon with both barrels and when she actually calls him a coward (to his face!) I wanted to reach through the pages and kiss the girl.  Truly.

It took some patience on my part, but I found the ending of this story ultimately rewarding.  Unfortunately I had to slog through the first half of this novel to get to that point, and there really wasn’t a whole lot I liked there.  In the end, I found it a disappointing follow-up to one of my favorite historicals from last year.  Bummer.

Grade: C-

Summary:

Brandon Dumont is not the man he was. Embittered by war, he’s now a rugged survivor, a broken hero. Certain he’s not fit for society, he finds his lonely self-imposed exile shattered by the arrival of the woman he once bedded and left behind.

Since her fiancé went to war, social butterfly Caroline Benét has had to grow up fast. She’s held up a stagecoach at gunpoint and left the safety of Charleston for wild Texas territory—all to find a man she no longer knows…for the sake of their unborn child….

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series: