Sandy M’s review of Texas Tall by Kaki Warner
Historical Western Romance published by Berkley 4 Oct 16

It’s come has a harsh surprise to me over the last several months when a couple of favorite authors’ books weren’t quite up to what I consider their usual standards. As most readers experience, all it takes is one pet peeve to make a difference in enjoyment of reading, and when it’s a favorite? That’s doubly disheartening. I’m finding as the years progress for me, reading young characters is becoming more and more my least likeable trope in romance. So when I was introduced to our heroine, Lottie, and found she’s only fourteen years old – though the story takes us forward three to four years, eighteen is still very young – followed by meeting Ty who’s just twenty, well, needless to say, you can imagine the doubts that began to invade. Fortunately, we are talking about Kaki Warner here.

Lottie ileft her home behind, both the house and barn in flames, a fire she set. With her grandfather inside the barn. She made it as far as Greenbroke, and over the last few years she’s made some good friends, including her best friend Becky, and has been taken in by a loving couple who she thinks of as the parents she now can’t recall. Even though the years pass without incident, once in a while she can’t help but worry when a stranger rides into town. Or Texas Rangers, as just happened. When a gunfight erupts and a Ranger is hit, Lottie rushes to his side to make sure he’s okay. She never expected the bluest eyes she’s ever seen or a connection to a man she’s never met.

Not really remembering much after being shot, what Ty can’t get out of his head is beautiful girl who showed concern for him. They get to exchange a few words, but then Ty is headed back to Ranger headquarters to recuperate. A year passes and the whole time he constantly sees Lottie’s face and hears her voice. Then he’s back in Greenbroke on a different assignment, and he can’t wait to see Lottie. This time, however, they get off on the wrong foot, and I so enjoyed the way Lottie – spunky independent Lottie – makes Ty squirm.

This heroine is definitely a pistol. She’s getting ready to up her game by soliciting businesses to do their accounting – she’s a whiz with numbers. As she takes on some customers, we get to meet those characters who become friends of hers and which also gives us a look into another couple of budding romances, and I hope they each get their own book in the future. If the townsfolk hadn’t been as interesting as they are, as well as Lottie, I might have had a problem with the fact that Ty and Lottie don’t spend a lot of time together until at least halfway though the book, another pet peeve of mine. But this place is filled with all kinds of characters that keep you chuckling and guessing. I especially enjoyed upper-crust British Jane and Briggs, military man and beneath her station in life. It’s interaction with Lottie, of course, that makes it all so much fun.

When Ty has exacted his revenge – the reason from his past that he joined the Rangers – and he’s given less important assignments with men he doesn’t respect, he decides to leave and immediately heads to be with Lottie. As well as they’ve gotten to know one another, there’s still so much unsettled between them. Ty wants one thing for the future, Lottie wants another; each decision due to their pasts. And then just as quick as you can blink, it all comes to a screeching halt when the day Lottie has always feared arrives. She’s taken away in handcuffs to stand trial back home. The reader learns along with Ty exactly what happened when Lottie left her burning home behind her, and that doesn’t sit well with him. Love is one thing, but trust is another. The trial scenes late in the book are well done, keeping you turning the pages for what will happen next.

So, all in all, Ms. Warner put my fears to rest with a heroine who has to grow up fast, living on her own while finding work and love, one easy and the other not quite as easy as she’d thought. I brought my grade down just a hair, only because I agree with Ty about trust. Because Lottie is the woman she is, he gives a lot more than most men of his era, but on that one point he doesn’t. And eventually Lottie realizes exactly why. I’m hoping to meet up with these two in a future book. It will be quite amusing to see how they’ve gotten on in married life.

Grade: A-

Summary:

Seeking vengeance for a tragic past, Tyree Benton joined the Rangers and became a different man—but his brutal actions still twist his conscience. Now he’s found a woman he could love, but she deserves more than a man who makes a living getting shot at. If Ty were honorable, he’d leave her alone. But he can’t seem to stay away….

Orphaned at fourteen, Charlotte Weyland has used her talent for numbers to build enough of a fortune to fund Ty’s dream of owning a ranch…if he’s not too stubborn to accept her help. But when Charlotte’s past catches up to her, she finds herself on one side of the law with Ty on the other. To keep their dreams alive, they’ll have to make compromises, but doing so might cost them everything they have…

No excerpt available.