Tea & Read: The Vigilante's Bride

Title: The Vigilante’s Bride

Author: Yvonne Harris

Rating: Glad I got it from the library (or free)

I love cowboy stories. I don’t know why but I tend to gravitate to them. But the Vigilant’s Bride proves that not all cowboys are created equal.

Luke Sullivan robs a stagecoach to get revenge but ends up abducting a family passenger, also. Emily McCarthy is unhappy about her abduction, but finds herself falling for Luke and in the middle of a fight between him and a powerful rancher.

I’ve written lots of reviews and few times have I struggled in figuring out what I wanted to say. This book left me wordless, and not in a good way. The best way I can describe this book was that book had one major flaw: the main character. Unfortunately, Luke Sullivan created a sad domino effect on the rest of the book.

I had a hard time reconciling his two sides. At the beginning of the book, he’s displayed as a ruthless vigilante. Then he switches to someone so kind and compassionate that I found it hard to believe he was the same person. The whole book hangs on the premise of his vigilante status, but I wasn’t feeling it. Sadly, when other characters made mention of Luke’s reputation for being callous, I found his later transformation hard to believe.

The rest of the book fell apart since most of the plot was pinned on Luke. I found myself more interested in the orphanage subplot than Luke and Emily. And I actually enjoyed the development and execution of that subplot and found myself wishing that the whole book had been about it. I didn’t give the book the lowest rating because of this.

I believe I would give Yvonne Harris’ book another chance. This book wasn’t horrid; Luke just needed a little more character development.