TEXAS LOVING

Author: Leigh Greenwood ISBN: 9780843956863 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER
Time Period: Victorian, Old West

The freedom of the range, the bawling of the longhorns, the lonesome night watch beneath a vast, starry sky—they got into a woman’s blood until she knew there was nothing better than the life of a cowgirl…except the love of a good man. Lord Davenport Born and raised on the Broken Circle Ranch, Eden never expected to fall head over heels for the heir to a British earldom. As the youngest of the Maxwell clan, she was used to riding her mustang across the plains, not a carriage through Hyde Park, and she’d sooner have coffee from a chuck wagon than tea in a society drawing room. But there was one thing London offered that was not to be found in all the Lone Star State: A man who captured her heart and thrilled her senses. Now the only challenge was convincing him to try love, Texas style.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Leigh Greenwood sets his historical romance, TEXAS LOVING, in Victorian England and the hill country of Texas. An English Earl descends on the Texas ranch home of Jake, Isabelle and Eden Maxwell to announce that Isabelle is his daughter (much to her surprise) and that he'd like them to visit his home in England so he can get to know them.

When they arrive in London, they find relations strained among the Earl, his layabout nephew Cyril, the Viscount, and the Viscount's eldest son (and heir) Edward, who does all the work that supports this multigenerational family. Edward is expected to not only do all the country estate management and keep up social appearances in London, but also marry a wealthy young woman that he doesn't love in order to keep the family afloat.

Eden sees Edward's unhappiness, and when she discovers a way for him to get out from under it all, he takes it. Doing so means renouncing his title and moving to America, where he starts over with his lordly wardrobe and a fast horse that he decides to enter in a race to win a purse large enough to start his own ranch.

Eden and Edward fall in love, but they were raised with such different cultural conventions and mores that they often misunderstand each other. Things are complicated even more by a gang that is wreaking havoc on the various ranches amongst the Maxwell clan and particularly targeting Eden. It seemed obvious to me how the mysterious marauders were getting away with their mischief, and I wondered that the characters' inability to figure it out. There was a lot of talk between Eden and Edward, but only a smattering of action. When they finally do make love, it's apparently their last physical encounter until the honeymoon. The story almost wasn't interesting enough to support the lack of intimacy and moodiness of Edward.

One thing that irritated me about TEXAS LOVING is that Greenwood uses quite a bit of contemporary language. While that seems to smooth the narration, I found it very jolting for a character set in that time to use the phrase "old school." I realize that Dickens used a variation of the term in Bleak House, but in this instance it seemed not to fit since other language of that time wasn't utilized.

Another device I found difficult was that Greenwood frequently moved from one point in time to another without any kind of signposting. At the end of one paragraph, a happy couple is being congratulated on their engagement, and at the beginning of the next, relatives are showing up from England without any denoting of time passage, even though it would take weeks for them to get there regardless of the fact that Eden sent them a transatlantic telegram inviting them to come to Texas.

I recommend TEXAS LOVING to any reader interested in comparing and contrasting the courting customs of Victorian England and the American Old West.

Susan Barton