Drew
Grade : D

Frankly, it was all I could do to get through this book without nodding off. Actually, I did nod off a couple of times; thank God for Starbuck's which I took intravenously while doing jumping jacks and popping NoDoz. Leigh Greenwood's latest installment of The Cowboys, the continuing saga of the adopted offspring of Jake and Isabelle (as introduced in The Cowboys: Jake), concerns the only female in the extended family - Drew Townsend. Drew is a crack shot. Drew can hit anything she aims at. Drew can shoot from the standing position atop a galloping steed. Drew can shoot upside down hanging over a bale of hay. Drew can shoot from a sitting, standing, running, hopping, skipping, jumping position. Drew never misses. If Drew is offended in any way, she threatens to shoot you.

Cole Benton is the federal marshal out to discover who's been holding up banks in nearly every town Drew has performed in. As the star of Earl Odum's Wild West Show, Drew and two of her ten adopted brothers, Zeke (who's black) and Hawk (who's half Indian) are often in the spotlight, so Cole joins the show as part of Drew's act in order to investigate her and her suspicious "brothers" more closely. Even though witnesses have never mentioned that the crack-shot woman who held up the banks was in the company of a black man and an Indian, Cole immediately assumes Drew is guilty and that her brothers are her accomplices.

The remainder of the story involves Cole denying his attraction to Drew, and his self-admonishments that he'd better keep his mind on his work. A crack federal marshal, Cole is not. But he's a whiz at show-biz and comes up with stunt after stunt for Drew to perform, which she reluctantly does. Ultimately, everybody's families, including families from Greenwood's original Seven Brides for Seven Brothers series, as well as Cole's aristocratic Mississippi family, filter in and out of the story, and are only there to help Drew convince herself that she loves Cole.

Of course, Cole and Drew fall in love, but when she discovers he's a fake and has joined the show only to spy on her, Drew feels betrayed and heads for the hills. Eventually, everything works out, but the process was dull as ditchwater. I flipped to the love scene, not to enjoy it, but to determine the Sensuality rating.

This book had real potential. The author based Drew's story on real-life crack shot, Annie Oakley and her husband, Frank Butler, a man she met when she out-shot him during a contest. But Drew and Cole's story is lackluster, with scenes that go on far too long, anachronisms galore, poor historical timing, stilted dialogue, and a heroine who has absolutely no reason not to fall in love with hunky Cole Benton.

Orphaned at the age of ten, Drew lived with Jake and Isabelle, who gave her a fine example of wedded bliss. Several of her brothers are married, providing more examples of wedded bliss. And yet Drew insists all she wants is a ranch of her own, but no man, no marriage, no wedded bliss because she just doesn't think that kind of happiness exists (her dead parents had a lousy marriage and she just can't get over it). While it was somewhat interesting for the author to turn a standard romance novel excuse on its head by having the heroine rather than the hero refuse to accept love and marriage, it still came across as artificial. It was simply a ploy to keep Cole and Drew apart. Also, Hawk, Drew's adopted half-breed brother, who has been raised by whites, talks in fake TV-movie Indian pidgin English. "Me leave now." "Me go." "I kill." Hawk's character was an insulting and offensive stereotype, and I was surprised to find it in such a popular author's book.

Oh, and another thing. This story takes place in 1874, yet we are expected to believe that people actually used words such as "deadbeat," "bugging me," "sexy," and "libido" in common language. But the deal-breaker for me was an anachronism too huge to ignore: the very fact that Drew performs in a Wild West show in 1874, when Buffalo Bill Cody didn't invent the Wild West show concept until 1882. This may not seem like such a big deal, except that 1874 was right in the middle of the Indian Wars - of which no mention is made - and it is unlikely that Earl Odum's Wild West Show would have had Indian actors gleefully participating while their tribes were being mercilessly slaughtered by the Army back home. Even half-Indian Hawk seems oblivious.

This author has a huge following and this story had much potential. Fans of Leigh Greenwood will probably enjoy Drew in spite of the fact that every other phrase out of her mouth is: "Shut up or I'll shoot you." An Author's Note in the back of the book talks about Annie Oakley and her fascinating career. Instead of reading Drew, my advice would be to go to your local library and check out a book on that incredible lady. You'll find yourself with a much better story on your hands.

Reviewed by Marianne Stillings
Grade : D

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : June 24, 2000

Publication Date: 2000

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