Braced for Love. (Brothers in Arms #1) Mary Connealy. 2021. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Kevin Hunt came awake with a snap.
Premise/plot: The Hunt brothers are disgruntled. With ample reason, I'd say. Wyatt, Kevin, and Falcon are three half-brothers who have never met. Wyatt Hunt has grown up in Wyoming on a ranch and never thought he'd be having to split the ranch three ways. (Kevin grew up in Kansas. Falcon grew up in Tennessee.)
The plot of this one is perhaps purposefully written to drive synopsis writers CRAZY. It is over-the-top in many, many ways. Essentially, Kevin Hunt, our hero, is on the way to Wyoming with HIS half sister (Molly) and half brother (Andy) to meet his other half brother (Wyatt). When the novel opens he doesn't know about Falcon (another half brother). Turns out Wyatt has a half-sister (or possibly step sister???) named Cheyenne. Everyone thought the ranch would be divided between Wyatt and Cheyenne. Wyatt is angry. Cheyenne is infuriated. Like if she was a cartoon character, not only would steam be blowing out of her ears, her head would pop off to let steam out. She is 100% rage.
There's enough tension between all the family members--but that not being enough, there are villains (of course there are!). Will everyone LIVE long to have a family dinner together???
My thoughts: It was a little melodramatic in retrospect. But at the time I was swept up into the story--like several of the characters were in the white water rapids--that I wasn't thinking, hey, this book is so melodramatic. I enjoyed the characters and the depth of most of the characters. The villains were weak, weak, super-weak in terms of actually being developed as characters. The situations were a little over the top, but at the same time those situations led to some great dialogue.
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