The Cowboy's Make Believe Bride

This suspenseful romance is well written with delightful characters and a well thought out plot. When Cori's friend provides the perfect solution to her problems, she finds herself face to face with the one man she would have liked to avoid. Fort's father was scammed by Cori's father, who is serving a prison sentence, and the weight of shame that she carries for his actions make it difficult to look Fort in the eye. Just when they both decide that a "make believe" relationship between them is not going to work, they are pushed into their supposed engagement by the very man they needed to convince about their upcoming nuptials. Pulling the wool over the eyes of the town's folk is only one problem they have to deal with. There is also the problem of the missing cattle and wild theories about how and why they are disappearing abound. With Cori's insight into the mind of a con man, she becomes a valuable asset to Fort's investigation, and assists in identifying key players. Fort and Cori have their own history dating back to when they were still in school, and it isn’t all negative. Despite the bad feelings over the actions of their fathers, they nevertheless respect one another and there is a growing attraction between them. I enjoyed both their characters, the playfulness that emerged between them, and ultimately the passion that developed. I was also glad that Fort’s nemesis redeemed himself. There are a few gaps in the story and while the romance between Fort and Cori was neatly tied up with a delightful ending, I thought the criminal plot ended very abruptly and was left hanging. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.

This was a really good read! This is a first for me from this author, and the writing pulled me in from the start. It flowed well, and the characters were great. Fort and Cori were great together, even if the beginning of their relationship was rocky. I thought the secondary characters were developed nicely as well. I loved Cricket and Mrs. Z. The only thing that I would change would be more closure with the cattle thing. I would have liked to have found out the whole story with that. The ending was great, and I can't wait to see who is next in this series! I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.