f there is a subgenre of romance involving lawmen (which my friend thinks there should be if there is not), this book would fall into that subgenre. I have not read previous books in the Granger Family Ranch series, but for the most part, I was not lost by jumping in here at book 4.

Ford Sherman is the lawman in question. He takes the job of sheriff for Wild Horse, Wyoming and starts earlier than his anticipated December start date. Because he's been working in Chicago, many assume he has no ranch skills and won't fit in. Though it is true that he doesn't know much about cattle (leading to a few funny scenes involving his jeep and a herd) he did work on his grandfather's horse ranch in his youth, so he's not a total tenderfoot.

Ford meets Autumn Granger early on in the book. Both are recovering from past loves who basically told them that they were unlovable in such ways that it has made them doubt themselves as potential mates. Autumn is a strong, independent woman, and I can see that it would take a man confident in his sense of self and in his skills to not be threatened by the fact that she can shoot well, manage a ranch, and prefers to be out on her horse rather than in the kitchen.

Side plots include Autumn's older brother getting married to Rori (probably the subject of a previous book in the series), Frank realizing that Cady is interested in him even though she doesn't show it in the same way that other women in town do, cattle rustlers whose MO is slashing every tire on every vehicle on the ranches they plan to hit, and Tucker being hurt while rodeoing.

I gave it 4 stars because for this type of book, I felt the story was well done. It pulled me in to the characters lives quickly and I cared what happened to them. ( )

was a good book ( )

was a good book ( )

Unusally light read by this author. Not much character or plot development. Autumn was burned in love 10 years ago, so she retreats from any dating. Newcomer, Sherriff Ford Sherman comes to town. He's been burned on love too, but hasn't given up and he now has his eye on Autumn. ( )

I have read 17 of Jillian Hart's books and have usually found them to be a pretty entertaining, but this is one is a real dud. Besides the clichéd storyline, (girl has had a bad relationship therefore she can't ever fall in love again), this book is so full of inconsistencies I had to wonder if it was ever seen by an editor! For example: Page 16: “Couldn't be taller than five foot three, he decided She stood a full foot shorter than he did.” Page 98: “What are you looking at?” said by his brother meeting at the airport. “The tall redhead” he says, referring to her.

Page 110: The father of the groom gives the bride a necklace of diamonds that has “been in the family for four generations” and belonged to his mother who had worn it on her wedding day. He has four daughters and he is giving his sons's bride this necklace? I guess it's okay because on page 134 the girls give the bride a charm bracelet saying, “this is a great day...and we want to commemorate it with jewelery”. Gee, this would be a good place for the bride to say “Your father already did that with a diamond necklace that belonged to your mother!” But no. No mention of that.

So the guy (Ford) pursues the girl (Autumn) calling her “sweet”. This “sweety” proceeds, for the majority of the book, to belittle and demean him, call him a liar, and is just generally rude and abusive.

Oh, and did I mention this is a Steeple Hills “Love-Inspired” book? I guess in order to qualify for that publication they had to throw in the occasional prayer, tossed off as “Lord, please, just a little help here”, or “Just give me one chance to win her and I'll do my best with it”. Oh Lord. Not once do you hear them examining their Christian values. Thre is nothing “inspirational” about this romance. I see that the two people who gave this book 5 stars give all their books 5 stars. I gave it 1 star only because I couldn't give it a negative 1.

BTW: This is #3 in the series. "The Soldier's Holiday Vow" is #1. ( )