Monday, April 6, 2015

Texas Rebels: Egan - Linda Warren

Texas Rebels: Egan
Linda Warren
Harlequin American, Apr 1 2015, $5.50
ISBN: 9780373755622

Leaving New York after a dozen years in the Big Apple due to guilt re her late mom, art teacher Rachel Hollister returns home to Horseshoe, Texas.  However, being away for a long time, Rachel becomes lost in the woods as her car dies.  Tracking feral dogs, Rebel Ranch third son and ex-con Egan Rebel the loner escorts Rachel to safety though he loathes her family especially her father the judge for sending him to prison for a crime he never committed and overturned on appeal.  Those three months destroyed his life even if he met his best friend behind bars.  Crazy Izzy McCray sends his wild dogs at Rachel wounding her until Egan kills several of them before taking her to a nearby cabin.

After tending to her wounds, Egan arranges for Rachel taken by air to the hospital in Temple.  Based on Izzy’s eye witness account, retired Judge Hollister gets an arrest warrant.  As his family rallies around him, Egan tells Sheriff Carson what happened, but drugged Rachel cannot verify this.  Egan goes peacefully with the Sheriff, but his kin is irate.  When Rachel tells what happened, Carson frees Egan.  As they fall in love, obstinate Egan refuses to follow his heart; clinging to his belief that the “acorn doesn't fall far from the tree” in spite of her obvious paternal disagreements.

The first Texas Rebels ranch romance is a delightful contemporary that uses an interesting background filled with family feuds to tell a tale of seemingly forbidden love.  Filled with a deep cast and plenty of suspense (much of which is caused by Rachel’s pursuit of her man), Linda Warren provides an engaging opening act.


Harriet Klausner

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