Tight-lipped men who are more at home on the range than in social situations aren’t uncommon in Western romances. The trick is to make these men personable, even though they don’t overtly shine with personality and charisma. Unfortunately, Connor Creed isn’t one of those characters, which marred my enjoyment of Miller’s second in the Creed series.
Tricia McCall has returned to Lonesome Bend, Colorado after her father’s death to sell the family-oriented campground and outdoor theater he ran. Tricia is familiar with the Creeds and the area’s other inhabitants through her grandmother who lives in town and through her summer visits with her dad, so she knows what to expect. Coming from Seattle to stay with Tricia is her best friend’s precocious daughter as her friend and husband house hunt in Paris.
So far so good. I liked Tricia very much and wanted someone as good-hearted as she was to sweep her off her feet. Her Seattle boyfriend definitely wasn’t that guy. Connor Creed with his barely hidden surly attitude, low self-esteem, and lifelong grudge against his twin brother didn’t seem very promising either. Too bad that he was the designated love interest.
Connor has devoted his life to the ranch after his twin brother took off with Connor’s girlfriend. The brother, following the rodeo, seems to have led a charmed life, much to Connor’s disgust. Although Connor is attracted to Tricia, he’s easily dissuaded from acting on that attraction, even though they are thrown together again and again.
As Connor is nudged closer and closer to Tricia by everyone, including her grandmother, her best friend’s daughter, and many of the townspeople, his twin brother and his former girlfriend return to town. While this allows Connor a chance to reconcile with them, in the end it didn’t make him any more charming to me. I wanted something more for wonderful Tricia, somebody whose soul was less gnarled and who would happily love her as she deserved.
As a long-time fan of Miller’s writing, I hated not to love this book. Hopefully the last book in the series about Connor’s seemingly irresponsible twin Brody and the woman whose heart he broke will be better.
Sensuality: Warm
Publication Date: 2011
Recent Comments …
All About Eve is so good: Davis has never been as magnificent. Jerry Maguire is a Cameron Crowe film. That…
My favorite movies are ones set in a particular professional/socio/economic world. My most favorite movie is All About Eve (1950).…
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one. I thought I’d seen all the Hitchcock’s but I’m drawing…
When romance is done well, it’s also my favorite movie genre/genre hybrid. Notorious (1946) is a great classic thriller, of…
I too love CODA. Such a lovely little film.
I adore The Big Sick. Such a great movie–I’ve rewatched it several times already since it came out.