Kendra Jenner is a self-sufficient journalist and single mom living in Far Hills, Wyoming. Her two-year-old son, Matthew, was conceived during a brief encounter with a native of the island of Santa Estella, where she’d taken shelter from a hurricane while investigating the legend of Taumaturgio- a man who daringly risks his life to bring supplies to the children of the island. Finding herself alone during the storm, she’d wound up in the arms of a Spanish-speaking man who called himself Paulo Ayudor. They made love for one night, out of desperation and fear, after which he disappeared, never to know of her pregnancy and the birth of his son.

Three years later, Kendra has given up her fast-paced network news reporting job and moved back to her slower-paced hometown in Wyoming to work for the local paper and raise her son. She is shocked when Paulo comes to her Far Hills Ranch one day to claim Matthew as his child. He is also calling himself Daniel Delligatti and speaking perfect English.

Kendra is angered that he would show up now, and especially that he lied to her about himself during the hurricane when she talked about her troubled past and future hopes to a man she didn’t think understood her language. But the smooth, somewhat tortured Daniel is eager to stake his claim and situate himself into his son’s life and that of the child’s mother. He explains to Kendra that he learned about the birth of their child while he was on assignment for the government. He intends to retire from that profession and help her raise their son, while she is reluctant to trust him, worried that if Matthew comes to know and love Daniel as his father, Daniel will ultimately leave and break both their hearts.

That’s it, folks. That’s the conflict. Pretty straightforward, and for many readers of romance maybe not enough.

I deliberated on a grade for Lost and Found Groom. My gut reaction was to give it a solid C. It was okay. All of it – story, conflict, resolution, and romance. There are some minor problems that could have been addressed by the editor, one of which is an annoyingly tedious number of words and phrases in italics. Another is the frequent lack of romance and sexual tension between the hero and heroine. So why the B-?

Well, the annoying italics are offset by the clever and, I dare say, meticulous writing. The author has a smoothly unique way with words. But I would call the romance subtle. The reader gets a lot of telling about how Daniel is aroused by Kendra, and how Kendra still wants Daniel despite her good intentions, but we see very little of these feelings as reactions between the hero and heroine. What we see a lot of, however, is baby speak, baby raising, small-town gibberish, and good ol wholesome coming-to-terms-with-tormented-pasts.

And so, for these reasons, I give a qualified recommend for this book. Lost and Found Groom is a good, cozy, curl-up-in-a-chair-on-a-rainy-afternoon read for those who like homespun books with a return to family and a satisfying ending. However, it might not appeal to those readers who desire high sexual tension and a deep emotional journal for the protagonists. Regardless of the fact that the story wasn’t exactly engaging for this reviewer, I still wanted to finish the book, and probably would have even if it hadn’t been for review. I know there are romance readers out there who will also enjoy this sweet, technically well-written story.