GRR Reviews Scarred Hearts (Sand Hill Romance Book by Billi Tiner

Scarred Hearts is a historical Western romance between a scarred woman and a bounty-hunter. Things are angsty between the two, and both have *almost* enough reasons to stop their quest and fall in love instead. The suspense was not too bad but the bad guy was too one-dimensional. This 4/5 is really more of a 3.5/5.

Claire Montgomery is a survivor, having lived through the Civil War, but she was horribly disfigured in the fire that took her parents when Union soldiers raided her plantation. Her only companion was Tobias, a freed slave that was a friend (and former servant) to her. She learned to be a nurse in the Union hospital, and later, doctor's assistant. After the war, she and Tobias moved out west. On the way, they picked up a child, survivor of a bandit attack upon a convoy. Over time she became known as the local healer, and their boy picked up a one-eyed cat and a baby fox as pets. Their world changed when a gunfighter with four bullet wounds collapsed on their land. He barely escaped from the Bowler Gang after taking down one of two gang leaders that raped a rich businessman's daughter. He needed to recover and finish the job, but he was stuck at the farm until he recovers, and he came to love the little family. When another woman was brought in with severe head injuries caused by her husband (and her 3 kids as well), Claire tries to care for her and the kids, then the husband arrives intending to take his wife back by force... And attacked Claire (cracked several of her ribs) when she tried to intervene, and only the timely arrival of the gunfighter sent him running, vowing revenge for stealing his family...

The two wounded people falling for each other the push-pull is quite interesting, and the suspense was fine. The problem is the villain, i.e. the town gossip and the evil husband, are just too flat for them to be interesting.

Category: Historical Western / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Bounty Hunter Falls for the Scarred Healer Who Healed Him, bu Can She Also Heal His Heart? Can He protect her when she's threatened?

Tropes: woman in peril, protector, scarred, law enforcement,

Overall Rating: 4/5 (rounded up)