A Family for the Rugged Rancher by Donna Alward

Title: A Family for the Rugged Rancher

Author: Donna Alward

Series: Rugged Cowboys

Publisher: Harlequin

Line: Harlequin Romance

ISBN: 9780373177417

More Information: http://www.eharlequin.com

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Emily needed a job badly and with her limited skills, the best she could be was a live-in housekeeper.  Luke Evans was desperate for a housekeeper and was forced to take on Emily when no one else applied for the position.  What he didn’t expect was his pretty housekeeper to have a son.  Avoiding any types of relationships, Emily and her son was slowly changing his mind of having his own family. 

This is the first time I did not like the female protagonist from the start.  Not because of her actions but her just being herself.  Emily has this annoying holier-than-thou attitude.  Considering she was desperate to keep her job, she consistently nagged the hero.  Here are a couple of examples.  Luke did not come to dinner at her allocated time.  (They did not discuss scheduling beforehand).  She confronted him for ruining her dinner.  And when he didn’t compliment and thank her for the dinner, she complained he didn’t have manners.  What right did she have to complain?  The heroine needed to realize this was her boss and not a husband.  Another issue was her son.  She promised him to keep her son out of his way, and then constantly shoved the child into Luke’s face and hassle him for ignoring her son.   And this was only on her first/second day!  The only redeeming quality of this story was the hero.  Luke Evans was a decent hero and I grew to like his brusque manner.  He was pretty easy going and despite his gruff exterior, he has a good heart when it came to people he cared about.  Even though it appeared he was kind of a pushover when it came dealing with Emily and her son but when it counted, he stuck to his guns.  He has his issues when it came to relationships but it was justifiable and I respected him when he made the first move to fix their relationship.

The writing was well done and the emotions came through at the appropriate moments.  Yet I was tempted a couple times to stop reading when the heroine got on my nerves.  However, I persevered and as you near the end, I was rewarded with a decent finale.  The plot was pretty predictable and the dialogue was well written.  The story has potential but the aggravating heroine just plain ruin it.  By the way, this is a clean romance.

Honestly, I can’t recommend the book without reservations.  If you are a fan of the author or don’t mind an aggravating heroine, give this book a try but you have been forewarned.  Otherwise, this is a miss.  There are other romances with the same plot that are better written.