Along the Rio Grande

I did like the hero and heroine, but felt deprived of a lot of their character growth together. The story mostly focuses on Susanna's efforts as a new innkeeper in a western town. I enjoyed her time building the new business and getting to know new people in town.

I enjoyed all of Owen's scenes and wished they were more in balance with the amount of time spent with Susanna.

What I didn't like was the entire kit and caboodle of family Susanna was saddled with. They were shrill, entitled, controlling, and complaining all the time. I felt like I was supposed to like her uncle, but in “teaching his brother a lesson” he also told outright lies, and then expected to be thanked for his “wisdom” and that was never addressed. Also, the emotional repentance near the end left the family's characters entirely changed literally overnight. That's hard to pull off with one character, but with three it seemed to be very much a stretch of belief.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.