Harris writes about the Wild West with knowledge. I learned a thing or two about cattle rustling, land boundaries and the Crow Indians. It was a wild territory where men took the law into their own hands, including Luke Sullivan. He reminded me of Lucky Luke. I enjoyed the banter between Luke and Emily, which was sometimes silly but mostly downright funny. I wish there had been more of it. Emily wasn’t your typical female and although I enjoyed their spats, there wasn’t enough physical attraction between them. Their first kiss failed to move me, and I didn’t feel it moved Emily all that much either!

Also, I felt the tough, gun-slinging, fast-shooting ex-vigilante cowboy didn’t suit the image of a praying devout person nor, at times, the feisty Emily who was a little too forthright and thought nothing of massaging the naked back of a man, a very intimate gesture. This made me question two things: First: Why would the headmistress of New Hope let Emily take care of Luke alone in his room? Propriety was not questioned during several occasions, and I found this a little unrealistic for the late 1800 Christian setting. Second: Wouldn’t an 18-year-old girl with little exposure to society react at the sight of a strapping cowboy’s torso? Not Emily. No elevated heartbeat, no blushing, no obvious attraction. I’m not saying the author should have avoided the situation, but I would have expected some repercussions, whatever they would have been. It would have rendered the story more realistic and served as romantic tension between the couple.

However, I did enjoy the story, and if you like a clean Western romance the story is well written and captivating.