A Cowboy for Keeps. (Colorado Cowboys #1) Jody Hedlund. 2021 [January] 341 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: "Stop or we'll shoot!" A dozen feet up Kenosha Pass, three robbers with flour sacks over their heads blocked the way, their revolvers outstretched.
Premise/plot: Greta Nilsson is taking her younger sister, Astrid, to Colorado in an attempt to manage--possibly cure--her consumption. She is going as a mail order bride. However, the stage coach she's traveling on is robbed, and the man she's supposed to marry is believed to be dead. So what's a young, desperate woman supposed to do in such a situation? Mr. Steele (who lives in the town and was traveling back home on the stage coach) has an idea. He approaches, Wyatt McQuaid, a local rancher (or would-be rancher) with a proposition. If he will "do the right thing" and marry this stranger who's awfully pretty and sweet, he'll help Wyatt pay for the cattle he (desperately) needs to make his ranch a success. The two wed that very day...
But Wyatt feels the only decent thing to do is to keep the relationship platonic for a couple of months until they know they will suit. He wants her to have the freedom to leave with Astrid if she decides thats for the best. She's a bit confused as to why he is leaving their marriage with a big old question mark. But maybe he knows best?
Will these two get their happily ever after? Will their marriage of convenience prove a love match?
My thoughts: Halfway through this novel--there about--and I'd have sworn on a stack of Bibles (not really) that this would be a five star read. It was DELIGHTFUL. I didn't have any doubts that I would end up loving--no adoring--this book. It seemed like a sure enough thing.
I honestly DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
Imagine a juggler juggling five balls. Everything is under control. It's a little tricksy here and there. But he's managing to keep all balls in the air. Now throw an additional four or five balls at him without any warning. All the balls FALL down. There's no graceful recovery.
The original balls were: Wyatt, Greta, Astrid, the secret arrangement with Mr. Steele, and the uncertainty of Astrid's health. What you've got here is enough--a just right amount--of tension for the story.
The chaos-for-the-sake-of-chaos balls were: the VILLAINOUS neighbor, a not-so-dead-after-all groom, financial strain and stress, the need for his younger brothers and sister to come live with them in the spring, Astrid running away from home.
IT was an unnecessarily melodramatic MESS of a novel after all those additional elements were added...I suppose for the sake of "tension" or "good storytelling."
OR you've probably heard the line about throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. It's like the author was throwing EVERY possible plot device or cliche at the wall to see what would stick. And possibly the things that didn't stick were wildfires, arson, earthquakes, avalanches, kidnapping, and flooding. But the truth is TOO much ended up sticking. And instead of their being just the right amount of tension--will they, won't they--in this romance, it's a ridiculous mess.
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