Review

Blackwood’s Woman

This is the first story in the book and it sets the tone for the damsel in distress theme that fits the book quite well. Joanna Beaumont has been traumatized by a demented rapist/killer. She is struggling to regain her life and her confidence. While hiding out from the rest of the world, she stumbles upon her great-grandmother’s diary and discovers that her great-grandmother had a passionate love affair with a Native American, Benjamin Greymountain, during her archeologist expedition with her husband. Joanna is captivated with her great-grandmother’s description of the New Mexico land and her love for the Native American people. She decides to go to New Mexico to start over.

Joanna has changed her views on life and is at peace in her new place at Blackwood ranch. She is hoping to find her own love story just as her great-grandmother did and she might have stumbled upon it when she spots J.T. Blackwood onto of his horse. The two clash immediately. J.T. is hard and cynical and is nothing like Benjamin.

J.T. believes Joanna is a spoiled southern socialite and she represents everything he hates. He knows her type. She finds him captivating but will submit to her desires because he is a half-bred (Native American/White). Joanna blows J.T.’s ideas aside when he discovers she was raped and her rapist escaped from prison and is hunting Joanna and the other woman who testified against him.

J.T. a former secret service agent and partner in a security firm, kicks into gear and promises to take down anyone who causes harm to Joanna. As the two try to keep Joanna out of harm’s way, they find out that it is even harder to fight their attraction to each other. 

Being a true romantic at heart, I found Joanna to be sweet and endearing but even my romantic side yelled out for her to get her head out of the clouds and stop comparing her and J.T. to their great-grandparents. J.T. is a bit gruff and cold but eventually he softens up. He also has his own hang-ups about being part Indian and part White and eventually he embraces the fact that he is both. The suspense and romance is dished out in equal measure.

Roarke’s Wife

Cleo McNamara is in deep trouble. Her late uncle’s will has stipulated that she get married and have a baby in one year or else she loses their family company. There has been an attempt on her life and Cleo can’t trust anyone especially her family since they all have their own agendas and want her to sell the company for monetary gains. Her aunt comes up with a brilliant idea to hire a security expert to marry her and father her child and they enlist Simon Roarke to play the part.

Simon has his own issues. After serving military years for his country, he has his share of hurt. He lost his daughter and his ex-wife is a human vegetable. He doesn’t want another wife but the money will be a great way to start over and settle down. He makes it clear from the start that he will not stick around to play daddy to Cleo’s baby but he questions that as he spends more and more time with her.

Cleo is uptight and prissy while Simon is more down to earth. The contrast is nice and they learn to let their guards down enough to give in to the passion. The romance is gradual and interaction is realistic.

I’m sure the author didn’t mean for this story to have humor in it but I could not help but to stifle giggles that erupted from me. The banter and interaction between the family members is entertaining. I kept visualizing the scenes as something I would see in the T.V. show Dallas.  The side characters bring life to the mystery and it kept me on my toes trying to guess who really wanted Cleo out of the picture.

Reviewed by Samantha