Sawyer O'Donnell signed up to be foreman for two years at
the Fiddle Creek Ranch. When he arrives at the bunkhouse
where he is supposed to live, alone, he comes face to
face with Jill Cleary: she reluctantly opens the door and
points a shotgun at him. Although, not Jill's typical
behaviour, he soon learns that this sort of welcome is
somewhat typical of the small town of Burnt Boot, Texas,
where the Gallaghers and Brennans have been at odds for
ages.
After a break-up and losing her job, Jill is
visiting her great-aunt Gladys. Gladys is adamant: Jill
and Sawyer must share the bunkhouse or make other living
arrangements; since neither Jill nor Sawyer wants to
yield, they stay put. When Gladys' friend Polly has an
accident and Gladys must see to her, Sawyer and Jill must
also share chores, and work at both the general store and
the bar, replacing Gladys and Polly. Sawyer and Jill have
no choice but try to get along, and that they do
famously. But then the Brennans and Gallaghers move in
for the kill: both families vie for the water rights that
run through the Fiddle Creek Ranch, which Jill will one
day inherit, and men from both families decide to court
Jill, while the women upon noticing a new man in town hit
on Sawyer.
THE TROUBLE WITH TEXAS COWBOYS is the latest instalment
in the Burnt Boot, Texas series, and although the
story line somewhat carries over from the previous book,
it can easily be read as a standalone. Our favourite
characters -- and those we love to hate -- are back,
hilarious, colourful, and eccentric as ever; what a treat
to be back in Burnt Boot! I love those people, even if
some of them are just plain crazy, it's all part of the
fun. I immediately loved Jill and Sawyer; they are simply
splendid characters and so well-rounded: perfectly
sensible people completely engulfed in the sea of madness
that it Burnt Boot and trying to make sense of what's
happening.
The relationship between Jill and Sawyer is lovely; they
become fast friends almost from the beginning: they do
have a lot in common; their compatibility is not merely
to justify the romance that later develops. The
interaction between the two is very compelling as we
watch them get to know each other: they tease each other,
they have fun, and they plot in order to survive the
craziness that surrounds them.
Ms. Brown has written some
of the best dialogues I've read in a while for Jill and
Sawyer: the exchanges are brilliant in their simplicity
and authenticity. The contrast between the feuding
families and Jill and Sawyer is striking, and it's a
testament to Ms. Brown's abilities to create over-the-top
oddballs as well as rational characters, and make it work
so well. The love that eventually blooms between Jill and
Sawyer is touching and heart-warming, and completely
believable; very well done, Ms. Brown!
Can a girl ever have too many cowboys? No sooner does pint-sized spitfire Jill Cleary set foot on Fiddle Creek Ranch than she finds herself in the middle of a hundred-year-old feud. Quaid Brennan and Tyrell Gallagher are both tall, handsome, and rich...and both are courting Jill to within an inch of her life. She's doing her best to give these feuding ranchers equal time-too bad it's dark-eyed Sawyer O'Donnell who makes her blood boil and her hormones hum...
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