Love on the Range. (Brothers In Arms #3) Mary Connealy. 2021. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Molly Garner bent over Wyatt Hunt bathing his fevered brow. How many gunshots did a woman have to tend in one lifetime?
Love On the Range is the third book in Mary Connealy's Brother in Arms series. I've already reviewed Braced for Love and A Man with a Past. Each book is about a different brother--or half-brother if you want to be specific. Kevin Hunt, who starred in Braced for Love, fell in love with Win Hawkins, a neighbor and former school teacher. Falcon Hunt, who starred in book two, fell in love with his half-brother's half-sister, Cheyenne. Wyatt Hunt, who stars in book three, falls in love with his half-brother's half-sister, Molly. All three romances are of the INSTA love variety. All three books feature VIOLENCE predominantly. That is there is this UNKNOWN someone or group of someones that continually and persistently try to MURDER all the main characters. Each book will pretend to deal with the actual threat, but the next book will reveal that NOPE, the threat is still there so there's still another somebody involved in an even bigger plot. And since none of the villains have been fleshed out in books one and two, that makes some sense.
So in this one, Molly Garner, Kevin Hunt's half-sister, decides that since she can't teach (because her so-called bad reputation has followed her all the way to Wyoming territory), she'll try out being an unofficial, amateur, untrained "Pinkerton" agent. You know, as you do. With no training (but an amazing ability to make plentiful desserts every single day no matter how far away the closest store is) she'll get hired on as a housekeeper for a man they suspect is a serial killer. Again, you know AS YOU DO. Makes perfect sense, right? Have no qualifications? no training? No problem! Go live with a man you strongly suspect is a serial killer because you can always hit him over the head with a rolling pin.
Meanwhile, Molly and Wyatt aren't the only ones risking their lives. It seems the others are as well. They can't seem to go a few days without being shot at by somebody.
If the plot of the last book has you on borderline frustration in terms of suspending disbelief, this one may push you right off the cliff. It was hard not to get angry and frustrated with the characters. I did enjoy seeing Kevin and Win and Falcon and Cheyenne together. But overall, I would say the book has a very thin, weak, but super-action-packed plot with bare minimum characterization.
I have read Connealy's books in the past and not been this annoyed. So I think it is just this series.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment