"Swept Away" by Mary Connealy

If there is one thing Mary Connealy does well, it's a romantic comedy.  Clean, exciting, and just plain fun, her novels can beat your average chick flick film any day. 

Just as her Lassoed in Texas, Montana Marriages, and Sophie's Daughters trilogies were all connected, now her new series Trouble in Texas follows the Kincaid Brides trilogy.  Luke Stone, the brother of Over the Edge's heroine Callie, is planning to start something akin to the next civil war when he heads home to reclaim his ranch from a land-grabbing murderer who killed his father.  On the way home, he encounters the half-dead Ruthy MacNeil who had just taken a trip downriver from her wagon train during a flash flood.  Since the nearest civilization outside of Broken Wheel, Texas (if you can call an Indian Territory town containing a whole three women civilization), is a couple days ride away, he brings her home with him and she buys into his fight for his ranch, along with some old friends of his from the War Between States. 

Luke certainly have their struggles with vengeance toward Flint Greer, and his friend Dare, a secondary voice in the novel, has some trouble reigning in his hate toward the wicked wife-beater.  No matter the temptation, though, these are good men trying to act within the boundaries of the law.  Judging by the men introduced, I believe we can expect them to be the leads in the subsequent novels. 

Of all Connealy's "romantic comedies with cowboys," Swept Away most fully embodies the spirit of a good old-fashioned Western, complete with a good old-fashioned, Wild West shootout in the suddenly deserted town.  This novel reads like a film, but no movie could capture Connealy's witty narration that typifies her books and makes them such a pleasure to read.

Highly recommended for all lovers of westerns and comedies!

Trouble in Texas
Prequel: "Closer than Brothers: Surviving Andersonville" (novella)
1. Swept Away
2. Fired Up
3. Stuck Together

"Runaway Bride" (follows Trouble in Texas and Kincaid Brides series; from the novella collection With This Ring?)

"The Tangled Ties that Bind" (follows Trouble in Texas and Kincaid Brides series; from the novella collection Hearts Entwined)