Dinca’s review of The Cowboy Sherriff by Trish Milburn
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin American Romance 1 May 12
This is a heartbreaking, love-filled drama and a little baby girl that you will fall in love with before you ever meet her. The typos in the first chapter almost had me abandoning the story, however. I usually give it three chapters and if I haven’t been grabbed by then, the book falls by the wayside. I think I fell in love with little Hannah as fast as Simon does, so I had to keep on reading.
Keri Mehler is devastated when Simon brings her the news her sister and brother-in-law are killed in an auto accident. Her little niece is unharmed but needs her now. With her parents gone and her brother unreachable, Keri is surviving on auto pilot trying to arrange the funeral, care for Hannah, and run the family bakery. Keri needs all the help Simon is giving her, but she can’t help resenting it because of the past wrong she feels he did to her brother.
Simon hates all the tension between them and other than telling her the truth about her brother and hurting her all over again, there is nothing else he can do. But she needs his help whether she admits it and wants to accept it or not. He finds himself returning to the bakery to help Hannah out, along with anything else he can do.
It is interesting moving through Keri’s mind as she sorts out her feelings for Simon pertaining to the past and her totally different feelings for him about the present. Everyone, including Simon, is trying to determine if her feelings are real or just her mind functioning on exhaustion. With everyone she has loved either dead or leaving her, it is hard for Keri to show affection – even to the tiny little Hannah who needs all the love and affection she can get.
Keri tends to her needs but doesn’t have the time or energy to hold her. Simon picks her up when he is around and Keri resents his affection and caring for Hannah too. I had to shave a few points off on the heorine for this, but then I gave them back later on. Simon gets a couple of points off too when he asks a girl out in the bakery right in front of Keri. But I forgive him and gave him back his points as well. Now Justine, the gal he asks out needs her own story because I really like her short spot in the story line as a secondary character. Apparently she verbally kicked Simon in the butt.
All in all, the storyline is good with sound characters and a surprise at the end that could turn into a book of its own. I am disappointed with the typos in the beginning and if I am still remembering them by the end of the book, there is no way I can give this an A.
Grade: B
Summary:
He wants to serve and protect…
Still, Keri Mehler wants nothing to do with Sheriff Simon Teague. Keri has lost almost her entire family, her brother Carter is who-knows-where, and now she is sole guardian of her late sister’s ten-month-old girl. She doesn’t need her old crush coming around and stirring things up even more!
Everyone in Blue Falls, Texas, might find the cowboy sheriff charming, but Keri knows the truth. Simon was the reason her brother ran off for a life of trouble, and he’s the last person she would turn to for comfort. But the lawman seems determined to help her and her little niece. Keri is equally determined to keep Simon at arm’s length. She wants to hate him, but his charm may finally be getting to her, too.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
My review of The Cowboys Secret Son
