Suddenly, You
It’s the fall of 1872 in Cedar Springs, Colorado, and Jasmine Fairchild is a barmaid at the Dark Horse Saloon. Coming from a poor family, Jasmine has overcome her upbringing to make her own way without tarnishing her reputation by resorting to the oldest profession. And then Quentin Smith arrives…
A former Texas Ranger, Quentin Smith is trying to defeat his past: a violent career that’s so popular with folk that his exploits are immortalized in dime-store novels, and a wife murdered because of him. Now retired and working for the Kansas Pacific Railway, he’s in town on the pretext of recuperating from physical injuries, but he’s actually trying to track down the financial backer for a gang of train robbers. He meets Jasmine Fairchild. They both try not to fall in love.
Shelley Galloway’s characters are good, Jasmine being the atypical bar maid concerned about staying honest, of being a decent woman in spite of her job. The author details how she’s handed the opportunity to mix with the respectable town women; how she longs to dare to think about being in a romance with Captain Smith, even as he is coming to the realization that he might be ready to leave his wife’s memory in the past; how Jasmine’s trust in Smith could cost her her life. Suddenly, You is a highly readable romance with realistic overtones of Western adventure. I recommend it as a great book for a summer weekend escape.
