"A Cowboy for Keeps" by Jody Hedlund - Colorado Cowboys, book 1

Greta Nilsson's trip west to save her ailing little sister, Astrid, could not have gone more wrong. First, bandits hold up her stagecoach, stealing all her money. Then, upon arriving in Fairplay, Colorado, she learns the man she was betrothed to as a mail-order bride has died. Homeless, penniless, and jobless, Greta and her sister are worse off than when they started. Wyatt McQuaid is struggling to get his new ranch up and running and is in town to purchase cattle when the mayor proposes the most unlikely of bargains. He'll invest in a herd of cattle for Wyatt's ranch if Wyatt agrees to help the town become more respectable by marrying and starting a family. And the mayor, who has promised to try to help Greta, has just the candidate in mind for Wyatt to marry.

I did enjoy the book. It's primarily a story of Wyatt and Greta's relationship, but there's a perfectly despicable villain to hate, which adds some excitement to the plot. Wyatt's a sweet cowboy, rather back-woodsy, but good-hearted and kind, though he can stand his ground well enough. I liked him a lot. Greta is a devoted sister, selfless in her care for Astrid (not a lot more to say about her--it pretty much defines her). Both Wyatt and Greta get down on themselves a lot, a result of their experiences in the past, though they eventually grow. Astrid toes the fine line between precocious and obnoxious (she's frustratingly disobedient, especially when she's in obvious danger. But the stuff that comes out of her mouth, while generally mortifying to Greta, is undeniably amusing).

It's a small thing, but forced public displays of affection really bother me, and this is not the first book by the author in which someone publicly pressures the characters into "proving their relationship" in front of them with arduous kissing. I just can't see anyone bullying people into kissing like that in real life (obligatory wedding day kisses aside), and propriety is a lot less constrained now than it was in the 1860's. It really rubs me the wrong way, even in fiction.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Colorado Cowboys
1. A Cowboy for Keeps
2. The Heart of a Cowboy
3. To Tame a Cowboy