When you sit down to read a book, it’s sometimes hard to get into it when it’s the next in a series and the first two books really didn’t do it for you. That’s how I felt when I began to read Leigh Greenwood’s next book in his Cowboys series, Buck. It’s amazing, though, how you can change your mind. Buck, for me, took off with a vengeance. There were were no gaping questions left unanswered, the bad guys were recurring through the story, making it worth reading, and when I had finished it, I had a satisfaction I didn’t have with either Jake or Ward. Whatever Leigh did in Buck, it worked for me and whatever I felt he’d lost in the other two books is back in Buck.

Buck Hobson is a man who’s known pain and rejection most of his life. As a boy, he was sold by his father for money, was made a slave, and was beaten by various owners, the most vicious of them being Hannah Grosseck’s father. Grosseck was the man who beat Buck so badly six years ago, that he was near death when he was found by Jake and Isabelle Maxwell (Jake). Buck has recovered, grown up, and has now found a reason to leave his adoptive parents – he plans to own Nathaniel Grosseck’s ranch, lock, stock and barrel, and get his revenge against both Grosseck and his daughter, Hannah.

There were times when I cried in this book. I cried for the child rejected by both his parents – the first time when his mother walked out the door, the second, when his father sold him into slavery. I cried for the unresolved pain he carried for a lost sister, a life of abuse, and I cried for a child who could never accept being a part of his adopted family, no matter how much he loved them or they loved him. I cheered, too, that he was man enough to get on with his life. Buck Hobson had to make his own way but when he did, he finally came home.

There were some great characters in this book, too, such as Zeke, the black boy that Jake and Isabelle rescued at the same time as Buck and made him an adoptive brother. And there was Tom Gladdis who was a joy of a character, a tease of the first rank, especially concerning Zeke. Guess you could say he was the comic relief and at times, a much needed relief.

Hannah Grosseck was a true heroine, a woman who’d been almost as abused by her father as Buck had been. She and her mother had suffered as many, possibly more, punishments than Buck ever had, but it was wonderful to see these two abused women willing to try to stand on their own, become their own people. It wasn’t easy, and Leigh didn’t give them easy ways out either. But a book can only say so many things, so their adjusting to a new way of life and a chance at happiness had to come relatively quickly, and I thought Leigh did this quite well – I always look for the positive.

I liked the story line. I thought Leigh showed great compassion while delving well into the sufferings of people who have had to live with spousal and child abuse. Leigh redeemed himself in my eyes with this book, and I’m now looking forward to his next one. I hope it’s as good as I found this one to be.