Shotgun Bride by B.J. Daniels



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Handsome as sin and wild as the western wind

That's the Corbett brothers for you, and Shane's no exception. No way is he settling down just because of some ridiculous marriage pact--especially not with a cowgirl from small-town Whitehorse who seems so young and naive. At least that's what this hardened lawman keeps insisting.

But when Maddie Cavanaugh's kidnapped and drawn into a world of violent greed and despair, Shane jumps into action. While he has no trouble subduing her captors, resisting the force of Maddie's charm is harder than he could've imagined, and it seems as if stubborn Shane may be the first of the Corbett boys to surrender his bachelorhood.

I received this ebook free for being part of Harlequin Ambassadors (check out their site here and find out what you can do to join!). I believe this book is only available in ebook format, at least at present time. After I read it I was asked to complete a survey regarding the book to see what I liked and what I didn't like about it. Surprisingly, I actually did enjoy this book! The reason I say "surprisingly" is that I didn't exactly love the cover and some of these western books can border on...well, cheesy. In this book Shane Corbett, a former Texas Ranger, and his brothers are in a bit of a predicament. One of their late mother's wishes was for all of her sons to be married to Montana women, and sooner rather than later! None of the Corbett brothers are the least bit interested in getting married right now, so they draw straws on who will be first. Shane's womanizing younger brother draws the short straw and announces he has the perfect woman that his dad and step-mom will adore: Maddie Cavanaugh. Maddie used to live in Whitehorse but escaped after a nasty break-up with her ex-fianc. Now she's back and "dating" Jud Corbett, the bad-boy Hollywood stunt man. Shane doesn't understand what Jud wants with Maddie; she's definitely not his type. But as he keeps getting thrust into situations with Maddie, he starts to see what an amazing woman she is. Unfortunately before he gets the chance to know her very well, she's kidnapped and it's up to Shane to track her down. With her life on the line and secrets lying behind every door, can Shane rescue her in time?

1) Character Development: The characters are pretty well developed in this novel. We get to learn about Maddie's past, from her cold-blooded mother to her crazy ex-fianc. We also learn a lot about the Corbett family, and what brought them to Montana. You don't get a lot of background about the other brother's individually, but we do learn some about Shane, mostly the fact that he used to be a Texas Ranger who was injured and is now on leave. It's pretty obvious that he loves and misses his job, but is also scared to return to it after what happened. We do find out that he shot and killed the man that shot him, but the book does not go into details about what exactly happened. I think the book gave just enough background to really connect with the characters (definitely with Maddie more than Shane).

2) The Good, The Bad, And Sometimes Ugly: First the good - I really liked the characters and I was so happy at the depth of the story line and the twists and turns that occured throughout the book. I was expecting a straight-forward country love story, but it was so much more than that. I love a good romance with suspense and this delivered! The bad: I felt like Shane was a main character, but he was almost pushed to the way-side throughout the book to focus on what was happening with Maddie (which was a lot). It made it hard to believe their love in the end, since they really hadn't had enough time to get to know each other. One scene really me think about an article I saw on Heroes and Heartbreakers, where they discussed a dislike for romantic suspense books - mainly when they're running from the bad guys but somehow decide that would be a perfect time to have sex. You could argue that they think they might not come out of it alive, so it's now or never. But still, it feels kind of unbelievable. The ugly: I didn't really find anything super wrong with this book (but feel free to refer back to "the bad"). Some of the dialogue came of as kind of corny to me though, but it wasn't throughout the whole book, just parts.

3) Romance Sizzle Or Fizzle: As much as I enjoyed this book, I'm going to have to say fizzle. Why? Well, like I said before, Shane and Maddie just didn't have enough time to really get to know each other and form that bond. Most of the book is spent trying to rescue her so them being in love wasn't really settling with me so well. But the book was well written enough I could overlook that! Still disappointing though.

4) Uniqueness Of Plot: I wouldn't really say this is a unique plot by any means; it's been done before. But B.J. Daniels does a great job of telling the story and sneaking in the twists and turns that gives this story it's edge. I went in not knowing what to expect and I actually had trouble putting the book down because I just had to know what happened next!

5) Final Thoughts: Very well written book. Few minor things I would change, but overall I really enjoyed this read. I knew as soon as I read that all of the Corbett brothers were supposed to get married that there would be sequels to be had...and I was right! I will most definitely be reading the rest of this series sometime in the future!

Rating: 4/5 stars

To learn more about this author and her other works, please visit her website: B.J. Daniels