Fair Is the Rose by Meagan McKinney is the follow up to Lions and Lace that concludes the Van Alen Sisters duology, and it was a fabulous send off! If you read the first book in this series, then you’ve already met Christal Van Alen and know all she’s been through. Accused of killing her parents but spared when her uncle begged to have her put into an asylum instead, Christal is finally free, but hardly doing well. She’s on the run until she can prove her innocence, but when her coach is held up and she’s taken captive, Christal wonders if she’ll ever get that chance. OK - to start off with, this book has one of the best prologues I have ever read. I was immediately enthralled, and I had to know what the heck was going to happen. Now, the prologue may have been a bang of a start, but once it turned to the beginning of the story, things slowed down a bit before they picked back up. We learn where Christal has been for the last few years after escaping the asylum and that she’s been masquerading as a widow to avoid speculation. But then she’s taken captive, and things get going again. A rowdy group of bandits holds up her coach and takes everyone on passage hostage until their demands are met, and Christal can’t help but wonder if the life she’s designed is about to be blown to smithereens. But when Cain, one of the outlaws, puts her under his protection, things quickly change.
This book was so good. Christals tormenting past, and Cain, whose outlaw persona just doesn’t quite fit, were such amazing characters. I loved how stubborn they both were. How nothing could get either of them down, and when they wanted something, they never gave up.
Like I mentioned in my Lions and Lace review, the villain in this series feels like a caricature, but in a Western, that’s what I expect. And it’s what I love. That mustache twirling jerk. There was also the reappearance of a character in this one that was so much fun and unexpected, and I loved seeing them again. I thought this one was a lot more angsty than the previous, and since I live for angst, it totally worked for me. There was also an element to this story that’s one of my favorites, and so I, of course, adored seeing it here! And again, true to the time period, I lapped it right up.
Fair Is the Rose was a spectacular send off to the Van Alen sisters. Even though it was only two books, it was hard to say goodbye. I just love the writing so much, and I love the authenticity to the stories. I can’t wait to read the rest of Meagan McKinney’s books!
Audio: Lisa Flanagan knocked this one out of the park, just like she did with the previous. She does such a good job nailing the characters emotions, and I look forward to anything else she’s narrated.
On the run from the law for a crime she didn’t commit, a woman must trust her life to a gunslinger who is not what he seems in award-winning author Meagan McKinney’s sensual and suspenseful historical romance
With her face on Wanted posters from New York to Missouri, Christal Van Alen dons a disguise, determined to clear her name by bringing the real killer to justice. But when outlaws ambush her wagon train, her fate falls into the hands of the most dangerous gunslinger in the West.
Bringing a gang of deadly felons to justice was supposed to be Macauley Cain’s last job. Then the Confederate soldier–turned–undercover US marshal could retire in peace. But first he is going to solve the mystery of the beautiful blonde in widow’s weeds—a woman who awakens in him a desire as irresistible as it is dangerous—for her past has followed her to Wyoming Territory. Now, with Christal on the run and a merciless assassin on her trail, Cain won’t rest until he finds her again.
The romantic saga of the Van Alen sisters also includes Lions and Lace, Alana Van Alen’s story.
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