GRR Reviews Heart of Mine by Caroline Fyffe

Beranger is the illegitimate son of a British Duke who decided any fate would be better than living in a household that will never accept him as an equal. He ran away, and eventually made it to the US, and after learning all sorts of skills, found himself as a mine whisperer, with the ability to determine a mine's viability. He's also a notorious "rake", or so the gossip says. His latest client was Emma, the most eligible bachelorette in town, and along with her sisters, are about to inherit a mine. She needs him to make her operation a success in the small town of Eden, Colorado, and that means she can never fall for him. But someone is riling up the town, buying the property out from under the occupants. And Beranger wants Emma to take a chance on him... as a lover... and a husband.

Caroline Fyffe's stories rarely disappoints, even though they are usually epic in scope, with a lot of characters and plots that wanders all over the place, and huge backstories. This is no exception. The way Emma falls for Beranger is gradual, the way it should be done, and there is a bit of a darkest hour with a slight bit of deus ex machina solution, though it fits.

Category: Historical Western

Overall Rating: 5/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below.

GRR Reviews Moon Over Montana (McCutcheon Family) by Caroline Fyffe

Moon Over Montana is a historical Western romance / adventure set in the author's Y-knot universe in Montana. The author has always managed to pack quite a few disparate subplots as well as the main plot and managed to wrap up enough of it to have satisfying ending, but still left plenty of things to write about in future volumes, and this is no exception. I understand this is her style, but there were sure a lot of characters to track.

It is 1886 in the town of Y Knot in Montana. Charity McCutcheon is finally about to marry Brandon Crawford, sheriff of Y Knot, after being rescued (see previous novel) but when a Cheyenne young woman Running Fox showed up half dead, intending to see her half brother, Luke McCutcheon, that ancient family secrets were forced into the light. When Brandon got an offer to be a US Marshall in Kansas City, MI and serve alongside the man who rescued him from bandits that killed his parents, it seems the marriage may not occur after all. When two men found dead outside of town, apparently shot... Running Fox was blamed, even as another Indian Brave arrived in town... Will Charity and Brandon ever get married?

The tales all interlock and run parallel to each other, but they are all complications to the MAIN plot... Charity and Brandon's relationship. While this is a largest cast and relatively long book, everything was wrapped up neatly at the end and serves as a good plotting example to writers on how to layer in the complications. The references back to the earlier volumes are also quite good. All in all a satisfying read.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Sheriff was about to marry his love, but various things got in the way of their wedding plans...

Tropes: law enforcement, marriage, family secrets, conspiracy

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews Montana Dawn (McCutcheon Family Serie by Caroline Fyffe

At over 500 pages, Montana Dawn is certainly an interesting western historical romance novel with a large cast.

Luke McCutcheon is half-blood but treated no different from either of his brothers. The shame is on the inside. On the cattle drive, he came across Faith Brown... on a stormy night, giving birth in her rickety wagon, with only her 8-year-old son attending. He brought her back to the group, fully knowing Faith is on the run from SOMETHING, which she won't divulge. Faith knew she should stay with Luke, who was kind toward both of her children, and the McCutcheons are good people, but she may be putting them in danger. When Faith's brother-in-law arrived, intending to take her back and marry her, Luke intervened. When bad things started on the ranch, Faith had to decide between staying and leaving.

Lots of angst on several levels for both the FMC and MMC. Nice characterization and details for even the supporting characters. I felt the evil brother in law could be explained better than "Faith, you belong with family,", and the novel is a bit long at 500 pages.

Category: Historical Western / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Rancher on cattle drive found woman giving birth in a storm; what was she running from and will she want to be saved?

Tropes: ranch, single parent, woman in peril, protector, triangle, evil in-laws

Overall Rating: 4/5

GRR Reviews Montana Snowfall (McCutcheon Family S by Caroline Fyffe

Montana Snowfall is a historical "Western" Romance that was sweet, and the plot and motivations appropriate, but also has a lot of extra drama about the entire family that asks you to read the entire series in order for maximum enjoyment.

Sally Stanford had to leave St. Louis. She was raped by her married boss, the newspaper editor, and she's now pregnant, but not showing yet. She went west to "visit" her sister and her husband. But her stagecoach was damaged en route and she was tasked to seek help, and got lost, and she stumbled into a snow cabin and almost froze to death, only to be saved by Roady Guthrie, foreman of the McCutcheon ranch, who was out for his own reasons... Hunting a giant bear only known as "The Behemoth". The snowstorm stranded them together, and Roady fell in love. Sally would love to have a family with Roady, but she hadn't told anyone that secret... And when there was no other alternative, Sally asked Roady to marry her in a marriage of convenience, knowing that the child was not his, only to preserve her honor. But will she realize that he will do anything for her?

The summary above is the main plot but there were several subplots, such as an orphan kid in town kinda adopted by the McCutcheon clan, lots of brothers and their wives, the towns folks, and so on, that at times you almost forgot about Sally and Roady. Those who like the entire family saga will no doubt enjoy the extra bits.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Woman seeking to survive was saved by a man seeking redemption; they are snowed in in a cabin and fell for each other... but she's keeping a dark secret and need a favor from him... 

Tropes: woman in peril, protector, pregnancy, forced proximity, marriage of convenience

Overall Rating:  4.5