The Cowboy Who Came Calling might have worked for me had the hero and heroine spent more time talking rather than arguing and snipping at each other, then mentally wondering about the other’s thoughts and feelings. They both drove me absolutely nuts.

Glory Marie Day has a large responsibility thrust on her shoulders. Her father has been falsely imprisoned and it is up to her to support her distraught mother and younger sisters, Hope and Patience. Hope is old enough to be of some help, but Patience is still young enough to enjoy dressing their cats up in doll clothes. Glory must provide game to feed the family and try and pay the mortgage on their farm. To top things off, her father is near to death in prison and only wants to see his farm again, but this seems impossible. When Glory realizes there’s a problem with her vision and has trouble shooting game, she becomes desperate.

In her desperation, she attempts to become a bounty hunter (a perfect career choice for someone with failing vision). But she accidentally shoots Luke McClain while both chase the same outlaw. Luke is determined to find out who framed him while he was a Texas Ranger. The villain manufactured evidence against him that resulted in his discharge. Since that was his true calling in life, Luke will not rest until he clears his name. Plus it gives him a chance to stop pining over his brother’s wife. When he meets up with Glory and her family, he has to re-arrange his priorities as the family is truly in desperate straits.

I swear, if I could’ve reached in and smacked Glory over the head, I might not have been able to stop for a long, long time. She just drove me crazy. She is unwilling to accept any kind of help, because damn it, she can do it all herself! She is stubborn, immature, closemouthed and annoying. And those are her more positive attributes.

Luke is not much of an improvement over Glory. He truly wants to help the Day family, but he keeps disappearing and then reappearing in a way that just so happens to coincide with a rash of roberries in the area. Instead of explaining his absences or exactly where he’s getting his money, he stays just as closemouthed as Glory. Plus he spends much of his time moping over his brother’s wife, until BAM, he decides he loves Glory.

There are some interesting moments that save the book from being a total disaster. The author did well describing Glory’s coping with her deteriorating eyesight, and Mrs. Day’s mental health issues, Patience’s role in the family, and Hope’s character were of interest. Even so, these things are simply momentary diversions from Glory and Luke’s pining desperation that neither will acknowledge or, heaven forbid, discuss.

Had I not been assigned this book, it would have forcibly hit the wall after Glory’s character pulls off a stunt so momentously stupid, I laughed out loud. At that point, the book went from merely annoying to extremely ridiculous. My recommendation is to avoid this book altogether to protect the paint in your house.