Tyler Calhoun has just been hired to capture a bounty named Nicky and he is determined to bring the outlaw in. He's the best at what he does and he's made quite a name for himself, so when he finds out that Nicky is actually Nicole, he's insulted that someone with his considerable skills would be sent out after a woman. The reward covers up any ruffled feathers though and he's soon on his way, sure that this will take no time at all. When next we meet Tyler, he's being tortured by a group of bandits, facing certain death, only to be rescured by the very woman he's hunting. While Tyler is definitely grateful, he's soon back on her trail. He catches up with her and is determined to bring her in. Nicky is equally determined to not go back. She faces painful memories back home, plus a hangman's noose. She's going to make their trip as annoying and painful as possible for this overgrown bounty hunter and of course that just means the sparks are going to fly.
Eh. Kind of undecided on this one. It's definitely not erotica. Not even close. They don't even have sex until well into the story. The Old West setting that Beth Williamson created certainly felt believable, but other than that, I didn't really enjoy this book. I liked Tyler, he was okay. Nicky wasn't too bad either. I think I got mad at everyone's actions, to be honest, but then I don't like this type of book to begin with so I am definitely biased. I don't like the man being a bounty hunter who is sent to drag the murderous outlaw back to justice, who is in fact a nubile young woman (and always a virgin) who falls in love with her jailer/bounty hunter, and despite knowing she is probably innocent, the bounty hunter still drags her back to face certain death, realizing along the way that he loves her. Yawn. I've read this book before and this one is nothing new. Though there is an injection of the paranormal in the fact that Tyler swears he hears Nicky calling to him when she is in trouble. That was interesting but it didn't really go anywhere. What really set my teeth on edge is when right in the beginning, Tyler meets up with two men who try to warn him off the task of collecting a bounty on Nicky. It turns out that these men were Nicky's brothers. Now I'm sure their manly growling was tough and ferocious but it still didn't change the fact that Nicky's family never really got off their butts to go look for her. I just couldn't wrap my mind around that fact and since I suspected that those men were Nicky's brothers right from the beginning, it immediately soured the rest of my reading.
So I'm undecided on this one. It was okay. Nothing new or special. I liked Tyler and I liked Nicky. I just didn't like the parts they were forced to play. I'll try the next book in this series someday.
Buy The Bounty (Malloy Family, Book 1)!
