Got about halfway through this one and just lost interest. Not really into the whole saloon vibe.

I'm pretty sure this is my first book by Maureen McKade. Her writing style has a really good flow and her characters are interesting, although sometimes confusing, people. My only real complaint about this story is that I didn't buy the premise of why the heroine had to work in a saloon in a different town and why she never involved the authorities. Rebecca needs money to retreive her child from the orphanage where she placed him when she could no longer afford to care for him. She's also looking for her husband who deserted her after gambling away her inheritance. She's also a holier than thou prig for the first several chapters of this book. And like I said, I also thought she was pretty stupid.

I liked the writing, I liked the flow; I didn't like the plot or the vapidness of the heroine. But that's just me. ( )

I was hoping this one would be as good as A Reason to Live - one of my favourite books of 2007 but A Reason To Sin just didn't have the same emotional punch as it's predecessor. It could have - it certainly had the potential, but it didn't quite live up to it.
For example, Rebecca was forced to leave her son at an orphanage while she looked for her no-good gambling husband yet I didn't feel the tearing loss such an action would cause. And her conversion to good decent girl to fallen dancing girl went just a bit too smoothly for me. I also didn't really feel the angst when she decided to sleep with Slater.
And while I thought Slater a good hero, I still would have liked to see more of his past. It was done in more of a tell rather than show kind of way. This was also something Rosie noticed.
I was also disappointed at the end. For anyone who has read the first two books, this is about three brothers separated when they were young. The ending had them finally altogether - but it seemed rushed and hurried.
I'm glad I read it. I love Westerns and there are still not enough of them for me and I hope Ms. McKade writes more even though it looks like her next release will be a romantic suspense. I just was left wishing for a bit more. ( )