This was more charming that I was expecting, even if the book wasn’t the five-star hopeful I was going for.

What I really enjoyed was the romance, so that’s a positive. It’s pretty instantaneous, but with the time period + layout of the story, it worked well. Matt is a stoic ex-cavalryman trying to assuage his guilt and Josephine is a doctor trying to get the respect she deserves. I love the way these two hit it off and anytime Matt grasped her for a fierce, will he survive, kind of kiss, I swooned big time.

There was a severe lack of dialogue. The more I read the more I started noticing that the pacing kept sloooowing down. I wanted more conversation and banter between anyone. The story then started to feel about 50 or so pages too long. The plot was entirely focused on something that I didn’t realize was going to take up so much page time. It’s not that it was bad, with the combination of other issues, just made me want to skim to the good parts.

I loved the setting because I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a Western historical romance (and I need to change that ASAP). And I also admittedly love a good lover distress moment where someone needs rescued. Cue a racing heart and daring getaways.