Customer Reviews

Once a Lawman (Harlequin Historical, No. 316)

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The Girl: Belinda Jarvis, rich girl from Chicago who has enough smarts to be capable, but not any socks-rocking intelligence. She's come to the territory on a family mission, but her starched and proper manner easily wilts under the burning sun and the hot lawman she crosses verbal swords with.

The Guy: Connor Kincaid, part of a damn-blasted family clan, with 2 other brothers who just happened to have romance novel-worthy lives in the 2 books preceding this one. His job as sheriff puts him at odds with his family because he's bound to do the right thing by the law, rather than what his family wants. He's upright and tough, but he's got a fear of snakes - except his own, of course.

The Setup: Belinda arrives in Sweetwater after receiving word that her brother's son survived an attack by outlaws. The kid just happens to be with the Kincaid clan, and they're not too keen on giving him up since the tot has settled in and started calling one of previous books' heroines "Ma." Belinda enlists the aid of local bigwig Charles Riverton, who has connections with her own family back in Chicago. Unluckily for her, he's a baddie through and through, and if she has to be killed to save his own butt, so be it. Connor and Belinda eventually get on the same page about who is good and bad, and this little clan trilogy gets wrapped up with a family Kodak moment that would need a panoramic lens to get them all in.

The Good Stuff: This was a fine good guys vs. bad guys plot, but nothing leaped out at me as being special. There were shootouts, and a mistaken murder attempt on Connor's life with a bunch of rattlers dumped into a jail cell window, but those where the only high points I can think of. Connor and Belinda had some chemistry, but again, nothing special.

My Gripes: Michaels' way of writing action is a little too bland, namely because she tends to have a minimum of five people in most scenes, so my brain was intent on keeping everyone straight. The big love scene, however, went on for 13 freakin' pages. I ended up skimming it and it was doubly stupid because their dallying around let the bad guys catch up to them, even though both knew they were on a deadline to get to where Belinda's nephew was or else they'd have Riverton's thugs barking down their snorkles. There's a time and a place for everything, you guys.

It's my fault for reading the last book in a trilogy, especially when I know that these family-themed series have every sumb!tch and their brother from every other book crammed in with references to the other books' plots. I don't have the first one, and the second one is buried in a box somewhere and I can't lift more than 5 lbs at the mo'. Sue me.

But it was still a very average western, with the downside of wasting time on other characters who didn't serve much purpose.