I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Just Read, NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
The Accidental Guardian by Mary Connealy Series: High Sierra Sweethearts #1
Published by Baker Publishing Group on April 3rd 2018
Genres: Christian, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Western
Pages: 304
Source: Just Read, NetGalley
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When Trace Riley finds the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he recognizes the hand behind the attack as the same group who left him as sole survivor years ago. Living off the wilderness since then, he'd finally carved out a home and started a herd--while serving as a self-appointed guardian of the trail, driving off dangerous men. He'd hoped those days were over, but the latest attack shows he was wrong.
Deborah Harkness saved her younger sister and two toddlers during the attack, and now finds herself at the mercy of her rescuer. Trace offers the only shelter for miles around, and agrees to take them in until she can safely continue. His simple bachelor existence never anticipated kids and women in the picture and their arrival is unsettling--yet enticing. Working to survive the winter and finally bring justice to the trail, Trace and Deborah find themselves drawn together--yet every day approaches the moment she'll leave forever.
I just need to vent. Really, really need to vent. I have literally just finished a, in my opinion, pretty interesting review of this book. It was gold people, gold! I did my custom message to go out to Facebook and Twitter, I did all the little scheduling stuffs, and I hit the big schedule button. And it takes me to the login screen. No biggies right? WRONG! I come back to NO review. Nothing. Zero, zip, all those interesting words out the window. Words hard people. Words hard. I’ll never recapture the feel of that amazing review. I’m a once in a lifetime kinda girl and as an emotional reviewer (and writer) there is no well thought out plot points and paragraph outlines, it’s just words everywhere as I pray they become cohesive to a reader. That once-in-a-lifetime most excellent review will never be experienced. Why? Because Word Press, the Old Folks Home (sorry Ma :D) internet, or my computer are not feeling the love tonight. Perhaps all three but I ain’t feeling the love. Let’s see what thoughts we can salvage and make into a less-than review of this book that I have already struggled to review.
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that I am an emotional reviewer. I’m a finish the book and turn around to immediately write the review while I’m still steeped in those feels. Postponing a review for me is like letting those emotions drift away and I lose that connection to what I’ve read. I’ve sat on this review for days (and now an extra hour thanks WP) because I just couldn’t find the words. Hindsight being amazing and all I realized that while I really enjoyed the story I just couldn’t connect with it. Let me explain. I have a couple of writing tricks/elements/traps/whathaveyou that drive me over the edge. Insta-love and wishy-washy characters. Let me spoiler this book for a moment with you. Follow along please! Trace rescues Deb, Gwen and the children after a wagon train massacre and takes them to his semi-functional ranch. It’s fall which means that snow is a thing that will happen in copious quantities. Deb is absolutely certain that she is going on to the city come spring and will own her own newspaper and will never work for/answer to another man as long as she lives. Done! Trace convinces her to give it the winter to see if they ‘suit’ as a potential couple. Now then they are off running around looking for bad guys and whatnot and he proposes and she says yes. First, she says she thought about what he said regarding owning a newspaper and changed her mind in a matter of days. Yes, they have met, changed mindsets, fallen in love and gotten married in a matter of days! Her turnabout is really a big deal and I feel like it was a cheater cop-out to not share that inner turmoil with me. I also feel like, while circumstances frequently necessitated quickie marriages of convince in this time-period and in these situations you don’t do insta-marriage on top of insta-love.
Couple that with the fact that I almost feel like Lassie was channeled all over the place in this book. Wolf (the dog), the horse all shades of Lassie. Heck every single farmhand could track at any time, any where, any conditions, any everything. They were like tracking machines, nothing could hold them back. Deb in this little tracker community of insta-love-marriage but I settled into a story that I just held me captive. Connealy has this something (sorry, remember words hard) that takes ordinary words and just makes them reach into your soul and hold you captive. She takes ginormous pet peeves of mine and carries me kicking and screaming through a story that still captivates my imagination. She hands me too perfect characters and still makes me believe they are real. She sets me down in sketchy homesteads that leak heat and gather snow and keeps me grounded in those moments. I want to kick and scream and tell her that insta-love is a trap to move a story along and it’s only successful maybe 3.92% (give or take on the Fizzy scale) of the time. I want to tell her that wishy-washy major decision off screen characters are weak and ridiculous. I also want to tell her that she has a writing style that is endearing and despite all the things that I can’t embrace I can still embrace this book. It held me into tn with gentleness and grace. And despite all the kicking and screaming I am ready for the next book in this series to be available now.
GIVEAWAY
(1) Winner will win: The Cimarron Legacy by Mary Connealy (all 3 print books) and The Accidental Guardian by Mary Connealy (print)
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About Mary Connealy
Mary Connealy writes “romantic comedies with cowboys” and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She has more than half a million books in print. She is the author of the popular series Wild at Heart, Kincaid Brides, Trouble in Texas, Lassoed in Texas, Sophie’s Daughters, and many other books. Mary lives on a ranch in eastern Nebraska with her very own romantic cowboy hero.
My dear! I’m SOOOO SORRY about WP and the internet and the computer.. whichever it is that erased your thoughtful review. However, in all honesty, I LOVE THIS ONE. I love the EMOTIONS I feel with EVERY WORD you wrote. OK.. yes, even the early rant about what happen, and a TOTAL worthy RANT. I’ve done a few of those myself. 😉
Anyways, I LOVE this review. I can FEEL how you felt and LOVE the face that Mary brings you to everything you dislike, but still kept you going through the pages!
Thanks for sharing and joining the tour!
Not just the new ones but all of Mary’s older books are a must read.
I mourn the loss of your original review with you, Fizzy, yet you have recovered brilliantly! Thanks for sharing your book reading experience! I wrote a boring paid review for this book so I envy your freedom to gush, rant, and ramble (that’s my personal preference as well but bills). Well done, fellow book blogger! Well done!
Hi Fizzy Pop. Sorry about Word Press. What you ended up with is great, so thanks for the second effort!!! 🙂
I feel your suffering having been through similar events before myself. Appreciate you greatly for your wonderful review and for being part of the blog tour. I’d great love the opportunity to read the book I have fallen in love with just by the cover.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Thank you for the excellent review and being part of the tour!